P. Picta

[ariana]

ive had my male pictus for awhile now, but ive noticed something. he eats, or so i thought. ive noticed mealies go missing, but everytime i clean (once a week) i find the mealies i thought he ate. hes weighed 14grams since i got him and hes not gaining weight. ive had him checked for pinworms; hes clean. ive tried tempting him with waxworms but he ignores them. how do i get him to eat? between the mealies thats gone missing and the ones ive found maybe 20 of them were actually eaten. any advice is appreciated

 

[Tony C]

Have you tried a more active bug like crickets or roaches?

 

[ariana]

the local petstores ive talked to dont get roaches, and the chain stores dont carry them either. i havent tried crickets because the ones at the petstore dont live long and seem to be unhealthy. ive considered getting crickets from a chainstore but they dont have small ones. tanker (my pictus) is active and drinks water but in a weeks time i will find maybe 2 feces. would baby supers be ok? im afraid their exoskin would be too tough for him to digest

 

[Keith N]

How do you have them caged? Temps, decor, etc.

 

[Elisa]

When I would buy picta from the petstore they were very small, I never had a scale but curled up the babies could fit on a quarter. When I would first bring them home at that age they seem to eat and poop very little, only a couple times a week. Their tails also do not get as fat as leopard geckos.

If you post cage specifics it might help us help you.

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

I don't think it's a cage temp thing. We have about pictus and right now they are going through a slow down on their eating as well. After working with these lil ones i'm honestly suspecting that their reproduction cycle is beginning this time of the year.

Also some pictus don't grow large as some others. i do have a couple males that are huge and females that are huge but i have some just the opposite w/ being rather small.

 

[ariana]

the temmps are posted earlier in the post. hes in a 10gallon, warm hide, cool hide, humid hide. mealies and calcium in a bowl, water bowl. hes kept on paper towel