Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all-
My son and I purchased a Leopard Gecko just about one month ago from a pet store. He has maintained his size though he doesnt look anywhere near as fat in the tail as others I've seen here. I've asked before so we have the under tank heater, the heat lamp, humid hide on the warm side which gets upto around 87. The heat lamp turns off at 10pm and back on at 9am, but the main concern is that I dont think its eaten more than 10 food items in 4 weeks. He seems active and normal...just wont eat. Any help please???
Thanks Tim

Sounds like your husbandry is good. Any problem with it's feces, if it's producing any? What substrate is it on? If it's on papertowels, was it on sand at the store? Could be an impaction. Is it's belly full of black or blue color? Is it drinking excessively?
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0.3.0 leos, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
0.0.5 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton & Olivia Newton John
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena

lets see there are some feces in the same corner...very little white to them if any. The substrate is the crushed Dino-clay that they recommended however at the petstore they had crushed nut shells of some kind. It has always had a darker spot on it's belly, which I assumed were organs. I have seen it snap at a cricket once, but never caught it. Somebody recommmended baby food, so I do place a tiny amount on its snout and it will lick it off. I has hoping this would encourage eating real food but nothing. Thanks for the assistance....any more??

The white stuff is urates..make sure he has a clean source of water. Take him off ..dino clay.. or whatever and put him on paper towels or newspaper for now. The crushed nut shells were probably walnut shells. Very very bad stuff. Are you gutloading the crickets and the mealworms?
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Hi

Questions: What do you use on the bottom of your tank for a substrate? also how offten is he feed?.

TLB

The Dino-sand....." proven safe for all reptiles 100% safe....from river clay...." well you get the picture what the bag said. I'll be lineing the cage with paper towel after posting. I tried feeding him crickets, roughly 3 a day after a week of being in the new tank. left them in as people suggested. A carrot for them to eat..and nothing. He took lots of interest if the were placed in the humid hide with him, but nothing. The mealworms are dusted in a dish and left in....upto 5 at a time....carrots as well for them. I've been lurking and reading the posts on this site, trying to take info from any relavent posts, so the more infor the better THanks.

Hi

What size crickets are you trying?.

TLB

They were smaller ones from the store...they picked them out

Hi

First- stop listening to the pet store. Most dont care about the animals, just the money they make. If you have any questions, ask them here =)

Second- i agree to take him off the clay. A blue spot under the stomache of the leo is normal (organs, veins) but it shouldnt be very dark, or clumped in one spot (sign of impaction)

One reason it might not eat is because theyre body and metabolism slows down in the winter. Keep continuing to feed it mealworms, crickets, babyfood, etc and it should come along slowly. If it doesnt come along, consider taking it to the vet.

Good luck,

M.N

If the spot under his belly is very dark it could either be a sign of impaction or a serious parasite infection. Unfortunately, a good number of pet stores have leos with parasites... I'd get a fecal done to be sure.

Erica

4.10 leos
1.0 mali uro
1.1 bearded dragons
1.0 savannah monitor
1.0 day gecko
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa
1.0 corn snake