Reptile Impaction
86What is Impaction?
Impaction is a condition in which the digestive tract is blocked by a solid or a semi-solid mass. If it is not treated it can become fatal.
Leopard Gecko Impaction
Causes of Impaction
Impaction can be caused by various sources. The most common of which is housing them on loose substrates.
Other causes of impaction include feeding reptiles food that is either to large or inappropriate. You should never feed insects that are larger than the width of the reptile's head (excluding snakes, in which the rule of thumb for feeding is that the feeder rodent be no larger than the largest part of the snake).
Feeders that are too large can get stuck in the digestive tract, causing the blockage. Feeder insects that have a hard Chitin outer-shell can, also cause impaction. You should only feed these type of feeders to larger reptiles, never babies or juveniles.
Low temperatures can cause inadequate digestion, one more reason to make sure you have proper temperatures. If the reptile requires belly heat versus air heat, make sure that you include an under tank heater as a part of the husbandry. Make sure that the basking sites of diurnal reptiles are appropriate temperatures, as well.
One other cause of impaction is dehydration; always provide your reptiles with fresh water.
Loose Substrates
Impaction caused by loose substrates develop overtime, so the symptoms are more gradual. Most of the time it will go unseen until it is too late.
Calci-Sand, Vita-Sand, and other calcium based sand is a BIGno-no. Do not trust the manufacturer's label as digestible. Because it contains calcium, reptiles are more likely to eat it, but where calcium is good, sand is not. Calc-Sand clumps together when it is wet. Imagine what it will do inside a reptile... Clump... When wet, it doesn't dissolve either, so what makes the manufacturers believe it will in a reptile's body?
Other high risk substrates include:
- Playsand
- Pine
- Aspen
- Cypress
- Woodchips
- Dirt
- Bark.
Corn cob, Crushed walnut shells, gravel, cat litter, pebbles, and any other pellet-type substrates should not be used in a reptile's enclosure either, as they, too, can cause impaction if ingested.
The safest substrate that you can use is tile, slate, reptile carpet, and paper towels.
Symptoms of Impaction
The first symptom that you may notice is that the fecal matter may contain loose substrates. For example, it may be covered in sand, but you know that the reptile did not kick sand onto the fecal matter becuase you cannot find any evidence of holes in the substrate.
Mild Symptoms include:
- Constipation
- Straining to excrete fecal matter
Moderate-Severe symptoms include:
- Slight leg trembles
- Regurgitation
- Slight bumps along spinal area
- Paralysis
- Lack of appetite
- Lethargy
- A blue-bruised area on the abdomen
- Difficulty breathing
Note: When paralysis occurs in one or both back legs, impaction is in the lower digestive tract, but when it involves one or both front legs, impaction is in the upper digestive tract.
Reptile Substrates
Treating Impaction
If you are able to catch impaction early on, you can set up the reptile in a different enclosure, or reformat the current one. Include an undertank heater to help acheive appropriate temperatures. Use paper towels as the substrate, as they are disposible and easy to clean; using paper towels, also, insures that the reptile will not be able to ingest any more loose substrates.
If the reptile is showing mild symptoms, you will want to first set it up in an enclosure free of loose substrates, and follow the below method. If you're reptile is showing more moderate-severe symptoms, you want to take the reptile to a vet, ASAP.
Now what you want to do with the reptile, itself, is to purchase a small dropper, in order to administer a few drops of either mineral oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil, daily. Give the reptiel warm soaks at least once a day, as well. Make sure to not let the water get hotter than the reptiles normal basking temperatures.
You want to try to get as much fluids in the reptile as you can without too much force. Try giving the reptile diluted Gatorade or pedialyte by using a dropper.
Do not give the reptile any solids, yet. Try providing the reptile different baby foods. Bearded dragons and omnivorous reptiles can eat fruit or vegetable baby foods, and insectivores can be provided chicken and turkey baby foods. Make sure to add supplements to the baby food. You may have to use a dropper to feed the reptile the baby food, but see if it will eat it on its own, first.
This method may take several days to get the impaction moving through the reptile's body, but DO NOT let it go more than 10 days.
The next option really isn't an option. You should take your reptile to a vet. Hopefully, you know, or have found, a good reptile veterinarian in the area. The vet will try to flush the impaction out by giving the reptile enemas. NEVER try this on your own!
Preventing Impaction
If you want to prevent impaction before it has a chance to impact your reptile you need to, first, start the reptile on a solid surface. NOT loose substrates. And, make extreme care to not house reptiles under one year on loose substrates.
