Young Leopard Gecko not eating?

[SuperFastSlug]

Hey everyone. I'm not new to reptiles, but Iam new to leopard geckos, so hopefully someone can help me out here. As the title suggests, my gecko isn't really eating; I got him to eat like 2 mealworms in the past week. He seems to reject most of the food I give to him. He is in a 20 gallon aquarium. He as a warm, moist and cool hide, water dish, calcium dish, rocks to bask on, and a plastic plant for extra hiding/coverage. Temps are 70-75 on cool side and 85-90 on warm side during the day. He as an under the tank heater and he regularly basks on top of it. I dust his food with calcium every feeding and multivitamin once a week, but he rarely eats. I try to offer him small crickets, roaches, and mealworms. He doesnt really touch the roaches, and only sometimes will eat crickets and mealworms, and he seems to be getting thinner every day. Could someone please give me some advice and help me correct this issue? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
EDIT: forgot to mention: his substrate is reptile carpet.

 

[tb144050]

For the fastest path to good suggestions, please fill out the questionaire (copy and paste it) at the top of the Health & Medications section.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

Lots of times young geckos from pet stores have parasites that can make them feel ill or full and not eat. It's always a good idea to get a fecal checked by a vet. Filling out the sticky will help too. It asks for a bit more info like how you're measuring temps and how you're heating the cage

http://geckoforums.net/f130-health-medications/70912.htm

 

[SuperFastSlug]

About your leo:
- Sex: unknown
- Age & Weight: unknown
- How long have you owned your leo: about three months
- Where was he/she obtained (ex. Pet store, breeder, wild caught, friend): ++++++++ (petstore)

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: I allowed about 2 weeks of acclimation, then started to handle a couple times a week
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does he/she normally act which differs from now.: He seemed healthy and was eating, then started eating less and less.
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.: not sure
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal): mostly solid, but sometimes liquid
- When was the last time he/she went: last night;solid
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem and how long it has been going on: The gecko was eating just fine and seemed healthy and active but then just started eating less and less, thus becoming skinnier and skinnier. Same activity level though; still basks, still drinks, still moves around, just doesn't eat.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20 gallon
- Type (ex. glass tank): glass aquarium
- Type of substrate: Repticarpet
- Hides, how many, what kind 3 hides: moist, warm, and cool
B) Heating
- Heat source: UTH and red light
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side): hot side-85-90F cool side- around 75F
- Method of regulating heat source: light has a dimmer if that counts lol
- What are you using to measure your temps: electronic temp/humidity gauge.
- Do you have any lights (describe): 50 watt red light
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): N/A
- Describe health, or previous problems:N/A

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Mealworms, roaches and crickets, around 4 feeders every night
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect) mealworms and roaches in dish, crickets free range
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): RepCal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, Reptivite w/ d3 once a week
- What are you gut loading food with: Total bites

 

[SuperFastSlug]

Update: I just offered him 2 waxworms and he ate them in a heartbeat. Now my question is: how do I get him to eat his crickets roaches and mealworms?

 

[tb144050]

Update: I just offered him 2 waxworms and he ate them in a heartbeat. Now my question is: how do I get him to eat his crickets roaches and mealworms?

Waxworms don't count...they are like crack to geckos. They would usually eat waxworms even if they are ill or stressed or hunger striking..

---------------------------

Here's my random thoughts:

1) I agree with DrC (above)...a fecal test for parasites is a good idea for Leo's that are losing weight & not eating.

I will try to post my original thoughts in possible "cause & effect" order...


2) You are measuring temps with a digital probe? If your probe is not touching the warmside floor, then you are probably just measuring the air temp. The ambient air temp should NOT be 90F. Only the warmside floor should be 90F.

3) You may be using an unnecessary lamp light to bump up air temps based on #2. The UTH usually does quite well in providing an adequate floor temp of 90F...all by itself. With an overhead light, the floor temp is possibly reaching 105F+.

4) Effect -- Are the moist fecals actually diarhea? If so, it could be from any of the above reasons....parasites, excessively high floor temp, or excessively high air temp.

 

[SuperFastSlug]

Waxworms don't count...they are like crack to geckos. They would usually eat waxworms even if they are ill or stressed or hunger striking..

---------------------------

Here's my random thoughts:

1) I agree with DrC (above)...a fecal test for parasites is a good idea for Leo's that are losing weight & not eating.

I will try to post my original thoughts in possible "cause & effect" order...


2) You are measuring temps with a digital probe? If your probe is not touching the warmside floor, then you are probably just measuring the air temp. The ambient air temp should NOT be 90F. Only the warmside floor should be 90F.

3) You may be using an unnecessary lamp light to bump up air temps based on #2. The UTH usually does quite well in providing an adequate floor temp of 90F...all by itself. With an overhead light, the floor temp is possibly reaching 105F+.

4) Effect -- Are the moist fecals actually diarhea? If so, it could be from any of the above reasons....parasites, excessively high floor temp, or excessively high air temp.

Ok, thanks for the help! So i should NOT feed waxworms? I read on a couple other sources and threads that I should, so thats why I tried it. Also, I'll fix up the temps. Thanks for all the replies everyone. BTW yes im measuring air temps with a probe, so ill go fix that.

 

[tb144050]

Some people use those probe thermometers to make sure the UTH is providing proper floor heat by placing the edge of a "heavy decor" ontop of the probe. It would be best to get an IR temp gun, but you can press the probe to the floor to get an idea.

1 waxworm/week is about all I would recommend because they will get addicted. Then they will refuse to eat anything but waxworms (which are VERY unhealthy if that is the only thing they eat). I wouldn't even recommend to feed a waxworm more than once/2weeks.

If you think your gecko is refusing "real food" because he wants waxworms, you just have to try to wait it out. If everything else is fine, he will get over his attitude and eat "real food" when he gets hungry enough. Geckos are like stubborn children sometimes..lol

 

[jemjdragon]

Wax worms are basically really high in fat, which is why leopard geckos love them. You can feed them as treats once a week like mentioned above.

 

[SuperFastSlug]

hey everyone, thanks for the feedback. unfortunately, it was a parasite and he ended up dying a few days ago. Hopefully if i buy a nice healthy one from a breeder this kind of thing wont happen. Thanks for the help though!