Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A week ago I purchased two leopard geckos at a reptile show. I've been feeding them mealworms, dusting them with vitamins and calcium alternating. One is a very healthy eater, if I take a mealworm out of the food dish and place it in front of her she will almost always eat it. The other one, however, seems to be a lot more timid and I personally have only seen her eat about 4 mealworms for the week I've had her. She paces and walks fairly fast when I wake them up to try and get her to eat. I have tried many times to get her to eat and she doesn't even seem to see the worms are there. The mealworms I leave in the food dish are being eaten, but I have no way of knowing how many each are eating. There are always leftovers, so I don't think the healthy eater is just devouring everything she can at the expense of the other. They both seem to get along, I haven't seen any aggression. I'm starting to notice a difference in their sizes, although only a slight one. They both also seem to be pooping, there are always two new poops when I check their tank each morning.

Any ideas on how to entice her into eating more would be very much appreciated.

If they're both pooing and they both seem to be at a healthy weight, I wouldn't worry much yet. It is possible that the other one is eating, but is just much more shy about it than the other. Sometimes it can take a new gecko quite a few days to adjust to the new tank so it may not be eating, but that usually passes. It seems that it is going to the bathroom though so that may not be the case.

I have one baby now that is quite the little piggy. The other one is slightly smaller, but I notice her sneaking mealworms at night when she thinks I'm not looking.

Do you have any way to weigh them, so you can keep track if she is losing weight? I would become more concerned if that is the case.
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-Kristin

0.2.2 Leopard Geckos
(Kumquat, Tamale, Jujube, and Nougat)

One thing that concerns me is your statement, "I wake them up to feed them"... you should feed them on their schedule, we tend to feed 10pm or later. The one gecko may not be a "morning" person.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Well, as I said in my original post, I'm leaving food out for them overnight so they are doing most if not all of their eating at night. It's more that when I'm doing tank maintenance and while they're awake I try to see if she'll eat anything. I've stopped this for the time being.

She's not getting any thinner and her tail looks fat so I'm not really worried about it any more. I'm more concered about the other eating too much for her own good right now.

Also, thanks for the advice, Kristin.

Omally,
Please update us on these geckos.
Is the second one eating now?

The best solution for a situation like this is to separate the two geckos so you can more easily monitor their progress.
Rubbermaid/Sterilit containers are very cheap. Poke some holes and you are all set with a temporary enclosure (add dishes, hides, and heat). Move the first one into this container as it is the one eating.

You want to have the opportunity to manage the feeder insects going into the cage and the poop deposited so you know if both of them are eating and defecating.

My first thought is that the second leo is being intimidated by the first.
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