Feed size appropriate foods. Make sure that crickets aren't too big for the reptile, and chop fruits and veggies up to a smaller size.
Make sure the temperatures in the enclosure are not to low or too high. Using a digital thermometer with a probe, you can accurately determine the temperatures in the enclosure. Fluker's manufactures a digital thermometer with a probe that not only measures temperature but humidity, which can be very important in creating the proper enclosure for you reptile.
Keep a bowl of calcium in the aquarium at all times.
Keep fresh water in the enclosure.
Disclaimer: Please be aware that the advice in this article should in no way replace that of a licensed veterinarian. The methods outlined above may or may not work for your pet. If you have any concerns, you should consult a specialized reptile veterinarian.
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Comments
HI. I WROTE TO YOU EARLIER AND ASKED ABOUT MY GECKO. NO NEED, SHE DIED WHEN I FINISHED WRITING. SHE DIED OF IMPACTION. HOW SAD. HER NAME WAS TAYLOR, SHE WAS ONLY ABOUT 2 MONTHS OLD. :(
I'm so sorry for your loss. Just remember to never house leopard geckos on said. At 3 weeks old, you may consider parasites, not impaction. The blue dot you mentioned in the other post is probably just the liver, not an impaction. I notice it on all hatchlings.
We have had our female leopard gecko for over a month now. She is housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with an under tank heater, reptile carpet, a few large rocks for basking on and a hide. Within the hide we keep a light covering of moss. The tank is around 90 degrees on the side where we keep the hide. The hide sits above the under tank heater and under the heat lamp. The cool side of the tank is right around the 75 degree mark. We feed her a diet of appropriate size cricket that are dusted 2-3 times per week with calcium. She has been eating 3 per day right around 8pm and has been very active when they were placed in the tank. She has shed 3 times in a month or so and she has been good with my 10 year old daughter handling her. By all accounts, she has been doing very well, eating well, active, tail looks good, good bowel movents, all good until 4 days ago. When we fed her she did not get excited and chase down the crickets. We left the crickets in the tank for about an hour and she still did not eat. Each day we change the water, clean the tank and continue to try to feed. It is now 4 days since she has eaten and we are becoming somewhat concerned. We have read that she may be showing some sort of hibernation symptoms but I don't see how this could happen so quickly. Not exactly sure what is going on and I am looking for a little advice. I am thinking that impaction could not have occured as there isn't any sand or chips, etc in the tank. Every time we watch her eat and she doesn't eat the moss. Should we be worried at this point or do we just keep monitoring her for a few more days before searching for a reptile vet?
Planet89- It sounds like you're doing everything right. I would consider the brumation/hibernation. I have a few leopard geckos that the change in weather does not effect one bit, but at the same time, I have one or two that will slow their activity level and eat less And, their temps are the same. It is a possibility that she is feeling the cooling weather outside. But, it could be something. Is she drinking fine? Lack of drinking may indicate parasites. Where did you get her? Many pet store reptiles have parasites or other underlying health concerns.
I would keep an eye on her, watch her for another week or so. If you see any signs of her loosing weight in her tail, then you should definately seek a reptile vet. It's hard to pinpoint what may be wrong with her, but a reptile vet is always your best bet for a proper diagnosis.
I've never worried about sand as a substrate before, until you mentioned that even calcium sand is a big no no. Now I'm worried. I have two leopard geckos, one is two years old, always kept on the calcium sand, the other a year old - although he's been kept on kitchen roll paper for quite some while due to losing his tail. I've never had any problems so far, but I'm terrified now that I may end up having problems. So I just wanted to clarify this:
The calcium sand I use is the type you put in a little dish for them to lick at themselves, but it says it can also be used as a substrate. And so I use it as such, as I'm never too sure if they take it themselves, so having it as a substrate ensures that they will digest even a tiny bit when diving at the crickets! Is this sand still bad to use? (You mentioned that even if manufacturers say so, it's not true). But since this one is the one made for eating, is it alright to use it as a substrate? Or can it still cause impaction?
Moon-Hunter: No. Never ever ever put calcium sand in a dish for them to lick. It should never be used as substrate either. It's the absolute worst substrate for reptiles. Because it does have calcium in it, it intices them to lick it, but when wet calcium sand clumps. In a reptiles body, it will clump, gettign stuck in the intestines of the digestive system.
It's not made for eating! It clumps! Have you ever gotten it wet? The water sits for a bit before the sand clumps together. It WILL do this in a reptile's body. It's worse than regular playsand. Remember that just because they are desert reptiels, that doesn't mean that desert means the natural habitat was sand. Most of the desert is actually rock, on exception of like the Sahara.
