Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My AFT still isn't eating and I brought him home almost 2 weeks ago. Over the last week his skin has gotten very dull like he's about to shed and he's been spending all his time in the humid hide, but no shed has happened. Other than not eating, he seems to be in perfect health. I have a veterinarian appointment with someone from Zoo Atlanta on Saturday and was wondering if any of you have had geckos with problems similar to this before and what was the treatment? My husband is a firefighter and I'm doing a sr. year internship at college, so we're tight on money and trying to anticipate costs. Thanks!
Erin

In my experience with AFT's they are very easy to strss and send on a hunger strike. A Vet check is definately a good thing to have done. Be sure temps and humidity levels are correct and there is adequate hiding places. One thing I found with AFT's was they seemed to not do as well(hunger strike) if their tank is set in a area there maybe high traffic, lights turned on and off alot, etc. I cover the back and two sides on AFT tanks to give lots of privacy. It's the time of year when they could be slowing down on their eating caused by cooling temps and shorter days. The vet would be a great first step to be sure of no underlying problem. I've seen mine go for more than two weeks not eating with no apparent reason, not loose much weight only to begin eating like a pig again. Hope all turns out well.
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My posts and replies are my experiences only
1.2.15 Tokays
1.4.10 Leos(13 albino)
1.2.0 AFT's(amel male)
0.2.0 Stenodactylus Petrii(Dune Geckos)

He stays in the office with little traffic, two sides and the back covered as well (with the terrarium background picture paper), I'll try covering the front just in case he wants more privacy. He has two hides (one on the cool end and one on the hot end) and a humid hide that stays at 80 percent humidity. The rest of the terrarium stays at 40-50 percent humidity. Temps range from 85-90 day and 78-83 at night. Since I seem to be taking care of him correctly, I was mostly worried that he's impacted - the pet store had him on sand. I hope he's okay and if he has a problem I hope it's easily fixed!!

sounds like your set up is good, hope the vet don't find anything though and you have to medicate. Hopefully it just taken it's time settling in after being moved and put in a new home.
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My posts and replies are my experiences only
1.2.15 Tokays
1.4.10 Leos(13 albino)
1.2.0 AFT's(amel male)
0.2.0 Stenodactylus Petrii(Dune Geckos)

ur setup sounds fine.....i don't think there's any need to cover the front of the viv along with the other 3 sides tho. mine go on hunger type strikes this time of year too.....it's a combination of cool down & season change.....they're very picky, but they seem to do ok with it in the end.....maybe it's all that & he's a bit stressed on account of his new enclosure? Did he go from a very small one to a very big one (viv)? they do tend to stress very easily....I don't recall if you had told us if he was WC or CB either.....that makes a bit of a difference as well.
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2.0.0 Cresteds
1.1.0 Afican Fat Tail
1.1.0 Viper Tail
0.1.0 Oedura Castelnaui

He was CB. The enclosure's about the same size (10 gallon) but the one at the pet store had 2 other AFTs about his size in it (he's 6 inches or so), so this enclosre probably feels a lot bigger to him...and the pet store vivarium was really hot, at or about 100*F all around. So, he's a good 10 or 15 degrees cooler at his new home, I didn't think about that until you mentioned it. I bet he's just being picky, but despite financial concerns, I'd rather spend the money and know for sure. Makes me less nervous though to know that other people's AFTs do this type of thing and it's fairly normal for them to get stressed easily. Hopefully he'll just cost me the $35 exam fee!!

The expensive parts are the fecal and or blood tests. They run almost 100 bucks each where I live.

I agree with the above posts. Combination of new home and season change might be the only issue. I still have one on hunger strike from the season change.