Leopard Gecko Not Eating -- Just Licks Prey

[skadi.skinks]

My leopard gecko Astara has been with me since the 22nd of February. She never had any troubles eating until about two weeks ago when she started to slow down.

This week, she has not eaten at all. She currently has almost no interest in prey items, and the only times she has shown interest, she either a) licks at the superworm in front of her or b) slowly pursues the cricket but does not attempt to strike. Last night, she was climbing like crazy all over the enclosure, and she isn't lethargic at all-- other than the climbing, she's been exactly like her usual self, aside from the appetite issue of course.

Basic Information
Gecko's name:
Astara

Morph:
Super Snow W/Y

Gender:
Female

Age:
18 months

Weight:
She is 65 grams, unless I somehow zeroed out the scale wrong in which case she is 55 grams. I don't want to stress her out again by putting her back in the cup to weigh her, but I will check again tomorrow once she's had time to chill out a bit.

Enclosure
Enclosure dimensions (length x width x height):
30x12x12 (20 gallon long)

Substrate provided:
Ceramic tile


Temperatures
What type and brand of thermometer:
Windbells Digital Thermometer

What is the ground temperature right on the substrate under the warm dry hide:
85.7

What is the air temperature on the warm end about 4 inches up from the ground:
~80

What is the air temperature on the cool end about 4 inches up from the ground:
~75

What device(s) are used to maintain the temperature:
Undertank heater with iPower thermostat

Feeding
Insects and worms, list type:
Crickets and superworms

Regular diet fed to the insects:
Finely ground Zoo Med Natural Adult Bearded Dragon Food

Regular diet fed to the worms:
Finely ground Zoo Med Natural Adult Bearded Dragon Food, oats (though that's also the bedding they came in)

How often do you feed your gecko?
and
Please list any supplements (with brand names) used. How are they given and how often?
I use the 18+ month schedule posted on the forums for her. I use ZooMed's Reptivite without D3 and Exo Terra's calcium with D3.


She also last pooped on March 10th, a little small but 100% healthy, with a white urate

I know this time of year does mean ovulation for females and that it can impact their appetite, but I'm starting to get concerned. Is she licking them for the calcium? Is she just being weird? I'm not sure what's going on.

 

[skadi.skinks]

Here is an image of her from Tuesday (with her most recent poop... lol... it was removed after! I just didn't want to disturb her before I took a picture).

 

[acpart]

She looks pretty good. Possibly the floor on the hot side could be a bit warmer but in my experience that doesn't seem to make that much of a difference (others may have a different opinion). I do find that this ovulation period can cause longer periods of not eating than we would imagine. Keep offering and try not to worry.

Aliza

 

[skadi.skinks]

Thanks for chiming in, I really appreciate it! Right now her warm hide is 89.0, not sure why the jump in temperature when I've not moved anything around in there since, but that means it's back to the temperature it typically is. I think I'll stick with trying to give her a superworm or two since the crickets are hard to catch once they're loose in there.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks for chiming in, I really appreciate it! Right now her warm hide is 89.0, not sure why the jump in temperature when I've not moved anything around in there since, but that means it's back to the temperature it typically is. I think I'll stick with trying to give her a superworm or two since the crickets are hard to catch once they're loose in there.

Warm hide temps between 88-92*F are perfect.

Temperatures - A temperature gradient from warm to cool maintains your leo's health. Here's a temperature guide for all leopard geckos as measured with the probe of a digital thermometer or a temp gun (and controlled by a thermostat set at 91*F/32.8*C).

Place the thermostat's probe and a digital thermometer's probe together right on top of the substrate underneath the warm dry hide. If you use a UTH + a CHE you'll need 2 separate thermostats, because ground and air temperatures are substantially different.

• Warm dry hide ground temperature: 88-92 F (31.1-33.3 C) inside a leo's warm dry hide.
• Warm humid/moist hide: Also place the humid hide 100% on top of the heat mat. Keep temperatures similar to the warm dry hide.
• Cool dry hide ground temperature: 70ish-75 F (21.1-23.9 C) Usually the cool end ground temperature matches the room temperature where the enclosure sits.
• no greater than 82ish F (27.8ish C) air temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the warm end
• no greater than 75 F (23.9 C) air temperature - 4 inches (10 cm) above ground on the cool end

Leave the heat mat/UTH on 24/7. If you wish, during the night turn off overhead lighting/heating (~12 hours on and ~12 hours off) unless ambient room temperatures drop lower than 67ish*F (19.4*C).

Here's an example of the Anchor-brand 8 ounce feeding bowls I use. I think Walmart stocks them right now. For my 9 inch, ~70 gram leo I have a rock ramp leading up to the bowl's rim. I amputate both back cricket's "jumper" legs right below their "knees". The crickets just move slowly after this "operation".

​

 

[skadi.skinks]

Warm hide temps between 88-92*F are perfect.



Here's an example of the Anchor-brand 8 ounce feeding bowls I use. I think Walmart stocks them right now. For my 9 inch, ~70 gram leo I have a rock ramp leading up to the bowl's rim. I amputate both back cricket's "jumper" legs right below their "knees". The crickets just move slowing after this "operation".

View attachment 48612 View attachment 48613​

Something I've wondered is how do you manage to grab a cricket long enough to do that? I have prior fed them to her one by one, waiting until she caught it before giving another (and she's quite accurate, it just takes her some time to feel 'ready' to pounce!), but then there were a couple times where I dropped two and she only caught one, then I'm stuck trying to literally herd a cricket toward her.

I definitely would like to try out the culinary surgery option, I just have no clue how to get ahold of a cricket to do it!

