Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well Katrina and Pixie are still not eating. Pixie hatched 6 days ago and hasn't shed yet and Katrina hatched 5 days ago and hasn't shed. one of them has pooped tho (I don't know which). neither are showing any signs of shedding soon. i thought they should have shed by now or should be soon, but like i said there are no signs of them shedding. katrina is very aggressive, when i put mealies down in front of her she lunges AT me, hissing and threatening to bite. she shows more interest in my fingers than in the mealies. the only good thing i think is that they both come out of their humid hide and explore at night (at least they know where their water bowl is). i am really really worried about them...how late can a shed come for a little hatchling...i expected them to be eating a little by now, and i am supposed to go away again this weekend.
also, Beanie is refusing food....i think she is gravid again. jeez.....no more breeding leos for me, its too nerveracking with Beanie being gravid continuously and the hatchlings not doing great....

cleo
1:3 leos (Phoenix, Beanie, Pixie, Katrina)
2 eggs cooking

Cleo,
What kind of set-up do you have them in? I use a minimalist approach when raising leos. I keep 3 hatchlings to a shoebox size sterilite. I use paper towel as a substrate, cut up paper towel tubes as hides. I don't use a humid hide or water dish for hatchlings. I lightly mist one side of the box in the morning and then mist again after feeding at night. I have never had a problem with this kind of set-up. I have one dish in the enclosure that is the feeding dish with a calcium and vit mix in the bottom. Here is what I do with non feeders and slow feeders. I put them in a bare deli cup container with one or two food items. I leave them over night and check in the morning if they fed. If not I repeat the process. This method is 99% effective for me. I know it sounds like it might be stressful on the little ones, but it works. Besides, your geckos need to eat very soon. I have found in the past if they don't eat for the first week, they can quickly spiral downward in health.
good luck,

-----
Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

they are in a 10 gallon tank with paper towels as a bedding and have 6 small hides, 2 of which are toilet paper rolls, the other three are hides made of paper cups, and one humid hide (which they seem to love). They have a food dish with miner-all in it and a shallow lid for a water dish. there is a UTH on a rheostat heating half the tank.
i will try your method later on tonight with Pixie....

Cool...let me know how it goes. As others have mentioned, sometimes crix will do the trick. I start them off on crix usually and switch them to mealies after a couple weeks.
good luck
-----
Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

Odds are they shed without you even knowing. As for food I don't even attempt to give my hatchlings anything for the first five days. Also, never had much luck with mealworms at a young age, try giving them some little crickets. The hissing and lunging is not out of the ordinary. To them your hand looks like a big predator, and they are simply trying to scare you off. Hang in there, they will calm down as they get bigger!
-----
Sam
Gecko Den
Email Me

I wouldn't get to worried yet. I never saw my hatchlings shed and they are a little over a month now and I still have yet to see them shed. Mine didn't eat till they were a week old and I started with mealies. I would just drop one right in front of them and once they saw them moving they went for them. Mine were afraid of the crickets I tried to give them the second week so I stuck to mealies and now they will eat both. Try to leave them alone and not bother them but when you try to feed them. Mine were afraid of me so they didn't like to try to eat untill they though I wasn't there. Good luck, I'm sure eveything will be ok just be patient.

Cleo,
Chances are they have already shed and you just did not notice. I don't catch only but a couple hatchlings ever shedding. I put mine in one of those sandwich sized glad containers with 3 or 4 small crix. I leave them in there for a couple hours or so unless they eat them quickly. It is easy for them to catch them in these and the crix jumping around gets them excited and makes them want to hunt. Usually mine really start eating well after they poop for the first time. The hissing and lunging is quite common they all do this they are in fear for their life. I also keep them in shoe boxes till they get a little bigger and get broke onto eating mealworms.
-----
Even if your on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there
22 leos,1.1 redtail boas,1.1 rainbow boas,1.1 cornsnakes, 1.0 tokay gecko,1.0 veiled cham, 5 dogs and a cat. Oh, can't forget Tater my parrolet.

If mealies not doing it for them, maybe try crickets. I use zoo-med's Can O' Crickets mini-size for my babies. I just put them in the cage overnight and by morning they're usually gone. Good luck, & I wouldn't worry about the shedding to much. They may have done it already.