Gecko has stopped eating, mostly hiding in humid hide

[sly]

About your leo:
- Sex female
- Age & Weight just over a year, 67 grams
- Since she was about a month old
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) friend's gecko had babies

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo every few days
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. - hiding in her humid hide, not really eating
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
- Describe (look any different than normal) - normal
- When was the last time he/she went - about a week ago (also not pooping much since well, she's not eating, but does poop about a day or two after she eats).

C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on
About three weeks ago she stopped eating the crickets/mealworms left in her cage, but would eat a dubia about once a week (fairly large, adult males or near fullgrown females), she started hiding in her humid hide around then too, and the outside air temperature locally took about a 20 degree drop (may be related, haven't had her as an adult through a winter cooldown). The last dubia she had was a bit over a week ago, tonight I tried to feed her one of the males (in the humid hide since she was hiding), she lunged at it, chomped on it a bit, dropped it to readjust, then the cat started yowling and she was done. (I'm guessing something freaked her out a couple of weeks ago and she still hasn't stopped being a paranoid gecko). I'm still leaving mealworms in a bowl (and some crickets with the back legs torn off) and I'll try another dubia again tomorrow, but I'm wondering if this sudden step back in eating is related to the temperature drop as well, and if anyone in colder climates sees something similar with their geckos around this time of year or if I should be worried about her.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size 29 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank) tank
- Type of substrate reptile carpet and paper towel
- Hides, how many, what kind 2 dry (one hot side, one cool side), one humid in the middle
B) Heating
- Heat source UTH
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) 90 hot side, 70-75 cool side
- Method of regulating heat source - dimmer on the UTH (too hot otherwise)
- What are you using to measure your temps temperature gun
- Do you have any lights (describe) just room lighting (heat lamp for winter, but not on currently since temps are getting up above 70 during the day)
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) N/A
- Describe health, or previous problems

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) mealworms and crickets, 3-4 crickets every other day, a few mealworms here and there. Dubia roaches every so often.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) combination hand fed, left in dish, crickets are left to run around cage
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) - zoo med repti calcium without D3 left in tank, reptivite dusted once a month, calcium dusted every couple of feedings.
- What are you gut loading food with - mealworms with ground up oat/bran cereal, with veggie/fruit for moisture, crickets and dubia's with fluker's cricket feed (same as the mealworms on the moisture bit)

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Not sure I would worry just yet. 67g and just over a year old sounds like a healthy, if not a bit chunky, weight. I would assume its just the weather cooling off and her turning on her "winter-mode". I would pick up a scale and weigh her once a week or so. If she loses more than 10% of her body weight I would start to worry. More than 15-20% (depending on if she is fat to start or not) and I would get her to a vet for a fecal and checkup.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

At her age, it's possible she's ovulating. Check her belly for pink round dots, they would indicate she started ovulation and if so, there's nothing you need to worry about.

But another possible cause would be the temperature drop. You'll want to test the terrarium environment. If the ambient start to drop below 70 on a consistent basis, you may want to think about providing a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) to warm the tank up a bit. It may help. They are cold blooded animals after all. When it gets colder than usual, they tend to want to slow down unless they get warmed up more.

 

[sly]

Thanks all. No sign of pink dots, but wow was she fiesty when I tried to get a look at her belly. The air temps are hovering in the low 70s now about 3-4 inches above the floor on the cool side, before then they were up closer to 80, so I'm sure she noticed the drop. I do have a CTH so may start to up the temps some with that. I've been weighing her on the kitchen scale, she does a nice job of sitting still, so I will definitely keep track and check on it periodically.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I don't think the cool side needs to be as high as 80. Mine stays in the low 70s in the winter (about 5 degrees warmer than the room temperature) and the geckos seem fine. I only would use a CHE if it drops below 65.