 

[Gutler]

Crickets legs arent attached too securely you can easily pull them off just by grabbing the leg with tongs and giving a little twist.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Something I've wondered is how do you manage to grab a cricket long enough to do that? I have prior fed them to her one by one, waiting until she caught it before giving another (and she's quite accurate, it just takes her some time to feel 'ready' to pounce!), but then there were a couple times where I dropped two and she only caught one, then I'm stuck trying to literally herd a cricket toward her.

I definitely would like to try out the culinary surgery option, I just have no clue how to get ahold of a cricket to do it!

For small crickets:

1. Use a tablespoon-sized measuring spoon to scoop up a single cricket.
2. Gently position this cricket between your fingers with legs facing outwards.
3. Snip both back "jumper" legs right below the "knees" with a scissors.
4. /\ That way crickets can still walk around.

Monitoring a gecko's intake is one reason why I love feeding dishes! Sometimes I use those 8 ounce Anchor-brand dishes. I also use 10 ounce bar glasses for crickets or dubia. It depends whether the geckos have "sticky feet" or not.

 

[skadi.skinks]

For small crickets:

1. Use a tablespoon-sized measuring spoon to scoop up a single cricket.
2. Gently position this cricket between your fingers with legs facing outwards.
3. Snip both back "jumper" legs right below the "knees" with a scissors.
4. /\ That way crickets can still walk around.

Monitoring a gecko's intake is one reason why I love feeding dishes! Sometimes I use those 8 ounce Anchor-brand dishes. I also use 10 ounce bar glasses for crickets or dubia. It depends whether the geckos have "sticky feet" or not.

Hmm... could I get the crickets as I normally do by shaking out the tubes into a container, and then put the container into the fridge for a couple of minutes to slow them down? They're so rambunctious I don't know that they'll be pleased with the tablespoon idea, lol!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hi ~

If you find your leo slipping on the tile you picture, you might wish to switch to slate tile or to a textured ceramic tile.

These slate pieces come in various sizes including ~6 inch x 6 inch coaster size.

For link 163 click: Slate Cheese Trays 16 x 12 x 0.3 inch for Leo Substrate . . . . . . Gutler -- March 2020​

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hmm... could I get the crickets as I normally do by shaking out the tubes into a container, and then put the container into the fridge for a couple of minutes to slow them down? They're so rambunctious I don't know that they'll be pleased with the tablespoon idea, lol!

How about an experiment?

What I wrote works well for me.

 

[skadi.skinks]

How about an experiment?

What I wrote works well for me.

Sounds good! I'll try out the fridge method since I'm curious if it'll work now, lol.

 

[skadi.skinks]

Updates:
- The fridge method did work
- She did not like the bowl idea at all
- She is suddenly eating crickets like nothing happened

I don't know what was up, I'm assuming it was just a breeding season/ovulation related thing, but it seems everything is back to normal, lol!

 

[skadi.skinks]

Aaaand guess who ate exactly zero of her crickets this weekend? Ugh. I only realized because I could hear one of them chirping incredibly loudly in her tank and I tore the enclosure apart trying to find it. I don't blame her, though, I'm kind of tired of crickets, too. I'm wondering if I should switch her back to mealworms for a bit even though I stopped giving them to her because I would see their exoskeletons in her poops-- it made me worried she might end up impacted from them somehow. I'm already having to go out for errands tomorrow so we'll see if she's just dead set on mealworms. If that doesn't work, I'm ordering a sample size of dubias.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Aaaand guess who ate exactly zero of her crickets this weekend? Ugh. I only realized because I could hear one of them chirping incredibly loudly in her tank and I tore the enclosure apart trying to find it. I don't blame her, though, I'm kind of tired of crickets, too. I'm wondering if I should switch her back to mealworms for a bit even though I stopped giving them to her because I would see their exoskeletons in her poops-- it made me worried she might end up impacted from them somehow. I'm already having to go out for errands tomorrow so we'll see if she's just dead set on mealworms. If that doesn't work, I'm ordering a sample size of dubias.

What is the ground temperature right on the substrate under the warm dry hide:
85.7

Regular diet fed to the worms:
Finely ground Zoo Med Natural Adult Bearded Dragon Food, oats (though that's also the bedding they came in)

Thanks for chiming in, I really appreciate it! Right now her warm hide is 89.0, not sure why the jump in temperature when I've not moved anything around in there since, but that means it's back to the temperature it typically is. I think I'll stick with trying to give her a superworm or two since the crickets are hard to catch once they're loose in there.

Replace the mealworms' oat bedding with ZMNAdultBeardie Food.

For link 98 click: Common Mealworm & Superworm Dry Diets & Beddings -- Use something else!​

Does her warm hide hold @ 89*F each day for multiple hours?

Has Astara ever tried Banded Crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus)? From what I hear those aren't as loud. Josh's Frogs (800-691-8178 ) sells those. [https://www.joshsfrogs.com/covid-19-updates.html]
Has she tried hornworms? :drool:

 

[skadi.skinks]

Her hide is in the low 90s right now and has been for a few weeks-- I've got a new heat mat (and a new enclosure!) with the same thermostat as the last time. It's that temperature all day and all night, maybe moving up or down a degree or two.

Mealworm bedding: I will definitely look into that! I also know that my fire skink also eats mealworms so if she won't eat them, I know he will.

Banded crickets: I haven't tried them but I am now considering it. I've never had a cricket as loud as the one last night, so it was never a big issue for me! I may try getting a few for her soon, I'll just need to set up a spot for them separate from the current crickets.

Hornworms: Yes! I fed her one at the start of her first food strike and she was INSTANTLY interested. She caught it and ate it in a few seconds, but I know they're very high in water content (and they grow very fast!) so I haven't gotten more since then. It makes me wonder if she maybe likes the bright colors or if she needs slower prey.