Nervous Leo

[Desdemona]

So, the first girl I bought is still incredibly nervous. She does not eat very much. I bought tongs to try and tong feed her, but the first time she went for the reptiworm I had she hit the tongs and is now scared of those (sigh). I re-added the rock that she took a liking to when I first got her (was trying to use it as the wet hide) but this time without substrate so I can feed her in it. The rock has a small lip on it so at least the worms can't get out (the roaches probably will). It is my last ditch effort to get her to eat and put on some weight. She is still tiny. Her tail isn't super thin, but its not that fat either. I bother her as little as possible, haven't changed her cage (except for recently adding the rock) but she just doesn't want to relax.

I have tried just leaving food in the cage, in a bowl, but she won't touch it.

Any ideas? I'm afraid she'll starve herself to death. If anything, she is not going to be a big adult. I don't plan on breeding her so it is less of a big deal, maybe? She is driving me batty! My other two geckos eat just fine, so I don't think its me. Her cage temps are good as well.

 

[roger]

So, the first girl I bought is still incredibly nervous. She does not eat very much. I bought tongs to try and tong feed her, but the first time she went for the reptiworm I had she hit the tongs and is now scared of those (sigh). I re-added the rock that she took a liking to when I first got her (was trying to use it as the wet hide) but this time without substrate so I can feed her in it. The rock has a small lip on it so at least the worms can't get out (the roaches probably will). It is my last ditch effort to get her to eat and put on some weight. She is still tiny. Her tail isn't super thin, but its not that fat either. I bother her as little as possible, haven't changed her cage (except for recently adding the rock) but she just doesn't want to relax.

I have tried just leaving food in the cage, in a bowl, but she won't touch it.

Any ideas? I'm afraid she'll starve herself to death. If anything, she is not going to be a big adult. I don't plan on breeding her so it is less of a big deal, maybe? She is driving me batty! My other two geckos eat just fine, so I don't think its me. Her cage temps are good as well.

First u need to give us detail on her enclosure , temps on the surface etc.I have one raptor who is insane and is not calming down.She is small for her age.She is a very finicky eater.i tryed assist feeding her,not force feeding her to get her used to eating.she eats but i would like for her to eat more.

 

[Desdemona]

Her tank is a 20 Long with 4 hides in it. Her hot hide is a rock formation type, not real large but she has space since she's tiny. I also have a completely enclosed rock minus one entrance on the "hot" side but the thermometer didn't show it heating up completely (which is why there are now two "hot" hides). That rock is what I started using as her "feed" hide. Ie, she can hide and eat. There is a 1/2" lip on the entrance to keep the worms at least in (reptiworms and silk).

Her cool hide has a hallow bamboo shoot and a plastic container for her wet hide. She likes the wet hide the best, but she will hide and never come out if I leave her alone. She did this for two weeks straight, the first time she stopped eating. She wouldn't even come out if I moved the hide. She started to do the same with the plastic container but after it dried out and she didn't leave it for a few days I sprayed it down with her in it. Now, she will run out of the container if I open the cage so she doesn't get sprayed. She then runs into her warm hide.

I leave her alone in there. When I clean the tank I do it in halves, whatever side she is hiding on gets done last so I can move her hide over to the clean side (switching out the paper towel). Though eventually she will have to be taken out for a good cleaning.

Two nights she has eaten reptiworms out of the hidden rock. I put some tiny roaches in there last night, but didn't see any poops yet. Might just put her on a reptiworm diet. Maybe she'll eat silkworms too at least.

 

[prettyinpink]

So are you saying she's eating ok or not? I was having a hard time deciding if you were saying that or not. And she's not pooing?

I wouldn't worry too much about her nervousness since she's so little. Amirah was like a crazy little, I don't even know what you'd call it but she flips out. Now she's better but I always thought she was going to have a heart attack. She's a pig, so I don't have that problem.

How old is she? And what type of leo is she? I ask that because of what you said in your first post, she missed and got the tongs, my bell...again isn't very good at seeing she misses crickets but will stay there for hours trying to get them. Luckily, out of my three she eats can-o-crickets, I don't put them in a bowl and put them right outside her hide. She doesn't eat supers so I had those on hand and used them.

How long have you had her?

 

[roger]

Her tank is a 20 Long with 4 hides in it. Her hot hide is a rock formation type, not real large but she has space since she's tiny. I also have a completely enclosed rock minus one entrance on the "hot" side but the thermometer didn't show it heating up completely (which is why there are now two "hot" hides). That rock is what I started using as her "feed" hide. Ie, she can hide and eat. There is a 1/2" lip on the entrance to keep the worms at least in (reptiworms and silk).

Her cool hide has a hallow bamboo shoot and a plastic container for her wet hide. She likes the wet hide the best, but she will hide and never come out if I leave her alone. She did this for two weeks straight, the first time she stopped eating. She wouldn't even come out if I moved the hide. She started to do the same with the plastic container but after it dried out and she didn't leave it for a few days I sprayed it down with her in it. Now, she will run out of the container if I open the cage so she doesn't get sprayed. She then runs into her warm hide.

