Extremely picky eater stopped eating

[Bienoo]

I'm sorry I can't fill out the form right now. I'm on a quite slow mobile phone that doesn't copy text...

One of my leos is an EXTREMELY picky eater. When I got him he was on a diet of mealworms and ocasionally got crickets and a waxworm from the breeder.

After getting him and letting him acclimate I fed him crickets, and that's when he completely refused any kind of worm. I guess he found them boring.

Later on I discovered he was ALWAYS too slow to catch crickets so he got thinner and thinner, when close to a pencil tail he finally gave in to mealworms again. I've run him through tests at the vet multiple times. Nothing... No impaction, parasites, stress, heating problems etc... Just picky.

I tried to keep him on the mealworms for a while and he gained quite some weight again, but because they don't really have alot of nutritional value I had to give him extra gut loaded crickets, hoping he would stick to the mealworms aswell.

He now found out he doesn't want crickets nor mealworms and just stopped eating altogether. No dubia's, waxworms, superworms, locusts, NOTHING. Ran him through the vet AGAIN. Nothing yet again. Just pickiness.

He is now losing weight, and almost has that pencil tail again.

I don't know what's wrong with this stupid little fella... :/
He's on paper towel, cleaned regularly. Gets offered all supplements and has enough hides with the correct temperature. Underbelly heating etc. Nothing wrong with the enclosure and he has no history of illness. I have alot of experience with reptiles and I have never had a rep like this...

I feel like just letting him starve again until he gives in to the mealworms or crickets again out of anger. I've had him for 3 years and I'm SO tired of it. So much stress goes with this picky eater... I got him for breeding purposes but it never took place because of his damn eating pattern.

I apologize for being so grumpy, but I'm really tired haha. Please help me!

 

[Bienoo]

I forgot to mention I tried hand feeding him crickets, but he was only interested when they were moving...

 

[indyana]

Yikes, I wish I had some advice for you, but I've never heard of a gecko starving itself unless it had an underlying medical issue (parasites/Crypto, neurological issues, etc.). Maybe someone else has some advice.

 

[Bienoo]

I've never heard my vet talk about any neurological issue tied with his eating pattern, so maybe I'll do some reading into that and ask around the vets at my college. Thanks for thinking with me either way!

 

[indyana]

Yeah, I've heard a lot about eating issues involving geckos with Enigma syndrome, so I would assume that any type of neurological impairment could cause similar problems.

 

[scm133]

I have snipped off the heads of mealworms before. They would lick it, and then grab the worm. It is worth a try. Also, try that with waxworms. If he refuses the oozing wax worm, then I would say there is something seriously wrong.

 

[Neon Aurora]

I think it's worth mentioning, no animal starves itself for no reason. There likely is an underlying medical issue. Filling out the form would give us more information.

My main question is, have you had him since he was a baby? Has he always been like this? I'm wondering if this could be one of those "failure to thrive" cases.

 

[indyana]

Hmm, either that or a very sneaky parasite. Some parasites are very hard to catch on a typical fecal check (Crypto, amoebas, etc.).

 

[Neon Aurora]

Also true. However, I doubt a gecko with crypto would survive 3 years without medication.

A fecal isn't a bad idea, since it doesn't seem like that's been done yet. How are the poops?