I just went to the website of the company that sells the stuff I normally get, Zoo-med. I just wanted to see what they wrote about the sand I usually get, and now that I look at it, it doesn't say anywhere about it being a sand, other than in it's name "Vita-sand". It says it's a vitamin fortified calcium carbonate substrate. So I dunno.... http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php? here's the link, check it out and see what you make of it. I know a reptile breeder and herptologist who's used this stuff for years, and has never had any problems with it, but maybe he's just been lucky for over 20years. I wouldn't want to risk it if you still say no - I love my two too much!
Vita-Sand is a similar product as Calci-Sand. A manufacturer isn't going to tell you that their product has the portential to kill your animal. I know what you're talking about and ANY calcium cabonate sand is bad.
I am using Zoo Meds fur bark substrate for my first ever 6 month old leopard gecko. Is this ok to use or should i switch to papertowel so something else until he gets older. I have been reading lots about this imipaction and do not want my little guy to have any issues. Also, if i do switch to papertowel or something else would it be ok to use the fur bark once he gets older?!
Nope. You need to remove it ASAP and replace with paper towels, stale tiles, rollout shelf liner, or reptile carpet. Nope. You should never use loose substrates. I'm not sure why you would even use bark to begin with, as leopard geckos are desert not jungle reptiles. Crickets can hide under the bark, which makes feeding harder; it can rasie humidity, which can cause respiratory concerns. Even as an adult, you risk impaction with any loose substrate.
I have a few questions. I am a new Leopard Gecko owner, and have had my baby Leopard Gecko for four days. Before getting one, I did a ton of research, including on your leopard gecko pages, which I found very informative. I got him from Petco, because in our small-ish town we don't usually have any reptile expos, small pet shops, or leopard gecko breeders. At Petco, they were housed on what appeared to be a type of sand (Which I know is not good). He seems to be doing wonderful, but because I am a new owner, I still have some questions. First of all, I noticed a blue-ish dot on his stomach almost directly in the middle, just slightly off. I had read above that you notice it on all hatchlings, but I am not sure of how old he is. Is it still normal? Also, on his upper side of his stomach there is a small blue-ish area and I was a little concerned. Should I be? It is about the size of a small pea, or smaller. He is very sleepy in the day (normal), and very active at night. He is eating crickets happily, and a few mini mealworms. He has gone to the bathroom about 4 or 5 times since I got him, so everything seems normal. The one thing I haven't noticed is him drinking water, although I have only had him a few days. I have seen him go in the water dish, and stare into it, but I haven't seen him drink any, which I read could be parasites. Please let me know if any of these things could be a problem. Am I being too worried? I just want my little critter to be happy and healthy. Also, when you say "roll out shelf liner" what exactly do you mean by that? We bought him some of that Non- Slip liner that has holes in it and I was wondering if that would be okay. Right now he is housed on paper towels. Sorry for such a long comment!!!! Thanks!!
The blue dot is typically going to be the liver. He probably drinks at night, since they are nocturnal reptiles. No I wouldn't use the grip liner. Shelf liner is just that, it's a liner that rolls out onto a shelf typically to cover it; it's similar to a rollout tile. It's not a grip liner. I'd stick with paper towels. Definitly don't use the grip pad that you purchased.
Hi again whitney i just got a 20gal long tank and i bought a 8watt under tank heater for it. Would that be enought heat it is only like 72F on the side the under tank heqter is on? If not could i put a lighting fixture on top of the tank to produce somewhat a little more heat on the hot side of the tank. And i was just wondering i have 2 females in there right now one is a SHTCTB and one is a bell albino should i seperate them becuase the SHTCTB i haven't reallty been seeing her eat ,her tail is a little skinny. Should i house her by herself to get her to eat a little bit more.
Thank you,
If the temperature of the surface of the tank, where the geckos lay down is only 72F and you're housing leopard geckos, then no that is not sufficient. You need the temperatures to be 90F or right around there. I would separate them just in case. The Bell could be bullying the SHTCTB. I would house them separately for a while so that you can see if the tang starts eating and plumping up; if so then wait until the tang is at full weight and then try to introduce them together. You may still have problems, and may have to permanently house them seperate, but you won't know that until you get the tang at full weight so that they are at even playing fields, so to speak.
Are you sure they're both females?
Ya i am pretty sure none of them has the male pores showing up. And could i put a lighting fixture on top to add a little more heat?
