Why is my baby leopard gecko throwing up it's food?

I just got a leopard gecko 4 days ago from Pet Supplies Plus. The stupid worked of course picked it up by the tail to put it in the container for me to take it home and the poor guy squealed. :( After I got home I let him out and let him adjust to his new environment. (I’m not sure what the sex is, but I’m just going to say guy to make it easier…) He has pooped twice and it’s been watery and almost seedy like a bird poop. Is that normal? He seems to have somewhat of an appetite. He’s interested in the gut loaded meal worms I feed him and once in a while he eats them. He only eats one at a time when he does eat them, but a few hours later I find them thrown up half digested in the cage. The temperature is fine in the tank. I tried dusting the gut loaded meal worms with the calcium supplement but it smells like fake banana and I think it turns him off from them. He won’t even go after those, so I’ve just been trying regular meal worms but he’s still throwing them up. Any suggestions? I have slate in the bottom of the cage, clean water is available, he has a moist warm hut and a dry cooler hut to stay in. Everything is just how it should be for him but he’s not very healthy. It might just be stress but I’m worried. He sleeps all the time and just likes to hide in the corners of his huts, which I realize is pretty normal because they’re nocturnal and not social creatures. He doesn’t mind crawling onto my hand and isn’t scared. I just need help. I even tried catching tiny wild crickets but he didn’t want anything to do with them. Any suggestions? No I am not taking him to a vet, and I can’t try crickets because I’m in a dorm at college and we aren’t even supposed to have any pets but freshwater fish. I can’t go to the store every few days to get fresh crickets because it’s like 20 minutes away. This is getting a little ridiculous and I almost wish I never got him. They’re supposed to be simple to take care of. Like my beta fish haha. But PLEASE help and quickly!
Please. Suggestions would be so helpful.
Respone to "Answers": The gecko was on sand at the pet store and I’m not sure what it was fed as there was no live insects in the tank when I got him and the store employee did not know. I am not abusing my gecko thank you very much. I am doing all that I can to make sure he tries to get better. There is no vet anywhere near here to take him to. If people can’t care for babies, then why would they sell them? I’m assuming that they just sold him too early. He is so small… I made care when I caught the wild crickets to make sure they were small and found away from roads and fields where pesticides were used. I’m not a retard. Many breeders say online that they feed their geckos a staple diet of mealworms so I’m not too concerned that is the issue.
Oh and his stomach isn’t bloated at all like he is impacted and he’s kept down a few meal worms but throws the majority of them up btw.

This entry was posted in Pet Supplies & Pet Care and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Why is my baby leopard gecko throwing up it's food?

  1. Geckogirl7 says:

    I’m sad that some one called this animal abuse it’s not it’s some one trying very hard to help there leo.
    I know what your going through my 1st leo thew up and died of anorexia I tried so very hard to keep her alive, but with a reptile vet 5 hours away I tried my very best. But the way it sounded like the pet store treated him you need to take a day where you don’t have classes and visit that pet store again and ask the guy who got your leo out of the cage for you ask him as many Q.s as you can(i know he wont have a single answer but this helps you into getting into a talk with the owner of the store about the way the guy was treating it and didn’t even know what it ate) if your not going to take it to a vet try this and seek some comfort that this wont happen to any other leos. =) hope he turns out O.K.

  2. Ganal says:

    A vet is pretty much all you could do. He could have parasites or an impaction from the store. What did the store have him on?

  3. Corbin Vanwinkle says:

    vet is the only thing…. this should be flagged for animal abuse.
    im 13 and breed leopard geckos and you cant care for a baby !

  4. Danger Erin says:

    If he was kept on a loose substrate in the shop and/or was just fed mealworms then he may well have impaction.

    Leopard geckos – especially babies – should NOT be fed a staple diet of mealworms. They contain a lot of chitin in ratio to ‘meat’ and are not very nutritious, meaning the gecko needs to eat more of them to get what it needs out of a meal. This chitin is indigestible – feed too many and you run a very high risk of causing impaction. You need to switch to crickets, roaches or even locusts for the main diet… or give the gecko to somebody who can care for it properly.

    Wild insects too would cause more harm than good. Think of all the pesticides and parasites that could be on them!

    Its disgusting that you refuse to take your pet to the vets. Student or not, this animals life is in your hands – take the gecko to the vets or give it to a better home

  5. Rebecca says:

    I would just feed it crickets and see if that helps. Put one or two in there and see if he eats them sometime throughout the night. You are dealing with the life of another animal, his life depends 100% on you. Get another container for your crickets and then get a couple dozen, then you could go every 2 weeks or so to get crickets. It’s worth it to see if he eats any. In about 4-5 months of eating normally he will be big enough to eat superworms (better for him then mealworms).

    You say the temperature is fine, but is one side about 90-92 and the other side about 80ish? Does it have a hide on each side and one of them being a moist hide (with frog moss or some sort of moss in there that stays wet?) I work at a private pet store and we used to have two stores and there wasn’t anyone running the reptiles at the 2nd store because I worked primarily at the other. But at that store they lost 4 leopard geckos and I couldn’t figure out why because I’d never once lost a leo, no matter how small they came in. I moved the aquarium so it was considerably warmer and all the new ones thrived. Usually if they don’t eat it’s because they are too cool, too warm, or have some sort of parasite. The parasite isn’t overly common because they are captive bred. Also you shouldn’t hand leos until they are about 6 inches in length, that could really stress it out too.

Leave a Reply