Feeding and handling questions

[paulnattress]

Hi guys,

I've got a couple of feeding/handling queries about our little Shazzrah.

At the moment, she seems to have gone off her crickets. She's not eating the ones that we put in for her. They can walk right under her nose and she won't even look at them. I think I may know the problem with that. We had to go away for a couple of days over the new year and our friend looked after her (she has a gecko too so knows how to look after them). Before we left we fed her a waxworm and since then she hasn't been too interested in crickets. A couple of days after getting back we tempted her with another waxworm to make sure that she was still feeding. I think she may have developed a taste for them and doesn't want crickets anymore. We've had her for 2 and a half weeks now and I must admit we've given her 4 waxworms during that time (we're new "parents" to her and we didn't like seeing her not eat so had to do something). I've read that they will get spoilt and want waxworms all the time now. We're going to be buying her some mealworms tonight to feed her to tempt her off the waxworms.

Another possible reason is that she's getting lazy. We've hand feeded her the waxworms so maybe she just can't be bothered to hunt for the crickets?! If this is the case, I think the waxworms would help as we can easily hand feed her those. Or she can go and get them herself from her feeding bowl, which is much easier than hunting!

So that's the feeding issue, I think she's just got a thing for waxworms at the moment but we still worry about her!

So, the handling issue. I thought geckos only like occasional handling but Shazzrah is always trying to climb up the glass at the front of the vivarium at the spot where we open it to feed her. She's always standing with her front feet on the lip of the front wooden panel, looking out and licking the glass. If we open it up and out our hand up to the vivarium (not in the vivarium, but just outside it) she'll very happily climb up onto our hands and will try and run up our arms! She loves coming out and climbing on us! If we let her, she'd be climbing all over us all day I think! Even though this is great for us as we love handling her, I didn't think it was usualy behaviour. My thoughts are that this would probably be stressing her out but she's the one instigating the contact as we're not reaching in to grab her, she's willingly walking out of her vivarium into our hands. If we don't put our hands out, she'd still try and climb out towards us! Does anyone else have a gecko like this? Is this normal?

Thanks!

 

[ReptileMan27]

I doubt 4 wax worms is going to get your leo addicted, how often do you normally feed him?. Have your tried mealworms?

 

[Jeanne]

I would give the mealworms a try. If she doesn't eat them, you can always try squeezing the guts out of a waxworm and wiping it on a cricket or mealworm to get the sent of the waxworm onto the other bug, this should help her get more interested in the other feeders bugs.

As for handling, what are the temps in her cage? It could be that it is too hot or cold in there and she wants out. Or, she just may like to walk on you, it's not all that uncommon.

 

[paulnattress]

When we bought her a few weeks ago we were told she was being fed around 8 crickets a day. She would eat 5-6 for the first week that we got her (she was eating right away). She went down to eating one or two and now none at all. She is very active, wandering around her vivarium and she looks fit and healthy. We've seen her drink water and lick the calcium powder. She's pooping normally as far as we can see.

I can't remember the exact temps in her vivarium but it's a 48" x 18" with a very good range of temperatures (between 77 - 93 farenheit I *think* at the extreme ends of the scales. We use celsius in the UK so that's a rough translation) and lots of hiding places for her at both the hot and cold ends so I doubt that she'd want out of the vivarium to keep cool. I think she may well just be an inquisitive little monkey! We've recently changed the heating from a heat mat to a red-light bulb as the heat mat wasn't providing enough heat from what we could tell. She's been a lot more active at night with the heat lamp in but she'd stopped eating her crickets before we did that. Perhaps she's just a little stressed out in her new home?

We're going to try meal worms tonight but will try your tip about squishing the waxworm over the mealworms if she doesn't take to them. I'll also not change anything else in her vivarium, environment or routine for a few weeks (well, for as long as possible really) to help her settle down.

She's only 7 or 8 months old so she's still a juvenile and probably still learning, plus she's new to us. It's very easy to worry about her because she's our little baby and we want to make sure we're doing all we can for her.

 

[Jeanne]

We've recently changed the heating from a heat mat to a red-light bulb as the heat mat wasn't providing enough heat from what we could tell.

You really should put the heat pad back on, Leopard Geckos need the belly heat for several reasons, the main one being that it helps them digest their food. This may be why she isn't eating.

