Two weeks and hasn't ate a thing.

[TifaBea]

About your leo:
- Sex: Unknown
- Age & Weight Approx. 3 weeks. Weight Unsure.
- How long have you owned your leo: 2 weeks
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend) Pet store

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: I've handled him to feed him baby food/ calcium mixture. And maybe once 4 days after I received him. He doesn't mind being held but I left him alone in case that was why he wasn't eating.

- Is your leo acting any different today? The same since I got him, sleeps most of the day and night. Shows no interest in crickets, mealworms, or wax worms. Also will not drink from water bowl. Only if I spray his hide he will lick it from the hide.

- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.

B) Fecals
- Describe- Black with a bit of white. Non runny.
- When was the last time he/she went: Yesterday around 7pm.
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on
Sleeps all day, will not eat anything. Very friendly and active the day I did bring him out to play before I noticed this going on.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size 20 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank) glass tank
- Type of substrate, Repti Carpet.
- Hides, how many, what kind: 3, One half log on the cool side, a cave on the warm side along with a moist hide made of tupperware.
B) Heating
- Heat source: Under Tank Heater along with a 100 watt day light and 75 watt infared light for night.
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side) Hot side is 92 degrees near the floor with an air temp of 86. Cool Side is around 76 degrees
- Method of regulating heat source: Alternation Day and Night Light, Heat pad stays on at all times.
- What are you using to measure your temps: A thermometer, not the sticky kind, it suction cups in there but I move it to find different temps daily.
- Do you have any lights (describe) 100 watt day light blue, and the Infared 75 watt for night.
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) None.
- Describe health, or previous problems: Unsure. He is quite young yet.

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet: Crickets and Meal worms.
- What you're feeding (how often, how much) I put about 3 crickets in at feeding time, he didnt respond to them and they don't bother him so I leave them in over night and replace the next day. Even though he has not touched them.
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) Crickets dropped in tank, tried a meal worm dish, didnt work.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands) Fluker's Calcium with D3
- What are you gut loading food with: Gut Load from Repti Med or Zoo?

I talked to someone about it recently and they told me to leave him alone for awhile. So I did and he's still not eating. The guy at the competitive pet store from where I got my gecko made up some story about petsmarts crickets have a "Cricket disease" and to check him belly and he might be pooling with blood. Sounded like a load of crock to me and was probably mad I didn't purchase my gecko from him from the way he was being an ass about it. I researched it and found nothing. His belly in fine, he is translucent yet so I checked his stomach. All you can see are his organs. If he was internally bleeding wouldn't there be bruising?

Anyway. I'm generally concerned for my gecko as I get attached to animals quite fast as bad as that may be. I was also told to take him back since I got a pet store "warranty" but I want to do everything for the little guy I can and I don't want them to just euthanize him if nothing is truly wrong.

Any help is appreciated, I'm just being a bit worrisome.

 

[Spots]

I would suggest that you leave him there for a while. I'm kind of shocked that you have played with him as soon as you got him and have been feeding him baby food already. Geckos can stress easy and since he has just moved in, he should have been given some time to adjust and explore his environment. Why did you feed him baby food within the first 2 weeks of having him already? Id say let him be for a couple days. Don't touch him and then start introducing the food in the cage. They are picky so try different types of feeders. Not sure why you have him on baby food already but if he continues to be on a hunger strike then yes you should try slurry (the recipe is posted as a sticky in the health and medications)

As for him always sleeping, its kind of what they do lol. He'll be more active once he's settled in. One of mine stayed in their hide 24/7 for a few weeks. He could also be drinking when you are not looking BTW

 

[Spots]

Sorry, I misunderstood. You only handled him to feed the baby food ?

Try putting the worms in front of him to see if he will react. one of my girls won't eat out of the dish either.

Sometimes they may not eat until they settle in so just keep an eye in him.
And crickets can carry diseases but I haven't done too much research on it.

 

[tlbowling]

Why are you feeding a leopard gecko baby food?

 

[TifaBea]

Its wasn't straight up baby food, it was part of the slurry recipe but I didn't have the hills vet food so I used everything else in the slurry recipe.

