female gecko not eating at all

[jgecko2]

ive been having this problem with my leopard geckos. the female hasnt eaten in almost a month now it seems, and sometimes my male does not eat that much, though he did eat one superworm yesterday. ive had them for 1 year and a half, and they used to get all crazy when i would drop crickets and superworms in the tank, now they just look at them, smell it and turn away. ive tried wax worms, and they kinda like those, but not really. i dont know what the deal is, i dont want the female to die, so im wondering if there is any other options out there for food? and like most geckos, if the food isnt moving, they wont eat it, so maybe there is some dry food to give them, and i can buy one of those electric shaking bowls to make it look like the food is alive and moving? please help if anyone has any ideas. thanks

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Are they housed together? Are any of them losing weight? Are they defecating? I could be that your female is ovulating, which can cause them to not be hungry. If she IS ovulating and she's in with the male, the breeding instinct can also cause the male to not be interested in food.

 

[SWAIN]

Try feeding it something differnt than what you are

 

[jgecko2]

yes, i do have them in the same tank, they have been together since day one. their weight seems to be the same. they are starting eat super worms again, so i guess problem solved. i would like to find more options to feed them though.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

i would like to find more options to feed them though.

Crickets, mealworms, superworms, waxworms, silkworms, many different roaches...

 

[GECKOMAN]

What is the temp in their tank?
If it is not warm in their tank they might be hibernating
or slowing down and not eating as much.

 

[BalloonzForU]

Sounds like they went into burmation and are now coming out. They can and will do this without lowering their temps, if they get natural daylight through a window and are getting less light during the day due to winter.

 

[Baysidegeckos]

My geckos havnt been eating latly either, except on pinkies, they are eating them like crazy and thay arnt even skinny, they are all around 55 to 70 grams.
thanks Bret

 

[paulnattress]

Our leo has slowed down her eating lately too. We thought is may be the "winter slowdown" (brumation - thanks for mentioning the proper term for it). We live in England which has short nights in the winter. At the moment it gets dark just after 5pm. Our leo is in the living room, out of direct sunlight, so will get natural light during the day and artificial light at night. We tend to prefer dimmed lights in the evenings so she may well be reacting to the winter nights.

I wonder if we installed a light in her vivarium to give a 12 hour day/night cycle if this would help her eat more?

 

[Sandra]

I wonder if we installed a light in her vivarium to give a 12 hour day/night cycle if this would help her eat more?

I don't think so, my female has artificial light and still won't eat. I want to think that is due to ovulation because the male is eating normally (they are separated), but I can't see clearly through her belly so I can't tell for sure.

 

[Sandra]

I don't think so, my female has artificial light and still won't eat. I want to think that is due to ovulation because the male is eating normally (they are separated), but I can't see clearly through her belly so I can't tell for sure.

I regret saying that... She hasn't eaten since I wrote that, I'm geting very worried... I'm trying different things at the moment: I've raised the temperature in the tank a bit, I've put her mealworms in a dish and let her alone instead of using the tweezers... Tomorrow I'm buying some waxworms and a new heat source because I can't raise the temperature anymore with this. And on top of all that the tank is made of glass and I can't pierce through it like in plastic or wood to adapt the heat sources or the thermostat itself, arg, I hate it :main_angry: I'm switching to plastic as soon as I can, but I don't want to stress her anymore at the moment...

Her personality has got worse too, she runs away when I put my hand in the tank and bites and struggles when she's caught. She had always been very gentle.

I have thought of the possibility of her carrying infertile eggs, but I don't think it is so... The truth is that I only distinguish some organs in her belly, but I don't know if she has eggs or not, I'm not too experienced at it. I've asked a friend to lend me his digital camera, tomorrow I'll post some pics of her belly and ask for your opinions...

It has been a while since the last time I had feeding issues with this guys, I forgot about the feeling of constant concern :shifty: