Leopard Gecko

[nellie_nospu]

My 2 year old leopard gecko died this weekend
Now, given they can live 15 - 20 years so I've heard, something obviously went wrong.

I can rule out the following:
Lack of food - still have crickets running around now plus veg in tank to feed them
Lack of water - water dish shallow, filled, accessible.
Lack of fresh air - tank has mesh top, good ventilation.
Lack of heat - although the heat pad didn't feel warm (suspicious!) I had a light bulb set to come on at intervals (my house can get a bit chilly), plus the thermometer was always in the correct range.
Obvious illness / injury - no signs of anything wrong until rigor mortis set in...

Any ideas?
I recently swapped him/her into what I considered a better tank set up - would this cause a significant level of stress perhaps?

Feeding and bedding / general care, I followed what the pet shop said and sold, as there is so much conflicting advice around.

The "new" tank had previously housed gerbils, of course I washed it out with hot soapy water (wanting to avoid chemicals) - possibility of some bug lurking? But then wouldn't there be signs of illness?

Any ideas appreciated. I'm not going to rush out and buy another, maybe eventually, but I want to know what went wrong so I can avoid it in future.

 

[Esfa]

What substrate were you using?

 

[nellie_nospu]

Beech chippings as advised by pet store - that's what all theirs are on with no probs.

 

[cheesy feet]

Sorry for your loss.R.I.P.
Most likely impaction, as they hunt their prey they're pretty clumsy, with substrates such as sand or wood chippings they may swallow some while trying to catch their prey, over time this will build up and block their gut, so basically they die of constipation.I would try and get an autopsy done to be sure of the cause, they're not expensive.

 

[nellie_nospu]

Hmmm I was told to avoid sand for that reason but... it figures. Can't have an autopsy done as already disposed of body.
So what substrate is best then? Or even none i.e. the plain glass floor (only if heat mat external of course)?

Thanks for replies, live and learn I guess, though I hate messing things up esp when it costs a life

 

[Esfa]

kitchen roll or newspaper is the best, it just doesnt look very good.

 

[Snooks1!]

I always used a mixture of larger grained calci-sand and smooth river gravel in my Leo's tanks. Ridley was already 5 years old when I got her, and she lived for another 5 before dying of old age.

 

[Betta5]

beech chippings? its very unlikely he got impacted on that, and if he did you would be able to feel and prolly see them
sometimes things just die i guess, could be anything.

 

[guppy fan]

I leaned in my animal science class that the type of sope you use to clean an animals cage can harm them. My teacher told me that it is best to use detergents, like dish soap, to clean a mammals cage. I'm not shure about leoperd gekos though. What kind of soap did you use?

 

[cheesy feet]

beech chippings? its very unlikely he got impacted on that, and if he did you would be able to feel and prolly see them
sometimes things just die i guess, could be anything.

Think about it, when my Leo's go for food they go nuts and dive right into it, it could of easily ate more of that then actual crickets, I doubt you would be able to see them, but if a small amount got stuck at the anal cavity you would of probably been able to feel a hard lump..As you said though it could be something completely different.

 

[dzsigmond217]

I too had a leopard gecko that 'just died'. I was young at the time and didn't do enough research on the needs of a leopard gecko. I goto a website that has a lot of info on leopard gecko care. perhaps there was a variety of things that killed him? check out this site:

www.drgecko.com

Hope it helps!

 

[Betta5]

beech chippings? its very unlikely he got impacted on that, and if he did you would be able to feel and prolly see them
sometimes things just die i guess, could be anything.

Think about it, when my Leo's go for food they go nuts and dive right into it, it could of easily ate more of that then actual crickets, I doubt you would be able to see them, but if a small amount got stuck at the anal cavity you would of probably been able to feel a hard lump..As you said though it could be something completely different.

I couldn't see my biggest gecko fitting one of those wood chips down its throte, maybe it choked on one? Is it pine chips that i quite big or wood shavings? Its so annoying when they just die and you dont know

useful like BTW
http/homepage.mac.com/exoticdvm/reptile/PhotoAlbum181.html

 

[cheesy feet]

Betta5 your not thinking of bark stuff?Shavings are small and thin and easily ingested but usually pass right through, generally chippings are of medium size, like half the size of an adult cricket and a couple of mm thick.

 

[Betta5]

Betta5 your not thinking of bark stuff?Shavings are small and thin and easily ingested but usually pass right through, generally chippings are of medium size, like half the size of an adult cricket and a couple of mm thick.

Im not sure lol, the chips i get are bigger than that and coloured so were prolly both thinking different things.
but yeah, most likely causes, impaction, overheating (if not on a stat), stress. Did you suppliment the geckos food? MBD is also a very common, yet easily avoided cause of death in many reptiles.

 

[nellie_nospu]

Wow lots of replies!

Detergent - used ecover washing up liquid, only a few drops and well rinsed out.
Supplements - had a powder to sprinkle on crickets a few times a week
Chippings - NOT shavings, they were chunks generally fatter / chunkier than the crickets.

Maybe just "one of those things" but still