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Dart has a warm soak for his alleged constipation issue

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We changed up Dart’s habitat after deciding to give his tank accessories a good clean in the tub. This temporary change must’ve confused Dart, because he poops everyday but he didn’t in his regular spot for 3 days. Our research taught us how to handle a constipated gecko: soak the gecko in shallow, warm water for 20-30 minutes and gently massage its belly. I told the kids I would get the water ready, but they would have to do the rest.

Dart endured two warm baths and still those remedies did nothing to encourage his bowel movements. While the kids were feeding him live crickets, I did a full tank clean up when I discovered the perfectly camouflaged poop in the new shreds of brown felt I made for his warm, basking spot. I didn’t see it when I picked it up but noticed it when I was about to toss it in the trash. Yuck! Are you serious?!

It seems the adjustment in his tank accessories got him confused and us, overly fussy about him being unwell. Now I know. I will not change his tank set-up or get creative with it; doing so creates more problems for us…ahem…I mean, me.

Overall, it was a positive learning experience in learning how to responsibly care for one’s pets and targeting a specific health issue for a gecko. Something new pops up for us every week with our gecko and the kiddos are seriously invested in properly caring for him. If anything new pops up, we’ll share with you here!

First soak in a plastic container. Dart looks confused and wanted to climb out of that container as fast as he could. He still had not pooped the next day.
Second soak the next afternoon. He was less agitated and seemed to enjoy the warm water. But his look says otherwise…more like resigned to the current situation.
Drying off and feeling clean! Relieved to be out of that pool of water.
He didn’t care too much for this small hippo stuffie.
Happy to be free from the assumption that he was constipated!

Categories: #reptiles Animals learning with kids Leopard Gecko Leopard gecko pet Mom lIfe Nature observations and thoughts Personal growth Play Raising kids

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singlikewildflowers

Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!

3 replies ›

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