Geckos stopped eating

[Madrigal77]

Hi there. I have a question... do they eat less during the winter? Sorry it’s gonna be long.

I have 2 girls, they’ve been with us since June. Approximately 4 years old. Previous owner didn’t know exactly, and also had them in the same enclosure. (Not neglected, he was told it’s ok to keep 2 females together.) We used to feed them 3 times a week, but noticed they were getting chubby about a month ago, so changed it to twice a week. Mochi had 14 mealworms on the 17th, and kept refusing to eat until yesterday the 25th. She had 4 worms. Yuzu had 12 on the 10th, hasn’t had anything ever since. Mochi has been pooping fine, Yuzu finally had pooped 2 days ago (healthy, 2 big ones) for the first time in 10 days which made me relieved. Last shed is about a month ago (Sept 18th). They usually both shed once a month or two.

They used to unwillingly eat crickets until June, then lost interest in them. We’ve tried phoenix worms as we can’t get dubia here in Canada... they also, unwillingly had them for a week, and completely lost interest. So their main food is mealworms, always make sure they’re gut loaded. Alternatively dusted with vitamins and calcium. Once a month with D3 as they have Arcadia shade dweller UVB lights 10am-10pm. Our main concern is Yuzu. She refused to eat anything; mealworms, crickets, hornworms, butter worms. No interest.

Surprisingly, they both weight the same. 68g as of 23rd. (59g back in July) I have looked up about non eating geckos, and assuming as long as they’re not losing weight, or acting weird, shouldn’t be that concerning. Yet, still worried. Yuzu might just be being picky, because whenever I bring food in front of her, she licks it, blinks, makes “pfft” face, and turns around. Or she might be in “hibernation mode” called brumation. But she’s not acting less or anything. She looks totally fine. They both aren’t so tamed even though we’ve been trying slowly.

Their enclosures
Air temp: 75F
Heated mat: 90F(thermostat)
Humidity: 30-35%
Substrate: tile and eco earth
3 hides; cool, warm, moist
Ceramic bulb heat lamp
UVB lights
Calcium, water... their house is better than ours.

I believe both have no eggs though Yuzu has been looking chunky for 3 months. I guess the way her belly looks a bit wider than Mochi. If anyone has any idea, if geckos might lose appetite during the winter, please share with us. Thank you!!

 

[Tragicbackstory]

Geckos will lose their appetite during winter but only if the temperature has dropped a noticeable amount (Ive seen this in my leo but it might be different in other peoples).

14 mealworms seem much for one day maybe that got them to lose thier appetite for a while? Those are my guesses but im no expert.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Surprisingly, they both weight the same. 68g as of 23rd. (59g back in July) I have looked up about non eating geckos, and assuming as long as they’re not losing weight, or acting weird, shouldn’t be that concerning. Yet, still worried. Yuzu might just be being picky, because whenever I bring food in front of her, she licks it, blinks, makes “pfft” face, and turns around. Or she might be in “hibernation mode” called brumation. But she’s not acting less or anything. She looks totally fine. They both aren’t so tamed even though we’ve been trying slowly.

Their enclosures
Air temp: 75F
Heated mat: 90F(thermostat)
Humidity: 30-35%
Substrate: tile and eco earth
3 hides; cool, warm, moist
Ceramic bulb heat lamp
UVB lights
Calcium, water... their house is better than ours.

Please purchase a digital thermometer with a probe to verify your thermostat's setting. Zoo Med makes a yellow one. Pangea's sells a similar one.

Tape the probes together -- but offset a little. Place both probes on top of the substrate underneath your leo's warm dry hide. Do both probes read similar temps?

Please elaborate about your current supplement schedule. One backup dusting per month of calcium with D3 (using UVB) + multivitamins + plain calcium carbonate.

Share exact brands, names, & frequency.

No pics posted. Videos of each leo will be helpful.

 

[acpart]

I have found many of my geckos to eat less when the daylight starts to decrease, even if the temperatures are the same.

Aliza

 

[Madrigal77]

Please purchase a digital thermometer with a probe to verify your thermostat's setting. Zoo Med makes a yellow one. Pangea's sells a similar one.

