Issue with feeding...

  • Thread starter evilxyardxgnome
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evilxyardxgnome

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So my oldest leo seems to show no excitement towards food at all. She is about 10 months old now. All the younger ones eat readily and even the patternless that is about 8 months that she is housed with eats. I usually feed with tongs so I know that bullying isn't an issue. She has a decently sized tail and her tummy is fairly plump. She just shed last night but still seems to show interest in the humid hide. Could she be ovalating? She has been like this for a couple of weeks. To be honest I havent seen her eat but she is extremly active. Always wondering around the tank. On top of the fake tree that I have in the tank. My 2 females are housed in a 20 long with a hot end of 95 degrees and the cool end is usually around 75 degrees. The room temp in the room is fairly warm. She doesn't seem sluggish so I think I can rule out that the temp isn't too low.

Here is a couple updated shots from last thursday. First one you can see the tail...
DSCN9988.jpg

DSCN9990.jpg
 
eyelids

eyelids

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She could be ovulating... That would be my guess as well...

Btw, I wouldn't consider her tail to be of decent size... Sorry... Just my opinion... If she's not going to be mated I'd move her to her own enclosure to be sure she isn't getting stressed which could be why she's spending more time in her hide...
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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No, you miss read me. She is active, and not spending a lot of time in the hides. She isn't housed with a male so I don't see why keeping 2 females together is a problem if not mating? I guess the tail isn't that big, but it isn't terribly skinny.
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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I have tried feeding: crickets, wax worms, meal worms, giant meal worms, and super meal worms. She isn't showing any excitement towards food.
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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Ok maybe I should refrase it, what I ment by she won't leave the humide hide is, she hangs out near the enterance of it. She leaves it and then goes back to it. I already checked for eggs and nothing was in there.
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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Really? I mean its not huge like a lot of tails. But come on, its not deathyly skinny.
 
Leopardbreeder

Leopardbreeder

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I think it would be best to see if deworming helps.. Its not TERRIBLE, but it needs to get bigger (Which isnt hard). Maybe someone else has some more opinions on this.
 
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Rejoice in the Lord

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Deathly thin, no; but to me, she does looks small and thin for ten months old. But then, my girl grew faster than most!

She even looks thinner than my now six month old rescue who had some severe health problems and was hardly bigger than a hatchling at two months.

My guess is that she is stressed by being housed with the other leo, and so is refusing to eat for you. I would suggest giving her a home of her own, making sure the temps are right on, letting her settle in, and see if her appetite will pick up over the course of a few weeks.

For comparison, here is my girl at two months old
Boo07inhand2.jpg


and here she is at 9 months old;
boo23.jpg


And finally, a picture of the little rescue at about five months old
1-08mokeyinhandcropped.jpg
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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How do you get your gecko to grow like that? I have been feeding a varied diet of mainly crickets with superworms, giant meal worms, and waxies every other day and I cannot get their tails to grow like that. Is there something I am missing?
 
acpart

acpart

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evilxyardxgnome said:
How do you get your gecko to grow like that? I have been feeding a varied diet of mainly crickets with superworms, giant meal worms, and waxies every other day and I cannot get their tails to grow like that. Is there something I am missing?
Click to expand...

I can think of 2 reasons: some geckos are just destined to be smaller. This past season I had 2 clutchmates where one was growing bigger than the other. I separated them, each into her own enclosure so there'd be no competition for food. By the time I sold them, one was twice the weight of the other and as big as my holdback who is 3 months older.

It also may depend on what you're feeding your feeders. I've been using progeckos gutload with veggie scraps and do seem to get better gecko weights, but there's still the occasional small one.

Aliza
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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You feed the gutload to your meal worms I take it? How do you keep your meal worms?
 
curiousKathy

curiousKathy

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evilxyardxgnome said:
How do you get your gecko to grow like that? I have been feeding a varied diet of mainly crickets with superworms, giant meal worms, and waxies every other day and I cannot get their tails to grow like that. Is there something I am missing?
Click to expand...


How are yo gutloading your insects? The food you provide the insects before feeding really makes the difference with how much weight gain you get on your leos.

As for your original question, I have found that my leos won't eat for at least a day sometimes two right after shedding. It could be that she is full from eating her shed and she will eat in a day or two....just something else to ponder...

curiousKathy
 
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mynewturtle

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I have a jungle het raptor who has a tail like that checked for parasites, worms, fecal test nothing. IMO some geckos are just difrent this gecko eats 2 supers a day and 7 mealies so it's not lack of food. :main_thumbsup:
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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I feed the crickets, cricket feed as well as those orange liquid cubes that contain vitamins and what not. The mealworms I keep in oatmeal, but I will start to feed them veggies I suppose.
 
R

Rejoice in the Lord

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Boo is a cricket eater, and Mokey is a superworm eater. I do gutload all my feeder insects with my own home-made gutload, and give them a variety of kitchen vegetable scraps for their drink.

If stress is not the problem your gecko is facing, your gecko is not genetically designed to be small, and parasites are not the issue, it could be the gutload. My dry gutload mix is made with rolled 9-grain (like rolled oats), dry dog food, alfalfa, dandilion greens, and unsalted mixed nuts. The crickets get a lot more dandilion greens, and really seem to love them! It isn't uncommon for the leaves to disappear before the rest of the food does. I pick them from my yard (no pesticides I am sure) wash them, and put them in a hot car to dry.
 
Golden Gate Geckos

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Your gecko seems a little small for her age. Being housed with other females can stress them out, especially if she is getting bullied or is not assertive during feeding time. She could also be ovulating, which can cause them to lose their appetite.

Assuming they have belly heat of 90 degrees on part of their enclosure (a UTH), you may want to get a routine fecal exam performed to rule out pinworms... especially if the geckos are fed crickets.
 
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evilxyardxgnome

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She is the older one in the tank, and was always the bully. I am going to divide the tank in half and see if it helps.
 
B

blizzard

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seems small to me too, just an opinion though. some geckos are small some are huge. you may want to try electrolytes in her water. mine wouldn't eat for like 2 weeks-she may have been ovulating-but she was losing weight so...i mixed a little gatorade in her water and she started eating within a few days.
 
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