I'm no longer a keeper of geckos ...

[Aunt J]

Instead, I'm a keeper of worms. At this point, it seems like the geckos are just secondary.

It's been two weeks, and my girls are still not eating, and I've been trying everything. Last night, I offered small mealworms, large mealworms, superworms, silkworms, phoenix worms and goliath worms. I have an entire cabinet of worm containers.

One ate a goliath worm, but the other turned up her nose and closed her eyes at each offering.

She's lost 5 grams over the last two weeks. Is it time for waxworms? Slurry? I'm scared of the slurry because I'll never be able to use the blender again, but I'm ready to sacrifice it to the gecko gods. (ick).

The vet still says not to worry, but if they aren't eating by Monday, I'm taking them in.

 

[trizzypballr]

They do have heat correct?

 

[eyelids]

Yeah what he said... How long have you had them? Are they ovulating? I ask because ovulating females (at least mine) go off food if they're ovulating and haven't been with a male.

 

[Aunt J]

The heat on over the UTH is 88-92 degrees, regulated with a Herpstat. The cold side is about 75 degrees. I check the temps every morning and evening with a temp gun.

I've had them for five weeks. During the first weeks, the 30 gram female (Cleo) was a small eater -- she ignored crickets but would eat mealwoms from tweezers -- and the 45 gram female (Abby) was a pig, chasing crickets and mealworms alike. After two weeks, Cleo had gained 10 grams and Abby had gained 15.

For the last two weeks, though, neither one will eat. Cleo will take one worm every few days, especially if I give her something she hasn't had before, but Abby refuses everything. She's lost 5 grams. They both shed last week.

How do I tell if they are ovulating? I have checked their stomaches and don't see eggs.

 

[Aunt J]

Also, I had been getting them out of their tank every day to wander around on the counch and the bed. They seemed okay with that, and would crawl all over me like I was their own jungle gym, not at all afraid. In case I was stressing them out, though, for the last week or so I stopped taking them out. Hasn't made a difference, though.

I also changed their bowl from an escape-proof mealworm dish to a clear tupperware dish so they can see the wiggling, in case they've decided they don't want to eat in front of me. But I checked about every couple hours last night, and they never approached it.

 

[SirKevin]

I don't think they're ovulating at that weight.

This is just me, but try not offering them so many different things in the span of just an evening. All the opening and closing must get annoying. I'd offer them one different type of food every second night or so until they take to something. They're big enough that they can go quite a while yet without eating before it becomes even a bit dangerous, and based on some of my geckos' past weird eating habits you're a lot more likely to get them to eat that way than by throwing a bunch of different things at them in a short amount of time.

The only other worms I can suggest that you didn't have (and sometimes these are really good ones for picky eaters) are butterworms.

 

[Aunt J]

thanks, have been trying that. i left superworms, phoenixworms and silkies in a dish for them for about four days without bugging them, then tried offering one thing with tweezers. Nothing.

Took them to the vet Wednesday. He thinks they are fine and says not to worry, but to try force feeding her crickets. I need to take in a fecal, but she's not really doing that at the moment, so ... I don't think I can force feed crickets -- she won't come close to opening her mouth and i can't pry it open and hold a cricket at the same time.

the reptile store near me suggested baby food?

 

[SirKevin]

I don't think you should ever force feed a herp unless they are visibly close to death from starvation.

I also don't think you should try baby food.

Don't leave them with four dishes at once; that's a lot and probably throws them off... heh, sorry, I said that about your last tactic but I think it's important that you just leave them as alone as possible and offer them individual types of food every few days. Just rotate through; eventually they should take to something.

I'd still strongly suggest trying to get some butterworms. They can cost even a bit more than silkies, so just buy five or something. I've had butterworms end a few hunger strikes. Hornworms are also really good if you want to pull out all the stops. If you're in LA, I'm pretty sure Mulberry Farms (the main hornworm supplier) is in California and should be able to ship fairly easily. They also have butterworms for a lot cheaper than pet stores; maybe look at a small order of hornworms and a small order of butterworms? Just what I'd do personally.

If they take to *nothing* and visibly lose weight, try Marcia's slurry formula... it's more for deathbed geckos, so that's why I say to wait until they noticeably lose weight.

 

[Aunt J]

all the worms are in one dish, just wanted them to have options. right now, only mealworms and supers. i agree about force feeding, but that was the advice from the vet. I've been weighing them and they've both lost 10 grams over the last two and a half weeks, which is pretty noticeable when they were only 45 and 55 grams to start with.

one of them has been eating about one worm every three days or so, and she's been acting more energetic, so as long as she doesn't keep losing weight, I won't worry about her.

the other one closes her eyes and turns her nose up at everything (and i've only offered one worm, every other day, for the last week). she's also lethargic. she wasn't at the vet -- she was kind of keyed up -- but in the tank, she just lays there, doesn't even bother going into a hide. i checked the temps, and they are 92-94 on the hot side, and 75-85 on the cool side. i tried a variation on the Golden Gate Gecko slurry on her --baby food, pedialyte, calcium and vitamins (just missing the pet food, ensure and mealies), and just dropped it on her nose. she licked off about 1/2 teaspoon. we'll see how that goes.

 

[Aunt J]

also, will try butterworms and hornworms. they didn't have them at the store today, but i'll order some from mulberry farms if they have them in stock (they didn't, last time i checked). one of them also likes goliath worms, will try those again, too.

 

[SirKevin]

Goliath worms are hornworms.

Hmm, it sounds like the one who didn't get to the vet's needs it more than the one who did. Keep trying the slurry on her; that'll stop the weight loss.

 

[Aunt J]

no, i took them both to the vet. sorry, I meant she wasn't lethargic at the vets office, not that I didn't take her.

The vet said the same thing about both of them. the smaller one has started eating a little, though, so I'm less worried about her. the larger one is more lethargic and has dropped more weight. she's the one i fed the babyfood/pedialyte mixture to.

 

[brandy101010]

in my opinion 94 degrees is kinda hot. I don't go higher then 90 cool side sounds fine though. What substrate are you keeping them on?
Try to get a fecal to the vet.

 

[Aunt J]

Keeping them on sifted playsand. I'm pretty sure they aren't impacted, though -- they've been pooping a little, and after the babyfood yesterday, the more lethargic one pooped more. I"m going to get a fecal to the vet ASAP.

I'm thinking that I should switch to paper towels anyway, but don't want to do that until my new thermostat comes in. Too much information, but I have been using a dial rheostat instead of a thermostat for the last week, because I gave the thermostat to the beardies. I ordered a new thermostat three weeks ago for the leos and expected it to be here already, but as it isn't, the lowest setting on the rheostat won't let me lower the heat any more than the 92-94 that I'm getting,so I've piling up the substrate to lower the temps a little more. Paper towels wouldn't be enough between the leos and the UTH without the thermostat.

 

[brandy101010]

I see. Yeah try to get the temp down a bit then switch to paper towls as soon as you can at least untill you can figure out what is going on with them.

 

[Aunt J]

Thermostats should be shipped Thursday. (Fingers crossed). In the meantime, I got in a shipment of silkies and butterworms. Cleo ate a butterworm, Abby licked one, but wouldn't eat it. Left a dish of them and they were cautiously investigating when I went to bed last night. I think a few of them disappeared by morning -- hopefully into Leo tummies and not hiding in the tank somewhere.