Stopped eating

[TXJ1123]

About your leo:
- Sex - Female
- Age & Weight - apx 6 months
- How long have you owned your leo - 4 months
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) - KC Pet Expo - ThePetGecko

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - 4 or more times a week.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now. -- She stays in her hide when it is 'meal time' and doesn't hunt/roam about any more. She has lost all of her tail mass since this has started and looks very skinny and dull. Other wise she looks fine.

- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
Not that I am aware of.

C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on - about two weeks now.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - 30 gal tank
- Type (ex. glass tank) - glass
- Type of substrate - slate
- Hides, how many, what kind -3 - 1 large moist hide, 1 cave 2 tunnel hide (med) 1 - half coconut shell
B) Heating
- Heat source - UTH
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) - kept about 91 F. in warmest area.
- Method of regulating heat source - thermo timer
- What are you using to measure your temps - thermo and air to surface probe
- Do you have any lights (describe) - basic day light
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - 1 male, 1 female - not related, aprx same age, obtained from the same breeder.
- Describe health, or previous problems - none

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) - mealworms, nightly 20-25 among the 3 geckos.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) - placed in shallow dish
B) Supplements (describe how often) - Calcium (in small lid left in tank), Cal w/ Vit D and HerpVite once a week on worms.
- What are you gut loading food with - Chicken Feed and carrot/orange/potato (for moisture).

 

[tb144050]

I have read a few things that may be relevant:

1) The male may be reaching his "mature" age and stressing the females.

2) If all 3 were bought at same time, has this one gained the same weight at the others? Has it always been significantly smaller/thinner than the others?

3) Parasites or bacteria...nasty stuff. Google it.

4) Impaction.

5) Bullying.

 

[TXJ1123]

Thank you.

I haven't witnessed any bulling, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

The male is about twice her size and the other female at least 1.5 times her size (all three are different clutches).

All three ate very well when I brought them home.

I'll be setting up a 10gal tank for her to have to herself this weekend (if not sooner).

I doubt impaction is the issue, the moss in the damp hide is about the only thing that would possibly cause it.

I pray it isn't the parasites or bacteria, but the other two are still being chow hounds and very active.


Maybe sharing the tank full time with the male is the issue. The other female usually shares a hide with him and they seem to have no issues. Again this will be solved with a second tank.

Honestly her behavior almost seems like she is trying to hibernate, but the cool side of the tank shouldn't be cool enough for that.

 

[tb144050]

I would try to get her by herself:

1) Less stress
2) quarantine if she is sick..maybe the others havent gotten it yet.


How are their fecals: how often, quantity and consistency (runny?), any urates?

 

[TXJ1123]

We placed her in her own setup and there was an almost immediate change. We picked up some crickets just for her, and she is back to eating. She still hid a good bit but would actually come out to get the food.

 

[sausage]

bullying doesn't have to be physical in the sense of fighting with physical injuries, it can be 'emotional'. when there is a group of geckos a hierarchy will be established,, the presence of a higher ranking gecko at feeding time is sometimes enough to prevent a lover from eating.

im glad to hear shes started eating again.