Could i still put an lighting fixture on top??
hey i am getting another leopard gecko on thursday for my birthday and it is going to be a baby SHTCTB hatchling and i was wondering what would be the best thing to feed it??
The light fixture may add a little heat but lighting typically heats up the air, and your geckos need the belly heat. You can try it, but it's not going to raise your temps 20 degrees. I'd get a better UTH; try ZooMed. You feed hatchlings the same thing your feed adults but smaller version. Buy small crickets and small mealworms. Also make sure that you have the baby separated from the larger geckos.
Hi. I have a new bearded dragon. My 9 year old daughter fed him meal worms that were much too large for him. He is showing signs of an impaction (lethargic, no appetite, labored breathing). He even shows some paralysis in both front and back at times but not at others. Today is the first sign that I have noticed the behavior, but with such severe signs I fear it has been going on for some time now. We have only had him for a week and he is just a baby. So far I have given him two warm soaks and managed to get some olive oil in him. My kids will be sick if he dies and there are no reptile vets in my area. Is there anything I can do? Please help.
Another thing is that I have never been able to get him to eat veggies. I chop up romain lettuce and it just sits there.
Oh sry i was mistaken the 8watt underank heater gives a temp of a around 87F i was talking about the heat of the air in the tank i used this temperature laser and it's like a red dote that you flash on something and is very accurate and told me the ground temperature of 87F on the hot side and in the 70's on the cold side. My UTH is the EXO-Terra brand.
So i would be able to feed the baby hatchling gecko small crickets and small mealworms. But i am hearing alot of stuff about mealworms may be hard to digest for little ones is that true?
Bill with young BD's it can be hard to get them on veggies unless the breeder hasstarted them on them at birth. At such severe stages, a vet is probably your only option. Make sure that the BD is on paper towels and continue the warm soaks twice a day.
Daren, the exo-terra brand is ok, but Zoomed has a much better UTH. As for the hatchling, small crickets and mealworms is fine. Sometimes you may encounter a gecko that may have problems digesting the exoskeleton, but I feed hatchlings regular sized mealworms, and have never had a problem. Right now though, you will have a problem getting a hold of mealworms, as there is a nationwide shortage.
Thank you so much for the advice. I continued the warm soaks, but could not find a vet in the area that would treat a BD. Just when I thought it was hopeless I noticed that he managed a BM. He seemed a little better, but was still not eating or moving much. His bloated little tummy was a little smaller. The next day he had another BM and his tummy was regular size. As of today, he is active and eating small crickets again. I still wish he would eat some veggies. Should I give up on veggies until he is older? I will try to gut load the crickets as much as possible.
You need to offer the veggies daily from the start. If you wait until older, then he may never eat them on his own. It's good he's passed whatever was possibly blocking his system.
Hi.
I am a experienced reptile owner/breeder/rescue facility care taker.
I have a adult male leopard gecko who has a bit of impactation. I toke in 2 from an abusive owner, and he was one of them. I have been treating him for impactation the way I usually do(soaking daily, rubbing stomaic to loosen substrate, hydrating by hand, trying to hand feed), the signs he shows is mild symptoms, as in difficulty to excrete fecel matter, sand in it, and lose of appitite. Also he shows a sign of a eye problem, he has this clear gunk in his right eye, and it seems to bother him. He will take awhile to open it when he wakes up, then will repeaditly lick at it, and blink alot. do you have any idea what the eye issue may be?
Will be going to the vet as soon as I can, with both of the new geckos for check ups.
I definitely would have taken both geckos to the vet as soon as you got them, but yea just make sure they get there soon. It could beye infection or an abrasion. Try to clean the eye with saline. If it's an infection, the vet can give you an ointment. As for the impaction, consider trying the drop of olive oil to see if that helps. Unless, he's getting better than keep doing what you're doing.
Alright. And as for going to the vet, when I first got them, I couldn't pin point what they had at the time, and the male didnt seem to bothered by his eye, but just licked it frequent. With vets I never want to bring any of my reps before finding afew things I know that is going on with them, because I have had experiences when I brought them and they thought they had this one thing, when it was something completly differant, and there treatment makes it worse.
I used some of the olive oil with him, but it is very difficult, due to the fact the previous owner didnt at all handle him, being he is very energetic and loves to run around, and when touched he will throw himself around, doesnt bite though, but has come around abit. I managed to put some drops on his nose, and he licked them off.
Understandable. I'd just try to get them to the vet as soon as you can.
