Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can someone tell me how I should be feeding?

I put a bunch of hides in, problem is, they are in them too much to come out and eat! -_-

I am gonna have 2 dead leos if they don't start eating more

What is the temp in the cage... what is the sex of the leos... was one recently added to the other... have the recently shed... many people feed every night or every other night, however i just keep mealies in my cages all the time, but never more than 10 at a time... if you have the answers to these questions... i may have a few ideas, however, i am no expert. let me know!
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Matt
My Reps:
1.0.0 Brown (Bahaman) Anole
0.1.0 Green Anole
2.1.0 leopard geckos a Norm, an Abberrant, and my newest... a Blizzard!

ive got a few hides in my tank and what i do is just hold a mealie out in front of it to get her attention. if she doesnt do it then i take her out of the hide and see if shes interested. if not, i leave a few mealies in there and let her go back to hide. i do it every night and after about the first week, she realized when it is time to eat.

Seriously, You haven't had them more then a week. You need to leave them alone and let them get used to there new home. Sometimes it takes them awile before they get comfortable and when they do they will start to come out more. You may be stressing them out,leave them alone for a few days and let them relax.
You can also put a clear dish of mealies right in front of the hide so they see them and they may stick there head out and munch. But if you are messing with them too much they may be stressed out. Just give them a chance to get used to everything. They are hiding because they don't feel safe yet.
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Sara

Sorry... I just don't want them to die...

And I have yet to find a place that sells small clear dishes... Not to mention the mealworms just sit there unless the light is on, and they are nocturnal, so I would imagine them that it would throw them off.

They aren't going to die, a healthy leo can go quite awile without food. SOmetimes a smaller space can help too. I think you had quite a large tank with 3 or 4 geckos in it right?
Sometimes they eat better when on there own. Last year I kept 3 juvies in a 30 long divided into 3 parts with a larger heat pad heating half of two parts of it and a small heat pad heating half the 3rd. They each had a moist and a dry hide mealie dish in veiw of the opening of the hides and a water dish. They all did great and when they were all about 35-40 grams I took out the dividers and rearanged everything and they did fine. Sometimes when they are smaller and you are trying to put weight on them and get them into good eating habits it is best to keep them singley so you know what each one is eating and pooping and there is no compitition or stress from the others. You might want to try that.
Also if you want more active mealies make sure you gutload them and they have a moisture source. When mealies get dehydrated they will stop moving.
The best clear dishes I have found are the tops to little plastic deli cups here is a pic of what they look like.

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Sara

If the mealworms aren't moving around, give them some food to chew on (a piece of carrot, potato, apple, some vitamin powder). They'll move around to eat the stuff, and when your geckos see them they'll likely be interested. Just make sure you cut the carrot/apple/potato big enough so that your geckos don't eat it.

Also, don't put in more than 5-10 mealworms in the dish. This way you can keep track of how many are eaten and the big mass of mealworms doesn't scare your geckos (my gecko gets freaked out if he sees more than 10 mealworms in his dish).

Also there's a way to select mealworms. Don't pick the short ones with dark bands on them (they're underhydrated and are going to pupate soon). You want the long ones with white bands that look sorta like their segments are "fat" but are long (the segments look like their almost going to burst). I'll try to post a pic if you're unsure... But these mealworms move around a lot more and I think must taste better (my gecko seems to be a picky eater and always leaves the underhydrated/going to pupate soon ones).

Hey, your geckos are not going to die. Leos can go months without eating. Thats because they have fat and water stored in their tails. Even if their tails arent that fat. They still have storage in them. Now, if a gecko loses its tail, thats when they are prone to starvation. It would take a lot, and i mean a LOT, for a gecko to starve to death. You have nothing to worry about, except for overstressing them from trying to force food on them when they dont want it.

Ill leave them alone for a couple of days...

I take very good care of my mealies, they were shipped from a place that doesn't refridgerate and I keep them in a nice open aired space, and I give them a potatoe a day for moisture which they gobble up. But in the dish they just sit there unless I poke them, and they have vitamins in the dish.