Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a leopard gecko (my first lizard ever, named Hannah) a couple weeks ago from a pet store, and she seems to be doing fantastic - aside from the fact that she is not eating as much as I feel she should be (based on her slightly showing rib cage and the 3-4 care sheets I've read).
I put food into her tank every night at around 11 (unless there are still crickets in there with her), and sometimes I'll watch her eat. It seems that when I don't, she REFUSES to eat. The routines I've tried are:
- Put in food (4 crickets, as the care sheet says), sit VERY still and watch. This sometimes works, and she'll eat one cricket, maybe two, then go lay down again.
- Put in food, leave. This NEVER works, as I'll always find 4 crickets in the morning. This seems strange to me, as I've always thought that it would be less stressful to the animal to have them eat food alone. Apparently not...?
- Put in food, help her find food, watch. This works sometimes. Sometimes she'll eat; sometimes she won't.

She has ample hiding spots and the heating is perfect (about 87-93 F in the basking spot, 85F elsewhere in the tank), a humidity box is provided (only she never uses it?) so I don't think its any of that, either.

The weirdest thing is that when I first got her she ate the four crickets I offered RIGHT away. Now it seems like she's barely eating at all. So I wondered: maybe its the crickets in the tank stressing her out? They always stay in the humidity box I have in there, though, so I don't think so (and I have some food for them too, so they stay living and healthy). Or maybe she doesn't need to eat so much? I think that maybe she ate so much the first night that perhaps she was really hungry - she was kept with three other LGs at the pet store, so maybe they took all the food that was offered, and when she got here, WHOA there's food, so she ate, and now she's just not in need of the offered crickets so much?

So what I'm here for is to find out if anybody has any suggestions for me, like to tell me to take out the crickets or something?

What is the night temp at? They do need a cooling cycle. Do you have clean water too, have you seen any drinking?

How much tail fat does it have? If it is rail thin you should take action immediately.

Definatly take the crickets out, they can stress a young leo and you shouldn't leave any overnight if it is stressed.

If it is a juvi then it should be eating around 4-5 dusted prey items EVERY night.

Depending on the level of tail fat it has you should: 1) take all the crickets out for one day and then try feeding that night 2) talk to the store and see if you can return 3) take it to a reptile vet to check for parasites or other illnesses.

Care sheets are a good place to start, but check out a book, my favorite is the leopard gecko manual, to get a lot more information about prey item care, enclosure setup, signs of illness, ect. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Night temps are just about 70-75F.
I have seen her drinking both the dew in her humidity box and from the water bowl, and I clean the water daily.
Tail isn't rail thin but its not thick, either. Its not quite the width of her body but just about at the thickest point.
I'll take out the crickets tonight, too.
I'm gut-loading and dusting the crickets, as well. I'm keeping them in a tupperware container with bits of potato and carrots. No water, because they're getting hydrated from the carrots and it keeps them from drowning (and I've already found a few dead 'kets in her water, which I immediately changed).
I'm loathe to take her back due to the fact that she seems healthy enough (based on my limited knowledge...lol), just stressed. AND the fact that she is GORGEOUS. Really brightly colored yellow with no spots on the legs. AMAZING. That and Leos are pretty cheap...so if I lose her, I'll be sad, but it won't be terrible to my pocket. I'm pretty attached to her already, too, so that's another factor. If I had multiple leos I'd for sure try to take her back for fear of parasites/disease, BUT...I don't have multiple leos.
At any rate, I'm going to look at taking her into the vet for sure, especially if taking these crickets out doesn't help her feeding.
Thanks for your help!

So I took the crickets out of her tank last night and put 4 back in. She ate one right away, but refused to touch anything else. :-/

I would also recommend feeding her a few wax worms once or twice a week if you are worried about her weight. Wax worms are high in fat, so they should only be fed sparingly. I use them in larger amounts with my females who will be breeding, when they are gravid and after they lay their clutch. All other geckos are fed crickets and mealworms each day, being dusted every two feedings and wax worms twice a week, only one or two depending on weight. I would also try mealworms. I have one leo who refuses to eat crickets. She wants nothing do with them. She is fed mealworms everyday, dusted every two feedings, and gets wax worms every couple of days. I also recommend the Leopard Gecko Manual. It is a good starter book. You should be able to pick it up for about 10 bucks, maybe a little less. Good luck, keep us updated. You can email me with any questions or problems you have. Take care, good luck.

Laura
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~Laura

Rejoice, the age of the fall has begun
We'll dance as the palaces burn.
--Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn

What type of enclosure do you have her in? Sometimes they get extremely stressed from being in a glass aquarium. If she is in glass you can try and cover 3 sides with construction paper or newspaper (from the outside) and then every week take off one side until they are all gone. This may give her time to adjust. Keep in mind your house is new from the pet store as well and the sights and sounds are different. She may just be scared. I would also try mealworms, my geckos love those more than crickets. The wax worms will fatten her up, but don't give her too many she could get addicted and refuse other food. I would say 1-2 twice a week at most for her along with her other feeders. Sorry this is so long, hope I could be of some help.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

Thanks for the help. I'll try that, too.

Good news! Hannah ate 4 crickets tonight! I'm not sure exactly WHAT is different, aside from the fact that the crickets were a little bit smaller this time. THAT should probably have been my first guess...but for some reason I didn't think of it. Weird. I mean, I was going to put up the three-sides, but she didn't really seem nervous, so I just tried feeding her the smallest cricket I could first(intending to shelter her if food was refused this time, and this is kind of off subject but I bought 12 crickets and a week and a half later I have 20...always nice to have food that reproduces itself .
At any rate, she's eating now. We'll see if this good behavior continues tomorrow, and I'll probably make a stop at a pet store for wax worms tomorrow to fatten her up (not too many, though). Thanks for all the help!!