Leopard Gecko screaming at tail

bunnigerm · 03-22-20, 11:06 PM

hi! I'm new to owning reptiles and I was gifted a Leopard Gecko around 8 months ago, when he was around 4 months old, from a PetSmart, and everything has been fairly normal. But recently I've noticed He (or she, were not sure), has been bending around to look at their tail and "screaming" or squeaking. But I can't seem to find out why anywhere on the internet. So if anyone has any suggestions on what's up, or what we should do please let me know!

Veronica · 03-23-20, 06:05 AM

Screaming is a fear/pain response. Squeaking tends to be anger or discomfort. Is there anything that might be causing that? Is he going into shed maybe? Even something like a reflection in the glass might make him angry

dangernoodles · 03-23-20, 09:09 AM

I´d look into all the possibilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veronica

Screaming is a fear/pain response. Squeaking tends to be anger or discomfort.

It could be because they are being defensive to a reflection in the glass, towards another animal, or even you. (but I doubt that, since 8 months is plenty of time to tame down)

It could be that he has some kind of injury, but it especially hurts when he bends to look at his tail. I´d give him a close examination.

Possible injuries: (I have no clue what your husbandry is, so forgive me if I make any false assumptions.)
-If you use a UTH as a heat source, it could have overheated and burnt him.
-If you use a plastic tub that you cut holes in and did not sand the holes down, it is possible he could have been cut by one of these holes.
-If you use sand for your substrate (calcium sand) it is possible he could have ingested it, leading to impaction.
-If you are using a heat rock as source of heat, its very likely he could have been burnt by the heat rock. (DO NOT USE HEAT ROCKS FOR REPTILES!)
-If its a she, it could be problems with egg binding, although I have no idea how gecko reproduction works.
-If you´ve ruled out all the above possibilities, it could be parasites or prolapse. (Prolapse is a serious health problem where, basically, an internal organ is on the outside their body.)

Can anyone else think of any possibilities?

chairman · 03-23-20, 10:50 AM

Determining the sex of your gecko is pretty easy. Hold the gecko in your hand and gently lift up the tail, looking at the base of the tail. Males with have two very pronounced bumps. Here's my male's bumps:

https://imgur.com/a/g4GlAgh#m9Ak9vs

By screaming, do you mean it is making the "gecko" noise? As in, the vocalization kind of sounds like the word gecko? That's the only noise mine has made, he does it when annoyed.

The only health issue that I had with my gecko was an injury from a feeder. A superworm bit his foot and it got infected. All I had to do was clean out the wound a do chlorhexidine soaks for about a week. Chlorhexadine 2% is a wound cleaner when diluted per the instructions on the container. It is not effective against coronavirus so it should be in stock at Tractor Supply or similar stores.

If you can describe your enclosure, heat source, etc, using about 4 posts to do it, then you can upload pictures of the gecko (and the enclosure). That would help.

bunnigerm · 03-23-20, 01:06 PM

well they hasve only been fed mealworms, waxworms, and crickets (but they were extremely bad at catching them so he never ate any.) I tried to remove all of the uneaten crickets from the enclosure. But do any of these other worms bite?

chairman · 03-25-20, 10:54 AM

Mealworms and some cricket species would be able to cause a minor injury with a bite.

My leopard gecko has been living in a bioactive enclosure with a self-sustaining superworm colony for years and I've only had an issue that one time. I think that it is fairly rare for a bite to cause an issue.

I noticed that you said, "they." Is there more than one gecko living in the enclosure?

dangernoodles · 03-25-20, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chairman

I noticed that you said, "they." Is there more than one gecko living in the enclosure?

I think they are referring to their leopard gecko as ¨they¨ because they are unsure of the sex, despite the advice you gave earlier.

chairman · 03-25-20, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dangernoodles

I think they are referring to their leopard gecko as ¨they¨ because they are unsure of the sex, despite the advice you gave earlier.

Entirely possible, they just kept switching back and forth between "they" and "he" in the same sentence. Not trying to be the grammar police, just attempting to figure out if there is more than one lizard involved.

bunnigerm · 03-25-20, 09:03 PM

Im pretty sure that they are female now thank you for your advice, yes there is only one lizard in the tank. I've looked pretty throughly over her and I can't find any cuts or any visible injuries, is there anything internally that could be happening???

ClockwerkBonnet · 03-25-20, 11:33 PM

Like dangernoodles suggested, a few possibilities for internal problems are an impaction or (since the lizard is likely a female) trouble egg binding. Internal parasites is another.