I just want to say that I am SO thankful I found your advice on impactions yesterday!!! I have a 4 mth old beardie that was just purchased from a pet store a little over a week ago. Yesterday, I KNEW something was wrong! Impaction! I followed all of your advice and things seem to be "moving" along.....lol. He's doing MUCH better, thanks to you. Yesterday, I really thought I was going to lose him. The pet store has been keeping him in lose millet, which they sold to us telling us how perfect it was. WELL, it's gone now!! When things started moving, that's about all that was coming out. Poor little thing! Makes me wonder if he wasn't impacted when we bought him. I've already had one argument with them about the lighting they sold us not being sufficient for his 40 gallon tank, but they know everything!!! I just want to say thanks again.
A couple more things, if you don't mind.......what is the best way to get them to drink? And the pet store sold us a calcium "spray" and a vitamin "spray". I keep seeing each of you mention calicum dust. Is that better?
I would not take the advice of a pet store employee to heart, as typically they really don't know what they're talking about. If the little guy is only 4 mths, I'd suggest a smaller tank tstart, as it can really stress them out to be so small in a large tank. Or just purchase a divider and see if it will actually keep the little guy on one side. The BD was probably impacted when you got him. Hopefully he will be good now. I would stick with using calcium and calcium + 3 dust on the feeders and the veggies. You can use the spray on the veggies, but still use the powder on the crickets. As for drinking, you should soak the BD in a container of warm water at least twice a week, and that should be sufficient, as it will get a lot of water from the veggies that you should provide daily.
Hey i wanted to know if I would be able to use a under tank heater for to hatch leopard gecko eggs. Like put the eggs in a container with perlite or vermiculite and but the container over the under tank heater. I have a 16 watt under tank heater and a 8 watt there hooked up to a 10 gal tank.
you cannot successfully hatch leopard geckos with an under tank heater. it will not provide a stable temperature. you need to purchase a hovabator if you are interested in breeding leopard geckos. please check out my hub about breeding leopard geckos.
What are burrowing reptiles like tegus supposed to do?
TYPICALLY burrowing reptiles do not have a problem with the substrate. Most reptiles should be housed on solid surfaces but some still require some subtrate.
Hi. We have a leopard gecko and we just got it a bigger cage. We have used the vita-sand the entire time until now because we started reading about it. But this time we got ZooMed regular sand. Is is good or bad for him? We are also using Fluker's all natural moss for his humid hide. Is this good or bad?
Also since we have moved him, he has completely stopped eating and (we think) drinking. We don't feed him everyday, but we put food in there yesterday and he hasn't ate any. He just got done shedding, so we thought maybe that had something to do with it. Other than that he seems fine. He hasn't used the bathroom since he moved but it has only been one day.
The regular sand is better than any calcium based sand that you can buy, but it's still not good or recommended by any professional or reputable reptile keeper. The humid hide is fine, unless you notice that the gecko is eating the moss. I use the bed-a-beast compressed dirt in my humid hides, but you can also use paper towels, especially since you only need to make sure that the humid hide is moist when the gecko is going into shed.
As for moving him, it could be that you've changed his enclosure so he's adjusting. It can take some geckes up to a week to adjust properly and start eating. The drinking is the hard thing, unless you're watching him 24/7 and staring at him all the time, you'll never really know if he's drinking or not, especially since the water will evaporate naturally. It could be the shed, but usually right after a shed they're pretty hungry. How long has the gecko been on sand? How old is the gecko? WHat are your temperatures?
Sometimes low temps (measured with a digital thermometer with a probe for best and most accurate results) will cause a gecko not to eat. And of course impaction can also cause a gecko not to eat.
I'm not exactly sure how old he is...we got him about a year ago from Petco. He was small them but not as small as I have seen. I haven't seen him eat the moss, but as you said we don't watch him 24. He's been on sand the entire time we have had him; we just started reading more and more about it and noticed all the stuff about the sand not being good. What would you recommend we use that isn't expencive? I'm not really sure of our temps, but I am a little worried because we have 10 gallon tank and about a 4 by 6 heating pad underneath. Is there anyway to tell if it is impaction without a vet, there aren't any reptile vets around here.
Paper towels are the cheapest option besides sand. Otherwise, reptile carpet or tile. 10 gallon tanks are that big, and barely sufficient. I would say to best monitor your tank is to purchase a digital thermometer with a probe. That way you'll be able to get the surface temps and you can go from there. Impaction symptoms, should be listed above. If it turns out that impaction is the cause, then depending on the severity, a vet may be the only option. This is why it's always good to know where specialty vets are before you get a pet. Kinda like making sure there's a good dog vet in your area before bringing home a dog. But, it is hard to find good reptile vets.
my leopard gecko will not eat i have been trying to feed her since we got her and that was at the daytona reptile show which is in lat august and its october and thats not a good thing please help me i am DESPERATE
Thank you. He is still up and moving and we are pretty sure he is drinking, but still not eating. We are going to get some carpet, I think and thermometer.
