Leo won’t eat mealworms, poop is yellow

[Smellerbug]

My leopard gecko is about 4-5 years old. I’ve recently in the last several months really tried to up my attention and care for her. She’s been fine until the last couple months, but I’ve noticed her poops are a bit runny and the urate is yellow. She’s also uninterested in the mealworms anytime I try to feed her. She’ll eat crickets but I don’t have crickets all the time, and mealworms make up most of her diet. I took her to the vet and they said she seems healthy, just to try to keep the tank warmer. It’s been winter here so it did get a little colder than usual for her. I just got a nice heat lamp for her and it’s been staying a little warmer in there the past two days, and have made sure to keep her moist hide moist and make sure she has water, but so far she’s still uninterested in the worms. Any help? I can provide pictures as well.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

My leopard gecko is about 4-5 years old. I’ve recently in the last several months really tried to up my attention and care for her. She’s been fine until the last couple months, but I’ve noticed her poops are a bit runny and the urate is yellow. She’s also uninterested in the mealworms anytime I try to feed her. She’ll eat crickets but I don’t have crickets all the time, and mealworms make up most of her diet. I took her to the vet and they said she seems healthy, just to try to keep the tank warmer. It’s been winter here so it did get a little colder than usual for her. I just got a nice heat lamp for her and it’s been staying a little warmer in there the past two days, and have made sure to keep her moist hide moist and make sure she has water, but so far she’s still uninterested in the worms. Any help? I can provide pictures as well.

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited!

Has the vet done a fecal test? If runny poops continue, please bring a fecal sample to a vet for analysis. The vet might find pinworms or other parasites that can easily be treated.

For link 2 click: Fecal Sample Collection Procedure​

1. Please list the brand, exact name, and frequency you use supplements for this adult leo.
2. Please share a current picture of your 4-5 yo leo.
3. What do you feed her crickets and mealworms?
4. Have you thermostats for her heat sources?
5. Do the enclosure temps fall into these ranges?
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Temperatures - A temperature gradient from warm to cool maintains your leo's health. Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured with the probe of a digital thermometer or a temp gun. Set your thermostat at 91*F/32.8*C.

Tape the thermostat's probe and a digital thermometer's probe together, but offset a little. Place them right on top of the substrate underneath the warm dry hide. If you use a UTH + a CHE you'll need 2 separate thermostats, because ground and air temperatures are substantially different.

• Warm dry hide ground temperature: 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) inside a leo's warm dry hide.
• Warm humid/moist hide: Place the humid hide 100% on top of the heat mat. Keep temperatures similar to the warm dry hide.
• Cool dry hide ground temperature: 70ish-75 F (21.1-23.9 C) Usually the cool end ground temperature matches the room temperature where the enclosure sits.
• no greater than 82ish F (27.8ish C) surface temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the warm end
• no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) surface temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the cool end

Leave your heat mat on 24/7 IF ambient room temperatures drop lower than 67ish*F (19.4*C). If NOT, during the night turn off overhead lighting/heating (~12 hours on and ~12 hours off)

 

[Smellerbug]

Thank you! Yeah she’s definitely a bit cold, but I’ve just gotten some new heating stuff for her, so hopefully that helps. I was worried about parasitic infection, but vet said that’s unlikely since she has never come in contact with other geckos. She’s not lethargic, been moving around more, and I just fed her some crickets that she happily hunted down and ate, she just is super disinterested in the mealworms, which wasn’t always the case. I’ll keep an eye on her poop and stuff just in case but I’m hopeful she’s doing better!

 

[Smellerbug]

Thank you! Yeah she’s definitely a bit cold, but I’ve just gotten some new heating stuff for her, so hopefully that helps. I was worried about parasitic infection, but vet said that’s unlikely since she has never come in contact with other geckos. She’s not lethargic, been moving around more, and I just fed her some crickets that she happily hunted down and ate, she just is super disinterested in the mealworms, which wasn’t always the case. I’ll keep an eye on her poop and stuff just in case but I’m hopeful she’s doing better! Her ground temp on the hot side is staying around 80 F but I have it set higher, just having trouble getting it higher in our cold room which will hopefully be better while it’s warming up where I live. The temp overall of the cooler side of the tank is usually between 70-75 F and the humidity stays between 30-40%.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited!

. . . . . .

1. Please list the brand, exact name, and frequency you use supplements for this adult leo.
2. Please share a current picture of your 4-5 yo leo.
3. What do you feed her crickets and mealworms?
4. Have you thermostats for her heat sources?
5. Do the enclosure temps fall into these ranges?
6. + thermometer type you're using (Round type may be an analog. Analog thermometers & humidity gauges just provide ballpark figures.)
7. + a photo of your leo's enclosure
8. + What are the enclosure dimensions?
9. + What are the heat mat dimensions?
10. + specs on your recent overhead bulb

Thank you! Yeah she’s definitely a bit cold, but I’ve just gotten some new heating stuff for her, so hopefully that helps. I was worried about parasitic infection, but vet said that’s unlikely since she has never come in contact with other geckos. She’s not lethargic, been moving around more, and I just fed her some crickets that she happily hunted down and ate, she just is super disinterested in the mealworms, which wasn’t always the case. I’ll keep an eye on her poop and stuff just in case but I’m hopeful she’s doing better! Her ground temp on the hot side is staying around 80 F but I have it set higher, just having trouble getting it higher in our cold room which will hopefully be better while it’s warming up where I live. The temp overall of the cooler side of the tank is usually between 70-75 F and the humidity stays between 30-40%.

You're welcome. Heat pads + a heat lamp can only do so much in a cold room. Can you move her to a warmer room?

It's vital to provide the precise chart temps in that temperature chart year-round. Without 88-92*F ground temps underneath the warm dry hide your leo could die from pneumonia! Your leo also won't be able to properly digest her prey.

I realize you added a heat lamp. What type? What wattage, type, & color?

Please reply to every question I asked. All those questions are important. I have no idea whether you use powdered supplements. I have no idea whether you feed the bugs and worms before you feed them off to your 4-5 yo leo. All supplements are not equal. Your supplement dosage could cause yellow urates! Dehydration could also cause yellow urates. Healthy urates are pure white.

I'm glad your leo ate those crickets! Please feed the crickets prior to feeding them to a gecko. Unfed bugs are just empty shells similar to an empty ravioli shell. Leos sometimes get "bored" with 1 food all the time.

Geckos Unlimited really needs the additional info I requested in order to help your leo. I believe that's why you posted.

You mentioned you could include photos. Kindly include a photo of the enclosure too.