baby problem

[tibi]

i got a baby leo since he was a few days old. it's been more than a month now and he still hasn't started eating. i shove a few mealworms in his mouth daily or give him superworm and dubia + calcium and vitamin cocktail through a syringe once every few days. he is 3 inches big and also, lately (3-4 days) he is keeping his eyes closed. can anyone give me some advice?

ps: he opens his eyes when i put him in high humidity areas but closes them a few minutes after i put him back in his regular terrarium.

 

[katie_]

Have you tried leaving it alone for a few days? Maybe all the handling is stressing it out?

 

[tibi]

yes i did. i left some mealworms free in the terrarium and no substrate so that he could hunt them and still nothing

 

[SC Geckos]

What are your temps (warm and cool side)?
How are you heating the enclosure?
Do you have a bigger picture of the gecko (including an eye shot) and its setup?
We may be able to help a little better with this information.
Its a small picture but it looks like some sort of albino. If it is they can be very light sensitive especially as babies.

 

[tibi]

the baby is a jungle tremper albino. temperature is 29-30 in the daytime(light bulb) and 24 at night with a permanent heat rock inside as well. i'll take some better pictures tomorrow.

 

[Ozy]

Ok. Heat Rocks = BAD, Lamp on an albino (or any leo) = BAD. You need to ditch those and get an under tank heat mat like this http://www.petco.com/product/6353/Z...o Med Repti-Therm UTH Under Tank Heaters-6353 And get either this http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-T...pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=lutron+dimmer&facetInfo= OR THIS http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTP...UTF8&qid=1348878043&sr=8-1&keywords=Hydrofarm to control the temperature of the heat mat. Use THIS to measure the temps http://www.petco.com/product/115362...epti Temp Digital Infrared Thermometer-115362 you want to measure the floor temperature so point the thermometer like an inch from the floor THEN take the temp. And do you mean 29-30 celsius? If so the hot side should be 33-35. I always just leave the heat mat on and never have any lights on my leo. Heat rocks are known to cause burns and/or turn your leo into gecko bacon. Are you guloading and dusting your mealworms?

 

[SC Geckos]

the baby is a tremper albino.

If there are bright lights near or used on its enclosure, that (could) be the reason (or one reason) she keeps her eyes closed.

Temperature is 29-30 in the daytime(light bulb) and 24 at night with a permanent heat rock inside as well.

Heat rocks are not a good idea for leopard geckos. One reason is beacuse they like to hide and in order for them to get heat from the rock they would have to sit out in the open. Another reason is it is possible for them to get burned because some heat rocks can get very hot. I would recommend getting a UTH (under tank heater) big enough to cover 1/3 of the floor space and a thermostat to regulate its temp. You need the floor of the warm side about 32 - 34C. With the UTH you can place a hide on top of it so the gecko can feel secure and while getting proper heat. The other side of the tank will be your cool side with no heat source so the gecko can move back and forth to regulate it temp.

 

[katie_]

I was under the impression that heat rocks get very hot, and reptiles don't feel localized temperature as we do. So they will sit on it to warm up, while its melting them, unable to feel how hot it is exactly.

 

[tibi]

If there are bright lights near or used on its enclosure, that (could) be the reason (or one reason) she keeps her eyes closed.

he keeps his eyes closed during the night as well. i have a light dimmer in my room and usually at night i keep a very weak light so that i can observe their behaviour.
i don't know about what heat rocks you are talking about but mine are heating up just fine. the exo terra heat pads are hotter and i keep those covered as to avoid burns. the light bulb is on for only a few hours a day for overall heating and is not facing anything it could possibly overheat. anyway i use heat mats for the rest of my geckos.

 

[tibi]

Are you guloading and dusting your mealworms?

just gutloading. i give it reptivite in that cocktail once every few days

 

[SC Geckos]

i don't know about what heat rocks you are talking about but mine are heating up just fine.

Heat rocks should not be used for the reasons stated above. I would use a UTH like you have for your other geckos.
Are the temps you said air temps or surface/floor temps?

 

[ColoradoConstrictors]

nooo heat pad like that!

