Stubborn Gecko? She won't eat!

[Smallidge]

I purchased a healthy young Mack Snow female from a reptile convention about 4 months ago. Her name is Lukai, and she's a real cutie too. (=

The problem with her is, she won't eat. In those 4 months I've had her, she honestly refuses to touch anything. I've talked to the breeder and asked what she used to be fed, he said crickets (dusted) and small mealies. I have those for her but she won't touch them. I count out the crickets and mealies before I add them to the tank so I can take note of it she's eaten them or not. She doesn't touch them. I leave the mealies in a dish for her, but I take the crickets out after 15 minutes because I don't want them attacking her. And, since she doesn't eat, she hasn't grown a single bit. I'm really concerned about her. The vet said she could just not be hungry but I find that hard to believe. /= 4 months without eating? I'd be starving!

She lives on her own, she has the correct temps, a UTH, a warm sided hide, a cool sided hide and a moist hide. She has logs to climb on, she has plants (fake) that she loves to sit on. She lives on newspaper, gets clean water every day, and he tank cleaned once a week (disinfected every other week).

Though I take her out of her tank to get her used to being held, she hisses and balks every time I try, and she's still really skittish and tries to nip. I don't get it. I put my hand in the tank and let it rest there for a minute before even attempting to move it towards her. She still freaks out like she didn't see if coming.

Vet visit checked her out clean. No parasites, no problems. Her belly is nice and pink, all her organs normal sized. Her tail is still sort of plump; it's not even close to being thin.

She won't take to slurry. I can hardly even get NEAR the poor girl with the eye dropped because of how quickly she freaks out.

I'm about ready to adopt her out to someone who is an expert on bizarre-o geckos. I don't want to give her up, but I feel like a bad person for not being able to get her to eat.

Any tips, help, suggestions? I'll take them all. Even the vet is really confused....

 

[LeapinLizards]

Exactly how young is she, and what size crickets and what size mealies have you been attempting to feed her?

 

[Smallidge]

Honestly, I have no idea how old she is. I would say no more than 6-7 months. Since she's relatively small, I've been putting in small crickets and mealies for her. I purchase small crickets from the pet store, but anything that is larger than the space between her eyes, I nab out and put in the container where I keep the large crickets for my older leo. Same with the mealies; I only purchase the small sized ones for her (they're shorter than an inch, and about as big around as a piece of spaghetti).

 

[lytlesnake]

Have you tried waxworms? They're good for stimulating the appetite.

If the gecko is over a few months old, it should be able to eat regular sized mealworms and medium sized crickets. She may want bigger food items.

I would say don't handle her for a while. Also, this may sound like a strange suggestion, but maybe try cleaning the cage less. She may feel like every time she gets settled in, she gets picked up and her enclosure gets disrupted. Plus, if she's not eating then she's not pooping, so what's to clean?

Are you feeding her at night? They're nocturnal, so night time feeding is best. Some of my geckos won't eat in the daylight.

 

[nats]

Healthy geckos dont just starve themselves.
There must be something in her environment or handling that upsets her, causes stress.

 

[LeapinLizards]

Lauren, I would at least give larger prey items a try. I agree with Stan, but it's worth a shot until things can get figured out, and maybe a vet visit is in order.

Jason is correct, some geckos REALLY are picky about the size of their prey items. I had a little hatchling not eat for 2.5 weeks after she first hatched because pinhead crickets and tiny mealies didn't in the least bit interest her. As soon a I put in medium sized crickets, and a bit large mealies, she was happy as a clam. I also have a male that will not eat anything that is not abnormally large haha.

Do you have any pictures of her?

 

[sixoracs]

weird maybe try feeding her in a different container

 

[OSUgecko]

I wouldn't put her up for adoption just yet, lol! There is probably a reason for her behavior. For example, not all geckos like to be handled. She might just be stressing out over the constant handling and not wanting to eat because of that. Everyone here has made some great suggestions that you should definately try!

However, if she isn't losing weight, (and you should check this with a scale, not just visually) then I really wouldn't be too concerned about her health. Reptiles can go without eating for incredibly long periods of time. You definately need to figure out what's wrong with the husbandry for this particular gecko so she will start eating, but don't worry about it being a nutritional emergency unless she is dropping a lot of weight.

 

[nats]

Lauren, I would at least give larger prey items a try. I agree with Stan, but it's worth a shot until things can get figured out, and maybe a vet visit is in order.

Jason is correct, some geckos REALLY are picky about the size of their prey items. I had a little hatchling not eat for 2.5 weeks after she first hatched because pinhead crickets and tiny mealies didn't in the least bit interest her. As soon a I put in medium sized crickets, and a bit large mealies, she was happy as a clam. I also have a male that will not eat anything that is not abnormally large haha.

Do you have any pictures of her?

LOL!! it took me a long time to discover that!
I always fed smallish crix, and wondered why Newpy (and her in particular)
would turn her nose up. I found out that it's not just how tasty a bug is,
it's how BIG the bug !! :main_rolleyes:
So now, when she wont eat and medium crix, I just toss a good size roach
in there and she chomps it down!! :main_thumbsup: and if it's a fresh shed
(all nice and soft), oh boy, she closes her eyes and savors it :main_yes:

 

[Smallidge]

Have you tried waxworms? They're good for stimulating the appetite.

If the gecko is over a few months old, it should be able to eat regular sized mealworms and medium sized crickets. She may want bigger food items.

I would say don't handle her for a while. Also, this may sound like a strange suggestion, but maybe try cleaning the cage less. She may feel like every time she gets settled in, she gets picked up and her enclosure gets disrupted. Plus, if she's not eating then she's not pooping, so what's to clean?

Are you feeding her at night? They're nocturnal, so night time feeding is best. Some of my geckos won't eat in the daylight.