Toni,I can't really help you without details. Temps, substrate, age, etc.
Lindsey & Nikki, That's good. I'd use the paper towels until you get the reptile carpet, and definitely make sure the digital thermometer. You can get the cheaper ones in the fish deparment for like 7 bucks or something, I believe. They're small with just the temp readout and a probe. Otherwise, Fluker's has a nice one that read temps and humidity but is much more pricey. You can even find them on ebay for cheaper. The $5 ones are on the site below:
hi, i brought a baby leo around 3 months ago, im a little concerned as it has not shed it skin, its tail is very skinny, he dont seem to of grown much since i got him, he was on petzoo sand which i was told was safe, but after reading other site i have cleared this and replaced it with paper towl, it has a dish with fresh water in the tank, i feed him meal worms, i did try him with small crickets but after leaving 3 in the tank for 24 hrs there were still 3 in there, and now the meal worms dont even seen to be going, he has a hide, under tank heater set at 84F also a 15w light above, im just running out of ideas on what to do, realli hope u can help me, thanks
you really need to get the temperatures up!!! you want them to be right around 90F. are you measuring the temps with a digital thermometer with a probe? this is the only accurate way to measure them. Could be impaction. Does the gecko have any of the above symptoms? Otherwise, could be parasites or some other illness depending on where you got the gecko and the likelihood of illness risks. Sounds like a trip to the vet if you ask me, since the gecko is skinny and not eating.
You may want to check out this article that I have about geckos not eating:
Hi. We have a male leopard gecko, around 5 months old. We have him in a 20 gallon tank with vita-sand as substratum (like many people, we thought that was fine). He's been a healthy eater and no signs of problems until today, when his fecal matter started to be runny and red. And his tongue seems more pale than pink. Is this a sign of impaction? Or is it more likely a parasite from something he ate (crickets, mealworms)? I should say that we think it's a male, though we relied on a petco employee to identify. Anyway, any advice/thoughts are very much appreciated.
Could be parasite, especially if the poo is runny. I would remove the sand though. At 5 months, he's not rally old enough for it. Remember that not all petstore employees know what they're doing. Sometimes at 5 months, it can be hard to determine the sex, although it is possible. I'd get the gecko and a fecal sample to the vet.
i have a monitor and i think it has an impaction but hes all beter now this red thing poped out when he pooped before it was there and i was woried and after her poops he drags his but and the red thing that looks like his vent around is something wrong with him or is it normal? and his poo is a little runny!
It sounds like prolapse, not impaction. I would remove any lose sands so that the prolapse doesn't get infected. You can soak the monitor in sugar water. But a vet should be consulted in this case.
hey, my girlfrind and i just got a leopard gecko about a month ago, he/she is about 4 months old, and it has had beautiful colors until a couple days ago it's been goin grey and is getting darker spots around its jaw line, also, its eating, but completely wanting to stay out of the heat, it has dug itself a small little hole in some shade to lye in and never wanting to go into the hot part of the tank, i've got all the temperature parts of the tank right & dusting its food, although i've never seen it drink water before, it just seems to be more dosile than before. any insight?
Maybe the gecko is shedding? What substrate is it hidding into? It's not commen for them to dig and burrow in the sand. If the gecko is 4 months, it really shouldn't be on any loose substrates. If the gecko is still eating, then I wouldn't worry about it unless it doesn't gain it's norl colors back.
well within the past 2 days its stopped eating and colors still dull, but its pooped which makes me wonder, if its impaction are they not suposed to be able to go to the bathroom? and its not really doing anything out of the normal other than burrying under its water dish, its on this plantation soil from exo terra(coconut husk fibre). i'm just wondering if i should be worried and is there anything i could do before using a vet?
The dull color could be shed in the near future. Impaction is severe, potentially deadly constipation. I would remove the dirt. Leopard geckos are not naturally on dirt; if anything switch to sand, but that too is dangerous. You best bet is to remove the dirt, and switch to paper towels, reptile carpet, or something solid, even tiles.
The gecko could be trying to get closer to the heat source, if you're using an under tank heater, which is needed for vital belly heat, which is essential for proper housing.
Is the gecko still eating? Are you 100% positive that the temps are good?
