Help me get my Leo to hunt

[bman123]

I'm running out of ideas to try with this guy, he was fed out of a food bowl before I got him and he won't eat out of a food bowl now, he won't chase his food either.
He woke up a bit agoand poked his head out the hide, this is the first I seen him today also. So I grab his yellow tongs like normal to feed him. He sees the tongs and goes running out of his hide. So I'm like cool he's hungry and notices the tongs mean food is coming.

I grab a large cricket and put it right in his face to smell it. Wham he grabs it so fast. I didn't get a chance to drop it on the floor. I grab another one and he misses it. So I drop it on the floor, hoping he will chase it. Nope he watches it run around for 10minutes. I mean the cricket even walked right into biting distance. He doesn't try to eat it. I pick it back up and wham he gets it.

I grab a superworm he watches me. I put it in his face he misses so I lure him over to the food bowl. The bowl has about 20 mealies in it alive and moving. I drop the super worm in the bowl. He gets on the bowl and stares in it watching the worms move around. He doesn't eat any tho.

So I bust out the Leo crack aka wax worm. I put it in his face and he goes crazy, turning his head side to side and he stands up like flexing on the wax worm. I know he's gonna strike so I lead him over to the food bowl again. It still has the mealies and the super worm in it. I drop the crack in the bowl he stands there nose to the super worm just watching. He doesn't eat anything not even the wax worm that's in there.

I drop 7 large dusted crickets in there and he just watches them run infront of him he doesn't even try to eat them. What on gods green earth can I do differently to get him to hunt or eat out of his bowl?
I beg you guys please chime in here, I will try anything to get him eating on his own. I'm more then likely getting back surgery within a month or two so i won't be able to feed him off the tongs as I won't be able to bend over his tank and feed him off the tongs.

I will try anything lol. I kinda drives me crazy, I see videos of adult leos running around chasing crickets and I can't get him to eat like that or out of the bowl. He ate out of this same bowl for 4 years but now he won't. Please help me I'm going nuts trying to get him toneat on his own. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[bman123]

I need to get him eating out of the bowl or chasing crickets within a month. I can have the ole lady get him a dozen crickets or a container of mealies, I can gutload them and just dump them in for him to eat. I highly doubt if I will be able to do anything for the first few weeks after surgery so I need to get him eating on his own.

I don't know what it's gonna take. I don't want to starve the guy but the only thing I can think of now is to not feed him for like a week. Then just drop his food in and he should chase it or eat out of the bowl since he will be hungry.
That is my absolute last resort, I don't want to do that but it's the last thing I can think of that would work. I need ideas guys so please HBO helpa broth out lol..

 

[rubym]

I would just leave mealies in his dish all the time. If he is healthy, he isnt going to starve himself to death. I have quite a few that refuse to hunt their food. They do eat out of dishes now but if a cricket wonders off forget going to get it,lol

 

[bman123]

He's had mealies in his bowl for 3 days now, I don't know what to do. How did you get your Leo to eat out of the bowl? He knows that food is in the bowl, he stood there and watched it. I don't know if I should use a smaller bowl or not. He's seen food in there that's for sure.
I don't have enough cash to buy him a bowl at the store but I can make one out of something. Do you think i should try and cut down a clear container that the mealies come in? I have a few of those small clear containers, do you think that's worth a shot?

 

[bman123]

If I get this back surgery i don't know how long it will be before I can really get
up and move around let alone lean over his tank and feed him off tongs. I wish this was easy lol. He's out and about in his cage now so I'm gonna try using a small clear
mealie container. I'm gonna lead him to it with the tongs again and see if it works or not.

 

[rubym]

I use the clear candle holder things as dishes but I would say that cutting down a clear container would work...just make sure no sharp edges. I catch most of mine eating at night....some only eat 4 or 5 mealies a night and some are little pigs. I used to worry alot when they didnt eat alot and regularly but Ive learned over time that they will eat when they want to eat. As long as they arent ill they wont loose too much weight while playing hard to please. I hope everything goes well with your surgery. Remember it wont hurt to practice a little tough love on the little guys.....I was told that by a long time breeder when I was fussing over not getting mine to eat,lol and she was very right.

 

[bman123]

Do you think a mealie container cut down is a good idea? This way he can see them inside moving. Also do you think I should try that container and not feed him off the tongs for a couple of days? I know in like 3 days he should be pretty hungry.
Let me know what you think about that.

I know he's being picky, he does eat but I can't keep feeding him like this. I'm gonna be out of service for awhile when I get the surgery that's why I wanna do this now. I have 3 herniated discs in my lower back and they"re pushing on a nerve causing me alot of pain thru my lower back down to my calf so it's gonna be a pretty big surgery. They said 4-9 months recovery time so i really need this guy to eat on his own soon.

 

[TFerguson]

So do you want him to hunt, or do you want him to eat meal worms out of a container... really the answer is the same... QUIT HAND FEEDING HIM...

