I need help with my leo gecko!

OK, so I read up a lot about leopard geckos before buying him (i think it's a him). I now realize I didn't read enough. First problem is that I bought him at Petco...as I've heard that's not a good place to get lizards. Anyhow, his name is Jorge. Jorge didn't eat the first couple days after I got him. Then he started to eat fine. I thought I was only supposed to give him a couple mealworms everyday. So, I only gave him 1-3 each night. I now know that I should have let him eat as many as he wanted. Anyhow. I have small plastic tank that is approximately 6 inches deep, 1 foot wide and two feet long. I use paper towels as substrate. I have two hides. One is a coconut shell that i put some wet moss inside. The other is a piece of wood that I found outside and washed. I have a small water bowl, but I've never seen Jorge drink from it. I change the water daily. I use a 75watt balast with a daytime bulb and nightime bulb. It stays about 88 in the day and about 78-80 at night.

OK, so 7 days ago he quit eating suddenly. It was after I cleaned his cage. I then took him to my parent's house while I was out of town. He may not have had a good 12 hour day/night schedule there. He's back home now and his 12 hour day/night schedule is back. I had been feeding meal worms. He doesn't seem interested at all. HE pooped a little yesterday, so I don't think he's impacted. I tried crickets today. No luck. His tail has stayed about the same size. It' about as big around as a pencil. I have tried everything to get him to eat. Any suggestions? SHould I take him back to petco?

Aaron,

It sounds like you're off to a pretty good start as far as being informed on how to take care of your purchase. I'm sorry he is not doing well. You can try putting him in something smaller, like a deli cup, when you feed him the crickets. Are you dusting the crickets with any supplements? If not you may want to try that too. (ie. Reptical). If he doesn't eat for a couple of days it won't hurt him, but keep feeding him, this way if he changes his mind it will be there.

Good Luck,

Anna Strate
HomeGrownHerps
www.homegrownherps.com

ok, the above pictures are of my set-up and then 3 pics of jorge in a bowl this morning as I tried to feed him a dusted cricket and a dusted mealworm...no luck. Last night I made a concoction out of reptical, zoo-med's leopard gecko food (which is a lot of dead flies and stuff), and water. I liquified it as much as I could and dropped it on Jorge's nose. He licked it up, but I doubt he can live on just that.

Aaron,

How long has it been since he has eaten anything? If it's only been 2 or 3 days, he may not be hungry.

Anna Strate
www.homegrownherps.com

It's been 7-8 days. I have been leaving mealworms in a dish for him, but as far as I can tell none of them have been eaten. I hope you are right and that he's just not hungry. I've only had him about a month, but up until he stopped eating he would eat very willingly. As soon as I put mealworms in his cage he would attack them and eat them. Now he acts like he's scared of them or just uninterested.

Has he shed yet? and if so did he eat it?

He has shed a little, but not all at once...it came off is little bits. THat was about a week ago. Right now it doesn't look like he is shedding anymore. I am going to buy an undertank heater today. I also put out some reptocal in a dish for him to try. I made sure the moss in humid hide was wet.

I don't think he ate it...but like I said all i ever found was little pieces of skin.

I would try taking the moss out it may be too humid, Leopard geckos are desert animals. With the under tank heater, make sure it is only under part of the tank, so he can get off it if he wants.