Yup, I've tried waxworms. I put them in a sepperate dish from the mealies. She'll poke her head in there, nudge them with her nose then walk off. I've tried cutting one open and wiggling it in front of her with a pair of tongs. She licked it once, then ignored it, even when I dropped it in the cage for her to investigate onher own terms. I'll deffinitely try some larger sized food for her, to see if that'll spark her interest. I've always been wary of doing that, because I had a gecko choke on a prey that was too large. /=

Good call on handling her though. It's not like I pick her up and tote her around for hours, more like just 15-30 minutes a day so she doesn't have to sit in her boring old cage all day. Lol, who knows, maybe she's an anti-social critter? I'll try leaving her alone.

Feeding her at night, yes. I've tried various times throughout the day AND night, and I'll even leave the room and close the door so as not to disturb her. Still nothing.

I clean her cage once weekly because even though she isn't eating crickets, the crickets still poop and I don't want her to come across a cricket nugget and eat that and get sick or anything. Maybe cut it back to every other week?

 

[Smallidge]

Healthy geckos dont just starve themselves.
There must be something in her environment or handling that upsets her, causes stress.

I knw, that's whats bothering me. )= She lives in a 15 Gallon tank on the quiet side of my room. I'm usually in the office all day doing homework, or I'm at school so I'm not in my room often enough to the point where it would disturb her. She isn't near a window; in fact, she's as far from the window as she can get. I try not to force handling on her, and I'm going to just leave her alone for a little while and see what she does. She's been spooky from the start though, so I'm wondering if she had a bad experience with handling before?

 

[Smallidge]

Lauren, I would at least give larger prey items a try. I agree with Stan, but it's worth a shot until things can get figured out, and maybe a vet visit is in order.

Jason is correct, some geckos REALLY are picky about the size of their prey items. I had a little hatchling not eat for 2.5 weeks after she first hatched because pinhead crickets and tiny mealies didn't in the least bit interest her. As soon a I put in medium sized crickets, and a bit large mealies, she was happy as a clam. I also have a male that will not eat anything that is not abnormally large haha.

Do you have any pictures of her?

*nods* Alrighty, larger prey is is then. I won't go up too large in size though, I don't want her to accidentally choke on something. (= That seems to be a sound bit of advice.

I do have some pictures of her, I'll post them as soon as I can find them!

 

[Smallidge]

weird maybe try feeding her in a different container

Any specific size recommendation? I have a 20 gallon plastic tub that I put my geckos in while I clean their tanks, do you think that might be ok? I think maybe a smaller sized one, so she doesn't have to go running after the crickets for great lengths, but I could be wrong.

 

[LeapinLizards]

Also, another thing you could try is taking most of the things out of her tank around feeding time, so she has no problems finding the feeders. I had a gecko that was sluggish during feeding time, but once I took out the fake plants, and other hides (crickets LOVE fake plants) she went nuts because she could SEE them all perfectly.

And as far as choking, Lauren...it's not as easy as you'd think!


If she's fairly small, but over 6 months, medium crickets should be just fine, maybe even adults.

 

[Smallidge]

I wouldn't put her up for adoption just yet, lol! There is probably a reason for her behavior. For example, not all geckos like to be handled. She might just be stressing out over the constant handling and not wanting to eat because of that. Everyone here has made some great suggestions that you should definately try!

However, if she isn't losing weight, (and you should check this with a scale, not just visually) then I really wouldn't be too concerned about her health. Reptiles can go without eating for incredibly long periods of time. You definately need to figure out what's wrong with the husbandry for this particular gecko so she will start eating, but don't worry about it being a nutritional emergency unless she is dropping a lot of weight.

I'd really, really, REALLY hate to adopt her out. I love her too much, and she's such a gorgeous gecko. Leaving her alone has been a consistant piece of advice and I'm taking it to heart. She'll be left alone so she can be snarky on her own, lol. I'm going away for two weeks and my uncle is going to watch my geckos, so maybe a break from mom is what she needs.

I don't have an actual scale, so I only have visual data. Do you have any recommendations for a scale though? I've always been curious as to how much my leos weigh. (= I know a friend of mine, his gecko stopped eating for about 3 months, but he's healthy as can be.

Could this possibly be because of winter? I remember reading somewhere that reptiles tend to eat less in winter months, but I don't know if that was solid fact, or just fiction.

 

[Smallidge]

Also, another thing you could try is taking most of the things out of her tank around feeding time, so she has no problems finding the feeders. I had a gecko that was sluggish during feeding time, but once I took out the fake plants, and other hides (crickets LOVE fake plants) she went nuts because she could SEE them all perfectly.

And as far as choking, Lauren...it's not as easy as you'd think!

If she's fairly small, but over 6 months, medium crickets should be just fine, maybe even adults.

Oh my gosh, what WAS that being eaten? =D That was huge! Nice video, and thank you for sharing. I'll try removing all her cage furnniture for her then. Another member suggested putting her in another enclosure altogether, so I might give both options a try.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Smallidge]

Thats little Lukai. (=

 

[LeapinLizards]

I'm not sure I would put her in a different tank, as that might add to her already stressed out nature.

Oh, and that was a dubia roach

 

[lytlesnake]

I agree, putting her in another container will likely stress her more. The best thing to do is probably to leave her in her enclosure and leave her alone for a while.

 

[OSUgecko]

Yes, they can go off food in the colder months. She's beautiful, and doesn't look too skinny to me! Maybe she's trying to stay svelte for the boys (j/k, lol).

I wouldn't change feeding locations either, but moving things out of her enclosure while feeding might help. You might leave the crickets in there longer than 15 minutes as well so she has some more exposure to them. I doubt they would chew on her if they were in there for only 24 hours. Just make sure you find them all after a day or so.