I read in another thread that she used construction paper to block her geckos from motion around them, so I'm going to try that in case its my Tv that bothers him. Its not usually on but I do use it occasionally.

He pooped again today. I have no idea how he's pooping solids if he isn't eating. I count the crickets each night and meal worms when I provide them to him.

I'm going to try holding the meal worm in front of him like you said. I really appreciate the advice. I know I'm stressing a bit much but I'm not used to juvenile geckos. I'll update if I see any improvement.

 

[Spots]

You can use baby food depending on what kind. I haven't done it so you'd have to do a search on it. I think turkey is okay ? Don't quote me on that lol

The hills A/D food is from a vet. Its about 3 bucks here and i just use that straight instead of the slurry because the vet told me to use it and it was easier than making the slurry lol I also put a small dish of pure calcium on one side of the dish and a multivitamin supplement on the other side. One of my girls hasnt been eating so she's been licking the dish like crazy to get the supplement she needs.



there is a sticky in the feeding topic about what to do to get your gecko to eat. It was suggested to try to give them a wax worm but just be careful because they can get addicted to wax worms. I have my geckos in a quieter room too because the commotion could stress them. Try not to make too many changes though because he is still trying to settle in and he cant settle in until all the changes have stopped

I also can't remember if you said this but have you checked the underside of his belly? Is there any dark spots that look unusual ? But he's pooping so that's a good sign.

 

[TifaBea]

I used chicken baby food and holy cow. He has a huge appetite now. I bought a few wax worms to make up for weight loss but he is not interested in them what so ever. I checked his stomach while handling him for the baby food.

The only thing I see are his organs. No spots, nice whiteish belly.

I'm excited he's eating but now I have to try to find black crickets because I did a bit of research on this "Cricket disease" While it is hard to say if a cricket has it, its easily transmitted from one to another. I've read that black crickets cant get it so I'm going to switch over if possible. For now I'm keeping what crickets I have clean and in separate tupperware containers. About 4 to 5 per tupperware with gut load and a source of water.

If anyone else has any information or links on how to weed crickets with diseases out I would love to see it. I'm concerned with how widespread it has become.

 

[TifaBea]

Did some research. The majority of places I've found say the virus will not pass to your gecko. I'm glad to hear it, I've heard black crickets are ornery and have a harder exoskeleton. It's hard to find them even.

http://www.ghann.com/faq.cfm

 

[Spots]

Yay! Good to see he's eating! When you say he's eating though, do you mean he enjoys the baby food? or he now has an appetite for crickets?

I didn't know that about black crickets...keep us updated if you find more about them. My pet store has switched to only black crickets...I thought they were scary looking lol

 

[PaladinGirl]

I didn't see my leo for at least the first 2 weeks after I bought her. She wouldn't touch the mealworms. I kept about 10 in her dish at all times and they just sat there. I dropped crickets in there hoping that she was eating them lol. Then one night I walked past her tank and she was having a feeding frenzy in her mealworm dish. Guess she just decided she was hungry. I think they just need awhile to adjust.

 

[TifaBea]

Well I did what I always do every night, dusted the crickets and dropped them in. ( I know you only dust them every now and then but he hadn't been eating them I just would take them out in the morning if he didn't eat them)

I do one at a time and of course my gecko was hiding in his half log. When I dropped the second cricket in it scared the other one in front of his hide. Then he just pounced and ate him up, quite enthusiastically if I may add.

I was so happy. My boyfriend gave him a couple wax worms last night while I was at work but while I thought he ate them, i found them this morning in his bathroom corner.

Also, He refuses to go to the bathroom on the paper towel I put in his corner to help with clean up but he poops next to it. Lol

 

[Spots]

I always drop the feeder in front of the geckos too so I can see if they do for it lol

And I don't think they mean to not poop on the paper towel. Eventually, I just use a bigger peice of paper towel lol I've watched them poop many times and it seems like they just walk around to it and they know the poop area is that general area and then they just let it out. It's like they just hope it hits the "toilet" and if it doesn't, they aren't cleaning it up anyways lol