Clicking and Getting Back to Real Food

[philthegecko]

Hi. After about seven long weeks of antibiotics to treat mouth rot and injecting baby food, we are having some difficulty re-introducing real food to our gecko. After six weeks, vet said mouth rot was much improved but not completely healed. He said two more weeks of the same routine. Gecko despises the medicine but absolutely loves the baby food. Now we are trying to see if he'll go for mealworms or crickets, but he seems disinterested. He might take one stab at a cricket but will miss and never try again. He doesn't have that same killer instinct he once had. Also, I've noticed lots of clicking lately. More than ever. Any suggestions? Would love to get him back to his normal diet. Thanks.

 

[cassicat4]

How about trying to administer Reptiboost or Reptaid? Or a Critical Care formula that you can get from the vet?
I had a water dragon with numerous health issues once (one being mouthrot) that needed food administered orally, and my herp vet was adamantly against feeding babyfood.
The Critical Care formula is essentially a powder of ground up bugs that you mix with water. It's also designed to be an appetite stimulant. It's similar to the Reptiboost/Reptaid, although after using both, I found my dragon much preferred the taste of the Critical Care.
She began eating bugs on her own again after administering it for about a week-2 weeks.

I'm not sure about the clicking. The only instances where I've heard clicking in reptiles indicated an RI. Hopefully someone else has better ideas. If it is an RI, it's recommended that you increase their temps to a constant daytime high both night and day to help them recover. If that doesn't work, vet-prescribed antibiotics are often required.

 

[jemjdragon]

Where is the clicking coming from?
Does it sound like its coming from its lungs? When its inhaling? Or is it making a clicking noise in response to something?

Other than that, straight baby food is not very good for leopard geckos. I would either look into what Cassicat4 suggested (ReptiAid or ReptiBoost) or make some slurry (the recipe is in a sticky).

As for getting him to start eating live food. Some people have had luck by smearing meal worm guts on the jaw of the gecko to get them interested in meal worms. You could leave a bowl of meal worms in the tank and not feed as much liquid food, so the gecko gets more interested in the bowl of meal worms because he's still a bit hungry. He might still be recuperating from being sick, so make not be strong or fast enough to chase down crickets.

 

[Lindz0518]

If he has a good body weight then you could try not giving him anything for a day or two, then he will probably be hungry enough to hunt. I know my girl makes her little chirping/clicking noises at me if she is annoyed with something I am doing... usually when I have to pick her up because she won't walk on my hand.

 

[Ozy]

Ozy is the same way.. On the rare occasion that she has shed stuck on a leg and I have to get it off, she clicks at me hardcore. Or if she's out and about and tries to go somewhere she's not supposed to go, I'll pick her up and she gets annoyed and "chews me out" LOL! But that's the only time I hear her click is when she's telling me off. BRAT! heheh

 

[philthegecko]

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll look into maybe using the Reptaid and I like the idea of not feeding for a couple days to get him motivated to hunt. I do hope the clicking is just him being annoyed but I'm not sure. Sometimes he's just inside his hide just clicking away. Not necessarily happening when I'm bothering him.

 

[Ozy]

If he's doing it in his hide when not being bothered, then I would raise the temps a bit in case of a respiratory infection. If he continues, or it gets worse, I would take him to the vet. If you are misting his cage, stop doing that. The only humidity they need, they can get in their humid hide.