Hi, I bought a fat tail about 2 weeks ago. Her tail was thin when I bought her and she has refused to eat for me since I have gotten her. I took her to the vet a couple of days ago where they were able to hand feed her 2 crickets. They said that I had the temperatures and cage set up correctly and that she just seemed to like to be hand fed. She hasnt eaten a cricket from me since. So within two weeks she has had two crickets. Considering her tail was thin when I bought her I dont know how well she ate before. If I try crickets without holding them in tweezers she just runs from them. She hissed at a mealworm I tried to give her, and refuses to eat wax worms. Because she has refused to take anything on her own tonight I reluctantly tried to force feed her. She turned her head right away from a cricket, and locked her jaws as well for a waxworm. I did not want to stress her out too much, or hurt her as I am not very familiar with how to properly restrain a lizard. She is my first reptile. I've done lots of research online as well as talking to vets and "reptile specialists" in pet stores. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to anything! Thanks!
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Fat Tail Refuses To Eat
Replies (8)
Get a syringe. Mix up some Pedia lite (or an equivalent that’s made for reptiles) with small sprinkle of vitamins (reptile type) a sprinkle of calcium powder (reptile type) a sprinkle of bee pollen (Vitamin store) Mix it up in a small shot glass (or that size). Put little drops between its nasal holes on top of its nose, it will lick it off. Best to hold it in your hand while doing this. Small drops, one at a time. Don’t drown it! You can also try “Jump Start” or something like it, found in pet stores. Put a small dab on a toothpick and touch its lips with it. You can also water it down a little with the pedia lit mixture to get a small little gooey plop to rest between its nasal holes to lick off.
Patience is what you need! Don’t try to stuff it, it will only get sick.
I have done this many times with non-eating fat tails and have had it work all but once. I start my babies out this way also, if they don’t eat within 3 or so days after their first shed.
I picked up a skinny AFT a few weeks ago, it wouldn’t eat. What I described worked for me to get something in its stomach. I then fed it smaller crickets, real small ones. It has gained 2 grams in the last couple weeks. So try smaller food for a bit.
Try keeping the enclosure covered so it can’t see out for a week or so, until it settles in.
Do you know what the previous owner was feeding it?
How old is it?
Any idea of its weight?
What are the temps in its enclosure? Does it have a place to hide?
thanks so much for getting back to me! i really appreciate it. i actually got Corwin (thats her name) from PetSmart. probably not the best idea, but I talked to their reptile specialist and she really seemed to know what she was talking about. anyway, I was going to try covering her tank for a little while but then she started to get comfortable moving all around (well as much as a lazy lizard does) so I thought maybe it wasnt neccessary but i will try it. So the day time temp on the cool side is about 75 degrees, while the warm side is 87 degrees. I have an under the tank heater that keeps the substrate at about 78 degrees. At night the cool side drops to about 70 and the warm side to about 80 degrees. At the cool end she has what we call her "cave" and at the warm end a humidity "hut". She has leaves (non toxic) that she likes to hide amongst when she is out basking. I dont know how much she weighs but the vet seemed to think she was young (and still healthy and well hydrated). I'd say she is about 6 inches long. Pet smart was feeding her crickets but I dont really think she ate much during her time there considering her thin tail and liking to be hand fed. Any improvements or does everything sound good? Thanks again!
Put both hides on same end. Pull all substrate for a while. Put in paper towel. That way you can easily see if it poops and it in now way will get impacted right now. Id also covers it. They are nocturnal so you shouldn’t see it moving around much during the daylight hours.
Use a small flashlight and put it against its back to see if there are dark spots in its intestines, were it might be impacted. Did they have it in sand at the store?
Did your vet ever give it a fecal exam. This is the first thing he/she should have done. I agree that pedialyte helps, but there is obviously some reason for her not eating. I've noticed that some of my fattails slow or even stop eating when they want to brumate. Maybe she is just not willing to eat with someone watching. In her mind, you are a possible predator. Count out like 3-5 crix, place them in the cage and leave. Check to see if any are missing in the morning. Is she pooping? If she's pooping then she's eating something.
She has pooped only 2 times in the time I have had her (2 weeks). I tried leaving her alone to eat but she doesnt eat then either. The vet was able to hand feed her 2 crickets, and they thought it was just that she likes to be hand fed. I was told that this isnt unusual and some fattails are hand fed all the time. Nonetheless she refuses to take anything from me. I am trying jumpstart now and hopefully it will work. Otherwise her habits are normal- sleepy and lazy during the day...and out of her hides at night. And the vet says shes well hydrated and has good color...now if she would only eat :/
Hey, got my fattie from petsmart too, same thing happened. Vet said he looked good, temps in terrarium were perfect, etc. etc. You can read my posts to this forum concerning my fat tail not eating, they'll be dated Nov. 2004. Took mine almost a month to eat, so as long as he's staying hydrated and doesn't start losing a lot of weight (might want to purchase a scale), I wouldn't worry too much yet. Hope the jumpstart will work for you.
Hi, im glad to hear that yours ate after a month. Maybe she just needs time and I'll definitly take a look at your posts. But I just found out something very interesting and I was wondering if this could be the reason shes not eating. She just started to shed today! I worked at a zoo over the summer, and by rule we were to leave snakes and lizards alone when they started to shed. I cant remember exactly, so please tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm not sure if they ate during this time. Also is there any proper care I should take while she is shedding. She has her humidity hut to help shed, as well as a rock.
Neither my gecko nor my snakes will eat for a good 3-4 days during their shedding period. Yours probably was stressed out from the move, so didn't eat, then needed to shed - so didn't eat. I'd try to feed her after she's shed completely. No special care really during a shed just avoid handling her and make sure that the humid hide stays really humid! A good way to tell if your temps/humidity are at prime levels is a one day or one night shed. My fattie (and my garter snake) turns really grayish/silvery one day, then by the next morning he has shed and is all bright and new. Geckos will eat their shed so don't worry if you don't ever actually see the skin come off. In my gecko's terrarium, the ambient humidity is between 30 and 40%, and around 80% in the humid hide - not hard to do since I live in the south...also makes it easy to keep temps between 82* and 92* in the day! I've found that my fattie won't eat unless night time temps stay between 80* and 88*. So, you might want to by a ceramic heat emitter or clamp lamp (use a red bulb at night, they can't see red) at one end of the tank combined with your undertank heater to get the temps up a little more, it may help - I use a UT heater and 75 watt bulb during the day, and then switch the 75 watt bulb out with a 50 watt red bulb at night, and us the UT heater at night too. Also, since you said you worked at a zoo, if you still live near a zoo I'd ask the zoo who they use as a herp vet, I've found that is the best way to make sure you're going to see a vet who really is well qualified, it's easier than trying to find one on your own. PS - I really like Family Zoo's AFT care sheet, might want to check it out, I put a link at the bottom. Let me know how it goes!! ~ Erin
AFT care sheet