Ok. Heat Rocks = BAD, Lamp on an albino (or any leo) = BAD. You need to ditch those and get an under tank heat mat like this http://www.petco.com/product/6353/Z...o Med Repti-Therm UTH Under Tank Heaters-6353 And get either this http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-T...pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=lutron+dimmer&facetInfo= OR THIS http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTP...UTF8&qid=1348878043&sr=8-1&keywords=Hydrofarm to control the temperature of the heat mat. Use THIS to measure the temps http://www.petco.com/product/115362...epti Temp Digital Infrared Thermometer-115362 you want to measure the floor temperature so point the thermometer like an inch from the floor THEN take the temp. And do you mean 29-30 celsius? If so the hot side should be 33-35. I always just leave the heat mat on and never have any lights on my leo. Heat rocks are known to cause burns and/or turn your leo into gecko bacon. Are you guloading and dusting your mealworms?

i would not use those heat pads!!! mine shorted out and got up to 145 degrees plus and almost killed my leo.

 

[SC Geckos]

i would not use those heat pads!!! mine shorted out and got up to 145 degrees plus and almost killed my leo.

Wow thats hot! Was it plugged into a thermostat or just plugged into the wall?

 

[30secondstobob]

They make eye drops for baby turtles with closed eyes. (common problem with malnourished baby turtles) I have given them to one of my baby leos who was squinting quite a bit and they helped. Bob

 

[Ozy]

Just a couple of points. If you post here you are going to get advice. And we will let you know our experiences with leos and things like, don't use heat rocks, they don't like bright lights etc. And you're all, I dunno what heat rocks you guys are talking about... I really feel sorry for that little guy. He's not well and you can't even take basic husbandry advice? ALSO my ZooMed heat mat does just fine. It is controlled with a lamp dimmer. And how the HECK did it get to 145 and you NOT notice?!?! I, for one, check my temps RELIGIOUSLY and my UTH would never even get CLOSE to being that hot before getting taken off of my leos viv. Wow, I am seriously in awe at some of these people.

 

[tibi]

people please focus on the subject

 

[pbgeckos]

What kind of substrate are you using? If it's loose or dusty, it might be getting in the eyes...Is there anything stuck around the eyes like dead skin, etc?
Oh, and you said that you use heat mats for your "other geckos". Does that mean that the only heat it is getting is from the light and from the heat rock? If that's the case, leopard geckos need belly heat to help digest and increase metabolism and young albinos are very sensitive to light. If its only belly heat is from a rock under a bright light during the day, then it's a lose lose situation where it is either outside being blinded, or insided not getting belly heat. As others have mentioned, there's plenty of reasons not to use heat rocks, just google "leopard gecko and heat rock" and look at all of the advice that pops up.

 

[M_surinamensis]

They make eye drops for baby turtles with closed eyes. (common problem with malnourished baby turtles) I have given them to one of my baby leos who was squinting quite a bit and they helped. Bob

That's really terrible advice.

While different turtle eye drops will have different ingredients and represent different approaches to common problems suffered by aquatic turtles, none of them are formulated for leopard geckos and the physiology of the eye between the two kinds of animals is pretty radically different. Harm can be done by using turtle eye drops for anything other than turtles that are in need of turtle eye drops. Best case scenario, with some of the milder ingredients, not much happens beyond what would happen if the eye were flushed with a saline solution (also not the best idea without some careful preparation). Worst case scenario, permanent damage to the eye and risk of a vitamin A overdose or frying the geckos liver with antibiotics. It's rarely going to be a good idea to dose leos with over the counter turtle medications.

 

[30secondstobob]

Sorry for the "terrible advice", but the ones I used were saline with vitamin A and B12 and the eyes were better after two doses. Don't think you can buy anything OTC with antibiotics in it any longer. Be careful. Bob

 

[tibi]

What kind of substrate are you using? If it's loose or dusty, it might be getting in the eyes...Is there anything stuck around the eyes like dead skin, etc?
Oh, and you said that you use heat mats for your "other geckos". Does that mean that the only heat it is getting is from the light and from the heat rock? If that's the case, leopard geckos need belly heat to help digest and increase metabolism and young albinos are very sensitive to light. If its only belly heat is from a rock under a bright light during the day, then it's a lose lose situation where it is either outside being blinded, or insided not getting belly heat. As others have mentioned, there's plenty of reasons not to use heat rocks, just google "leopard gecko and heat rock" and look at all of the advice that pops up.

i don't use substrate, just paper tissues. the light bulb is facing towards the terrarium wall and it's porpouse is overall heating, not to provide a basking spot. in that way there is no blinding light for the gecko. that's why i put it like that