Leo not eating in 2 weeks

[Valley Reptiles]

Does anyone know how to get a leo eating? She has been here for about 2 weeks now and hasnt eaten any mealworms or crickets. The temps are around 88-90 on the hot end and around 78-79 on the cool end. She has a hide that she stays in all the time. She is starting to get really thin now, her tail is down to almost nothing. Is there anything I can try to get her eating again?

 

[Scott&Nikki]

How old is she? You can try bumping the temps up to 92. What are you feeding her?

 

[Valley Reptiles]

mealworms & crickets. I dont know her age but she was almost 13 grams when I got her and now around 9.5 grams

 

[brandy101010]

Sound like she needs a trip to the vet to me. What substrate are you keeping her on? She could have parasites or if she is kept on substrate that can be ingested, she could be impacted.

 

[Valley Reptiles]

she is on newspaper.

 

[brandy101010]

Do you have a pic so we can see how skinny she is?
I would really take her to the vet if she is as thin as she sounds. When you go bring a freash fecal sample.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

it does sound likes parasites, Id get a fecal. Also Panacur will not hurt them, if you can't get a fecal pretty fast, I woudl go ahead and give it to her, I give it to all of me leos when I get them and repeat every 6 months to prevent parasites.

they get .01cc per 50 grams so its going to be hard to dose one that small though.

 

[PrototypeGeckos]

Belly heat or back heat? I have back heat on some of my geckos and they do great, but I do have one female that if she is in a rack with back heat, she will not eat and looses weight rapidly. I then move her to belly heat and she eats like a horse and packs on the weight. But if she is on back heat and you move her to belly heat, give her a couple of days to adjust.

 

[MichaelJ]

it does sound likes parasites, Id get a fecal. Also Panacur will not hurt them, if you can't get a fecal pretty fast, I woudl go ahead and give it to her, I give it to all of me leos when I get them and repeat every 6 months to prevent parasites.

they get .01cc per 50 grams so its going to be hard to dose one that small though.

There are dozens of protocols for Panacur - (fenbendezole) and it's not a good idea to just attempt this without supervision unless you have experience. That said, a small droplet on the nose may help. Panacur doesn't really help with protozoans and many others that may need stronger meds like flagyl. Panacur is very safer than most.

I've heard dozens of horror stories of overdosing animals with, "safe", meds and actually over did one myself with flagyl accidentally. I was off by maybe a droplet and lost one of my girls..

I'd get a fecal done asap to be safe and let the pros prescribe based on what they find..

 

[GeckoGathering]

Not Eating

Sounds like you just got her....baby at 10 grams, right? At 10 grams she is not going to be FAT. The vet is always a good idea if you can make no progress.
If recently shipped....probably she is stressed out & won't eat. Try force feeding 2 or 3 small meal worms. Use tongs to hold a headless meal worm. Cut open a couple others...push out the inners. Rub them on the gecko's mouth.
It should start licking in a moment. Get the rhythm down of her mouth being open. Gecko in one hand, tongs holding meal worm at uncut headless end and close enough to make a straight non whiggly piece to get into the mouth on the open beat. Don't have to shove it down her throat....just the tip in her mouth and she will bite down and do the rest.........What, you missed. Well, try another. You will get the hang of it. Keep a dish of small meal with her(alone I hope)...Try forcing 2 or 3 days and lay off 1 or 2 until you see her eating on her own....Take care.
I force fed Conan (pictured) for eight months before he would eat on his own.

 

[MichaelJ]

I have a blazing blizzard named Conan! We named him after the Late Night host because he's so pale