My daughter and I have a Leopard Gecko that is about 5 to 6 months old. He or she has been living on the calci sand (our mistake). It has been eating and has had no signs of constipation until it shed about ten days ago. It stopped eating also. We did some reading and I gave it a drop of olive oil two days...over these days we also gave it three warm baths. This was about three days ago. After the third bath, it pooped, alot larger than what it normally does, but I have seen this size at least once a couple months ago. After it pooped, It began to move more than it had in the previous week but it didn't really raise it's head off the ground and it stayed outside its den all day. It went back into the den at night. It has now been three for four days, and it looks better, but I havent' seen it come out of the den. I check it around mid night when I come home from work and it's awake (looking annoyed at me), but in its den. It has not eaten to my knowledge since it shed and has only pooped once. We have removed the sand and being winter here, my temps are hovering right around 80'. We don't have any vets in our area to look at him. It's tail still looks good and plump so far...thanks for the help...cory
You need to up the temps to 90!!! That is probably your biggest problem since you're removed the sand. You want to make sure that the undertank heater is properly working. If you don't have one, you want to buy one today. A reptile vet is probably your best bet to flush out the gecko's body.
i have a dragon and she dont like the Carpet she dont seen to eat i wanna know if i can put her on bed a beast its Made from 100% natural materials its make from coconut husk
No. YOu'll still have a high risk of impaction. You may want to consider tile or a roleout shelf liver.
I don't understand, because I use sand for all of the leopard geckos that I have ever had, and they've all lived longer than 20 years, so I have no clue what you are talking about. Though mine are more sophisticated because I breed them.
Just because you breed your leopard geckos, it does not mean that you or your geckos are more sophisticated. I breed and have done so for over 4 years. Have you done any research towards impaction? No breeder would house their leopard geckos on sand. There are WAY too many risks; if you do the research, you will find out the risks here are those that are listed and talked about by SO many others, including highly reputable breeders who have been in the hobby for over 20 years.
I have deleted your other comments on the other pages, as you are very rude, and the comments have nothing to do with the article.
Wow.Some commenters are a ltttle ignorant(my favorite word).thanks for the hub.
Hey, i've been kind of stuck with a new gecko from an abusive owner. I'm brand new to this so i'm just going with what's said on the internet - i'm currently housing her (?) with what i think is cork chippings, is this okay or should I change it? :/ Also, how hot does it need to be and how can i accurately measure it? We don't have a lot of money so we can't spend loads on stuff for the new geck...she seems healthy and alert, but the crickets they sell at the store are a little big and we can't get any from anywhere else. I'm worried, I don't want to give her up, i'm already in love with Astrid xD
Change it to reptile carpet, paper towels, or something solid. The temperature depends on the reptile species. If it's a leopard gecko, you want it arond 90F on the surface of the tank, measured by a digital thermometer with a probe.
I agree that some reptiles might not be compatible with some substrates. And I personally have a preference for some over others, but I have never really limited myself. Sure I have even had cases with certain beddings that weren't compatible with some of my reptiles, but I immediately removed them. However, as much as people talk about walnut shells I have been using them for years. Especially the zilla ground kind. I don't trust the generic stuff. That just goes to show how some people don't have problems, ever. I like it, and will probably keep using it as long as its compatible with my beardies, fat tails and desert igg. Of course there are some unfortunate cases, but I think it depends on the animal and conditions he or she is kept in. Thats what I liked about your article. You stated that heating plays a part as well. Because not ALL substrates are bad ALL of the time for EVERY reptile. I don't know if it was in your article, but I read that lizards can suffer impaction even from their own food if lighting is bad enough they can't digest it. Overall great article.
They can suffer impaction from their food, if they eat food that is too large or if hte reptile is too young trying to develop an insect with a hard exoskeleton. Also, as mentioned if the heat is not accurate.
You are right in that some people don't see signs of impaction, but it is a huge risk to take when using loose substrates with certain reptiles. I mean, most knobtails need sand, whereas in leopard geckos do better on solid surfaces. In many cases, it's a matter of people haven't seen the problem yet, but it's still to come.
hi you know meal worms how they have those tiny wood shaving like stuff for the meal wroms would that inpact my 2 gecko's
If you're allowing the geckos to eat the wood shavings, then yes it can. There's no reason to let the gecko eat the shavings. If you want to bowl feed the geckos, put the mealworms in a bowl of calcium instead of the wood shavings.
