My new leo is being such a tease

[Phantom240]

Okay, so from a logical standpoint, about how long does it usually take for a new leo to start feeding? I got mine yesterday, and she's been in her new home for over 24 hours. She seems normal... comes out around 5:00 - 6:00 in the evening to explore and lick EVERYTHING, pokes her head in the food bowl with the mealies, licks one, then walks off. I was really hoping she'd start eating soon because she just shed last night, and seeing her eat would reassure me that all is well in her world. Is there anything I can do to entice her, or is it merely a waiting game?

 

[LepoInc]

Has she pooped since the shed?

Sent via Tapatalk whilst caring for Eublepharis macularis'

 

[Phantom240]

She pooped once last night, an hour or two after she finished shedding. Not much to it, really. The breeder said she hadn't eaten much in the couple days leading up to the shed. Also, this breeder is based in Dallas, so I assume she was packed up for at least a couple days before the expo. It was a solid white mass, not too big. Some clear liquid to it as well, but that dried up rather quickly. Might have possibly been a bunch of calcium. When it was dry and hard, I picked it up out of the cage to get a better look at it, and it shimmered a bit. Probably not a huge deal. I did get her to eat a couple big mealies tonight when she came out to roam. I picked them up and held them in front of her. She wasn't super interested, but she did get a couple in before retiring to her hide. I think it's just an acclimation thing, I hope. Otherwise, she seems fairly normal. Roams around for a bit, wide eyed, etc.

 

[LepoInc]

There ya go. and it was probably shed poop if it was whitish (not the urates)

Sent via Tapatalk whilst caring for Eublepharis macularis'

 

[Phantom240]

That would have been a mighty fast pass through the digestive system. I dunno how fast they typically digest, so I guess I'll just check tomorrow before and after work to see if the mealworms made it all the way through. Perhaps she just doesn't like mealies. I'll give crickets a shot in a deal days if she doesn't pick up on her own.

 

[Phoenix1115]

A few mealies on the second day home is pretty good! Most go off for a week. One of mine went off for 2 months!

 

[Phantom240]

I know. Maybe I'm just being extreme, but it breaks my heart to see my leo not eat.

 

[Phantom240]

Hopefully, my being at work all day will help her relax a bit. I'm sure my squeaky chair bothered her at least a couple times. I'd change positions, and she'd open her eyes, then go back to sleep. lol.

 

[SC Geckos]

Every gecko is different when it comes to getting comfortable in a new home. Some will eat right out of the box while others can take a few days to even a week... In some more rare cases even longer. This is why many of us stress getting animals from reputable breeders to ensure you are getting a healthy animal to start with that can take several days of not eating and getting use to new surroundings with no ill effects. I don't know where you purchased your animal but this is just a general statement not directed at anyone.

It sounds like everything is normal just make sure the warm side temp is in the correct range (90-93), give her a few days to herself to get comfortable with her new home and she should come around.

 

[lisa127]

Mine ate his first day home. But I will tell you after a shed he does not eat for a good 2 to 3 days. That is pretty normal.

 

[Phantom240]

I have my thermometer and thermostat probes in the sand under the slate tile underneath her warm hide, and it hovers between 91.8 and 93.5 degrees. I keep my room really cold when I'm home, so I have an infrared lamp, 60w, on top of the cage to keep the tiles a little warmer when I'm sleeping, because I'd wake up in the morning and put my hand on the tiles outside her hide, and they'd be considerably cooler. On her cool side, the tiles were cold. I'd estimate 70-72. I figured putting the light to shine on the tiles next to her hut would help her feel more comfortable coming out, and providing a more gradual gradient. She has some flat stones I stacked and leaned to give her multiple places to hide on her cool side.

One other thing that concerns me is that I haven't seen her drink. Her water bowl is easily accessible and on the cool side of the tank. She's walked through it (like a clumsy oaf) multiple times, so you can imagine I've spent a bit of time cleaning and refilling it, in an attempt to keep her from drinking water she's walked through.

I think I bought myself a bunch of drama when I bought her. She was on the verge of shedding, stressed from being packaged and sold, then brought home with me on a bumpy ride to a house where I probably bug her a lot trying to make sure everything is to her satisfaction. LMAO. I think everything is where it should be now, so I shouldn't have to bug her much except to change her water and put her makeshift food dish into her enclosure.

I don't know where you purchased your animal but this is just a general statement not directed at anyone.

It sounds like everything is normal just make sure the warm side temp is in the correct range (90-93), give her a few days to herself to get comfortable with her new home and she should come around.

I got her from the reptile show that was a couple hours from me. The breeder/company is Holy Grail Geckos. He had a good many leos and crested geckos, and I had emailed him a few times prior to the show asking about a gecko listed on the website. He seemed like an okay guy. None of his geckos seemed to have any deficiencies or abnormalities, so I take it he's at least competent, if nothing else.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

You will want the thermostat probe on top of the tile, as the temperature there will be different from the temperature in the sand under the tile. Your thermostat should be controlling how warm the floor of the tile is where your gecko will be laying on. Having the cold side at 70-72 is indeed on the low side. You could raise the temperature a bit by using a ceramic heat emitter. CHE's emit heat without light, which is deal for leopard geckos as leopard geckos are crepuscular. As you've seen, your gecko comes out around 5-6pm in the evening, which is crepuscular behavior where they are most active at dawn & dusk (during fading light). Having a light shining on his hide would actually make him hide more. So I would stick with the CHE if you need to raise the ambient temperature a bit.