I leave her alone in there. When I clean the tank I do it in halves, whatever side she is hiding on gets done last so I can move her hide over to the clean side (switching out the paper towel). Though eventually she will have to be taken out for a good cleaning.

Two nights she has eaten reptiworms out of the hidden rock. I put some tiny roaches in there last night, but didn't see any poops yet. Might just put her on a reptiworm diet. Maybe she'll eat silkworms too at least.

It sounds like she is quite young.20 gallons is way too big if she is real young.what are repti worms ?? What are the temps on the surface on the warm end under her warm hide? They need to be 90-95 deg surface temp

 

[Desdemona]

Reptiworms are just another name for phoenix worms. Atm it is the only thing she seems willing to eat. I might have to just feed her those.

So I now have a Q about heaters and thermometers. If I just lay the probe on the paper towel it reads abouyt 92. Yesterday I slipped the probe under the hide so the hide was pushing it down and it shot up to 108, eeeek! I am going to start a topic for this since I want a quick answer, but which reading? Obviously one Is way to hot.

 

[roger]

Reptiworms are just another name for phoenix worms. Atm it is the only thing she seems willing to eat. I might have to just feed her those.

So I now have a Q about heaters and thermometers. If I just lay the probe on the paper towel it reads abouyt 92. Yesterday I slipped the probe under the hide so the hide was pushing it down and it shot up to 108, eeeek! I am going to start a topic for this since I want a quick answer, but which reading? Obviously one Is way to hot.

whats your thermostat set at?IMO the one that is right under the hide which u are telling me is 108 is too hot.the heat is being trapped under the hide container.what are u using for a hide?.Do u notice your leo doesnt use his warm hide often? Its probably too warm for him

 

[fl_orchidslave]

It sounds like she is stressed. If you use any lights, leave them off for a week or so to see if there are any behavior changes. She might do well in a small plastic tub, with a simple small plastic container hide and a bath tissue tube for a while, until she's bigger. Have you tried giving her regular mealworms? What was she eating before you got her?

 

[prettyinpink]

Hopefully you get your temps right...At it reaching 108, I hope that's not hot enough to burn her and that's why she's stressing.

You could put a piece of cardboard in the middle of the tank, to cut it in half to make it smaller. Sounds like she has a ton of hides, I don't think she needs that many at least right now. Just make it nice and simple and 'comfy'.

 

[Desdemona]

I will post a picture later, but she has started to poop every other day or so, which is good for her. I think the rock/food dish was a good move. I went ahead and moved everything closer in together so that it would seem like less space. I will show a picture of that later.

Going by the guessed age from the petstore and the time I have had her (about 3 months) she is probably around 6 months old. I will try to get a picture of her later, but unless she is in her wet hide that might be hard to do.

I am getting her a rheostat today. I was turning the heater on and off, but its climbing to much and to fast for me to leave her when I go back to work tomorrow.

No lights. Mealworms is the one bug she flat refuses to eat. Her first hunger strike was when I tried to switch her to mealworms. Then she stopped eating until I bought the Dubais. Now she eats again. I tried to give her a mealworm a week ago and even though the thing crawled right by her mouth, and she licked it, she didn't eat it. She does eat roaches, silk, and repti/phoenix worms. She did eat the superworms I bought back when I first got her (not realizing the difference) but for some reason she won't eat mealies.

She is a blizzard (90% sure), just a patternless greyish girl. Grey normal eyes.

Will update with a pic after I run to the petstore. I didn't want to be too unresponsive!

 

[prettyinpink]

Well if she's pooping that's good news Hopefully we can get her temps working right. Are you using the tiny mealies? Or the regular size ones? Mine won't touch supers, she touches mealies though LOL.

 

[Desdemona]

Its funny because she ate the big supers, but won't touch mealworms, no matter what the size. None of my other Leos have a problem with them, just her.

 

[prettyinpink]

I just cursed myself I guess. Just picked up some supers from the store...and she had some. Now all my guys like supers. They are so weird :main_rolleyes:

So since she's pooping sounds like all you have trouble with now is the temps right?

 

[Desdemona]

Here is a picture of the tank, I closed everything in today for her.

I have the rheostat on the lowest setting right now. So, hopefully that will be a good temp fix. I think I will just look into some high quality UTHs instead of the "cheap" ones I have now.

The more hilly looking rocky thing is the hot hide she usually stays in. It is not completely closed in, both sides are pretty open and the side that faces away from the glass has a opening that she can crawl through, on top of a mini ledge. The other rock, is the make-shift feeding grounds. I had the thermastat in there for a day or two to see if it was getting warm on the inside, but the temps stayed in the low 80s. It was pulling some heat, but not a lot, which is why I left the other hide there. I originally bought the rock as a wet hide but that is when she decided to never come out. I just gave it back to her less than a week ago, which is also when she started to eat a little better. I put worms and small dubai in there. The bugs do occasionally crawl out (it has a small lip on it) but they seem to stay in there for the most part. Of course the tupawear is the wet hide and the bamboo I just put in there so she would have a dry cool hide. I ahve only seen her in there once and as soon as she realized I saw her she ran out and hid. It is a big large for her I suppose, but it does help "block" her in.