Also, this is the time of the year that Leopard Geckos go into a kind of "Slow Down". They eat less and are usually a little less active.

 

[KiKi]

we have four leopard geckos and we handle them all everyday, so i belive the more you handle them the calmer thye get plus we enjoy handling them and they enjoy it. so if she enjoys being handled then handle her as often as she lets you

 

[GoGo]

Well, we handle 3 every day, since 1 is gravid. Btw Jeanne, the little girl we named after you is such a hyper scamp! Just like our gravid female.

 

[paulnattress]

Just another quick question about handling... I was reading on the Golden Gate Gecko site that Leos will run up your arm and sit on your shoulder (http://www.goldengategeckos.com/careleopard.html). Shazzrah always tries to run up our arms but we're really nervous about her jumping off us and either hurting herself or running off and hiding underneath our couch. Will she really be ok just running up our arms and sitting on our shoulders? Will Leos quite happily just sit there?

 

[acpart]

Some of mine will sit on my shoulder without jumping and some won't. To start out, you could put her on your shoulder and sit on the couch so if she jumps off she won't have far to go and it will be soft.

Aliza

 

[Zbiz]

Yup I agree with Jeanne, Belly Heat > Air temp. OH yeah my male leo is SO much more relaxed than my female. He climbs right up my arm and sleeps on the back of my neck(its warm lol). Its sooo cool. But you have to make sure he doesn't crawl away when you become to use to him being there. hehe. Actually my leos have never attempted to jump off anything over 5 inches. I think jumpy youngsters might though if startled. All in all they have a pretty good understanding of heights. They live in the mountains of Afghanistan, I hope they do!!! lol

Hope your leo starts to grub down again!

 

[paulnattress]

I think I'll leave it a couple of months before trying this, just so she's settled in a completely comfortable with us.

Any tips for rounding up an escaped gecko just in case?

 

[Jeanne]

Any tips for rounding up an escaped gecko just in case?

Other than ripping your house apart trying to find them, Hope and Pray

 

[ReptileMan27]

I think I'll leave it a couple of months before trying this, just so she's settled in a completely comfortable with us.

Any tips for rounding up an escaped gecko just in case?

An escape is the least of your worries:main_thumbsup:, they can climb glass, you really dont even need a cover for the cage(if its a tank) but its best to have one to keep any other animals(cats,dogs) out.

 

[paulnattress]

I was worried about her running off if we ever took her out of the vivarium. She loves to run up my arm and I think she wants to sit on my shoulder but I've always panicked and gently placed her abck into the vivarium.

Despite her best efforts to do so, she can't yet slide her glass doors open!

 

[paulnattress]

She ate a mealworm today! My wife put one down in front of her and she gave it a curious look, picked it up in her mouth and stood there with it wiggling away before swallowing it. Let's hope she eats some more soon.

 

[Jeanne]

Thats great news! Thanks for keeping us informed.

 

[gothra]

I also worry about leos jumping off my shoulder (happened once); so now, I let them climb up my arm, but I put my other hand on the shoulder, so when they reached the "peak", they sit on my hand (more control). I noticed they like it high too, they sit really still if I raise them up high.

 

[paulnattress]

I noticed they like it high too, they sit really still if I raise them up high.

Unless they're afraid of heights and they're standing still in terror!

Shazzrah hasn't eaten anything since the mealworm on Saturday. Although she shows an interest in them when we place one near her she hasn't eaten another one yet. She's also spent a lot of time sleeping in her moisture hut (which is now her preferred sleeping place). We don't think she's ready to shed but her behaviour may be due to that, or maybe it's due to it being winter at the moment and she's entered a "slow-down" phase.

 

[ReptileMan27]

I would reccomend holding the leo over the tank, not to high off the ground either, that way if it leaps, it wont hurt itself and will land in the cage.

 

[paulnattress]

Good tip - but our vivarium opens at the front.

She came out last night and we think she's shed her skin. She looks brighter and kinda "newer". I can't really describe it well but she looks good.

She was all very active last night too. The last few days she's been hiding away in her moisture hut most of the time. She even came out for a wander up my arm and sat on my shoulder - it was really cool but we were very cautious and my wife was next to me, ready to scoop Shazzrah up if she tried to get away. I was sitting on the floor so she wasn't too far off the ground anyway. If she does it again I want to try and get a photo but it may be some time before we confident enough to handle Shaz and a camera at the same time!