Leopard Gecko help? Please

[Mishtay]

Firstly, hello all... Its been a while since I have been on OVAS and even longer since posting.

I thought posting here would be a good place for help, as most of you have been so helpful before.

Okay, enough pleasantries and lets get down to business... Over the weekend I lost my poor gecko. Sadly he passed while I was away on vacation. He was being looked after by our regular cat sitter, who has watched over The Colonel and the kitties in the past without any issues. I can tell you with all all my heart she had nothing to do with his passing, I have known her for 10+ years.

His death left myself and my fiancee in shock, as he seemed to be fine before we left. He shed, and had eaten a few days before we left. His tank perimeters were fine. No parasites, no signs of mouth rot, clean tank. Everything should have been fine. He looked as though he fell asleep and just didn't wake back up. He was found on my birthday and we ended up coming home early from vacation to take care of him. I was pretty torn up about the whole thing and took the rest of the day to take in his passing. The following day I emptied his tank and sterilized everything and was about to put it all away for a while when our cat sitter knocked on the door and had a 8 week old baby leopard gecko for me!

I did not have the heart to tell her I wasn't quite ready for a new baby, and he would have needed a good home anyways, so we decided to keep him. I set the tank back up and placed him in the tank. "Major" (his name) went straight into hiding. He found the tiniest little crack in between his hiding rock and the 3D background and stayed there for 6 hours. He came out for about 5 seconds that night and went straight into the hiding rock he had been hiding behind earlier. He did come out that night as I found footprints in his calcium dish. But when we got up he was hiding again. All he has been doing is hiding in there. I'm pretty sure he is eating, there were only 2 mealworms left this morning in his tank. I have been fighting my motherly instincts to pick up his hiding rock and check on him because he seems to be so scared. But I'm paranoid after loosing poor Mr Colonel and want nothing but the best for Mr Major. I don't want to rush the process, but I want him to feel sucure in his tank. I have never owned a baby reptile of any kind. They have always been rescues or passed on from a friend or relative and have all been tamed.

My gut is telling me to take out this hiding rock and replace it with something I can see him in. At least then I know he is okay. The hiding rock has an area right under the opening where he can hide perfectly and I can't see him at all when he is in there. Would moving or replacing it cause more of a shock to his system? Again, I just want the best for him, I don't want to rush the process. My selfishness isn't going to overcome his needs. My paranoid self is coming through though, after loosing The Colonel so suddenly I'm afraid of the same thing happening and need to prevent it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. And please no trolling, it's been emotional enough for me this week without that crap.

[ftan]

I'm sure ovas users have other pets but this website is about fish.

[Mishtay]

Yes... I know OVAS is for fish... This is also the lounge area of the forum... Specifically for non fish related topics...

[Darth]

If hes eating thats a good sign I would try to find some pinhead crickets as well to enable the hunt, mealworms dont move all that fast lol. As long as his temp is good, maybe get a plastic container make a hut with some moist moss, also try a red flashlight at night to see if you can see him, since they are nocturnal you may have a better chance this way pf seeing activity

[robt18]

Some are naturally shy, but I'm sure yours is pretty scared moving into a new home. Give it some time and I would also handle it to make it gets used to you. I find they tend to come out more often and act friendlier when they're used to the people who are around.

[guck]

I had problems with one of me geckos once as she was not eating and was very skinny.  I had to hand feed her for a while making sure she eats.  But she was not scared or afraid so it was a little easier.  For the longest time, another of my geckos would strictly eat pinkies.  He is of the albinos type and can hardly see.  So I would have to wave the pinky in front of him.  But it seems he has acute smell senses.  In fact when I put dog food (to keep the crickets occupied) he will eat the dog food.  That same gecko managed once to cross a divider and started a fight with another male.  Males together fight nastily.  Not good.

Some are indeed shy, some are curious.  I have a female that's very curious and sneek out all the time.  She likes to be handled too.

Small crickets, and if required, rip a rear leg to slow them down a bit.

[Mishtay]

He is defiantly eating, but was rather skinny when he was brought over. (He really needs some Beefcake weight gain 4000 LOL) He had 10 mealworms in the tank this morning before I left for work, there is 1 left now. I can't say whether he came out to eat or if he waited for breakfast in bed.

I have been in his tank the last couple days, cleaning his water dish and replenishing his food. I have purposely not picked up the hiding rock he's been using. I had read to let them settle in for a few weeks before trying to handle them or messing around too much in the tank. I had thought I would see him exploring his tank a bit by now though. Ive been staying up late the last few days too in hopes of seeing him just come out. Do you think I should take out the rock hes been hiding in and replace it with something where he can see me and I can see him? Would that be something that would help or slow down the process?

I was hand feeding my last gecko and really have no problem with doing that with Major, but I think that will take time. If hes too scared to come out of hiding I don't know if he'll trust to take food.

I picked up crickets, but I think they are too big for him. I didn't even think to ask for pinheads... I thought small would be suitable but when I got home and got a good look they seemed bigger then I wanted. Will busting off a leg prevent them from climbing? I have the 3D background in the tank and started thinking today that they would climb it. I want the crickets to be available for him to hunt. I'm more then happy to remove the background but again I don't know if it would be a good idea to do with him not coming out of hiding. I don't want to cause unnecessary stress on him.

[guck]

I would remove the background unless they can't escape from the top.  But they will climb up and become unreachable by the gecko.

It may help to get the gecko accustomed to you by just sticking your hand immobile in the terrarium for a minute or two few times a day.

[Mishtay]

Update:

Last night I went into his tank and arranged it a bit differently. I took out the rock he had been hiding in for days and replaced it with a hollow log that I can see him in at all times. Moved the other hides around a bit as well. During this process I found some escaped mealworms from his dish, so he had not eaten as much as I had thought. There were fewer then what I had put in, but more then I thought he had ate. He came out for a short period after I moved things around! I decided to try to feed him, and he ate like a little pig! I dropped mealworms directly in front of him and he would devour them all. I also had him eating from tweezers.

When we woke up this morning, he came out for a small peek at the world. He got scared and went back into hiding. He's awake again now and exploring his tank. Im glad I took out that rock now. I can relax a bit now I can see his personality starting to come out.

Will keep posting a few updates.

Will keep on persisting with calming him down, getting him used to people, and fattening him up. I've already seen 180 degree change though since last evening.

PS I just saw him climbing all the way up the 3D background. How safe is that? The tank is about 14-16 inches high. Screened top he can't escape... but fall wise?