Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have 2 leopard geckos. they are juviniles. i had them for about a week and they dont seem very active or anything. i cant tell if they are eating or drinking or not... thats my main concern. can anybody help me out? can it be b/c the tank isnt warm enough. i dont know. please help me!!

thanks
steve

Well they could be just stressed out right now from the change of enviroment. But if you want to tell if they are eating put like 10 mealworms in a food dish and the next day check to see how many there are. To tell if they drink usually there tongue will b a dark red if they are hydrated if they arn't then it whille b a very lite pink to white. They may need to just settle down.

Well it could just be my batch of juvs. But I find they will not eat if there in a regular tupperwear container witha bunch of crickets. I only ever get them to eat when they are in a setup full of hiding spots and stuff.

Also only give them 10 minutes to eat if they don't eat everything in ten minutes take the crickets out. I highly recommend leaving like 20 mealwroms in a dish in there tank at all times.

It could be the temperatures, what are your temps? At the warm end and at the cool end (belly level)?

Its also possible that you aren't seeing them eat because they are nocturnal. Try feeding around your dinner time. As stated above, do NOT leave a bunch of crickets in with them all the time. The leos will get stressed and not even see the crickets as food. Drop a few in (count them) and take them out an hour later. If they're hungry they should eat within a few minutes.

Good luck, and good move trying to get this figured out now before it gets serious!

>>i have 2 leopard geckos. they are juviniles. i had them for about a week and they dont seem very active or anything. i cant tell if they are eating or drinking or not... thats my main concern. can anybody help me out? can it be b/c the tank isnt warm enough. i dont know. please help me!!
>>
>>thanks
>>steve
-----
Andrea A.

do you count how much food you put in and how many are gone the next morning? you can monitor your leos intake by doing that... if they're in the same tank and you're still concerned, try observing them during part of the night during feeding time over the weekend. if you can't do that, try feeding in separate tanks and monitoring the number of food items you put in and the number of food items are left the next day. with the water, you'll see them licking up during the night, but if you never catch that - if their urate comes out nice and solid, then they drink

make sure you have an under tank heater because they need the belly heat for digestion. also make sure the tanks are 86F - 88F during the day and 80F - 82F during the night. the under tank heater is a must though

good luck with your leos! take care

[aimee]
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)