Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The scrawny little blizzard I am caring for is fattening up a bit... but there are a couple of odd things I've noticed about it. It eats the slurry ok, so it's getting what it needs from that, but I haven't been able to trigger any sort of feeding response. It runs away from pinhead crickets and ignores teensy tiny mealworms. If I strip a cricket's legs and wings and head off and manage to get it in it's mouth, it spits it back out. Same for the mealies.
Also, it stands by it's water bowl most of the time, taking drinks now and then. I did add a bit of pedialite to the water. It keeps it's eyes closed most of the time, but it does open them wide and act nice and feisty when I take it out to be fed, trying to back away and to escape. The closed eyes are probably nothing, it is almost transparent, so it's probably light sensitive.
There are no signs of parasites or impaction. (poo is normal, just soft from all the soft food) Fecal tests on what minuscule poo I could provide are ok.
Is it possible that there is a permanent problem with recognizing prey? The other hatchlings (from what I was told) were normal and not skeletal like this guy. Of course, I'll keep feeding him indefinitely by hand if that's what it takes, but I was curious if anyone else had heard of this problem in a hatchling before. Sort of a "failure to thrive" under normal conditions.
Here's a photo of the little alien at his favorite haunt:

I would try larger prey items. Pinheads a really small, I don't even feed those to 3 day old hatchlings. I would try small to med crickets and med to large mealworms. I start babies on that size mealies and have never had a problem.

When they are sick they tend to keep their eyes closed alot like that.
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Sarah H

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Thanks, I tried bigger prey items too, and that didn't trigger any response either. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't some sort of underlying liver or kidney problem... something TLC might not remedy

I'm glade to see him doing OK! Looks like he's going to make it after all! A word of advice! I think you should give him as much food as he will eat everyday since he is sick. He will need all the calories. Trust me! Anyway...great job!

over the years i had a few geckos in the same condition that i was rehabing i was using jump start calorie supplement for a while. the animals would fatten up then they thinned out again. The gecko sure does look alot better than it did im just worried about organ damage from the poor nutrition it has experienced. Good luck with it and i hope it wasnt too late for this little guy. It was a little hard on me when i tried rehabing and they appear fine but sometimes they just dont make it
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we're here because a hobby became an obsession... if only every one had this much fun

some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant...don't know who started this saying but it's the truth

He finally remembered that he was a predator and pounced! He gobbled it up. Maybe he'll make it after all!