He's not eating...

[cowingzitron]

I'm a first-time owner of a leopard gecko, so bear with me. My gecko is a little over a year old, and he seems perfectly healthy. He's active and quite interactive with me, his eyes are clear and bright, he's not shaky, there's no secretions around his eyes or nose, he's plenty buff with a fat tail and belly, his feces are well-formed with both brown and white/yellow portions, etc. But he's just not eating anywhere near as much as I've read he's supposed to. The little guy won't eat more than once per week; he even rejects the waxworms he used to love. The last time he ate was a week ago; 6-7 crickets overnight. The only sign of ill-health besides his reduced appetite was that his last shed was kinda tough, and I had to peel some skin off his head and tail (which wasn't difficult, and he rebounded right away). Note that his diminished appetite has been going on for a month or two. Should I be worried about his health? He seems perfectly fine to me, certainly not listless or deathly ill, yet I'm quite concern about his eating. Thank you in advance for your help and advice!

-- Chris

 

[moosassah]

Many of us who've had our leos for less than a year are experiencing our first winter with them. We've noticed less activity & eating. Continue to monitor his weight. If you think he's losing too much, a trip to the vet would be in order.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Chris, couple questions:

1) What substrate is your leo on?
2) Are you positive your leo is a male?
3) How much does he eat when he does eat that 1 time per week.

I don't think it would be parasites if he still shows interest in food once a week. If he isn't losing weight its probably not a problem. Thats why hes got that fat tail.

 

[blizzard]

are the temps correct? also are you sure about the sex? make sure you are checking the weight. have you tried other food? although reading through the forum many leos eat the same things, but i have also heard they become uninterested because their is a limited variety-it's like you eating the same thing everyday. <--not completely sold on that idea though..but maybe it wants something different. but if it's losing weight, you may want to visit the vet just to make sure there's no parasites and such.