Healthy leopard gecko poop is dark brown at the bottom and yellow/white at the top. The yellow/white part makes up only ⅓ of the poop. The poop can also contain a little bit of liquid pee.
Healthy Leopard Gecko Poop
Healthy leopard gecko poop contains food waste, urates, and sometimes liquid pee.
The food waste is the solid brown part that makes ⅔ of the poop – it can even seem black. This part of your leopard gecko’s poop is usually round in shape, almost sausage-like.
It’s also firm instead of wet or runny. On top of the food waste, you’ll usually find urates – sometimes you’ll find them on the side of the waste, though.
These solid uric acid forms are usually round and yellow/white. Reptiles are known to produce these instead of liquid urine. Since leopard geckos are native to arid and semi-arid areas, they are particularly good at producing urates. This is because they always try to make the most of the water in their food.
Keep in mind that urates are not always rock solid. They can be gooey and contain a little bit of liquid pee if your leopard gecko is super hydrated.
Another thing that can show up in healthy leopard gecko poop from time to time is undigested skin. This is usually white/gray and is a result of your leopard gecko eating its skin during shedding.
Sick leopard gecko poop
White poop
While white poop can indicate that your leopard gecko is shedding or has ingested harmless cricket eggs, it can also be a sign of a health issue, such as parasites.
If you suspect that this is what’s happening, take your leopard gecko to the vet immediately. Another concerning reason for white poop is sand substrate ingestion. So if your gecko’s tank has sand in it and you notice this kind of poop, switch to another substrate.
Green poop
Green poop is an indication that your leopard gecko has eaten plants. So if you notice this, find out whether someone is feeding it plants and stop them.
Also, check whether there are any plants in its tank and remove them. After all, leopard geckos are not supposed to eat plants like bearded dragons and other lizards.
Yellow poop
This is a sign that there’s bile in your leopard gecko’s poop
. This usually happens when your leopard gecko has a fatty diet and its body releases more bile to digest the fat. So to avoid this, only offer fatty feeder insects as treats. These include butter worms and wax worms.
Offering these too often can even lead to obesity. A common sign of obesity is the depositing of fat under the leopard gecko’s arms.
Bloody poop
If you notice that your leopard gecko’s poop has some blood in it, you should take them to the vet.
This is usually a symptom of parasitic infection, especially when it’s accompanied by decreased appetite and weight loss. However, only a vet can figure out what kind of parasite your leopard gecko has.
Vets usually take a fecal sample and do a fecal float. If they suspect your gecko has Crypto, they will have to perform a special test – only a few vets can perform this test.
Whatever kind of parasite your vet finds in your leopard gecko, they will prescribe medication and advise you on how to avoid reinfection.
Some popular advice is to check any feeder insects for parasites and quarantine any infected reptiles. After all, parasites commonly spread through infected food or stool.
Leopard gecko poop textures
While healthy leopard gecko poop has a solid texture, other textures of poop exist. These include:
Soft poop
Soft poop can be a sign of parasitic infection or diet change. Most times, it’s a sign that you have quickly introduced new insects to your leopard gecko’s diet, and its digestive system hasn’t adjusted.
Another sign of this is the presence of undigested insects in the poop. However, things usually settle down with time.
To avoid this situation, always introduce new feeder insects slowly and in combination with the ones they’re used to.
For instance, if you usually feed your leopard gecko five crickets and want to introduce Dubia roaches, you can swap one of the crickets for a Dubia roach.
Once your leopard gecko is used to this, you can increase the number of Dubia roaches while decreasing the number of crickets. Aim to do this after every few meals.
Sandy poop
If your leopard gecko’s poop has a sandy texture and even has some sand in it, it has been eating some sand.
This is dangerous and can easily cause impaction. That’s why removing any sand from your leopard gecko’s tank is important when you notice this.
If you’ve been using it as a substrate, switch it to something safer like paper towels.
Does leopard gecko poop smell?
As long as it’s healthy, your leopard gecko’s poop will only have a mild smell. You’ll only notice it if you come close to the poop. And even then, the smell disappears with time.
Smelly leopard gecko poop is a sign of disease or bacterial presence in the poop. That’s why it’s important to remove poop from your leopard gecko’s tank regularly.
Why is it watery?
Diarrhea/watery stool can be caused by bacterial infection, stress, parasites, unhygienic living conditions, or ingestion of spoiled insects.
As such, it’s important to take your leopard gecko to the vet immediately if you notice its poop is watery.
The vet is the only one who can quickly diagnose your gecko and treat it. Diarrhea usually smells worse than normal poop and can even contain undigested feeder insects.
How often do leopard geckos poop?
Adult leopard geckos poop two to three times a week while babies and juveniles usually do it once a day. This is because babies and juveniles have a faster metabolism than adults and therefore eat more.
The former eat 5 to 10 insects a day while the latter eat 5 to 10 every 2 to 3 days. Generally, babies and juveniles have faster metabolisms since they’re still growing and need more energy than adults.
Why is your leopard gecko not pooping?
There are several reasons why a leopard gecko could not be pooping. For one, it could just not be eating enough. This can be a result of stress, parasites, or diseases.
Another common reason for no pooping is inappropriate tank temperatures. Since leopard geckos depend on external heat to regulate their temperatures and digest their food, cool temperatures can make them unable to digest anything. Ultimately, this will lead to the inability to poop.
Keep in mind that leopard geckos can also struggle to poop when they are moved to a new tank. This is because they are already used to pooping in a dedicated corner of their tank and the change is stressing them out. However, leopard geckos usually get used to their new environments with time.
When it comes down to it, the most dangerous and difficult-to-solve reason for a leopard gecko not pooping is impaction. This is a condition where your gecko’s digestive tract is blocked because they are dehydrated or ate something inappropriate. Impaction can be fatal and is not always treatable. You may even notice that your gecko is impacted when it’s too late. To help out an impacted gecko, you can feed it a drop of oil or massage its belly in a warm bath for 30 minutes.
Final thoughts
No matter how you look at things, the properties of your leopard gecko’s poop tell you a lot about its health. So as long as you provide a balanced diet, appropriate tank temperatures, and suitable tank conditions, your gecko’s poop will remain healthy.
