[gecko]Urgent: Adult Leopard 8" long, only 17.5 gms!

[ElizabethFreer]

Hi Folks---

On 9-11-03 I started monitoring this 4th grade classroom leopard gecko who had minor trouble shedding with some skin remaining on one of her eyes.  With two wraps in a warm wash cloth for about 15 mins the remaining skin was easily shed.  However, I was quite concerned at the size of this animal.  On 9-15 she weighed in at 22.5 grams; by today (9-27) she is weighing 17.5 grams.  She is 8" long.  Her tail is extremely thin.  Obviously she has no fat stores left.

On ~9-23 she eagerly ate 6 wax worms...since then she has eaten Gerber's chicken baby food off her nose, but has not so far shown interest in that when left on a lid.  I brought her home yesterday.  As of last night she is in relatively "sterile" surroundings:  a 10 gallon with a paper towel substrate, a 40 watt red bulb lowered by a rheostat to 80 F in one of those fixtures that covers half the top of a ten gallon, a medium-sized rock under the light where she has slept for hours, a dry hide with moss on the warm side, and a moist hide with moss on the "cool" side.  She has a 4" water dish and a lid with two wax worms, two small meal worms (wheat germ).  There is a 1/2" cricket on the loose in the cage.

As of last night, and a little this AM, she still accepts chicken baby food off her nose....but she does not seem to be eating independently.

What can I do to assist her to regain her appetite?

There will probably be trouble getting her to the vet before Monday afternoon, so I'm wondering what is the best I can do for her in the meantime.  (One vet is moving, and the best one is relatively far away.)

Hope that someone can help.

Elizabeth
Seattle

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           15 yo                     r.i.p.                            r.i.p.

                       (All Lepidodactylus lugubris!)