New Gecko Not Eating!

Hi all,

I picked up a juv leo from reptileaddicts at the april 28 hamburg show, and he has yet to eat. he looks great and is very active, but seems to be terrified of the crickets and mealworms. I have tried both live and freeze-dried, and he won't touch either of them. Anyone have an idea on the next step? He seems absolutely fine. Thanks, Seth

What are the temps?, you say you have tried mealies, do you have a dish of them in the cage?. Alot of breeders feed mealies out of a dish because its much easier, my guess is your leo maybe use to that. If you havent tried that, I would reccomend that..

Have you contacted Reptile Addicts? Since you got the gecko from them, perhaps they can offer some help and let you know how they housed and fed the gecko.

Okay here are some things that have worked for me. Make sure you've got temps right with a temp gradient so the animal can thermoregulate. Make sure there is something for the gecko to hide under on hot and cool side. Make sure you're not playing with it, handling it, or standing there staring at it too much. Make sure your other lizards, pet bird, mean cat, young kid, etc. etc. isn't playing with it or handling it or staring at it too much. Offer a variety of live prey food items. Make sure you're supplementing them but not too heavy (some of them won't eat it if it's dusted too heavy, apparently doesn't taste good.) Try putting food items in the cage and then walking away and leaving the gecko in a room by itself, maybe leave items in the cage a little longer to give him plenty of time to calm down and adjust. Keep and eye on the poop, obvious parasites or large water rings or runny stool or no stool at all means it's time for a vet check.

If all else fails try a couple of wax worms. Now, I want to be clear here because I was recently passionately attacked for suggesting that cresteds that don't eat could be enticed by a small amount of baby food fruit. So let me emphasize you should not start only feeding wax worms. You should only put a couple in with other food items to entice him to eat and you should supplement them because they have very little dietary value of their own.

If the the wax worms and everything else on this list doesn't work it's definitely time for a vet visit and maybe even some force feeding. If it gets that far you should search this forum for something called Marcia's slurry. I've used it for two different animals with great success. But be prepared, it's a little icky and it requires a specially designated blender.

I'm sorry if any of this is repetetive of information you already know. I don't remember reading other things you've written on this forum so I'm not sure if you're a leo newbie or a leo pro. If you've been doing this for a while a lot of this will be really obvious so I apologize.