Fat tailed gecko not eating second night

[Plant]

I already had one baby fat tailed gecko and he died, wasn't eating after the second night, and I think he might have died from impaction. He had a few problems before I got him, not shedding well and his tail fell off, and I miss him dearly. I am worried about this new one though.

The shop said he was 2 months old, and yesterday he ate a bunch of crickets happily, but he's not eating any tonight. I am trying not to handle him for a while, but he wasn't eating anything now.

The setup is a 10 gallon terrarium. I have jungle mix, but I was worried about loose substrate this time, so I bought reptile carpet for the bottom. There's a heat pad on the left side, with a large hide over it. Then there are two small hides on the cool side, with a water dish. Three temperature gauges, uvb for the day, and a red heatlight for the night. The hot side is around 90 and the cool is closer to 70s. I also have some moss under one hide for a cool damp spot. He's under the cool one without the moss, but I just added the moss. I just don't want to do anything wrong this time, and keep looking up stuff, but I'm not sure. If I have to just return it to petco I will, because I don't want to do something wrong if I did. I also mist it a couple times a day.

 

[acpart]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience the first time. It's good that this one ate the first day, and it may happen that it won't eat for a few days. Try not to worry. Mist the whole cage every evening or every morning. Keep offering. Make sure you're also supplementing with calcium and vitamin D3 about once a week.

Aliza

 

[KaylaS]

It's common for geckos to not be too keen on eating for a couple days when moved in to a new environment. If it hadn't been fed for a while at the store that could be why it guzzled down yesterday. It may also just still be full. They can go a few days without food just fine. So see if the problem continues to persist before getting too worried

 

[Plant]

It's common for geckos to not be too keen on eating for a couple days when moved in to a new environment. If it hadn't been fed for a while at the store that could be why it guzzled down yesterday. It may also just still be full. They can go a few days without food just fine. So see if the problem continues to persist before getting too worried

He might be scared of me. When I went to ask the store, and came back, he was out and about but darted back into his cage. I put a box in front of it so he won't spot me and he was out and about when I woke up. I don't see any crickets so I put a few more in for now and will make sure to take them out if they are in there later.

 

[KaylaS]

Eventually he'll learn to associate you with food and realise you're not a threat give him time to settle in and explore, then maybe after one to two weeks start trying to handle him a little. Good luck!

 

[Plant]

Eventually he'll learn to associate you with food and realise you're not a threat give him time to settle in and explore, then maybe after one to two weeks start trying to handle him a little. Good luck!

Also he darted out of the hot hide when I was spraying and slowly inched around until he got to the cool hide. I'm gonna try to buy some roaches, maybe he'll like those.

 

[Plant]

Update for anyone needing info. I removed his hides and everything, so nothing got in his way, and he hunted a whole bunch. If your baby isn't eating, and doesn't like a separate container, just remove his hides and stuff so he can know it's time to eat.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks so much for your update!

Another idea is to cover 3 of 4 sides with something simple like brown paper from shopping bags. That may provide your AFT additional security and comfort.