KDFreder
New Member
- Messages
- 19
- Location
- Seabrook, TX
I have a female leopard gecko that I got on 4/27/09. She still has some bands in her pattern, so I gather she is under a year old, but I don't know for sure: I got her from a chain pet place. But she has never eaten since I got her. I've not once seen her eat any food. At all. Her tail was plump when I got her, and it is definitely thinner now. She poops with urates, but it is only very small ones. She has to be just living off the fat in her tail. I have her in a 20g glass tank, with an UTH on right side, a digital thermometer over it that reads between 87-89 degrees. Substrate is paper towels. She has a red light over the tank on at all times, over the UTH side. She has a moist hide on warm/middle side, a warm hide over the UTH, and a cool hide on the cool side. She has fresh water at all times, a dish of calcium, and a dish of fresh mealworms that I keep hydrated and fed. I buy her crickets too, and they are not huge - try to get appropriate-sized ones for her to be able to eat. She's never touched any. I keep buying crickets and mealworms regularly, so she'll have fresh ones. But she never wants anything. I have tried removing the worms and crickets for a period of time so that her feeding response will be renewed when I put them back in after a few days, thinking that will help. Hasn't made a difference. I have tried wiggling worms in front of her w/ tongs, setting them in front of her, pulling legs off crickets so she could get to them easier, taken her out and held food items in front of her, touched her mouth with it...she just moves her face away like I'm bothering her. I have tried to have a daylight on during they day, thinking perhaps she was in a form of brumation, maybe too dark, or a few degrees too cold than she was used to. But she would always go to the cold side, and the temp would get up to 94. It seemed too hot for her. So I only keep the UTH on and the red light on at all times. Some natural light gets into the room during the day, but she is not by a window and does have the glass covered by dark towels on the back and sides for her security. (I did get some printed aquarium background to cover the glass to put in place of the towels, just haven't yet. But since I covered the sides and back of the tank she has come out more).
I have now recently added new things to her cage, including a reptile hammock above the cold side with some plastic foliage. She likes to get on the hammock a lot now, once she discovered it and how to get to it. She has just recently started coming out of her moist hide more, spending more time out of it than she used to - which was most all the time. I got her a new warm hide also: the tree stump w/ bansai limbs on it. She started to explore it immediately too. She does come out during the night, and it's more lately now than she was doing. I decided last night when I put in fresh paper towels and the new hide in, to put a whole bunch of mealworms and added several waxworms to her bowl, to see if she would notice it with a lot in there this time, instead of just the normal 5-10 worms. She really seemed interested in it last night and kept eyeing them, stood over it, but never tried any. She would lie down next to the bowl even, or circle around the cage, and come back to see it. That was it. She never lunged for any food, or tried to get one. She just goes back to sleep too at night, after a period of time. She also will not go for a cricket ever, even if one crosses her path. They seem to annoy her. Last night she did lick at the outside of the water bowl for a long time after I had freshly refilled it, and moisture was on the outside of it. But even if she was dehydrated, she would be able to get herself water at any time, as I keep it fresh and full in there for her every day. She sleeps on both sides of the tank too. She does mainly stay on the warm side, and will lie over the UTH, but a lot of the times at night she sleeps on the hammock on the cool side for a long period of time. So if she was too hot or too cold, I think she would stay exclusively on one side. (Her tank is in my bedroom so I can watch her for lengths of time late at night while I'm lying there).
I have looked on her belly to check for impaction or ovulation or eggs, but don't see anything out of the ordinary. I see one small black spot but I think it is the liver or an organ that I have read about is pretty normal. She is definitely not bloated, but she is getting thin.
I have only seen her shed one time that I know of. She did not eat it though. She left the shed completely in the tank. I found it in there in the morning. I removed it. It was alot of shed. This didn't seem normal to me either, as I would think she would want the nutrients from the shed. But I did search here and several places, and have read that they don't always eat the shed...but this is the first I've seen of it. (I have had leopard geckos before her. I had a couple for a couple years, so she is not my first. This is also why this is so frustrating. I just don't understand).
I search on the forums extensively; I have 2 leopard gecko books, and I have talked to vets too. I don't know if she has a parasite, but her poo does not seem to be overly stinky or runny. It is greenish though, with white for the urates - what little there is of it. So I don't know. I just don't know.
Oh, I did try to feed her jumpstart and got a little in her a couple times, but it was a pain in the butt, as she did not like it at all and fought with me most of the time, trying to wipe it off her nose. But it hasn't seemed to make much of a difference in stimulating her appetite anyway, even if it did get a couple calories in her. I can try Repta Aid, and I do have some, but she is so fidgety and fights me on just holding her and putting some stuff on her nose, that I don't know how I'll get a dropper of stuff down her throat. She'll just have one more unpleasant experience with me in that case.
I read here too about folks who have geckos who have not eaten in many months, but then finally ate, and one not for 6 mos. But my gecko has never eaten since I got her. ...We have a pet store in our area that might get in butter worms. I was thinking of trying these: maybe the smell will do something for her. But I'm not holding my breath....
I did have one thought: that even though for the most part geckos are supposed to be happier as solitary critters, I have been wondering if she is, in fact, lonelier because she was used to being with the juveniles at the store I got her at. After all, she still does have bands on her, so she is not really an adult yet. She is not a small juvenile though, she is about, I don't know, 5-6 inches long. But at that store the juveniles sleep all over each other, and seem to like being in each other's company. I wonder if she was used to that environment and needs to feel secure with another young gecko and would maybe bring a feeding response if she felt more comfortable. I know this goes against most all we know about their behavior, at least for adults, and I tried to search on that, and mostly came up w/ of course info about them being solitary. I was just contemplating the idea. At the store, they were in a smaller tank of course, with several juveniles together, but they did all sleep together. They were on sand, with an overhead light on all day, which I wasn't happy about, of course, but again: chain pet store. The thing is, I think she WAS eating there. Her tail was much fatter than it is now, and she had a regular size poop when I brought her home, as if she had been eating normally there. So this is driving me insane. :main_huh:
If it gets suggested to try roaches, I don't know where to go to get something like that here. The main staple carried for geckos in local pet stores around here is crickets and mealworms. I've also given her a warm soak a couple times but she tries to scamper out of it as soon as possible. I think her one shed that she did was after one of her soaks though. She does not have any stuck shed on her and she looks clear and healthy overall.
