New leo won't eat

[Cyndy415]

I was checking on everyone before I went to bed. The older leo is fine and eating, dragon and turtle are sleeping. Checked on the new leopard gecko we got last Sunday and this one has only eaten one mealworm since we got it. I got small mealworms today hoping that would help, but none are gone. The older one only took a couple days to unstress before she ate, but as little as this one is I'm kinda worried. This was almost the smallest one, but it was the one my son wanted. We've had no problems before. Peaches must be at least drinking the water, I saw her relieve herself earlier. She's moving around a little, but sleeping alot. She's on paper towels, has her main hide where she sleeps, the "out house" hide, but as small as she is, I'm not sure what to do about the moist hide. Temp and humidity are ok, almost 80 for temp and about 40% humidity. Three sides of her tank are covered at this point with black fabric so her world isn't so big right now. She only measures about 3 inches long and is thin. I'm afraid to touch her she's so tiny. Don't want to start feeding her with tweezers, it might stress her out some more. Any suggestions on what might help her eat?

Thank you!

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Peaches didn't make it through the night Saturday night. After cleaning and sterilizing the everything, I did get a replacement for my son. I hate to have to do that, but I picked the new one out and made sure it was not so tiny. They did seem quite a bit smaller than our other one was and hopefully this one will do better. I'm keeping the temp about 86-88 today, I'll let it go down to just above 80 tonight and get it back up tomorrow.

 

[prof.comet]

I've discovered if I place a superworm (but I suppose any moving-food item) in front of the gecko's hide it should entice it some. I've experienced some geckos not eating unless they were hiding. You can also try using tweezers and placing a mealworm close enough for the gecko to see; as in directly in front of its mouth/face. Did you try something else besides mealworms? I had a baby gecko only eat small silkworms, and ignore superworms.

 

[prettyinpink]

There's your problem right there. 80* is too low for your temps, you need to bump it up by 10* for them to digest properly.

She sounds very small, I'm sure others will be around shortly. But she almost sounds like a hatchling.

 

[Mich]

I agree with bumping up your temps and I don't use supers until they are adults. I feed all my hatchlings 1/4" crickets or mealworms. If they are not eating well then meal worms are a better bet because they are easier to catch but a healthy hatchlings can usually start to scamper around and catch crickets after about a week out of the egg.

 

[Dog Shrink]

Absolutely boost up your temps. 88-95 is the suggested optimum temp range for adult leos and from what I have heard juvies should be kept just a little warmer. You don't really need to up and down your temps with the day/night. If you turn your heat down in the house when you go to bed that would be fine, plus you're providing a temp gradient in the tank right? so the leo can move to where it is comfortable. I hardly ever adjust my temps down, usually only up. I try to keep my leo between 88-93.

Sorry to hear your baby didn't make it. Maybe you'll have better luck with this new one.