This is a follow up to this thread. My thanks to everyone who gave me advice. What was given helped with what care I could offer, on top of helping me to gain a better understanding as to what was going on.
I only had her for about five months. And in 3.5 of those she had diet/appetite problems, as described in that thread.
Getting crickets for her helped, as I doubt she would have lasted as long as she did had she not been eating them. Nevertheless, the last few in her cage when she died were all grown up, so she probably was too weak to catch them. I feel guilty for not having bought more little ones. I went to NYC this weekend to visit my sister, and she suggested sugar water fed through a syringe. Unfortunately, when I went to turn on the cage lights today, the lizard was dead.
The guys who I’m staying with in a house this summer were great about taking care of her as far as the lights and water were concerned, and they noticed that she had stopped moving on friday. I saw her moving around on thursday, so she must have died sometime around then.
Although I’m relieved that she’s not suffering, “Eubli” will be missed.
I still have the petco box that I took her home in. I put her in that with a little bit of substrate sand, cut down the sides a bit, folded them in, and carefully wrapped most of the box in duct tape. I’m going to bury her little cave-rock on top of that in some bushes near what’s a pretty busy walkway during the year. She always liked to watch people.
I’m sorry to hear about your gecko. I have a bearded dragon, and I’m always terrified that something’s going to go wrong with her health. Reptiles are pretty fragile when all is said and done, mainly because by the time you realize they’re sick, they’re usually extremely sick. It sounds like you took very good care of her.
If the time comes that you feel you want to get another pet reptile, you might try looking at specialty stores or going directly to breeders. I’ve heard a lot of stories about the health problems that are common in lizards from the major pet stores and from careless breeders. Your little Eubli may have had a serious health problem from the start. If you do come to want another lizard, you might check with some of the online communities for advice about how to get the healthiest pet you can, and how to keep it healthy. Melissa Kaplan has an excellent site at http://www.anapsid.org/.
It’s good that you have plans for her burial. When we lost our hamster last year, we felt better knowing that we buried him in a special place. I hope you’ll find some comfort in having some kind of memorial for her.