Hi whitney
this article along with others on the net has been useful. i have a 9 month old gecko and was sold it from the store with reptile sand which is was always kept on. at the time i had done a load of research and was aware of impaction, but a couple of friends of mine said it was a bit exaggerated and they had geckos which had been on sand all their life and been fine
anyway, the last couple of weeks has seen my gecko get really really thin; he was quite thin anyway but this time his tail was tiny. i thought at first it might have been the heating so i put the lamp on for longer and made sure it stayed at 90 (sometimes it creeps down to 80ish). however this didn't seem to do anything and he became even more lethargic just laying on the sand not moving all day.
I hadnt looked at the belly as i only learnt today that a bruised belly is a sign of impaction, but he has a very large dark area on his belly, much bigger than any liver.
this has sent me in to kind of shock mode. ive thrown out the sand (i was planning to anyway but my fault for putting it off) and put towel in. I am now going to give him 2 warm baths a day and i have given him some vegetable oil. It looks bad and probably a later severe stage of impaction, which im gutted about as i really dont want to lose him. I found a vet and have an appointment first thing tomorrow, he is a reptile specialist and one of the best in the UK so he should have seen this all before.
Anyway i guess i am commenting here so people read this and take it from me - dont use sand, the stuff sucks and although most stores for some reason house geckos on it, its so easy for it to kill your gecko; then you will be in my position and be thinking 'i wish i did something about that seeing as my gecko could well die now'.
:(
BIN THE SAND!
Pet stores house on sand as most pet stores have a coporation regulation that have sand as the housing. Also in consideration for pet stores, they house on sand but the reptiles are on the sand for short periods of time. Sand is potentially bad, as you have seen. Hopefully, you will be able to cleanse the gecko of the impacted sand.
I have a blizzard gecko, he is now five years old and I had always used a kind of sand and my gecko vet. Said me to change substract because it could cause impaction. IN was asking myself what to put: towel paper or repti carpet and if any thing is better... Say me because my blizzard gecko does not seemed to like solid substract.
leopard geckos are beter with solid substrate. Your vet was correct. Just give the gecko time to adjust.
My friend has a leopard gecko that was given to him. It is in a 20 gallon (fish)aquarium, with a solid lid and a heat rock. It has cedar shavings for ground cover and he puts a dozen crickets at a time in there for it to eat. He also keeps a piece of potato in there for the crickets to eat...was told to do this by a friend. Is this a dangerous environment? "Harry", has good color is active and has a fat tail, all seems well. When you say use kitchen towels, do you mean paper towels...and if so does he line the entire bottom with them or does he shred them? Does he keep them moist? In his "hide" does he put wadded-up paper towels?, and does he need to spritz them to keep them moist?, How often does he need to change the paper out? Also what is a bottom heater? Harry has a heat rock, wouldn't that keep his belly warm?
Terrible housing. You need ventilation, so get rid of the solid lid and get a screen lid. You need to unplug the heat rock, as it can and will badly burn the gecko's belly. You want to throw away the cedar, as cedar is terrible for reptiles and other small animals; the oils can give respiratory problems.
Paper towels, not regular towels. Just line the bottom; no need to shred. Keep them dry, moisten them and the humidity will rise and respiratory problems can develop.
For a moist hide, yes mist the paper towels within the hide ONLY and only when the gecko is going to shed.
Weekly replace the paper towels.
An under tank heater is a heating pad that goes under the tank. Heat rocks can and will burn reptiles. They are not recommended for geckos, snakes, and most lizards.
My lizard seems to be listing to the right, he seems to be having breathing problems, he wont walk that much, we took him to the vet last week, and they just said he had a fractured leg, but then i found this, he has a purple bruise on his belly. mum says he wont make it through to tomorrow :(
I'm sorry to hear that. The blue area on the belly is probably the liver. I've found that sick geckos, tend to have their liver more prominant than healthy geckos.
Make sure that the gecko is on paper towels, and try your best to heal him for the broken leg.
Good luck.
I just had a quick question, would it be bad to have a young leopard gecko housed on small cotton towels instead of paper towels or reptile carpet?
Towels could get expensive. It may make walking on them harder, and depending on how thick they are the gecko may grab them while trying to eat. Although, the gecko wouldn't be able to eat it, the towels would make feeding harder, I'd assume.
There is not a good correlation between pectoral and pelvic limb paralysis and the location of impaction. Neurologic disease can be associated with endotoxemia that often occurs with longstanding impaction. Those species with large ceca also can have their lower digestive tract distend and impinge on brachial plexus nerves. Most of the cases I have seen of impaction with paralysis were of this type. They had colonic impaction but had pelvic and pectoral paralysis.
URGENT101 says:
2 years ago
HELP ME! WILL MY BABY LEOPARD GECKO DIE OF IMPACTION?