[ninajp]

ok, so I am totally new to this board, and of course I have a problem. I got a t.keyserlingii almost two weeks ago as a gift (very unexpected) from someone who thought they were getting an odd colored leopard gecko and realized they were wrong very quickly.
So, being unfamiliar with keyserlingiis I went online to find all info I could get, and of course ended up here.
I tried to read anything and everything I could find about this kind of gecko, to make sure I've got the right setup for him and I think I figured it out ok.
This is what I did - and if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

-10 gallon tank
-very fine sand as substrate, varying depths up to 10cm deep
-several hiding places embedded in the sand both on warmer and cooler end of the tank
-temperature range in the tank during the day is 40C on the hot side, 24 on the cool side, dropping several degrees overnight
- one hide on the cooler side is kept moist

now here is my problem...
although the gecko is active, digging, rearranging the sand daily and I have seen it drink water many times, I cannot get it to eat anything.
from crickets (live, live-incapacitated, canned, all of them varying sizes) over mealworms (again, varying sizes), silkworms and even pinkies (the gecko is full size) - both left in a dish, or attempted to handfeed...no matter what I try, I can't get it to take any food.
I've managed to give it some calcium by dabbing some on its nose an having it lick it off, but other than that and water...nothing.
initially I thought that I maybe had a female, carrying eggs because both sides of it's stomach bulged out as if that was the case, but now I'm not so sure. (it's very very hard to get it to hold still long enough to actually have a good look and see whether it's a male or a female, especially since I can't exactly old it down without ripping its skin)
the first couple of days I had it here it pooped twice...then nothing...
thinking it may be egg-bound or constipated I started giving it warm soaks and after that it started producing what I can only call sand-poop...meaning it looks like the gecko is actually EATING sand and thanks to nice soaks in warm water the sand comes back out the other end, so to say...but...I don't know..that sounds weird?
Since I can get it to lick things off its nose, I've been tempted to (as gross as it sounds) make a sort of mush out of either crickets or mealworms...as in, stick 'em in the blender, add vitamins/calcium, then give 'em a whirl, then dabbing that stuff on the gecko's nose...but I'm not sure that would work??
So far the gecko hasn't lost too much weight (another odd thing?), is active and looks very healthy, so I still have hope..

I know there are hundreds if not more of "please help now" messages on this board...and of them this is just one...but if *anyone* has any ideas how to help...please let me know!

[ninajp]

well, I almost can't believe I missed this while searching the entire board for ideas, but I guess my searches were too specific...*sigh*

talking about bug slurry of course...and even though I mostly saw it mentioned in the leo sections, I'll give that a shot.

of course, if anyone has any more ideas, or suggestions for my setup...please do let me know!

[cliff_f]

I didnt read your whole post, but as for the care keep it on sand and keep the temps like you would a leo. When you feed it leave it alone for a while and let it eat in peace. Check on it in a few hours or the next day. Just offer it one or two crickets at a time till it starts eating.

[ninajp]

wow...time flies when things get crazy :S ...between 7 (water dragon) babies and building two new tanks I didn't get to come here at all...*sigh* (well, and that darn work thing keeps interrupting)
time for an update!

first off...thank you much for the (only) reply to my problem, cliff!

turns out this gecko is super-picky about when, where and how to eat and if things aren't just right, she (I confirmed it's a she) just doesn't...eat that is.
from what I read on this forum, this happens to others too, so maybe as a little encouragement, I want to describe what I had to do to get her to -finally- eat, because she finally did!

of course it is possible she was being even more picky because she is in fact carrying eggs (and looks like they are coming very very soon)

anyway...while trying to leave her alone as much as possible from the first time I realized she didn't want to eat, I did subtly adjust her surroundings always leaving a day or more before bothering her again. this is what I came up with in the end:

-she needed a LOT more hiding places to be comfortable (to be exact, most of her tank is now a connected series of hiding places), which had to have varying levels of humidity, and with those in place she actually moves about the tank in a relaxed manner.

- her food had to be placed under yet another hiding place. this makes checking on whether she ate somewhat difficult, but I got around that by using a flowerpot turned upside down, with an entrance hole cut in it. the holes in the bottom of the pot (now on the top) allow me to peek in without disturbing anything and apparently they are small enough not to bother the gecko

-she outright refuses to go after crickets, at least for now, but will eat several medium sized mealworms every few days. since she responds badly to being bothered, I end up putting enough for several days into a dish they can't get out of, and to make sure they remain nutritious enough, I place them on a small amount of wormfood supplemented with calcium/vitamins in that dish. the wormfood has been ground to a consistency that won't interfere with the gecko's digestion should she get some of it by accident when eating the worms. I know this isn't the ideal way to go, but a heck of a lot better than her not eating for weeks at a time, so for now it'll have to do. I will continue trying to make her feeding more regular as I go along, but I'll take my time so that she doesn't get stressed out again.

there are plenty of other things I had to do, but this is the main stuff for now...thanks for "listening" to me go on...hope this helps someone in the future...and, if anyone has any more suggestions please let me know!