Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Those of you with allot of experience keeping leopard geckos, what is your experience with the change of seasons and your gecko’s appetite? Do you notice a difference at all, if so how much?

Currently my tank temperature has dropped from about 93 at night to 87. I have two tanks, one tank housing two females, one tank housing one male. The male still eats regularly, but the females don't. They each ate a couple of mealworms last Friday and have yet to eat anything since. I just put in a couple of crickets and to my surprise, nothing happened. I also keep a constant supply of mealworms in their tank that they seem to have completely lost interest in. Over the past month or so they also seem to have lost a little bit of weight (very little, maybe two/three grams total), mostly from their tails. They are still relatively active.

I'm panicking, should I be? I'm going out of town for a couple of nights and I was planning on leaving them here. Now I'm considering taking them with me and going to a vet (there are no herp vets where I'm living, but there are herp vets where I'm going) Is it really worth the stress to them and me? It will be a three hour drive with the roads being so bad, plus it's -20 to -30 out. I will also have to pack them in with my two large monsters (dogs) and my bird. This is not an easy task when the monsters, if given the chance, would eat both the geckos and the bird.

Thanks for any info,
Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
1.0 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas

Hi lisa, i really wouldnt worry about it.it is coming to the time where i think a lot of people are thinking about brumating there leos especially me I dont know if u are going to breed your leos or not but i wouldnt worry myself too much about it and it definately does not need a trip to the vet! Thats my 2 cents any way.Ne 1 want to expand on this???Gilbery007

I just got my leo like 3 weeks ago, and he was about 6-7 monthes old at the time. The first week he ate a ton of crix, but then all of a sudden he stopped eating, and I started freaking out, but I'm fairly certain it is just the weather. He ate 6 crix the other night, the first good meal in probably about a week or longer. He has been staying more on the cool side though and not pooping or using energy as much, and that's why he isn't eating a lot. It's all about how they manage their energy. A lot of people I have heard from say that they're reptiles don't naturally go into brumation. I would think it has a lot to do with where you live too though. I live in upstate new york where the winters are very harsh, so my reptiles tend to go into a winter shutdown mode....my beardie hasn't eaten or purposely shown his face in probably a month now. I take him out now and then to make sure he's fine. When he's out he'll usually perk up for a minute and then fall asleep in the corner. My mali uro on the other hand hasn't shown any signs of slowing down.

Whew I'm so glad I'm not the only one with this problem.

Thanks again, and have a very merry christmas,

Lisa
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0.1 Hypo Leopard Gecko
0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
1.0 Blizzard Leopard Gecko
1.0 Albino Pacman Frog
1.0 Lovebird (Tony)
1.0 Elkhound Cross (Otto)
0.1 Malamute Cross (Paris)
6.0 Bettas