Ovulation Hunger Strike

[Nynecho]

About my leo:
- Sex: female
- Age & Weight: 1 year old, around 30g
- Owned my leo: almost a year
- She was obtained: ++++++++

A) Health/History
- I handle my leo: almost every day
- Acting different today?: yes for a few weeks now, she is sluggish and sleeps all time, and refuses all food.
- Any problems in the past: mouth rot once and a stuck eye (from a bad shed)
B) Fecals
- Describe: mostly urate, slightly green
- The last time she went: yesterday
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem:
She has been refusing food for a couple weeks, a few days before she had started her first ovulation. She is my best eater, but now she won't even look at food. She was never very big, so I decided not to breed her, but her ovulation has taken a lot out of her, her tail is becoming slim.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20 gallons
- Type: glass tank
- Type of substrate: paper towel
- Hides, how many, what kind: 3, one cardboard box, one rubbermaid, and a plant cover.
B) Heating
- Heat source: uth
- Cage temps: 70-90
- Method of regulating heat source: she sleeps on it
- What are you using to measure your temps: thermometer
- Do you have any lights: no, she is light sensitive
C) Cage mates
- How many: no cage mates
- Describe health, or previous problems: she would attack any cage mates I would give her

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding: mealworms, 10 every other day
- How are you feeding: hand feed or leave in dish
B) Supplements: calcium in dish and dusting worms every other day
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands)
Rep-cal calcium
- What are you gut loading food with: repashy bug burger


How long does this usually last and can I do anything to prevent her from losing too much weight? I worry so much cause she's my baby, never got very big, so she loses weight easily. I have heard that breeding could help her get that appetite back, but I won't risk egg binding since she's so small.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Most of my females stopped eating for a month or two the first time they ovulated until I bred them. Those that I didn't breed pretty much ate next to nothing for 4-6 months. None of them lost more than 10% of their body weight in the hunger strike. I would get a scale and weigh yours today and once a week. Write down the weight and only worry if it drops more than 10% or so (a bit more is okay if your gecko is obese). Not sure there's too much you can do other than wait it out. I've heard that the ovulation period can be shortened by 1.) making sure no males are in the same room with her or at least not in the vicinity of her cage 2.) making sure you handle/clean/feed her before the males so you don't carry their scent on your skin, and 3.) lowering the cage temp a couple degrees to 88 instead of 90-92 to make them think breeding is a bad idea.

Breeding could get her appetite back but she will also lose weight a whole lot faster when she's pumping nutrients into eggs week after week. If you don't want to breed or don't want to risk her I wouldn't.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Reading over your list I also wonder: Are you supplementing with vitamins? If not you need to start. Vitamin deficiencies can cause lots of health problems. A good choice is Repashy Calcium Plus.

I don't think what you're describing is ovulation. They should not lose a lot of weight and their tails should definitely not get thin. They usually stop ovulating and start eating before they get to this point. Also, if she really hasn't been eating anything she should not be pooping much. If she is pooping and you're sure she has eaten nothing she may have an internal parasite that has gotten out of control. If her tail is looking thin and you're worried I would get her to a vet. If you post a picture of her folks can better assess her body condition and give you some feedback on how skinny she is.

 

[Nynecho]

She is definitely ovulating, and she keeps drinking and taking in vitamins, in addition to her having just shed, so the poop still makes sense. When i try to hand feed her, she does get a bit of the guts in her system, so she is technically still kind of eating. I have dropped the temps a bit to help her stop ovulating, as well as moved her tank away from the males'. There is no way she could have contracted a parasite, I have had her the longest and only put her in with one other gecko ever, and that gecko is the picture of health. I've made sure not to share food or water dishes, so I am pretty sure it isn't a parasite.

She has never had that big of a tail, when she very first started ovulating she was reasonably plump, so when her tail went back to her normal skinny i got worried. It isn't terrible, just not as big as it should be.

There aren't any vitamins available to me that I can dust the food with, that's why I stick to the gutload that i know has those necessary vitamins.

Here is a picture:

start of ovulation
2 weeks after start of ovulation

 

[Samantha12]

Most of my females stopped eating for a month or two the first time they ovulated until I bred them. Those that I didn't breed pretty much ate next to nothing for 4-6 months. None of them lost more than 10% of their body weight in the hunger strike. I would get a scale and weigh yours today and once a week. Write down the weight and only worry if it drops more than 10% or so (a bit more is okay if your gecko is obese). Not sure there's too much you can do other than wait it out. I've heard that the ovulation period can be shortened by 1.) making sure no males are in the same room with her or at least not in the vicinity of her cage 2.) making sure you handle/clean/feed her before the males so you don't carry their scent on your skin, and 3.) lowering the cage temp a couple degrees to 88 instead of 90-92 to make them think breeding is a bad idea.

Breeding could get her appetite back but she will also lose weight a whole lot faster when she's pumping nutrients into eggs week after week. If you don't want to breed or don't want to risk her I wouldn't.

So glad you commented on this! The girl I got from you last summer, Tweedle (now called Clementine), has been such a stubborn eater lately and I've been getting worried. She's hardly lost weight according to my scale, but her tail is noticeably thinner. This is her first ovulation though and since she came from your stock, I feel much more at ease. I hadn't planned to breed her until summer, but now I'm wondering if I should bump it to April/May so she might get her appetite back. Thoughts?