My gecko STILL won't eat!

[OSUgecko]

Hello all,

I have a 1 1/2 year old female leo who spontaneously decided not to eat about 3 months ago. She was ovulating at the time, so I wasn't really worried about it initially - she remained active and was still drinking/thermoregulating/passing stool. She didn't LOOK sick. Because I had planned to breed her, I housed her with the male for about 3 days when it looked like she was ready. I don't know if the male impregnated her or not.

After she fasted 1 1/2 months and had not laid any eggs, I started getting concerned and took her to my reptile vet. He gave her a thorough check up, but couldn't find anything wrong with her. He didn't think that she was pregnant. Although he didn't see any worms, he went ahead and wormed her, just in case. He didn't draw blood from her to avoid stressing her out too much at that point. He told me to try hand feeding her, watch her closely and inform him of any changes.

Unfortunately or fortunately, there have been none. She still acts completely healthy, and while she has lost some weight, she was a fatty beforehand. I have been handfeeding her once or twice a week, feeding 3-5 mealies at a time. She is still drinking/pooping/thermoregulating/active. She doesn't LOOK sick.

However, her feeding reflex is non-existant. If I drop a mealie in front of her, the only reaction I get is that she looks at it... then she walks away. I've tried crickets and mealies, nothing either way. The only other behavioural change I have noted is that she figured out how to get underneath her paper towels after starting the fast, and now likes to dig underneath them and hang out there for long periods of time.

Her warm side/cool side is set at approximately 92/72 F. She has a humid hide made out of a gladware container and filled with peat moss (which she had before the fast). She is supplemented with pure Ca all the time and Reptivite once a week.

I just can't figure out what's wrong with her. I probably need to take her back to my vet, but I thought I'd check with you guys and see if you had any suggestions first.

Here are pictures of her today:

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

If she is accepting food from you by hand, she is just being a little booger! If there was really something wrong with her, she would most likely refuse all food. Have you tried to feed her anything besides mealies and crickets?

 

[OSUgecko]

I tried waxworms once or twice before Clem (the gecko) got "sick", and she didn't really seem to like them. I also tried a pinky mouse once, and she bit it, then spit it out and had nothing to do with it. I haven't tried anything else with her. I grow my own mealies and buy crickets when I need them... but she's so lazy she hasn't really wanted to chase crickets since she was 8 months old or so. She's just all around picky and lazy, but she's never lost weight before.

She hasn't been picking the mealworms out of my hand - I've been opening up her mouth and sticking the mealie inside. She'll eat it then, but she's not really doing it voluntarily.

The only thing I can think of is maybe I'm not letting her get hungry enough, but she seriously didn't eat a thing for almost 2 months before I intervened! I just worry that if I try to "wait her out" she's going to have serious health/supplement/etc. issues. And if it's not just her being picky, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong or what's wrong with her.

 

[OSUgecko]

Any other ideas guys?

 

[OSUgecko]

Anything?

 

[TWC]

do you feed her crickets? do you have sand substrate?

 

[Kimjorg]

If you look at the picture of her tummy carefully it almost looks like she is ovulating and possibly has more than 2 eggs. Can you look at her stomach and tell if there are 3plus eggs if so there is good chance she may just not be eating becasue she is still ovulating (one of our females does this everytime she ovulates and scares the crap out of me) or she may possibly be egg bound...I dunno just some thoughts! Good luck though and have you taken her to the vet again?

 

[OSUgecko]

I've offered her crickets several times since her fast started, but she hasn't been interested in them. I'm going to try again tomorrow. She has been on plain white paper towels ever since I got her as a baby. Unless she's been eating peat moss (which I haven't noticed in her stools) I don't think she could be impacted.

I haven't taken her to the vet again yet. When I took her to see him the first time, he did not think she was pregnant or egg bound. I would think he should have been able to tell 1 1/2 months after breeding??? Maybe not.

I can't see eggs through her body wall myself... I thought they were supposed to sit low (towards the tail) on either side of her midline, and be fairly obvious (pinkish/whitish)? At least from pictures I've seen. What are you looking at Kimberly? I'm not doubting you, just wanting to learn from you...

Thanks for the responses guys! I'll be taking her to the vet again soon if she doesn't improve and we can't figure this out. But if you have any more advice or suggestions, please let me know!

 

[Kimjorg]

In the picture about 1inch from the base of her tail it almost looks like there are 3 pink eggs clustered together arounf the black "line" you can see through her skin. Do you see this or do i need to put my glasses on and look again

 

[OSUgecko]

Oooohhhh.... I actually still can't see it in the pictures, but I CAN see them in her abdomen in person now! Pink spots only, no white tint to them... and it looks more like she has two spots, one large (low on the left side) and one small (high on the right side). When she was ovulating three months ago, she had one whitish-pink spot high on the right side of her abdomen. So does that mean she is egg bound or just ovulating? I figure it definately means another trip to the vet...

I would attach pics, but I don't have anyone around to help me take them right now... and she's not cooperating by sitting still while I've got her flipped upside down, lol.

BTW, she's still drinking, pooping, and active... but has no appetite. I haven't hand fed her for the last week, hoping that she would get hungry... but nothing's changed.

 

[Kimjorg]

As long as there are only 2 pink eggs (which may be white by now) I think that she is fine and it is completely normal for females not to eat while they are ovulating. Almost all of ours get skinny after laying so no worries!

 

[Baysidegeckos]

Yea i have 1 female right now that is ovulating, And another that is pregnant.
The ovulating one isnt eating but that is rather normal and the pregnant one that is still laying eggs wasnt eating at first but now she is, alot of leos just take a break from eating when they are ovulating or like male leos stop eating when they are introduced to a female and there mind is on females, I have had a few males like that.

And from what i have seen alot of my leos arnt interested in food that much this time off year i guesss bc the know the cold is coming, which is funny bc im in florida and its never cold really LOL. but we have our days

 

[OSUgecko]

CLEM ATE A CRICKET TODAY!!! I've tried cricks several times before and gotten zero interest from her. I dropped one in today and she snagged it immediately. I was so happy! The funny thing is, I had an appointment with my vet to look at her tomorrow... of course she waited till the day before to try to eat... oh well. :main_rolleyes: I'll call tomorrow and see if I should cancel the appointment.

 

[Perefalcon]

if she's still being a stinker...try a few small superworms...make sure you're monitoring her on them though so they don't run off...they move better than mealies

 

[OSUgecko]

Thanks Tonya, I'll do that.

 

[Perefalcon]

np

 

[The Sunset Gang]

If she doesn't want to eat and isn't losing any weight and is acting normal, she should be fine. When my female doesn't eat she is usually ovulating, so I just stop feeding her for three or more days and throw some crickets in. The crickets trigger her hunger I guess because she eats them up. Good Luck with the Little Booger!