They don't always drink water from the water dish, they get majority of their moisture from their food, and sometimes they'll drink from condensation within the moist hide. It's normal if you don't see your leopard gecko drink. She could be drinking when you aren't around as she'll be up roaming the tank when you are sleeping. The thing you want to watch out for is her urate, the white portion of her feces. If she's well hydrated the urate should be white. If the urate is yellow then it could indicate she's a bit dehydrated. Just make sure she has a proper warm moist hide and she'll be fine.

 

[Phantom240]

I'm hoping she makes a stool this evening, so I can inspect it.

That would be totally weird out of context.

Anyway, I was going to get a CHE, but the only pet store that was open yesterday had only two choices in stock, a 150w and a 100w. Both would be massive overkill, especially with the UTH, and the tank only being 12" tall. I'll be getting a 40w to see how well it does. I've been told they put out way more heat than an infrared bulb of the same wattage. Is this true? Also, what's wrong with putting the temp on the underside of the tiles? Wouldn't that be more accurate than on top, where it will also be influenced by ambient air temps? What would be the best way to put the probes on the tile?

Also, she does seem to be quite active at night. She woke me up twice last night by climbing the foam background. You wouldn't believe how noisy that is. That infernal squeaking....

Back to the topic at hand, she ate two giant mealworms last night. That's less than I'd expect a normal adult leo to eat, and I also had to pester her a bit to even get that much feed response, but I figure it's a combination of acclimation and post shed. She only had a tiny bit of brown in her first stool (I'd imagine that's due to not eating prior to shed), and her urates were a nice bright white color. She also had quite a bit of clear liquid along with it. No funny odors or residue. I didn't stick my face in it, of course, but I did wipe up the bulk of it while it was fresh.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Your gecko will be laying on the tile floor, that's why your thermostat should be controlling the temperature of the tile floor rather than under it. You can tape the probe down to the tile floor, or place a decor over the probe to keep it flat.

You definitely should go with a lower wattage CHE, somewhere around 40-60w should do fine. It's only there to supplement the UTH, not act like a replacement, so it doesn't need to be high wattage.

I would recommend purchasing regular sized mealworms rather than giant. Giant mealworms are treated with growth hormones to inhibit their pupating, which is how they get so large. I prefer feeders being as natural as they can be. If the lil one is eating 2 giant mealworms, that's probably equivalent to 5-6 standard sized mealworms. And that's pretty good for a gecko that size.

 

[Phantom240]

From what I've read, it's merely the juvenile hormone they're treated with that makes them grow large, which is a naturally occurring hormone. I'd imagine it wouldn't have any adverse effects, but I'm not an expert. The only shop that was open yesterday was out of stock of large mealies, so it was giants or little piddly mealies. I don't plan to use them as a staple, which is why I only got the 25 count tub. I'll eventually get her crickets and I want to try phoenix worms, dubia and silkworms, but for now I won't be making any big feeder purchases until she gets into the habit of eating... and I don't want an entire colony of crickets chirping away in my room all night if I don't get the satisfaction of watching them get digested, like some sort of sick retribution. LOL.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

That sounds completely fair. Variety is definitely an important part of having healthy leopard geckos. So it's good that you are already planning to offer a varied diet.

 

[Phantom240]

I've been doing a ton of research on what diets provide the best nutrition, and mealworms won't be the staple. Crickets will likely be every other feeding, and mixing it up with dubia, silkworms (I hear they're stupid easy to cultivate, though relatively expensive), and occasionally butter worms (provided I can get them relatively easily). Mealies will be offered only when other options aren't available... however, it's looking like she doesn't seem to like them at all.

As far as supplements, every feeding will get calcium without phosphorous or D3. Once or twice a week, I'll add Herptivite to the mix, and once or twice a month she'll get calcium WITH D3.

That's the plan, at least, unless anyone with more experience can correct any problems with my idea.

 

[Phantom240]

I think she's just picky or dumb. LOL. I took a few more giant mealworms out today, because she seemed to be fairly active this evening, coming out of her hide as soon as I got home. She roamed around a bit before returning to her warm hide, but didn't go to sleep, so I figured she might be looking for food. Took some giants out of the fridge (I think it was four of them), and let them warm up and get active again. Set the makeshift dish near her hide, and she didn't show much interest. Again, I picked one up, and held it in the air for her. She looked at it attentively, went in for the strike but ended up getting my finger instead, because of how the worm was moving (lol). Second time, she got it. I gave her another like that, and she took it as well. Set a couple down, she grabbed the both of them. So I took a few more out, and she didn't seem as interested. I think her appetite is finally starting to come back. Good to see that at least a little food is getting inter her system. Might not be enough to maintain that fat tail, but at least I know she isn't starving. Tomorrow I'll try for six to eight of em. I think she has really poor eyesight, even for a leo.

 

[indyana]

Yay for eating! My gecko rescue has really bad aim as well. I invested in a pair of those long feeding tongs... just couldn't bring myself to try to hold a squirming cricket for him. >_<

As for feeder variety, I've been trying out new things too. I am just finishing raising my first batch of silkworms. My warning to you is that I had WAY too many for my gecko and blue-tongue skink to consume before they grew oversized. I bought a small petri dish of 200 eggs, and I swear I ended up with more than that. The vast majority of them are now jumbo sized and starting to make cocoons. It might be worth investing in bulk, diapaused eggs (that you can refrigerate) and raising them up in much smaller batches. Either that, or start feeding them off when they are tiny. My mistake was probably waiting for them to get a decent size.

 

[Phantom240]

lol. I hear they grow pretty slow. In any case, I don't think she's 100% out of the woods as far as a possible parasite or eating disorder, but it's good to see that when it's put in her face, she will accept SOME food. I'm going to pay the vet a visit as soon as I can afford and have the time to do so. They told me it would be $42 for an exam, but getting the time off to do so is going to be the killer for me. The nearest reptile vet is about an hour away.