2 weeks post-shipment & still not eating

[SamsonizeMe]

My new girl is 13 days post-shipment and still completely uninterested in food. As she is the first leo I have had shipped, I have no idea if this is normal. I understand the act of shipping can be stressful, and cause them to go off food.

She is not underweight or anything, and not showing any signs of being unduly stressed out. Sleeps a lot, active at night. Alert and inquisitive when awake. She is sensitive to sound and quick movements, though. But so is one of my boys, and that seems to be just the way he is.

She is housed alone in a 15-gallon long tank, on tile, with UTH. Temps are perfect. No lamp, she's albino. Next to the window, but no direct sunlight. There are 3 hides available; a moist hide lined with sphagnum moss, an arched piece of cork bark, and a coconut shell. There is also a water dish and a branch. She prefers the moist hide, and is in it most of the time. She occasionally comes out to explore the whole setup. She had two healthy poops from the food that she "packed" for her trip, then one tiny poo consisting only of urate. I have tried coercive feeding tactics, with only small success - 1 cricket, 3 giant mealworms, no superworms - over the past week. She does not keep her mouth open, and spits food out. Difficult girl!

She had a poo yesterday that I know to have once been that cricket, and it seems she also ate some sand :main_no: from what 1/3" lines the outside of the cage between the glass and the tile so that feeders don't hide down in the gap. :main_thumbsdown: I figured it was safe enough to have this in there since she is 10" and 70g. Didn't figure on her gulping some on purpose.

What she's gotten down has been calci/vita-dusted. She is offered calcium and vitamin powder daily, and last night I rubbed some mixed with water into a paste, onto her nose to ensure she took it in - I figured the sand eating behavior was a result of vitamin deficiency and blitzing her with the nutrients will stop her from doing it.

tl;dr-
How long is unusual for her to go without food after being shipped?

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I would suggest you contact the breeder and feed exactly what she was fed before. Also find out what kind of food dish she had and try to get at least a similar one. Definitely discuss everything with the breeder asap.

 

[Thorgecko707]

I agree. One of mine didn't eat for a long time after I got her.

 

[roger]

My new girl is 13 days post-shipment and still completely uninterested in food. As she is the first leo I have had shipped, I have no idea if this is normal. I understand the act of shipping can be stressful, and cause them to go off food.

She is not underweight or anything, and not showing any signs of being unduly stressed out. Sleeps a lot, active at night. Alert and inquisitive when awake. She is sensitive to sound and quick movements, though. But so is one of my boys, and that seems to be just the way he is.

She is housed alone in a 15-gallon long tank, on tile, with UTH. Temps are perfect. No lamp, she's albino. Next to the window, but no direct sunlight. There are 3 hides available; a moist hide lined with sphagnum moss, an arched piece of cork bark, and a coconut shell. There is also a water dish and a branch. She prefers the moist hide, and is in it most of the time. She occasionally comes out to explore the whole setup. She had two healthy poops from the food that she "packed" for her trip, then one tiny poo consisting only of urate. I have tried coercive feeding tactics, with only small success - 1 cricket, 3 giant mealworms, no superworms - over the past week. She does not keep her mouth open, and spits food out. Difficult girl!

She had a poo yesterday that I know to have once been that cricket, and it seems she also ate some sand :main_no: from what 1/3" lines the outside of the cage between the glass and the tile so that feeders don't hide down in the gap. :main_thumbsdown: I figured it was safe enough to have this in there since she is 10" and 70g. Didn't figure on her gulping some on purpose.

What she's gotten down has been calci/vita-dusted. She is offered calcium and vitamin powder daily, and last night I rubbed some mixed with water into a paste, onto her nose to ensure she took it in - I figured the sand eating behavior was a result of vitamin deficiency and blitzing her with the nutrients will stop her from doing it.

tl;dr-
How long is unusual for her to go without food after being shipped?

some of my stubborn leos when I first got them didnt eat also after their arrival.i completley covered their 4 sides with cardboard and left them alone for 5 days.that seemd to trigger eating

 

[ajveachster]

You say she is 10" and 70g so she is plenty large enough to be ovulating. Sometimes that causes them to go on a hunger strike. Check her belly. I have sold a few adult girls recently that have been ovulating. I always try to let new owners of ovulating girls know about it so it doesn't stress them out as much.
I also agree the best thing to do is to ask the previous owner about the setup and diet to see what suggestions they have. Also, the previous owner might be able to tell you about the animals behavior if/when she ovulated in the past ever.

