New Leopard Gecko Not Eating

[zoob25]

I am new to the site and a new leo owner. I purchased two females on 10/12/14 that I was told are under a year old. They were purchased from a breeder at the Tinley Park NARBC show. I put the two females together in a 20 gallon long tank on tile substrate. I have paper towels on the side where they are pooping every time which is the cool hide side. I only have one hide on that side which I thought was large enough for both of them. Additionally, I have two humid hides, one on the cool side and one on the warm side (the non-eating leo spends a lot of time in here). I also have two warm hides. The temperature on the warm side is 90 degrees. The cool side temp was around 65 degrees for about 2 weeks, but then I purchased a ceramic heat emitter bulb which I hooked up to a lamp dimmer so the cool side is around 75 degrees now. I do not have a thermostat. I do have a water bowl. I check the temperatures daily (morning and night) with a infrared temp gun. Initially I had a calcium dish without D3 in the cage, but took it out when she stopped eating. I have read mix reviews on having that in there. Crickets have been dusted with D3 calcium, but only about once a week and I am feeding about every other day. Also supplemented with calcium without d3 by lightly dusting the crickets or worms about once a week rotating to make sure I spread the calcium supplementation apart.

I placed crickets in the cage about 2 days after purchasing the leos. One of my leos chased around the crickets and ate about 10 of them. The other gecko chased and ate about 2 or 3 of them and lost interest. The leo that only ate a few kept this up for the next few feedings and now does not show interest in crickets or mealworms (the breeder said they ate both prior to the purchase by me). I have now separated her and placed her in her own 10 gallon tank with paper towel substrate. The warm side is 92 degrees with on hide on that side and the humid hide is on that side. The cool side around 68 degrees with a hide on that side. Since I just moved her I know I can get the cool side up a bit. I have placed mealworms and crickets in the new tank on separate occasions and she does not show any interest. She is still pooping, but not much. Tail still looks good and she is still moving around. She spends a lot of time in the humid hide. I do have a water bowl on the warm side and a calcium dish which she has licked a few times since being placed in the 10 g tank.

I have attached some pics. I tried to take some pictures of her under body, but I was trying not to stress her out too much. I have also attached pictures of her poop. The darker poop is from this morning and the lighter poop is from two days ago. She also had another poop lighter poop prior to the lighter poop I attached. Hopefully the photos attached.

 

[indyana]

Because you have just moved her, it could take a few weeks for her to adjust, so you can wait and see if her appetite picks up again now that she doesn't have competition.

If she does not begin eating, I would certainly consider a trip to the vet and having a test done for parasites. Even though her previous cagemate appears to be doing fine, different geckos can be affected different ways by parasites.

 

[indyana]

Also, I did not see you mention a reptile multivitamin or gutloading the feeders anywhere. Providing vitamin supplementation and gutloading the crickets with nutritious foods will help all your geckos stay healthier in the long run.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

She does look a bit thin. They need a spot on the floor that's about 90. If the lights you mentioned using are heating the air in the tank to 90 they may be too hot and stressing because of that. I don't think temps on the cool side of 65 or 68 need to be raised. If they go below 65 then I would start providing additional heating. Most of the time geckos take a while to adjust to a new environment like others have said. Not eating for a week or two would be normal but a month after you got them would be a bit excessive for a slightly thin gecko. My first step would be to have a fecal done to check for parasites. Often minor problems can become more major after being subjected to the stress of a long weekend show like NARBC. Her fecals look relatively normal - the color can change based on what they ate (crickets vs mealwroms, extra calcium, etc.) As long as they aren't consistently watery or runny I wouldn't worry. If she's not eating I wouldn't expect her to poop much at all.

 

[zoob25]

Zoo Med reptivite with d3 and Zoo Med calcium, but since she hasn't ate she hasn't received any of those. The crickets were gutloaded and I change the water and gutload every few days. Mealworms also gutloaded and I placed carrots in with the gutload. She ate a wax worm one day ago so I placed a few more in there right in front of the warm hide. I have read that the wax worms can get them jump started into eating again. Thank you so much for responding. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[zoob25]

Her current hot spot from UTH is about 92 degrees. Cool side about 67-68. No heat bulb in the 10 gal she is in by herself.

 

[tommysatterlee]

As of now, your best option is to separate the two females. Also if you just purchased them, give them some time before feeding. Usually after their first shed at the new home they will begin to eat once again.

 

[indyana]

A waxworm or two is fine, but I would not feed too many. They aren't really nutritious, and you don't want her deciding she only wants to eat waxworms.

Keep offering normal food (crickets and mealworms), but if her appetite doesn't pick up in a week or two or she starts acting very sick, getting in touch with a vet would be a good idea. Parasites are the next likely thing once you've ruled out her cagemate bullying her or stress from being moved to her new tank. I hope she'll start eating on her own again for you!