Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to geckos...but very experienced with corns and ball pythons...

I'm having a slight feeding problem with a little albino gecko. He won't eat, barely rouses when I try and wake him up, and he's VERY skinny. Is there anyway that I can intise him to eat? Is there a way to force feed?

What you'll need to do is offer the smallest food you can, and offer a variety. Some poor eaters will only eat certain things until they get going and then, they'll take other foods.

For example, my albino turned down mealies and waxworms but only accepted crickets for over a week. I had to get the smallest I could find and offer them daily. Now, I finally see that she sneaks a meal worm or two when I'm not looking. LOL!

Leos like to eat at night. Feed her in the late evening (their natural foraging time) to see if that helps.

Sometimes vitamin and mineral deficencies cause poor appetite, as does dehydration. If she's dehydrated, you'll have to deal with that first. You can give her bath in gatorade or pedialyte...her body will absorb the fluid and electrolites. There's also a spray vitamin treatment that you can get at the pet store.

If you absolutely must make her eat, the least stressful way to do it is to mix up some food and dab a little on her nose so she has to lick it off. If you force her mouth open, it could easily break, and force feeding tends to be morbidly stressful on them.

I'm sure others here can give you some pointers on "mush" food for her...recommendations on which baby food and what to mix in it. Can someone help us out with this, please?

Sybella hun, I'm glad you answered me. Something's wrong with my yahoo account and it tells me that I need to keep reconnecting and that my connection needs redone, but there's nothing wrong! Plus I have uninstalled/reinstalled the yahoo program, and it's still doing it. Hopefully it rights itself by tomorrow.

Oh no! Stupid Yahoo! Well, it looks like we'll have to use email until that gets straightened out.

I've been thinking about your little leo...and can't think of anything else that might help you. As long as the little guy isn't really sick, at least one of my suggestions above should help. I hope he kicks this.

Well...I gave him some Lime gatorade to soak in...It's the only clear stuff, don't want him to get dyed! He's sorta basking in it and every once in a while he laps some up. How long do you think I should keep him in there?

20-30 minutes once or twice a day should do the trick. It depends on how dehydrated he appears to be. You don't want to leave him in so long that he gets too cold though...so you have to keep an eye on him and go with your best judgement.

One thing I've learned with pciky eaters is that usually turkey baby food works wonders. All my leos that have finky eaters love it.
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1 male HY(Winky), 1 Tang female(Sunshine), and 1 Tremper Albino female(Serenity)

Thanks so much for the baby food idea! I'll try it out right away. Do you feed it cold or warm??