 

[SamsonizeMe]

I had talked to the breeder about her before she even arrived, she was fed on 1/2" mealworms, which is the first thing she was offered (and has since been offered). She is a big girl but she is not even 6 months of age yet (Super Giant). I don't see any eggs, but her skin is thick and opaque enough to obscure smaller, non-fertile eggs I guess... And I know for a fact that they can ovulate under 6 months old (due to my Black Hole's accidental pregnancy at 4 months).

If she keeps refusing food I'll do the isolation-with-food strategy. Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

[Thorgecko707]

Any luck?

 

[Wild West Reptile]

I got 2 raptors from a top breeder and they didn't eat for almost a month! I kept track of every critter I put in the cage and between the male and female they consumed maybeeeee 1 cricket. Not sure though. Anyways, I weighed them when i got them and then again after 3 weeks and they actually gained over 5 grams each! Their tales are still fat and just recently are starting to eat. I used silkworms and it triggered everyone in the groups appetite. You may want to try them. Super nutritious, but hard to get unless you raise them yourself. They were/are active and alert but just not interested in food. I spoke to Steve Sykes about this and he says not to worry. They will eat when they are hungry and not a second sooner! Hang in there....it will happen. Hope this helps you.

 

[megaggie2002]

some of my stubborn leos when I first got them didnt eat also after their arrival.i completley covered their 4 sides with cardboard and left them alone for 5 days.that seemd to trigger eating

I got my first leo 2 weeks ago and he would not eat mealworms. I spoke with the breeder at length and he was being fed mealworms. He gobled up the two waxworms I offered but would turn his nose up at mealworms.

Last night I covered all 4 sides of his terrarium and this morning there are mealworms gone out of his dish!!

Yea!!! Thank you this trick really does work!!!

 

[Wild West Reptile]

Has anyone ever tried putting a dish of mealworms in their favorite hide/cave when they won't eat and had success? Curios.....

 

[GeckoDude31]

I got a leo on april 15 and she weighs in at 75 grams, and to this day, she still has not eaten. She shows no interest at all in worms. It is like she has never eaten one before. I feel your pain.

 

[Thorgecko707]

My gecko still hasn't eaten either. Not gravid or anything. Poor thing goes into shock at the sight of movement.

 

[Zencoran]

You said something about putting vitamin paste on a leos nose? My leo hasnt had her multi vitamins in a while because of hunger strikes, and just not being able to dust mealworms with it, is it safe to put it on their noses?

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

 

[SamsonizeMe]

Oh hai guize, didn't realize this thread was still alive but I thought I'd update...

It seems pretty safe to make them take the vitamins via nose-rubbed paste. A few dabs seems like it would provide the right amount. Doing the gecko slurry thing would be better, especially in the case of underweight geckos (I have done it for 60 minutes or more every night for the last 3 weeks for Nebula, who is underweight and pregnant - this time around, her pregnancy has gone a lot easier for her, and she has not lost as much weight or strength.)

Honeybell still has not displayed any appetite, and has visibly lost some weight in her tail. She would get nervous when I take out her furniture to isolate her with the food - jumpy at movement like yours Morgan; but otherwise she is pretty sociable nowadays. She is calm when handled, and seems interested in her neighbors the next cage over when she sees them.

She shed yesterday and threw it up this morning along with a single measly waxworm I coerced her into eating. Last week she ate 7 waxworms in a sitting but threw most of them up. She no longer has interest in the waxworms. She went for some crickets about a week before that, but no longer shows interest in the crickets either. I just picked up some mealworms but she is not going for them (and mealworms are what she was raised on).

I worry about her being in starvation mode, as she seems to be unable to digest much, or keep down what she does happen to eat. However, I turned her over as I have been checking every few days to try and discern whether she was ovulating. I am pretty sure that I can finally see the pink proto-eggs in her belly. This would account for everything... right?

She has not been bred, but I know some girls can go off food just from ovulating. My concern for her is this: that she is going to permanently stunt her own growth by being off food for this long, and not reach her potential size and weight as a Super Giant. Is this a valid concern or will she just pick up where she left off once she starts eating again, and only have suffered a delay and not a permanent setback?