Still won't eat from food dish (funny pic included) & also an eating issue

[transcend11]

My leo Lily is 10 months old and still hasn't learned to eat from her food dish. She must be immensely spoiled because she will only eat the mealworms that I hand-feed her with metal tongs.

Even if the worm were to run too far away, she prefers me to pick it back up and place it in front of her rather than actually hunt it down.

While I don't mind feeding her by hand, one mealworm at a time, I don't feel like she eats as much as she should if she were to have free reign of the worms in her dish.

Is there any way I could get her to finally eat from her dish? I've tried slowly trailing her worm by worm to the dish where I finally drop a worm in the dish, she'll sometimes eat it but still completely ignore all other worms in the dish. Yeah, they don't really move around much unless I poke them, but I swear she's partially blind or something. She'll even stand inside of the dish and shake her feet when the worms touch her, but doesn't quite grasp the concept it's food tickling her. (see the pic below)

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The second part of my question is a bit more serious. She's certainly not eating very well lately. Due to Spring Break, I transported her to a new home for a week which must be stressful cus she didn't want to eat once. I then transported her back, but her eating habits haven't returned to normal.

She's always been finicky, eating only once or twice a week. Now she hasn't ate for almost a month. She's still pooping normal, but just the urea crystals from her water. I got her to eat a single worm today for the first time, but she wasn't interested in any more. Should I be worried? Is it OK for her to fast this long or should I try something different?

(in case it's important, her warm side is kept at 89-92)

Thanks for any help

 

[Tommy13b]

My Gecko does the same thing, Females will often stop eatting for some periods of time during breeding season..

 

[transcend11]

That's very good to know. So around what times are breeding seasons? Just once yearly?

 

[Scoots85]

Transcend, I'm going through the EXACT same issue with my 10 month old right now. This is the third night she hasn't eaten much (last night she had maybe 3 mealies and the night before nothing)

I haven't experimented much with a mealworm dish; I just picked one up earlier today. Went to a local rep store and picked up one of these (the bigger one) but she hasn't shown much interest in it yet.

EDIT:
Okay, after re-reading your post maybe it's not the EXACT same problem. My three nights is nothing compared to your month. Wow!

 

[Scoots85]

So she just ate about 10-15 mealies. I guess her hunger finally caught up and she lunged at one that I dropped in front of her nose.

She still won't climb up onto the dish to look into it though. I made a trail of mealies, as well as lead her by holding one in my tongs and then finally hovering it over the dish before dropping it in, but she didn't lean up. I'm assuming it's because she's never seen this big dish before and she needs time to get used to it before climbing on top of it and exploring?

Is there some way to ease a gecko into being comfortable around a feeding dish and using it no problem? Maybe rub the owners scent over it?
Or what about the scent the mealies give off (I'm assuming they give off some kind of scent). Is there some way of enhancing this scent so the gecko knows for sure there is food in the dish?

 

[snakegirl]

have you tried other feeders? Mealworms are like common food to leo's. However Maybe if you toss in a waxworm or 2. she notice it a bit more. I have had non-eat geckos...But non of them have ever turned down a waxworm. there also crickets,silkworms, and even roachs! it might just be the time of year and All but i would look in too it. Good luck!

 

[Kellyr]

I had the same problem with a few of mine and it was all because of the size of the dish and the placement in the tank. If its large enough for them to crawl into, they will (its shaped rather nicely for an afternoon nap) and if it is in the corner where they like to stand up or peek out.. they walk right over it. I switched to a smaller bean dish and placed it somewhere in the tank where they could see the worms moving from a high point and it worked they started to eat regularly again.
When you moved her.. did she get a new food dish? Has it always been in the same spot?

 

[sleepyjones]

I kinda have the same issue with a worm dish, they're just not interested in it, and I've tried with mealies and wax worms

 

[acpart]

I agree that a shallower dish may help. I use jar lids for some of my geckos and sprinkle some gutload in there so the worms don't climb out as much. That said, I have some geckos that have been immune to the dish for years and it doesn't seem as if it's going to change.

Aliza

 

[transcend11]

Well, I finally got Lily to eat

I picked her up a 50 count pack of waxworms from my local pet store, dusted it, and offered it to her. She lunged for it faster than ever!

Then I gave her the rest of the mealworms from her dish, about 8, and she ate them right away. Looks like the wax worms were just what she needed to stimulate her appetite.

Then I gave her 2 more waxworms just to make up for a month of fasting... she could use a little fattening up.

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So now that I know she loves the waxworms, I also know that they are high in fat and should be used only as a treat. So, I feel like my 50 count will last quite a while, but according to nyworms, if kept in my refrigerator they'll only last around 5+ weeks?

Anyone have experience for how long they'll last? And how often I should really feed her one? Some say a few a week, some say a few a month. If she only really eats ~20 mealworms once weekly, maybe it's ok to have a couple waxworms a week?

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone

 

[LepGekPunk]

putting waxies in the fridge slows down there.. i cant find the right word for it... slows down the time it takes to go into a cacoon and come out as a moth lets just say that

ive heard you can also feed them the moths as a treat, but im not certain