He gets hungry enough, he's gonna hunt. If there weren't such things as grocery stores, you'd hunt too. Question is can you stop hand-feeding him, and instead watch him get hungry enough to hunt. Most can't because they anthropomorphize their geckos instead of letting them be geckos.

T Ferguson

 

[bman123]

I have no problem with letting him go a few days without eating. I just don't know how long I should do it for. I can easily keep his feeders alive, so that's no problem. I got him about a week and a half ago. The only reason why I fed him with the tongs was I wanted to get some food in him as he's a little lanky and was underfed by the old owner.

So how long do you think I should go without feeding? I can drop his crickets in the tank whenever but I won't feed with the tongs anymore. Do you think dropping the crickets in there every 3 days will spark him to hunt? I have never been thru this before so I'm looking for suggestions, lol.

 

[bman123]

He's a adult not a juvenile so he should hold his weight fine for awhile. I got him to put a little weight on since I got him, I can clearly see he's getting bigger. I do feel bad about him not eating, I won't lie about that. I can however not feed for a week or so I just hope it works. T ferguson have you ever done this before?

 

[TFerguson]

A healthy Gecko like yours (I've seen pictures), can go for a significant period of time without eating (easily a couple weeks). Problem is... most of us enjoy seeing our geckos eat, and feel bad when they don't.

Best way to train them to hunt crickets is to start them out with crickets with their rear legs removed (ouch). Oh yeah, and be patient. For me, there is nothing more gratifying than seeing your geckos put a cobra strike on an unsuspecting cricket.

If you enjoy hand feeding and want to commit to it for the long term... there's really nothing wrong with that... I wish someone would hand feed me!

T Ferguson

 

[bman123]

I can let him go for awhile without eating I just wanted to get a little weight on him first.
I can just remove one of the rear legs right, I don't have to take off both do I??
Will this affect the crickets feeding? I don't want to rip off a leg and have them not eat. I keep them in a deli cup so they don't have far to go for their food.

I wonder how long it will take him to get hungry enough? Should I offer food like every 3 days and if he don't hunt then just put em back in the deli cup? I do want him to hunt, he can use the exercise, and it will make things alot easier on me.

 

[bman123]

I would really like to see him hunt, that would be nice.

 

[Tony C]

Don't worry about putting weight on him, he is a perfectly healthy RAPTOR. It is very common for RAPTORs and Eclipses to be lean and lanky compared to other morphs. This is nothing to worry about, just a characteristic of the morph.

 

[bman123]

At first I didn't believe it, but after looking at many pics online most raptors are long and lanky, I swear he's all tail. He is shedding again, he just shed last Saturday and he's probably gonna shed again this weekend. So he's growing lol.

Tony c do you think I should offer him food every 3 days and if he don't hunt it then put em back or should I just wait a week and throw em in there?
I know he will be fine without eating I will make sure he has lots of water to drink. He's been in his humid hide all day and he's all pale. He shed last sat and is going to this weekend, that's fast for a adult Leo ain't it??

 

[TFerguson]

Crickets don't really seem to notice the loss of their rear legs. They'll last plently long enough to be gobbled up. Offer your gecko crickets every day if you want, until he eats them.

He'll eat them when he's hungry enough... question is.. can you hold off hand feeding him until he does? :main_cool3:

T Ferguson

 

[Tony C]

That is a bit unusual for him to shed so soon. It is pretty common for a leo to not eat right before and/or right after a shed, so the back to back sheds may have something to do with his loss of appetite. I would wait a few days to let him get hungry then drop in a few crickets. As T Ferguson said, offer them as often as you want, just don't give in to temptation and hand feed him.

 

[bman123]

He ate 2 days ago and today he ate 2 large crickets but they were off the tongs. I'm gonna give him a few days say around weds I will offer food. I wonder tho if I offer food say Monday and he don't hunt and I take them out maybe he would get a hint he needs to hunt lol.
I thought it was soon for him to shed again but he has been eating more then he was when the old owner had him. Maybe he's just growing at a fast pace so he needed to shed. His sides by his belly are wrinkly, I just looked at him so he should shed this weekend or Monday. He's still in his humid hide.

 

[bman123]

He's got the spaghnum moss in his hide all squished around him. Like he layed down and wiggled his body til he hit the bottom of the hide and pushed the moss out onto his sides.
He's quite a character, now I'm off to YouTube to watch leos chasing crickets in hope that one day soon my lil raptor will do the same lol..

 

[bman123]

This is funny and sad at the same time. I took out all his hides and decorations and I dumped a dozen large crickets in his tank. I showed him the tongs and he was ready so I dropped the crickets in right in front of him off the tongs.
They are all over the place, he's walking around crickets are just walking slowly in fronn of him and nothing yet. He seems interested but he won't eat any of them.

I'm gonna leave em in there for 15 minutes and if he doesn't eat any I'm gonna take em all out. I will try again on Monday. He ate 2 large early yesterday so maybe he's not hungry enough yet. He standing all arched and tall on his legs but he's not getting any of them. Oh well it gave me time to change the crickets bedding and food lol. He still has mealies in his bowl 24/7 and he hasn't touched them either.