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I'm helping to take care of my son's 3yo leopard gecko. He works full time third shift, and just started going to tech school 4 days a week. I've been feeding Rainbow a dozen mealworms every other day. She also gets about 12-15 crickets a week. All her food is gut-loaded. Her water is changed at least once daily, or as soon as I notice she's pooped in it.

Other factors, so y'all can best help: she's in an 12" by 24" aquarium (don't know gallons) with paper towels as a substrate, two hides, one at each end, a bowl of calci-sand and her water dish. We keep a 50w red night-time bulb on 24/7 at one end of the tank and use a human heating pad at the same end in the winter. Right now the warm end is around 85*, that's where she seems to spend most of her time.

We've had reptiles (corn snakes, box turtles, other "visiting" snakes & turtles) for over 10 years so we do have some experience.

I HATE to waste food and it makes me nervous when our pets don't eat, makes me feel like something is wrong. I just noticed that she is shedding, she hasn't been out of her hide as much as usual. Do leos shed in hiding? How long does it take? When our 11yo corn snake is in shed, we don't even attempt to feed him his f/t rat until he's done. Should I keep trying to get the leo to eat?

I'm not used to taking care of leopard geckos so would appreciate any help or guidance. Son is so busy he's losing weight (no time to eat!), and he tried to find her a good home before starting tech school but it fell through. Rainbow will be pampered and taken good care of to the best of my ability, but I need to know more than I do right now.

Thanks for reading!

>>I'm helping to take care of my son's 3yo leopard gecko. He works full time third shift, and just started going to tech school 4 days a week. I've been feeding Rainbow a dozen mealworms every other day. She also gets about 12-15 crickets a week. All her food is gut-loaded. Her water is changed at least once daily, or as soon as I notice she's pooped in it.
>>
>>Other factors, so y'all can best help: she's in an 12" by 24" aquarium (don't know gallons) with paper towels as a substrate, two hides, one at each end, a bowl of calci-sand and her water dish. We keep a 50w red night-time bulb on 24/7 at one end of the tank and use a human heating pad at the same end in the winter. Right now the warm end is around 85*, that's where she seems to spend most of her time.
>>
>>We've had reptiles (corn snakes, box turtles, other "visiting" snakes & turtles) for over 10 years so we do have some experience.
>>
>>I HATE to waste food and it makes me nervous when our pets don't eat, makes me feel like something is wrong. I just noticed that she is shedding, she hasn't been out of her hide as much as usual. Do leos shed in hiding? How long does it take? When our 11yo corn snake is in shed, we don't even attempt to feed him his f/t rat until he's done. Should I keep trying to get the leo to eat?
>>
>>I'm not used to taking care of leopard geckos so would appreciate any help or guidance. Son is so busy he's losing weight (no time to eat!), and he tried to find her a good home before starting tech school but it fell through. Rainbow will be pampered and taken good care of to the best of my ability, but I need to know more than I do right now.
>>
>>Thanks for reading!
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Josh
My Email

It looks like you're doing great so far. I agree with the other post in raising the temperature. Shedding has never affected the appetite of any of my geckos.

OK, I'll move the bulb closer to the lid, and see if that raises it to 90* on that end of the tank, though it's been this same arrangement since we got her three years ago. My son just never mentioned before that she didn't eat when she was shedding, and I wanted to be sure I'm doing everything right.

Thanks!!

It's possible that she's just full already. Some people only feed their geckos every 2 or 3 days.

are you using that as the leos source of calcium.. if you are please stop..there are better ways to suppliment like using a powder... calci-sand isn't easily digested and can cause impactions...so its no good if the leo is eating that for calcium.. i would just put in a dish of the calcuim you use to dust crickets... if i read wrong sorry for the post.. and and btw my leo gets fed everyday but i have noticed some days she just doesn't want to eat.. probably nothing to worry about....

Yes, sorry, I've been recently re-reading up on leos and got mixed up. Son keeps a small bowl of calcium supplement in her cage, and dusts the crickets & mealworms 2x a week with the powder.

Before my then-16yo son got her at the Hamburg show 3 years ago, I made him do a lot of research! I'm not just the MOM, I'm also an ex-librarian. LOL! So we did do the research, it's just that I haven't been taking care of her until the last 2 weeks so I had forgotten some things.

Thanks, everyone. I really, REALLY appreciate the help!

Like Josh06 said, raise the temp of the warm side. Some geckos eat up until they shed, others don't. I have 2 that don't eat the day before they shed and it's always been that way. The others(3) eat up until they start shedding. As for everything else, your other conditions seem to be just fine. If you like, i usually mist the moist hide to make it easier for the gecko to shed. And i usually give the warm side a misting when i know they're going to shed. Anyway, good luck!
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GeckoFire-Dale
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