Living Off Slurry During Winter? Slurry vs. Repta-Aid?

Hello all,

I've posted a couple of times in the past about my older gecko. As I've previously said, his enclosure is perfectly maintained and he's visited the vet many times but he seems to stop eating completely during winter. The vet believes it's the season and because of his old age. I usually keep him healthy with repta aid and coaxing him to eat one or two live feeders here and there but recently he has been losing weight.

What I'm wondering is, why I can't just create a slurry of gut loaded meal worms and crickets using a small blender and feed him via syringe during the winter. Why would that be any different than eating himself? He takes the repta aid fine but it's not helping him gain weight, wouldn't gut loaded feeders be better? Of course I'll keep offering him live food but as he's so old he just can't afford to lose the weight this winter.

Are there any negatives to doing this? I don't see why it isn't the best option. I'd like to hear your thoughts and advice on this.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Please excuse any spelling or format errors as I am on mobile.

I don't think I saw your other posts, but have you considered simply trying to maintain a steady environment so he doesn't know it's winter? For example, keeping up an artificial light cycle that mimics summer (12-14 hours of daylight) and raising the ambient room temperature or cage temperature with a ceramic heat emitter.

While slurry is fine, if he really doesn't feel like eating, constantly shoving food into him is going to be stressful for an old, stubborn gecko. I would take his lack of appetite as a sign that his system isn't really ready to process food effectively.

Thanks for the suggestion, that is exactly what I do. His entire environment temps, lighting, and humidity are unchanged from summer.

I agree that it's more stressful on him then just letting him be but with his weight loss what are my other options? If he was just maintaining weight like he used to do when be was younger I'd be happy to let him have his way but he is not.

What is his weight range? I have a stubborn gecko that usually not only doesn't eat all winter (there have been years where he's eaten NOTHING between Nov. and May) but also gets an upper respiratory infection. His weight varies between 65-85 grams, so if he's 65 grams by the end of the winter, it's not the end of the world. ( This year, he actually is eating occasionally and is still 83 grams). Is he losing so much weight that it's dangerous for him? You idea sounds possible and I don't think it would hurt to try. The real question is whether you'll be able to get him back on "real" food when it warms up. I have a gecko that I've been hand feeding (whole feeders) for years. It's inconvenient, but she's 11 and it isn't going to work any other way. Good luck with him.

Aliza

He used to be a steady 96-98 grams about two-three years ago and every winter he has progressively decreased. This year has been the worse, he didn't eat great in the summer and every time I've taken him to the vet he has lost weight. He weighed in around the mid to low 60's when we were at the vet three weeks ago.

So he is losing weight more than he ever has, which is what makes me so concerned and he is also showing zero interest in food. The vet said to continue using the Repta-aid when necessary but he's just not gaining weight on that and so I was thinking that maybe pureeing his normal food would be a better option. I've been hand feeding him for years now anyway, he's not quite fast enough any more to hunt on his own so if he is eating live feeders its from tongs. Normally he comes to the entrance of his warm hide and waits for me to offer him some food, when he's being stubborn he usually comes to the entrance but doesn't eat, however, since his last vet visit he isn't even coming to check out food options.

I agree that getting him back on live feeders would be the challenge but honestly he hasn't eaten really well for years so if this was good for him and a valid way to get him the needed food it would almost be a better option. I'm just wondering if there are any problems that could be caused by doing this, I often see posts about leopard geckos not eating and often passing away because of it and I always wonder if there's a problem with feeding them a pureed version of their normal food (because nobody seems to be doing it successfully or at all). Is the issue that people just can't feed their Leo's liquid food easily? If that's the case, I have no problem, he's very calm and very familiar with me so he simply sits and licks up the food off of the syringe.

Thanks for your response, good to hear from another owner who has a stubborn gecko. I believe it all comes down to age, he ate perfectly fine until he hit about 14 and began to have problems with his eyesight, he's healthy other than a few chronic problems (stuck eye shed and mouth issues) so the vet's think that it's just because he's getting older.

If you have the patience to feed puree and he's willing to eat it, go for it, especially at his age.

Aliza