I woke up to a tapping noise and when I sat up I noticed my leopard gecko literally shaking her head back and forth so fast her tail was hitting the glass. She opened her mouth just a smidge in the process of doing this, I quickly got up and sat next to her tank to observe her. She would stop, sit there for a few minutes and then do it again. I then picked her up to look her over and she was not liking that so I placed her back in her tank. A few minutes later she crawled back into her moist hide and went to sleep… I have a camera set up by her tank but it can’t see in her hide…
My question is - what the heck was she doing?? Did she eat something too big and was trying to get it out or get it down? The only thing I know was in there was a medium sized dubia. (Escaped from me while I was feeding her yesterday) She’s a big girl too, weighs about 65g or so. I wouldn’t think that would be too big for her.
*I noticed a small bit of substrate in her mouth during the process of this.
She does not have the gene in her. I’m starting to think it was the dubia… I don’t see any other reason why. Shes very healthy and has never had any issues like this before.
The “enigma syndrome” can happen in more than those with the enigma gene, and is just most common in enigmas. Neurological issues can happen at random (with inbreeding increasing the chances). Keep an eye on her to see if she does it again because it could have been a seizure. I can’t tell if it was or not because you don’t have a recording of exactly how she was shaking. Also, to keep her from ingesting her substrate, switch to reptile carpet or you can use tiles. It is safer for them since impaction is a common concern for this species.
Very sad day yesterday, my babygirl passed after I had taken her to the emergency vet. They pulled what seemed like echo earth and a dubia from her throat that was stuck. My heart hurts terribly. I will never put substrate in my leos tanks ever again. She passed away after they had removed everything.
I spent several moments today trying to gather myself emotionally. She was such a sweet girl and I honestly never thought that would have ever happened. I feel like I have lost a child. Its a horrible thing to go through and I also have learned from this. I will never keep substrate in my babies enclosures any longer.
I have lost pets due to old age mainly but I’ll admit I had a few mishaps along the way when I was starting out. It will always suck to lose a animal but as time goes on it will get easier and at least you can use this as a lesson and take something valuable away from this experience.
She passed away after they had removed everything.