Still concerned about gecko eating

[somehelp123]

Hey all,
I'm still concerned about my geckos eating habits. Tomorrow will be three weeks of me owning him. I tried mealworms but he wouldn't budge at all with them. I tried crickets and he a couple of those.

Here's my concern, maybe some of you can ease my mind, hopefully. Today I dropped a few crickets in his enclosure. He noticed them, but he waited for one to walk into his warm hide before he ate it. he came out of his hide and saw them and walked back in, at first it seemed he was coming out to hunt but then I realized he came out because a couple crickets walked into his hide and I guess it spooked him. I have a few in there now, I know everyone says leave them in there for 15 minutes and if they don't eat them, remove them. I think tonight I will leave them in there to see if he eats them, but he is definitely still afraid of me, I wonder if he is scared to eat in front of me.

Just to let everyone know, my warm hide floor temp is between 92-94 degrees.

I can't tell if he's losing interest in crickets now, kind of starting to frustrate me a little :/

Thanks again guys.

 

[indyana]

If he's not eating because he's stressed, not sure leaving crickets in there to harass him is going to help matters. If you feel something is wrong, you can always take a fecal sample to a vet to test for parasites, but I'm not sure I would do that yet.

Have you tried tong feeding at all? Also, check the sizing of the crickets. I've had my gecko ignore ones that are too small or refuse ones that were too large ("too scary" haha).

Some other ideas, off the top of my head, would be that there are not enough hiding spots for the gecko to feel secure, lighting is too bright, etc. Three weeks isn't "panic time" or anything, but I would start looking at the environment for anything that could be stressing him out.

 

[somehelp123]

Thanks for the reply indyana. This morning I went back to the enclosure to find no crickets left. I guess he hate them all once the lights went out. I have 3 hiding spots for him and no direct light source over the enclosure. The only light he gets is whatever sunlight comes in through the window.

I suspect he is just shy around me still.

Would it help if I took a few hides out when I feed next time? Less hiding for the crickets?

 

[indyana]

I do that when I feed my gecko, but part of me worries that your gecko might be freaked out by having his security lifted out of the cage when he's already shy. That's why I suggested tong feeding, which lets you control/herd the crickets around a bit.

I usually try feeding right after dusk, at the beginning of the night when the gecko is likely to be active, so that might help if you aren't already feeding around that time.

Another option is to get some mealworms or something else that you can put in a dish to leave in the cage at night, until he is comfortable enough to eat with you around.

Very glad to know that he's eating. I think at this point it is just a game of patience, waiting for him to settle in. Just keep following the new gecko acclimation routine, which is to try to keep everything quiet and disturb him as little as possible except for required care.

 

[Ersatzi]

I just got my gecko roughly two days ago, I know, a newb. While my little one isn't that shy since it normally lays right out in the open, it has shown no interest in feeding. I ended up having to get some chopsticks and one by one, I today fed them to it. It takes a little more time than putting them into a bowl, but it may help you!