B
Blue_child89
Guest
I will begin by saying i am a first time leopard gecko owner in fact this is my first reptile of any kind. He is about two maybe three years old and i Just purchased him for my birthday from a friend that couldn't care for him anymore.... When i first got him he was on a diet of only mealworms but at the insistence of ***** i went ahead and bought him some crickets also. he ate a few of them and then within the next few days had pretty much quit eating.... when i googled it on line i got several possiblilies for his lack of appitite and slowly started checking them off my list...
*My first consern was that he was impacted sense when i got him and his tank from the previous owner he was on a sand substrate that was the first thing we changed we bought him reptile carpet sense then and he has pooped several times so thats not really a consern anymore...
*Second was the Temperature of his tank sense if the temperature is not high enough for him to digest food he would stop eating so i checked that out and got several different averages for his tank. i keep it between 80-90 degrees F on the hot side and between 70-80 degrees F on the cool side. i also thought that sense he would be needing the heat to digest his food that maybe an under the tank heating pad would help get the heat directly to his tummy so we bought one... no change in appatite
*Antother possiblility was maybe the humidity... he had shed twice sense i got him (first time 7/28/10 it took him four days to shed he only got the dead skin off his back and then quit trying so i helped with his legs, head, and tail. second time 8/6/10 took him less then twenty min i was there to watch it was awesome i plan on posting pictures
) so i was afraid it was too humid and bought a humidity guage the humidity in his tank was reading between 70-80% so i changed a few things and it is now down to about 25% which is better... still no change...
*I thought maybe his tank was too small (he was in his original tank it was about a 10 gallon) he now has a 20 gallon long tank with lots of new rocks, two new hides (one on cool side one on hot side), a food dish, water dish, humid hide (even tho ive read that he might not use it sense he isn't used to having one) and a little fake aloe plant and still no change he was inquisitive about all of it the day we did it up for him but his curiousity has settled....
Im really worried could it be because we handle him too often (about once a day maybe less) it doesn't seem to stress him out and his previous owner said it never bothered Gecko before... Could he still just be getting used to his enviornment we have been changing things up on him quite a bit something new every week till we changed the tanks...
*I change his water every day so its clean and clean out his dishes about every other day with anti-bacterial soap making sure they are well rensed and dry before i put them back in his tank. his tank gets compleatly cleaned and dis-infected with a very diluted bleach solution about once a month and pooper scoopered everytime it needs it (he's not eating so he doesn't poo very often but its cleaned up within a day if he does)...
* i have ants in my apartment i get them every summer there isn't alot but could that b stressing him out...
* i have two cats that ive had sense i got him could they b bugging him i normally keep them out of my room which is were his tank is....
*He is becoming very lazy all the time sleeping almost never moving around except to find a different spot to fall asleep at...
*I work late so should i be feeding him late at night sense he is nocturnal??
Im lost i dont know what to do next and the last time he ate any thing was a few days before his last shed and that was only one mealworm which i fed to him on tongs (cuz i hate touching his insects they are so grose) and a medium sized cricket after i put him back in his tank but he wouldn't eat any more...
Should i put more than one cricket in at a time... i leave about four mealworms in a dish in his tank every day just in case he's hungrey but he never eats them ....
Please help if you can i dont have much experience and i dont know if im doing all i can... i read on the net that if he doesn't start eating that i should try this slush kinda baby food thing but im not quite sure what that is \...
*My first consern was that he was impacted sense when i got him and his tank from the previous owner he was on a sand substrate that was the first thing we changed we bought him reptile carpet sense then and he has pooped several times so thats not really a consern anymore...
*Second was the Temperature of his tank sense if the temperature is not high enough for him to digest food he would stop eating so i checked that out and got several different averages for his tank. i keep it between 80-90 degrees F on the hot side and between 70-80 degrees F on the cool side. i also thought that sense he would be needing the heat to digest his food that maybe an under the tank heating pad would help get the heat directly to his tummy so we bought one... no change in appatite
*Antother possiblility was maybe the humidity... he had shed twice sense i got him (first time 7/28/10 it took him four days to shed he only got the dead skin off his back and then quit trying so i helped with his legs, head, and tail. second time 8/6/10 took him less then twenty min i was there to watch it was awesome i plan on posting pictures
) so i was afraid it was too humid and bought a humidity guage the humidity in his tank was reading between 70-80% so i changed a few things and it is now down to about 25% which is better... still no change...*I thought maybe his tank was too small (he was in his original tank it was about a 10 gallon) he now has a 20 gallon long tank with lots of new rocks, two new hides (one on cool side one on hot side), a food dish, water dish, humid hide (even tho ive read that he might not use it sense he isn't used to having one) and a little fake aloe plant and still no change he was inquisitive about all of it the day we did it up for him but his curiousity has settled....
Im really worried could it be because we handle him too often (about once a day maybe less) it doesn't seem to stress him out and his previous owner said it never bothered Gecko before... Could he still just be getting used to his enviornment we have been changing things up on him quite a bit something new every week till we changed the tanks...
*I change his water every day so its clean and clean out his dishes about every other day with anti-bacterial soap making sure they are well rensed and dry before i put them back in his tank. his tank gets compleatly cleaned and dis-infected with a very diluted bleach solution about once a month and pooper scoopered everytime it needs it (he's not eating so he doesn't poo very often but its cleaned up within a day if he does)...
* i have ants in my apartment i get them every summer there isn't alot but could that b stressing him out...
* i have two cats that ive had sense i got him could they b bugging him i normally keep them out of my room which is were his tank is....
*He is becoming very lazy all the time sleeping almost never moving around except to find a different spot to fall asleep at...
*I work late so should i be feeding him late at night sense he is nocturnal??
Im lost i dont know what to do next and the last time he ate any thing was a few days before his last shed and that was only one mealworm which i fed to him on tongs (cuz i hate touching his insects they are so grose) and a medium sized cricket after i put him back in his tank but he wouldn't eat any more...
Should i put more than one cricket in at a time... i leave about four mealworms in a dish in his tank every day just in case he's hungrey but he never eats them ....
Please help if you can i dont have much experience and i dont know if im doing all i can... i read on the net that if he doesn't start eating that i should try this slush kinda baby food thing but im not quite sure what that is \...
