First and foremost I have a fat-tail, but figured this would apply here as the eating habits are practically identical to Leos. I have had my gecko one month now and will post his eating habits.
He did not eat his first week of adapting to his new home, after that he took 12 mealworms. For that week I was feeding him every other day and he was taking about 6-8, then realized since he's only 7 1/2 months old that he should be offered food every day. For the following week he would take at least 5 every day or day and a half. The past week I tried introducing small-medium-large supers to him, and he would get 'excited' but would immediately be disgusted after smelling them.
On that day he ate 4-5 mealworms I believe, then did not eat for 2 days, and after 10+ minutes of coaxing I managed to get him to eat 2 mealworms on his third day of not eating. It has been another 3 days since those last 2 meal worms he ate. Also to add, he has his hotspot of 95-96 degrees, good humidity, and is very curious exploring and interacting with his furniture all over his cage, fecals look good too.
Sorry for the wall of text but here is my main question, when I offer food he will usually come out of his hide to inspect it, sometimes even making an attempt bite at a mealworm once or twice but if he misses then he's done and isn't all that interested. At first with the mealworms he would strike at them with some voracity you could say, and now it's a patience test for me to get him to eat any it seems. Now when I introduced the supers to him, he seemed to light up but was deterred after realizing how it smelled. Last night I took a cricket and he darted out and checked it out, never postured himself for attack but looked at it. I broke it's legs and let it wiggle next to him and he just wasn't interested.
I'm trying to figure out if my gecko is just being picky, or has changed his appetite completely for something else. I'm looking into getting roaches, although since it's winter I'm not sure where I would be able to get any.
I'm expecting responses possibly saying some geckos may not eat for 4-5 days and it's okay, atleast every 3-4 days he's eating 'something', winter, etc. I suppose I just want to be sure, it only actually concerns me because I figure he still has another 5 months to fully develop physically, and I just want him getting all his nutrients and vitamins for healthy bone/growth development. It's tough when you hear stories of geckos (leos/fatties) who since month-olds are tackling 10 mealworms or more a day.
Thanks for reading, and I hope maybe some people who have their 'picky' eaters can enlighten me possibly on just their general idea of their animals and what they may do to entice or stimulate their geckos eating behaviors.
thank you thank you!!!
He did not eat his first week of adapting to his new home, after that he took 12 mealworms. For that week I was feeding him every other day and he was taking about 6-8, then realized since he's only 7 1/2 months old that he should be offered food every day. For the following week he would take at least 5 every day or day and a half. The past week I tried introducing small-medium-large supers to him, and he would get 'excited' but would immediately be disgusted after smelling them.
On that day he ate 4-5 mealworms I believe, then did not eat for 2 days, and after 10+ minutes of coaxing I managed to get him to eat 2 mealworms on his third day of not eating. It has been another 3 days since those last 2 meal worms he ate. Also to add, he has his hotspot of 95-96 degrees, good humidity, and is very curious exploring and interacting with his furniture all over his cage, fecals look good too.
Sorry for the wall of text but here is my main question, when I offer food he will usually come out of his hide to inspect it, sometimes even making an attempt bite at a mealworm once or twice but if he misses then he's done and isn't all that interested. At first with the mealworms he would strike at them with some voracity you could say, and now it's a patience test for me to get him to eat any it seems. Now when I introduced the supers to him, he seemed to light up but was deterred after realizing how it smelled. Last night I took a cricket and he darted out and checked it out, never postured himself for attack but looked at it. I broke it's legs and let it wiggle next to him and he just wasn't interested.
I'm trying to figure out if my gecko is just being picky, or has changed his appetite completely for something else. I'm looking into getting roaches, although since it's winter I'm not sure where I would be able to get any.
I'm expecting responses possibly saying some geckos may not eat for 4-5 days and it's okay, atleast every 3-4 days he's eating 'something', winter, etc. I suppose I just want to be sure, it only actually concerns me because I figure he still has another 5 months to fully develop physically, and I just want him getting all his nutrients and vitamins for healthy bone/growth development. It's tough when you hear stories of geckos (leos/fatties) who since month-olds are tackling 10 mealworms or more a day.
Thanks for reading, and I hope maybe some people who have their 'picky' eaters can enlighten me possibly on just their general idea of their animals and what they may do to entice or stimulate their geckos eating behaviors.
thank you thank you!!!
