Help: Gecko not eating. (Includes Photo)

[Josh P.]

Hello everyone,

A new 6 month old female that came from a local store is refusing to eat for 2 weeks. She was dehydrated and had shed stuck in the head and feet. I gave her warm baths and she entered a new shed cycle to remove those last pieces and after a week of arrival she was done with all the shed issues. I have not handled her ever since to let her calm down and get accustomed to the new habitat. Temperature gradient is correct and closely monitored with digital thermometers with remote probes. I keep inside her terrarium a dish with 5 calcium-dusted mealworms, but she hasn't eaten any yet. Should I start to worry?

I thought about force feeding but I fear it will only stress her even further. Should the mealworms in the dish stay there all day until she eats or should I remove them and introduce them again a few days later?

I know that if she loses weight then is when the problems start, but right now I don't wish to weight her again in order to avoid handling and stress. When she arrived she was weighting only 18 grams, although she seems quite proportional and the tail even though not plump it also isn't terribly thin either. I am attaching a photo as reference from the day she arrived. Her tail seems slightly thinner after the 2 weeks with no food but not much noticeable, only very slightly.

Thanks in advance for all the advice.

 

[im faster]

Try crickets..
1st step when you have a non eater is try other feeders!

 

[im faster]

and she is no where close to needing to be force fed..
on a side not KILLER gecko

 

[DierdreDreamwalker626]

+1 on that. Start with other feeders. Our vet told us to give ours that weren't eating some butter worms (or the like) jsut to get weight back on if they started getting too small.

 

[Josh P.]

The problem is that I really need to get her used to eat mealworms as I have a large Tenebrio molitor breeding colony that I use to feed my geckos and scorpions as crickets are usually hard to find for sale where I live.

As an extra question, would you classify this gecko as a wild type or a high yellow?

 

[Adirondackgeckos]

Try crickets, you can switch over to mealies later, the important thing right now is getting her to eat not the mealie colony. Remove the back legs on the crickets for a few weeks to give her a chance to learn to catch and eat.

 

[PhoenixCoconut]

You need to take her to a vet and get an x ray I'm pretty sure she has mbd, and they will give you a med. Try crickets

 

[Dimidiata]

I agree she looks a little rubbery

 

[Josh P.]

Are you sure on the mbd? I have asked in this forum before with her photos at the store and everyone said she seemed fine and no mbd indication. What mbd indicators do you see in that photo? Would another photo help rule that out?

 

[ZombiGecko]

From that picture she does seem to have mbd. Maybe if you can post more pictures we can tell better. It may a bad picture.

-Amber

 

[Josh P.]

I'm attaching two more photos for you to judge. The full body one is in a warm bath, so she is inside water.

 

[Dimidiata]

something just seems very off about her front legs, Dunno maybe its just me.
has she been getting proper supplements when she was eating before?

 

[katie_]

Agree, they look MBD like.

 

[ZombiGecko]

Front legs still look off :/ sorry but pretty sure she has mbd

-Amber

 

[im faster]

Oh wow i missed that one. MOST DEFINITELY mbd

 

[Josh P.]

Thanks for helping me spot this guys. Much appreciated.

 

[katie_]

Other than that, she looks healthy

 

[Klogue1]

Just wanted to say my own personal reasoning that she looks like she has MBD is her front feet. It almost looks like the legs are bending with her feet. Here's what they "should" look like:

Had to use Google since none of my own pictures showed what I wanted to express, so picture belongs to the rightful owner(s).

You can see how this gecko's foot and leg sort of goes at a sharp angle, while your gecko's leg and foot is curved.

In all of the pictures I can see both her front legs have that sort of bendy curve to them.

Best of luck

 

[Josh P.]

Just wanted to say my own personal reasoning that she looks like she has MBD is her front feet. It almost looks like the legs are bending with her feet. Here's what they "should" look like:

Had to use Google since none of my own pictures showed what I wanted to express, so picture belongs to the rightful owner(s).

You can see how this gecko's foot and leg sort of goes at a sharp angle, while your gecko's leg and foot is curved.

In all of the pictures I can see both her front legs have that sort of bendy curve to them.

Best of luck

Thanks for your thorough explanation. I appreciate it.