2 yr old Leo quit eating

[Seanu13]

Hey all, its been a while since I've been on.

My Leo had been perfectly happy and fat for the entire time I've had her, and "recently" she has quit eating altogether. She stopped almost 6 weeks ago (I think) and she's maybe ATTEMPTED to eat twice in that period (I've been trying every day to get her to eat now). She normally eats mealworms and occasional wax worms. She'll usually freak out (in a good way) when she sees waxworms and she won't even go for those now.
The 2 times she attempted to eat it was with waxworms, the first time she threw them up and the 2nd time she kept them down but only ate 2.
She'll wander over to the corner of her tank that she defecates in and sit for a while and then wander back to her warm hide and just sleep... all night/day. Now, when she's out she'll barely open her eyes. And of course her tail gradually gets thinner.
Her feces looked normal for a while and now its just tiny and slightly runny, probably due to no food and just drinking water.

Idk what to do. Is there some way to force her to get some nutrients to where she has the strength to try to eat normally again? I thought I had read once that you can put baby food/applesauce on their mouth so that they have to lick it up, but I'm thinking that might have been for dogs...

Any help is appreciated. And no I dont have a herp vet in town.

 

[leonewbie]

There is a link for sludge in here somewhere...i'll see if i can find it. As for the not eating....have you tried offering something else, like crickets? My leo stopped eating because she was bored of mealies. Other then that im not sure, i would recommend finding a herp vet

 

[Khrysty]

Hah, not called "sludge" it's Marcia (from Golden Gate Geckos)'s slurry. It's a sticky on this part of the forum, but I've included the link anyway:
http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=19356

Bear in mind that it's not a solution...just helps get strength up and stimulate the appetite a bit.

 

[leonewbie]

Lol...yea, just found that out, haha. Thanks, you beat me to it

 

[Saphira]

what about trying an appetite stimulant? Are those ok to use? We have some and used it once. It is called "Jump Start Caloric Supplement & Appetite Stimulant" by Zilla

 

[RampantReptiles]

have you checked to see if she might have eggs in her? My 4 year old female hasnt been eating for some time and just laid a couple of marshmallows(infertile eggs) in her water dish. She also seems to have gotten bored of mealies and will only go after crickets.

 

[Saphira]

have you checked to see if she might have eggs in her? My 4 year old female hasnt been eating for some time and just laid a couple of marshmallows(infertile eggs) in her water dish. She also seems to have gotten bored of mealies and will only go after crickets.

Can they lay eggs if they aren't around male's?

 

[Khrysty]

Can they lay eggs if they aren't around male's?

Sometimes they do, but the eggs wouldn't be fertile and it normally isn't more than one or two clutches.

 

[Saphira]

right.... cool. I didn't know that. I have no been impressed with the books I have read on Leo's. lacking info...

 

[Khrysty]

right.... cool. I didn't know that. I have no been impressed with the books I have read on Leo's. lacking info...

Have you gotten "The Herpteculture of Leopard Geckos" by Ron Tremper? It's supposed to be one of the better ones.

 

[Saphira]

I don't have that one yet. I will have to add that to the top of my wishlist.

 

[Seanu13]

Hey, I saw the slurry recipe soon after I posted. I hadn't been able to get on since I posted the first time.

I haven't gotten all the ingredients yet (need to buy some more vitamin powder - had an accident with it during the time she hasn't been eating) but I did just rub a little bit of squash baby food on her mouth that she licked off (she didn't enjoy me doing that) and I just did a very small amount before I quit cause I didn't want to stress her out too much.

I was wondering, could I put pedialyte in her water dish?

And on a side note, this is the second time I've seen her do this, she went and "pee-d" (white/fluid came out, but no feces - been too long without food now) and afterward she went to her cave and was licking her vent...

And she doesn't have eggs from what I can tell

 

[Seanu13]

Hey Guys/Gals!

Thought I'd update my post. She finally started eating after making her eat squash baby food (I guess it stimulated her?) She's fattening up a bit also which is good but she could still stand to gain some weight.

I can't get the pictures to attach sadly >.<

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38118352@N00/3606323344/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38118352@N00/3606323378/in/photostream/

 

[Saphira]

glad she is eating. I can't see a pic though.

 

[Seanu13]

try the links. I did the img thing a couple times and they never showed. I guess its cause its on flickr

 

[Saphira]

weird...LOL when I posted that I couldn't even see the links in your post...

 

[Seanu13]

I added them as you were posting your reply when you wrote originally, I was using the image tags which weren't working sadly.

 

[mainelygeckos]

She is a wonderful looking gecko and she has a nice fat tail too. Looks very healthy and am so happy she is eating good for you again

 

[Seanu13]

Thank you I'm glad she looks healthy. I wasn't sure if she was maybe still a bit too thin. I'll stop worrying so much about fattening her up then. lol.