Newly arrived baby albino leopard gecko

[Ducksarefun]

Hi all, I am ducksarefun's b/f and had to pick up her new baby albino leopard gecko today... she already had the tank set up and ready to go.... the temp on the basking area is around 85 ferenheit. He/she seems very sluggish... sticking close to the ground... I had initially placed him in the moist hide but have since moved him out of it. he seems to be clinging close to the basking rock and going to sleep?... it's dark around here now. I just kinda wanted to see if everyone thought this was normal... I don;t want to worsten his state if he's not doing good... and my g/f won;t be back until later tonight. can anyone tell me if they think anything is wrong?....

thanks!

Jason

[clint545]

How old is he? If the lights still on he might just be basking. Did he explore his new cage at all when you put him in?
Was he acting like this when you picked him up?

[Ducksarefun]

unfortunately he was... he was with 2 other albinos that the store had received today.... he has not explored his tank atall really... when I picked him up they were hiding in some moss that the petstore had in there tank.. so when I brought him home I thought he might want to be in a moist hide so I plopped him in the moist hide... and he was kinda hiding on the side of the container kinda trying to burrow into the soil I think a bit... he does not have a basking light... he has a heat bad that is under the tank and there is a flat rock on top of it for insulation... the temp is like I said about 85-87 I dropped a mealworm next to him but he did not look interested...

does this all sound normal?... it is winter time around here and he might have gotten a chill from the shipping :S

let me know

thanks!

[Ducksarefun]

he seems to be moving around more now that I placed him on the basking area... he seems to be checking out his tank more.... but he keeps his eyes mostly closed kinda like the light is blinding him....

but he seems better now.... thnx

[ydnic]

don`t worry he is probably just fine. They are norcturnal and none of mine move around at all during the day - once the lights go out there are all over the place!

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I think he may be still cold, leos will do very little if they are still cold from shipping/transporting. You should consider getting a light of some kind setup, preferably a day/night setup, to get day temps closer to 95°F daytime highs. Try putting the leo on the heat pad side, and get it warmed up, might help. You may also want to look into getting a fecal sample done, to check for parasites. If you have other leos, keep this one quarintined until you know that it has no parasites ect. Some leos are less active than others, so time will tell. Try a variety of foods too, not just mealworms, and make sure they are appropriate size. For a hatchling I use 2 week old crickets usually (but depends on your bug suppliers idea of 2 week crickets) A good measure is not to feed anything longer than distance between tip of nose and eyes. Mealworms are an exception IMO, but make sure they are very very small mealies.

Hope it helps.

[Ducksarefun]

I could get 95F no problem with the heatpad, but from everything I read, 85F was the recommended high.

I should also mention that he is doing much better today. I woke up this morning to catch him roaming around the humid hide and wandering around the tank. He's sleeping now.

I think a big problem was that my bf had a florescent light on, not knowing that albinos are sensitive to light.

(this is ducksarefun now, btw).

He seems fine to me, we just have to learn to cage the behavior of these new creatures - they're much different from cresties! Now, to fatten him up!

[clint545]

Well Done! Probably just getting used to his new surroundings:)

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Keep general lighting very low on the tank. If you can get 90°F that would be a little better for an albino.

[Ducksarefun]

Why do albinos need higher temperatures?

[Painted Desert]

Albino's don't need higher temps... but it is accepted practice to run temps 88-92F for hatchlings. You are bang on with the lighting.... that's exactly the reason her little eyes were squinted closed.:) I must admit, both my fattie and leo tanks are running 88F in the hot hide... and well into the high 90's, even just over 100 F ontop of Dragndrop's hothide setup. And where the heck are they??? Yup, up on top, speeding up those eggs for me! :D