Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My gecko, Snoopy, hasn't been SEEN eating lately. She hasn't appeared to lose weight so I don't know if I should be alarmed, but she stopped eating the 2 pinkies a week I give her and today ate one, then regurgitated it. She's about 2 1/2 years old and i've had her for about 2 years. I was thinking it's b/c of the cold weather? She just doesn't seem as interested in her food at all anymore.

Hi- I have to ask-Why would you be feeding a Leopard Gecko pinkies twice per week in the first place?
I am not trying to sound harsh but in all my experience with leos and in reading many forums-I believe this to be excessive feeding of this prey item.
Adult Leopard geckos can and will thrive on a diet of meal worms- super worms- crickets-roaches and occasional waxies and some breeders do feed their gravid females pinkies.
There have been recent studies done feeding Bearded Dragons pinkies (I know that this is not a Leo) with results showing that the pinkies are not completely digested and over a long period of time this can lead to impaction and even death.
With gut loading your insects and adding sufficient calcium to your Leos diet pinkies do not need to be fed.
I am not sure if it is the limited amount of space and therefore a limited amount of activity versus being in the wild but it seems that feeding pinkies and mice is only detrimental to the health of the smaller species of lizards that are commonly kept.
With regurgitation being an issue here I would take your Leo to a qualified reptile vet asap and stop offering her pinkies.
I hope that everything works out for her
Good Luck
LadyGecko

Thankyou for the feedback. I will definitely take it into consideration. I started feeding her pinkies about 3 months ago to make up for the lack of crickets she ate b/c that seemed to be the only thing that got her excited enough to come out. I guess she knows better than I and that's why she probably stopped eating them. Thankyou. Do you think it would be alright to offer tiny ones as a treat maybe once a month?

I would only do it once a month if she's breeding at the time. Actually, I don't feed any of my leos pinkies, but if you wanted to that would be the only time I'd consider it. Stick with crickets, mealworms, or roaches as a staple. Also give her about two days to recover from the regurg before offering food again.
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Brian Skibinski
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com
www.MilwaukeeReptiles.com
Leopard Gecko Care Sheet