Help. Juvenile gecko looking sick after eating crickets for the first time

[equinelove93]

So i kept one of the females from my first breeding season. Shes is about 2 months old now. She hatched abnormally small but is very healthy looking and pretty plump at 25 grams.

Up untill a week ago i was feeding her gutloaded and dusted mealworms. Then with her size i felt comfortable to safely feed her crickets because i was worried they may have been to big for her when she was smaller.

The crickets i fed her were no larger than the width of her head. They were smal/medium sized. Dusted with calcium. In one week she ate about 7 in total. She seemed to really enjoy them and hunting more active prey.

The last two days i noticed she hasn't quite been herself. She is not sleeping during the day like she normally does. And she is sleeping out in the open insead of her favorite hide. Shes alert and active but looks lethargic.

Normally when i was feeding her only meal worms she would poop every single day. I had cleaned her tank 6 days ago and noticed she had only pooped twice. Im.worried that if it possible that crickets can cause an impaction somehow? She is not on sand or reptile carpet. She is just on plain, clean paper towel as substrate.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? Did i make a mistake for example feeding too many crickets in a week when she had never eaten them before? My other gecko ate the exact same crickets and she is perfectly healthy and normal.

Here is the baby's set up
10 gallon with paper towel substrate.
UTH set to 90 degrees on the warm side 85 in the middle and 80 on the cool
4 hides 2 on the warm, one is a moist hide. One in the middle and one on the cool end.
Shallow water dish
A capful of plain calcoum powder without D'3.
I do a complete tank cleaning every week and spot clean in between as needed.

Supplements I use:
Pure calcium rep-cal without d-3
Rep cal with d-3 twice a week
Rep cal mutivitmin once a week



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[Neon Aurora]

Personally, I wouldn't worry much. Your set up sounds good and her changes in behavior don't sound too concerning. I think it's very highly unlikely that crickets could cause an impaction. I honestly rarely worry about the size of prey items because leopard geckos (and reptiles in general) can handle pretty big items. When I'm low on smaller sized mealworms, I will give my hatchlings pretty big ones and they do just fine. It's about proportional to feeding an adult superworms (which are, in many cases, bigger than the width of the head). As for the poops, 7 crickets isn't very many (I have a couple hatchlings that would be likely to eat that in one sitting) so I wouldn't expect a lot of fecal matter.

The one thing I did notice is that your cool side is pretty warm. It's possible she is sleeping outside of her hides because she is too warm and is trying to cool off. Aside from that, I think she is fine. =)

 

[Alceste]

After a move I bought crickets from a new petstore that in retrospect was kind of grimy. The crickets carried a parasite which got my gecko sick and he had to be treated with medication from the vet. Crickets can carry parasites in their guts that can be problematic. If you continue to have issues consider the vet.

 

[equinelove93]

Personally, I wouldn't worry much. Your set up sounds good and her changes in behavior don't sound too concerning. I think it's very highly unlikely that crickets could cause an impaction. I honestly rarely worry about the size of prey items because leopard geckos (and reptiles in general) can handle pretty big items. When I'm low on smaller sized mealworms, I will give my hatchlings pretty big ones and they do just fine. It's about proportional to feeding an adult superworms (which are, in many cases, bigger than the width of the head). As for the poops, 7 crickets isn't very many (I have a couple hatchlings that would be likely to eat that in one sitting) so I wouldn't expect a lot of fecal matter.

The one thing I did notice is that your cool side is pretty warm. It's possible she is sleeping outside of her hides because she is too warm and is trying to cool off. Aside from that, I think she is fine. =)

Thank you for the info! She is doing way better an i do believe it was heat related. My area wenr through a heatwave and my reptile room temperature was too warm. Even with air conditioning and mutiple fans blowing. I did unplug the heat mats as the tanks were too hot and i closely monitor temps with probes and an temp gun. But glad to know that the crickets are safe. Thak you!

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[equinelove93]

After a move I bought crickets from a new petstore that in retrospect was kind of grimy. The crickets carried a parasite which got my gecko sick and he had to be treated with medication from the vet. Crickets can carry parasites in their guts that can be problematic. If you continue to have issues consider the vet.

I have had a very similar experience. Unfortunately my male gecko had to be put down due to Crypto. The crickets i had bout from a pet value store weren't the best quality. They were loaded with parasites. I had given them to male in one feeding and the next morning he was ill with chronic dirreaha. Took him to the vet and was found to have gottwn crypto. We attempted to treat him for a few weeks but he showed no signs of recovery. He wouldnt eat, drink and it was just chronic diarrhea. He was losing weight fast so my vet suggested euthanasia. And i have had some worries about crickets ever since.

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[indyana]

If it's any consolation, crypto is not apt to have been contracted and caused symptoms overnight, so likely the crickets were not the cause.