Problems with Enigma feeding

[alexPL]

Hello everyone. I'm from Poland so I apologize in advance for my english:main_rolleyes: This is my first topic on this forum I bought recently a new leo female (Bell Enigma). She's 18 months old now, but only 34 grams weight and I'm really worried about her because I haven't seen her eating for 4 weeks (since I bought her). She has also symptoms of enigma disease (shaking- but only if she's disturbed). Is it normal for this morph? Is her lack of appetite connected with enigma disease? How can I help her?

 

[roger]

Hello everyone. I'm from Poland so I apologize in advance for my english:main_rolleyes: This is my first topic on this forum I bought recently a new leo female (Bell Enigma). She's 18 months old now, but only 34 grams weight and I'm really worried about her because I haven't seen her eating for 4 weeks (since I bought her). She has also symptoms of enigma disease (shaking- but only if she's disturbed). Is it normal for this morph? Is her lack of appetite connected with enigma disease? How can I help her?

can u give us details of your setup or post a pic.u need their belly heat between 90-95 deg.i would not buy a leo thats 18 months old that was 34 grs.that would raise some big concerns for me with heaalth issues.The shaking when stressed is an enigma symptom.Post some pics and give us as much detail as u can

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

18 months old and recent loss of appetite could very well mean she is ovulating. I would check her stomache to see if you can see 1 or 2 pink orbs. If you see those orbs she is ovulating.

Also you might want to try switching what type of feeder you maybe using. I have had geckos that just stop eating supers and switch back to mealworms and go from meal worms to supers. If you feed crickets that may also be a cause of lack of appetite. The crickets could very well be putting her in a stressful situation.

Just some ideas that are outside of the box.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Your girl may need to be hand fed her worms. My little enigma girl will eat whenever a superworm is offered, but I stay with it and make sure she eats it. She gets confused with any type of dish, even water, so I have to mist the sides daily to be sure she drinks.

 

[alexPL]

Thank's for replies! Here are a few pictures:





As you can see she's not skinny. I would say she's just small, she was probably poorly nourished. I checked her belly and she's not ovulating for sure. Yesterday I used a forced-feeding and she ate two meal worms (Previous owner fed her with meal worms and crickets).

I've got one more question- is it possible that bright light could stress her and be the reason of her lack of appetite? I read that bright light causes pain for Bell's which have no pigments in their eyes.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

While the don't require lighting, a lot of folks use it for viewing or additional heat if it gets too cold, along with the UTH. Lights DO stress the gecko if they can see it. IDK what lights they can't see as I don't use any. Maybe someone else can answer that. But stress can and will affect their appetite. You might try keeping the light off for at least a couple weeks and see if that helps.

 

[alexPL]

OK, I'll switch the light off for a couple of weeks. I will let you know if that helps.

 

[monkeytechahoo]

My daughter has an enigma that she uses tongs to feed. Pepper, the gecko, just doesn't do well to our thinking with her mealworms in a bowl and doesn't seem to like worms in general. She will go for dubia roaches every time and it's easier to feed her with the tongs. (Smaller area to hold the roach, less of a target to see) Pepper seems to hit the roach better with the tongs than a hand. She shows the wobbly walking and bad aim with some circling at times.

Also tong/hand feeding lets us keep track of just how much she eats every night. Some nights it's 5 roaches, next night it's 10, then she skips a night, then next it's 4. We weigh her once a month as well, just for our peace of mind. Last weight was around 65grams I think. Petite little thing she is.

My enigma is doing well with his worms in a bowl. I've offered roaches and such with tongs & hands and yet he just does his own thing. He has bad aim and stargazes at times. He's around 100grams, big boy.

Our geckos are both over a year old as well. Their breeders made sure we knew what we were getting and that our geckos were good as well and still answer questions from us.

 

[roger]

OK, I'll switch the light off for a couple of weeks. I will let you know if that helps.

IMO the regular bulbs are way too bright for a leo.Try using the infrared bulbs for both heating and viewing

 

[alexPL]

IMO the regular bulbs are way too bright for a leo.Try using the infrared bulbs for both heating and viewing

Today I bought the infrared heat lamp, I hope it will help finally.

 

[roger]

Today I bought the infrared heat lamp, I hope it will help finally.

let us know how u made out