So sorry that my post is so long. I just wanted to cover most everything I could think of now.
With that, anyone have any ideas what I should try? Anything at all that will help?
I will try to get a good photo or two tonight of how the tank is set up, what she looks like now, and find the photo I took of her when I first got her in April, and post for comparison.
Thanks again for reading all this....
I have now recently added new things to her cage, including a reptile hammock above the cold side with some plastic foliage. She likes to get on the hammock a lot now, once she discovered it and how to get to it. She has just recently started coming out of her moist hide more, spending more time out of it than she used to - which was most all the time. I got her a new warm hide also: the tree stump w/ bansai limbs on it. She started to explore it immediately too. She does come out during the night, and it's more lately now than she was doing. I decided last night when I put in fresh paper towels and the new hide in, to put a whole bunch of mealworms and added several waxworms to her bowl, to see if she would notice it with a lot in there this time, instead of just the normal 5-10 worms. She really seemed interested in it last night and kept eyeing them, stood over it, but never tried any. She would lie down next to the bowl even, or circle around the cage, and come back to see it. That was it. She never lunged for any food, or tried to get one. She just goes back to sleep too at night, after a period of time. She also will not go for a cricket ever, even if one crosses her path. They seem to annoy her. Last night she did lick at the outside of the water bowl for a long time after I had freshly refilled it, and moisture was on the outside of it. But even if she was dehydrated, she would be able to get herself water at any time, as I keep it fresh and full in there for her every day. She sleeps on both sides of the tank too. She does mainly stay on the warm side, and will lie over the UTH, but a lot of the times at night she sleeps on the hammock on the cool side for a long period of time. So if she was too hot or too cold, I think she would stay exclusively on one side. (Her tank is in my bedroom so I can watch her for lengths of time late at night while I'm lying there).
I have looked on her belly to check for impaction or ovulation or eggs, but don't see anything out of the ordinary. I see one small black spot but I think it is the liver or an organ that I have read about is pretty normal. She is definitely not bloated, but she is getting thin.
I have only seen her shed one time that I know of. She did not eat it though. She left the shed completely in the tank. I found it in there in the morning. I removed it. It was alot of shed. This didn't seem normal to me either, as I would think she would want the nutrients from the shed. But I did search here and several places, and have read that they don't always eat the shed...but this is the first I've seen of it. (I have had leopard geckos before her. I had a couple for a couple years, so she is not my first. This is also why this is so frustrating. I just don't understand).
I search on the forums extensively; I have 2 leopard gecko books, and I have talked to vets too. I don't know if she has a parasite, but her poo does not seem to be overly stinky or runny. It is greenish though, with white for the urates - what little there is of it. So I don't know. I just don't know.
Oh, I did try to feed her jumpstart and got a little in her a couple times, but it was a pain in the butt, as she did not like it at all and fought with me most of the time, trying to wipe it off her nose. But it hasn't seemed to make much of a difference in stimulating her appetite anyway, even if it did get a couple calories in her. I can try Repta Aid, and I do have some, but she is so fidgety and fights me on just holding her and putting some stuff on her nose, that I don't know how I'll get a dropper of stuff down her throat. She'll just have one more unpleasant experience with me in that case.
I read here too about folks who have geckos who have not eaten in many months, but then finally ate, and one not for 6 mos. But my gecko has never eaten since I got her. ...We have a pet store in our area that might get in butter worms. I was thinking of trying these: maybe the smell will do something for her. But I'm not holding my breath....
I did have one thought: that even though for the most part geckos are supposed to be happier as solitary critters, I have been wondering if she is, in fact, lonelier because she was used to being with the juveniles at the store I got her at. After all, she still does have bands on her, so she is not really an adult yet. She is not a small juvenile though, she is about, I don't know, 5-6 inches long. But at that store the juveniles sleep all over each other, and seem to like being in each other's company. I wonder if she was used to that environment and needs to feel secure with another young gecko and would maybe bring a feeding response if she felt more comfortable. I know this goes against most all we know about their behavior, at least for adults, and I tried to search on that, and mostly came up w/ of course info about them being solitary. I was just contemplating the idea. At the store, they were in a smaller tank of course, with several juveniles together, but they did all sleep together. They were on sand, with an overhead light on all day, which I wasn't happy about, of course, but again: chain pet store. The thing is, I think she WAS eating there. Her tail was much fatter than it is now, and she had a regular size poop when I brought her home, as if she had been eating normally there. So this is driving me insane. :main_huh:
If it gets suggested to try roaches, I don't know where to go to get something like that here. The main staple carried for geckos in local pet stores around here is crickets and mealworms. I've also given her a warm soak a couple times but she tries to scamper out of it as soon as possible. I think her one shed that she did was after one of her soaks though. She does not have any stuck shed on her and she looks clear and healthy overall.
So sorry that my post is so long. I just wanted to cover most everything I could think of now.
With that, anyone have any ideas what I should try? Anything at all that will help?
I will try to get a good photo or two tonight of how the tank is set up, what she looks like now, and find the photo I took of her when I first got her in April, and post for comparison.
Thanks again for reading all this....
Next idea would be to get a fecal done to check for parasites.
