Gecko feeding troubles

[Vargblod]

I have had my gecko for slightly less than a month I think, and during that time he has gone through many phases but is usually very stubborn when it comes to eating..

It has basically been ruled out that he only likes eating mealworms, as he pukes up superworms if he ever eats them and doesnt bother with crickets, so thats fine, theyre easier anyways.

But when he decides to actually EAT, is a very rare and random occasion.. Most days if I go to feed him he is completely not interested, or will act excited, sniff, stop, hide. At most on most days he eats 1 to 3 mealworms. Last week, I actually had one day where he ate 15, and then 2 days later ate another 11, so that was good, but then he went back to his old self and has barely eaten anything in about a week.

He has one of those magnetic rock hides, so when I feed him I take off the cover and move him in it to the opposite side of the terrarium so that he can see and hunt the mealworms which has worked when he did eat.

I have under heating, heating from a lamp above, and the temp on the hot side is generally about 88 (90 I know is best but I figure its not too bad).

Now what he seems to do most of the time when he gets excited about eating then stops, is he will go to the glass of the terrarium and obsess about getting out. Until I move his hide back to where it was so he can just crawl in there and disappear, he seems to desperately try to get through the glass, and completely ignores the food.

I know this is a completely random bunch of information, but basically what I'm getting at, is this standard gecko behaviour or should I be worried? I mean I guess he isn't completely starving himself but I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

Thanks for reading my mass of text!

 

[andypg3]

Sounds like he's still settling in to his new enclosure and getting used to the environment. Do you have more than one hide? If not, removing the one hide is probably really stressing him out and food becomes less of a priority.

I'd try putting the worms in a dish and leaving it overnight, they'll eat when they are hungry and feel secure. If they don't feel secure, they're not going to eat.

I've learned the geckos have a great sense of smell and don't really need to see the food.

Good luck, sorry to answer your "mass of text" with a mass of answer without order, but I hope it helps, in the end, patience is probably the best, he'll adjust and acclimate with time.

 

[Vargblod]

Well thanks, I figure he probably still isn't quite settled and doesn't like me moving his hide.. But I've always had worms in his bowl and he has never eaten anything out of it.

 

[andypg3]

For the first month we had ours, I dropped worms in front of his hide to make sure he was eating. After he seemed confident and settled, I figured he was mature enough to go get his food out of the dish. It took him a week or so to get used to it, but it worked and now he eats regularly.

The one thing that helped was removing the dish during the day. This seemed to evoke a hunting response at night when the food was present. Soon he learned that he had a window of time to go and get his food and he adjusted.

Its probably different for each animal, but that is what worked for us. Good Luck!

 

[Vargblod]

Thats a pretty good idea, I might try that eventually if his habits keep up.. And I really should get him used to eating from the bowl in case I need to be away for a couple days.

I did attempt to somewhat train him about the bowl my own way once, when he was in his 15 mealworm frenzy I got him interested in one and made him chase it in tweezers to the bowl and then dropped it in while he was looking, which seemed to work because he then ate 3 worms from the bowl without me dropping them... So I guess at least I know he knows for certain that it is there

 

[HepCatMoe]

also, if hes an adult, you dont need to feed him everyday.

its wierd, but if you only feed him a couple times a week he will eat TONS!

at least compared to before

 

[Vargblod]

Every time I read something about feeding it seems like everyone thinks something different, because I swear other people say to feed your gecko like 14 mealworms every day, and then I see others say 3-4 every day or whatever amount every second day, and you say a couple times a week

If anything I'm learning to just never worry about what he eats and that he will never be reliable Which is fine as long as he stays healthy.

And I have at least figured out the last little while where he wasnt eating, since last night he was whiter and today he is more brightly coloured and pretty than he has ever been, so he was doing that fasting before a shed I figure.

 

[AntMan612]

The Leopard Gecko Manual says to feed "juveniles and subadults every one to two days and two to three times a week for adult leopard geckos."

I know. I would prefer to watch them eat every day. It's fascinating. And I want to be sure they're well nourished. But, sadly, leopard geckos don't seem to be as consistent with their daily consumption as humans.

 

[Vargblod]

Yeah, so at least until enough time has passed that I have figured out when he likes to eat for sure, I'll just keep trying every day and seeing if hes interested.