Feeding a new gecko

[Gonser]

I just got a new leo female and she is not eating yet. It's been a week now, so should I force feed her or wait until she is hungry? I don't want to traumatize her but don't want her to starve either!

Thanks.

 

[Wreptile]

I'd just suggest to wait a couple more days before worrying.

 

[ajveachster]

What are your temps? Sometimes if it is too cold they don't want to eat. I wouldn't worry about force feeding yet. If we get one that doesn't appear to be eating we will put in a dish of mealies that we have counted out. Usually about 10. We leave it in there 24/7, and check once a day to see if any are gone. We have some shy eaters.

 

[Gonser]

The temps are good. I think she is just freaked out about the difficult flight being thrown around in a little cottage cheese container inside a box. UPS is not kind to ANY box.
She is becoming nice and tame though. It looks like, even though she has been raised on mealworms exclusively, that I may need to take the chance and try to tempt her to eat with some crickets. Once she starts eating then I can go back to mealworms. I do NOT want to force feed if i can help it!

Any thoughts on this plan appreciated.

 

[Gonser]

Update.....so my new giant female had not eaten any mealworms for her first 10 days. I was concerned and did NOT want to force feed since I knew it would be a setback to her trust in me, so I went and got some small to medium crickets today. As soon as I dropped a few into her cage she went on a voracious attack! Amazing. I think she wolfed down 4-5 crickets. She was very anxious to be handled after she ate, so I think she felt good and was stimulated. I had a great 10 minutes with her on my hand/arm and she behaved very well for a new gecko that had never been worked with before.

Lesson learned! So if you have a new gecko that does not want to eat worms, try some crickets, but not big ones. Once we get these eating they can go back to mealworms or whatever we routinely feed.