r/leopardgeckos

I had a feeling that she wanted to explore because when she was resting on my hand she kept getting up to peer over outside her enclosure and down below the floor of my room.

I was really happy because when I lifted up my hand to hover, she started walking up my arm.

But I also understand they don’t have a concept of depth and that there is a drop after they walk off your hand, so I stopped recording as she got close to the edge to have a second hand ready to stop or catch her if she falls.

At this point I held my arm in deeper in her enclosure so shes not so close to the edge.

Then I brought her out slowly and pressed my arm against my shirt and she crawled up my shirt!! And licked (investigated) my neck a few times

At that point I started to slowly mount my bed so if she should fall it’s safer.

Ive had her for a little over 6 weeks. What do you think about this progress?

My baby girl didn't make it. She was only 6. She fought to the end. I feel horrible, I feel like I didn't do enough to save her. Olive started rapidly losing weight in August and became very lethargic, and she started finding it really difficult to eat live food. Even after 3 vet appointments, 2 dewormer doses, daily force feeding (with a vets guidance) and appetite stimulant medication she wouldn't get any bigger than 30g. She had no interest in food at all. I remember the vet saying about a week ago before she told us to start force feeding her, "She hasn't given up on life, so that's a good sign". But the vet couldn't do a blood test to find out if something else was wrong because it would have killed her.

During a force feeding, we got some food in her eye which I wiped away with a q-tip, but she didn't lick the rest off her eye. It turned into an eye infection, for which I was meant to take her to the vet in an hours time. She had been in pain, shaking her head with her mouth open - it broke my heart to see her like that. It took a couple days to notice there was something wrong because she had been so lethargic she was barely opening her eyes anyway, then we realised she couldn't open her left eye too late.

She was starting to get some energy back, not sure if she was gaining any weight, but I guess the eye infection was the straw that broke the camels back and we weren't quick enough. Her fragile little body was too weak to fight off an infection, or maybe her organs were already shutting down and that's why she had no interest in food. I cancelled her vet appointment in tears. Even after feeding her daily with critical care, her scale said 30g. She never started hunting live food again.

I had already accepted her passing away until the vet told us to forcefeed her - once we got into the rhythm I naively got super hopeful that she was gonna make it. I was confident. So it's hit even harder than when I had no hope.

What hurts the most is how horrible those last few weeks of her life were. She didn't want any food at all. Not even a wax worm would interest her. She should've been getting fat from wax worms. Her last week of memories of me was being held captive while we forced food down her throat. Trying to escape. She wasn't scared of me, she still trusted me and I'm grateful for that. But I wish all the torture we put her through wasn't for nothing, and I wish it wasn't so close to the end.

I forcefed her this morning. We had gotten so good at it. Then, 6 hours later, I watched her pass away. She was just resting out in the open. She writhed and breathed heavily, then splooted. I kept an eye on her waiting for her to writhe again and then 5 minutes later I realised she was floppy. I wish I had had her on my lap, so she could have passed away with my warmth underneath her, feeling safe and comforted. Its unbearable knowing she probably died in pain and discomfort. I sobbed my eyes out holding her floppy little body just repeating how sorry I was and baby talking to her. I really feel like I failed her, and I should never have a pet again.

Goodbye Olive. You are so, so loved and I'm sorry we couldn't make the end more comfortable for you ❤️‍🩹 I miss you so much already

ETA Thanks everyone for your kind messages, I know I'm being hard on myself and I really appreciate everyone who's taken the time to give me a bit of comfort 🦎💖

I filled up Mavis’s water bowl as one does and this was my repayment 😭🤦‍♀️

My boy

Bro was just a shy baby when I got him...fast-forward 7 months and he does this every night until I open the door for him to lay in the palm of my hand lol. He's literally a mini dog. Love this dude

The silicone fumes are just about gone, so Cyrus should be able to get back into his home tomorrow when I get home from work (the pool module itself is very well-ventilated as well, but I’m leaving the door open for the next 20 hours at the time of typing this post text out.

I’ll make a less janky-looking version of the pool later, was sort of on a time crunch since I need to get this done before I’m out of town for two weeks. Anyone who has seen Cyrus’ posts before knows he can freely hunt in enclosure (he’s good at it, too), and the pool is just another thing meant to make things easier for his babysitter. I’ll do one last beetle cull before I leave town to keep from having too many adult Darkling Beetles running around, but… yeah, I’m otherwise done. This enclosure was always meant to require minimal maintenance, but I hope to one day make his 380-415 gallon forever home even better than this one since I know what does/doesn’t work.

So I heard you should have uvb over their favorite basking spot so I moved my puck shaped uvb over it thinking it would benefit her and I came how from school to see shee looked a little weird and didn't eat. Should of been my sight to remove the uvb but I didn't know what it was so the next day after I get home from school I notice she looks worse I figure maybe it's the uvb so I immidetly removed it. It's been a few days and not much has changed, her skin is kind of flaky and raw looking so I gave her a warm soak to hopefully help soothe and hydrate her skin. But I need to know if there's anything I can do to help her

Hi everyone I’m looking to upgrade my Leo’s new enclosure she is in a 40 gallon but I’m not sure what uk measurements they are. What would everyone recommend as the next sizing up as we don’t really use gallons. I just want something a little bigger with a mesh top in order to make sure my girl gets the best.

My beautiful, idiot daughter.

Our first lizard ever. My son named her Luna. She's a rescue about 1yr. Old

I got my Leo Gibble August 19th and today they finally felt comfortable enough to crawl on and off my hand 😭💜 Last week he licked it twice so I’m really happy with the progress! (Im unable to sex them yet, I’ve resulted to calling Gibble a he just because it just made it easier, once I can sex him tho and he turns out to be a girl I’ll just address her as such :) )