New Baby Not Eating

kb3pbr · #1 03-19-2010, 09:14 PM

Hello all... Four days ago I purchased my first leopard gecko, I'm not sure of its exact age, but it small, about 3 inches from end to end. I have him housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with an UTH and red lamp from above. My issue is, he has not eaten since I brought him home. I have offered him small crickets every night. The first time I offered him crickets he acted scared of them and showed no interest. After that I have been removing the rear legs from the crickets and placing them in a bowel, he still shows no interest. I also tried holding a cricket with tweezers and offering it to him and nothing. I'm just concerned that he hasn't eaten, and much of what I read has said they should eat almost every day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Allee Toler · #2 03-19-2010, 11:16 PM

He's still settling in. Be patient, it's quite a lot of stress on a baby so small to be moved from one tank to another!

With the lamp and the UTH what are your temps? Target temp on one side should be 90-95F, no higher than 97F, and the other around 78-83F.

kb3pbr · #3 03-19-2010, 11:39 PM

The temps are sitting around 90 on the warm side and 75 on the cool side. The warm side was much warmer, but I bought a dimmer from home depot and dialed back the UTH some. Tonight I offered him some small mealworms, but still nothing.

Allee Toler · #4 03-20-2010, 03:22 AM

Then give him a few days. Put some mealworms in a small dish from the petstore and put it in his hide. Then leave it over night. He's probably stressed, not used to his new tank. If he doesn't leave his hide then putting the worm dish in there will make him feel secure.

kb3pbr · #5 03-20-2010, 10:10 AM

He does come out of his hide at night. During the day he stays in the hide on the cool side, but at night he seems to like the warmer side of the tank at night and lays right out in the open. I do have a moist hide on the warm side, but he has yet to venture in there. I saw him licking up some water last night, that was a first...

Allee Toler · #6 03-20-2010, 03:32 PM

Then just leave a shallow dish with some tiny mealworms in it. So he can see it. My hatchlings usually don't eat in front of me the first few weeks. I'll count 10 worms in the dish one night and wake up to a clean dish and a plump tummy.

kb3pbr · #7 03-20-2010, 04:53 PM

Thanks for the info, it is very much appreciated!

Allee Toler · #8 03-20-2010, 06:22 PM

Good luck and I hope he eats! Some geckos are more stressed out by a move than others.

NYCReptiGirl · #9 03-20-2010, 10:56 PM

I just got my first leopard gecko today and surprisingly, although it seems like he has nose rub, he's already started eating the crickets in his cage--at least the ones he can catch. It's about the same size as yours, too, although he hasn't paid any attention to the stuff in the food dish. I hope it all works out with your baby!

Allee Toler · #10 03-21-2010, 12:44 AM

Every gecko is different and handles stress differently.