Tape the probes together -- but offset a little. Place both probes on top of the substrate underneath your leo's warm dry hide. Do both probes read similar temps?

Please elaborate about your current supplement schedule. One backup dusting per month of calcium with D3 (using UVB) + multivitamins + plain calcium carbonate.

Share exact brands, names, & frequency.

No pics posted. Videos of each leo will be helpful.

I have a digital laser thermometer that I use to verify the temp coming from the probe, and they line up.

For supplements, we use the Zoo Med stuff. We do one feeding with plain calcium, the next with multivitamin, and the next with no dusting.

Here are a couple of pics. The less yellow one is Mochi and the more yellow one is Yuzu. There’s also a pic of Yuzu’s set up. Mochi’s is almost identical.

 

[Madrigal77]

Bump. They are still not eating but still seem to be having BMs and not losing weight.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I have a digital laser thermometer that I use to verify the temp coming from the probe, and they line up.

For supplements, we use the Zoo Med stuff. We do one feeding with plain calcium, the next with multivitamin, and the next with no dusting.

Here are a couple of pics. The less yellow one is Mochi and the more yellow one is Yuzu. There’s also a pic of Yuzu’s set up. Mochi’s is almost identical.

View attachment 48158View attachment 48159View attachment 48157

Yuzu seems a "little round" (bloated ?).

Just confirming that Yuzu's and Mochi's supplement schedules look like this when they eat:

UVB Weekly Schedule 156 for Leopard Geckos 18 months old +​

(with UVB)​

When your leopard gecko is taking advantage of appropriate UVB rays, Dr. Fran Baines (lighting guru) strongly recommends a backup dose of powdered D3 @ 1 feeding per month! Just substitute 1 D3 calcium dusting for 1 plain calcium dusting that week only.

• Crickets or dubia >> Monday - lightly dusted with Zoo Med's ReptiVite multivitamins withOUT D3
• Crickets or dubia >> Thursday - lightly dusted with pure precipitated calcium carbonate withOUT D3 (Zoo Med's Repti Calcium or NOW human brand calcium)
  
• Mealworms >> Saturday - no dusting

Dr. Fran Baines (lighting guru) strongly recommends a backup dose of powdered D3 @ 1 feeding per month! Just substitute 1 D3 calcium dusting for 1 plain calcium dusting that week only.

 

[Madrigal77]

Yuzu seems a "little round" (bloated ?).

Just confirming that Yuzu's and Mochi's supplement schedules looks like this when they eat:

Thanks for your reply. They decided they would not eat crickets about 3 months ago, so they have been having mealworms instead as dubia are not available in Canada. Other than that, they had been on that schedule. Yuzu stopped eating first, and then Mochi about 2 weeks later. They are both behaving normally otherwise.

Nothing has really changed other than the ambient temp in their enclosures has dropped a few degrees because it’s colder. We have heat lamps, but they don’t seem to be able to keep it above about 74.

 

[Marillion]

Yuzu seems a "little round" (bloated ?).

Just confirming that Yuzu's and Mochi's supplement schedules look like this when they eat:

Elizabeth, I may be wrong. But in that picture it looks to me that Yuzu is flattened down absorbing some belly heat. You can see the hind legs slightly splayed out. I suspect that may account for why Yuzu looks more round than would appear normal. Perhaps some more pics of Yuzu while standing may be beneficial.

 

[Madrigal77]

Elizabeth, I may be wrong. But in that picture it looks to me that Yuzu is flattened down absorbing some belly heat. You can see the hind legs slightly splayed out. I suspect that may account for why Yuzu looks more round than would appear normal. Perhaps some more pics of Yuzu while standing may be beneficial.

It's a bit of both. She's "splooting" in the pic, but she's also a bit chubby. I'll try and get some more pics tonight when I get home.

 

[Geopard Lecko]

so they are still eating mealworms?

 

[Madrigal77]

so they are still eating mealworms?

No. They will not eat anything. We tried hornworms, butterworms, and waxworms, but they will not eat anything at all.