[sue]

My son's leopard gecko, Charles, is 5 years old. He has been a great pet, healthy, easy to care for and seemingly happy.

Suddenly, about a month ago, Charles stopped eating crickets and superworms. Which he loved! My son thought he had gone blind, since he stopped tracking moving food. He would just ignore it.

He became sluggish. He no longer ate his shed.

When we removed him from his aquarium, he easily moved around from one place to another, regardless of the set up, so I don't think he is blind.

Based on information we read in gecko forums we started feeding him turkey baby food. He stopped losing weight and seems to like being fed baby food by hand. He pooped, a few times, though not alot, I could see that the baby food was going through his entire system.

Last week we tried to introduce wax worms since they are soft. He licks them, but then no interest.

How do we wean him off of baby food and motivate him to eat insects again?

By this time he likes being out of his aquarium so much that he rebels when he has to go back in. He squeeks and wiggles and tries to jump out of my hands.

I don't really know what to do next. Please help!

Thank you,

Sue
St. Louis, MO

[Lordoftheswarms]

I have a male that shows very little interest in insects, I would be interested in hearing a reply.

[Riverside Reptiles]

Try some different feeders. Tropical roaches (both B. dubia and B. lateralis) work well. Also, make sure that you have proper temps and humidity in his enclosure. That can make a HUGE difference in their appetites. Another thing to think about is that this time of year, many reptiles slow down quite a bit and often go off of food. Baby food, although better than nothing, is not good for him. So it is important to get him back on to whole prey items.

[sue]

Originally Posted by Lordoftheswarms

I have a male that shows very little interest in insects, I would be interested in hearing a reply.

Sue: What does he eat?

[sue]

Originally Posted by Riverside Reptiles

Try some different feeders. Tropical roaches (both B. dubia and B. lateralis) work well. Also, make sure that you have proper temps and humidity in his enclosure. That can make a HUGE difference in their appetites. Another thing to think about is that this time of year, many reptiles slow down quite a bit and often go off of food. Baby food, although better than nothing, is not good for him. So it is important to get him back on to whole prey items.

Sue: Thanks for the note. I will keep trying other things. Maybe I need to let him get a little hungrier, I was afraid he would die of malnutrition. He was losing weight. Again, thanks for replying.

[zack]

ya try turning up the heat a lil bit or tell us what ur temp is and cleaning his tank thos might help also try seting up the tank diffrent i switch things up for my gecko once every 3 months and they seem to enjoy it

[reptirus]

Definitely sounds like it may be a temperature problem. Do you make sure that the warm side of his tank is around 90 degrees?

[sue]

Originally Posted by sue

Sue: Thanks for the note. I will keep trying other things. Maybe I need to let him get a little hungrier, I was afraid he would die of malnutrition. He was losing weight. Again, thanks for replying.

I wanted to thank you for your help. I am happy to say that Charles finally turned the corner -- it is March 2010 now -- and he is back to eating crickets. Happy ending! Thank you for the support.

[sue]

Originally Posted by sue

Sue: What does he eat?

During Charles illness he liked turkey baby food and loved carrot and applesauce baby food. He got progressively stronger and finally I tried crickets again this week. It has been several months since we last corresponded, and I was afraid he would never eat prey items again, but he did. So I hope you and yours are doing well. Thanks for the support through the forum.

[Lordoftheswarms]

My male is an enigma, and he has the enigma spins which is a neurological problem where he can't control his movement very well. I've resorted to hand feeding him insects almost every night.