Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Phoenix has now shed 2 times.

My brother's leo, Lil' Brudr, has now shed 1 time! And he is now also eating his waxworms like a good boy.

We've been giving Lil'Brudr waxworms because he doesn't like crix that much and they are helping us make him fat becuase he is soo tiny (they got him cause he is the runt, so now we're trying to "undo" what the leo's in the cage did to him by holding him back from the eating area, by trying to make him fat so he has an increased appetite).

Phoenix is a hardy eater. He'll finish a bowl of waxworms in a day and a half. Lil'Brudr has eaten a couple more times, we've figured since he's so small he'll eat about 2-3 waxworms at a time, about every 2 days.

Is there anything we can buy that will stimulate the little guy's appetite?

I know that bee pollen works for uromastyx (I've almost had to go out and buy some when I had my saharans because they wouldn't eat). But I'm not quite sure if there is anything on the market that stimulates leopard gecko appetites.
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2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
0.1.1 Leopard Gecko's-Kalypso & Phoenix
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps

(I would LOVE to see pics of your Uromastyx if you have any!!!)

Yay! Well at least the little guy's eating. TIME. He'll probably gain appetite with time -- out of my last new "donations", 2 took a week or 2 to destress and chill out to where they felt comfortable to eat.

You could try offering wax worms. I found mealies too daunting for some of my tiny runts. Wax worms have no hard chiton exterior like mealies cause they're moth larvaes. Small, really squishy, and can be kept in the fridge. Only problem is they don't wriggle as actively as mealies so some of mine won't eat them. Caution: wax worms can be addictive for leos.

I'd personally try tiny pinhead crickets (the miniscule, barely visible ones) instead of 2 or 4 weekers. For the rescues that were "scared" of crickets, I put the crickets in the freezer for a few minutes to slow them down. It really works.

Lastly, with crickets at least, I'd offer them every evening in a separate feeding container so they aren't running around the cage and stressing Lil' Brudr out. After a few days, hopefully he'll realize that feeding time is at a specific time and he better eat cause that's his one chance. They say prey should be "all they can eat in 15 min" but for my retarded hunters that had been off food for weeks to months, it sometimes took 30 min. to half an hour in the feed tank to relax and start hunting successfully.

One of my older rescues is very healthy but a bad hunter. His aim sucks and he's adorable but a complete tard! So its easier for him to catch prey in his feed tank. Otherwise they "hide" in his humid hide and under the water dish and he can't catch em.

I'm out of ideas so maybe someone else has some good ones. Good Luck!
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

There's also ESU Reptile "Jump Start". Its marketed as a Concentrated Caloric Supplement and Appetite Stimulant but I'm not sure how effective it is.
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Too many Leos
1.0 feline "Spot"
0.1 canine "Tika"

(I'll post the pics soon. I'm going to do updated photos of both uro's)

We have food readily available for the baby gecko's as well as my full grown one.

That way, if they didn't eat at feeding time and get hungry, they have food in there w/them.

All they have are wax worms, I'm afraid that if I give them meal worms that they might do internal damage to them.

So for now its wax worms and pinhead crix.

Lil'Brudr actually just shed the first time since my bro got him 2 days ago. Little cutie, colors are coming in nicely. Mine's shed 2 times now. He just shed yesterday, and it only took him like 10 minutes to get all the shed off himself, I think it's because he practically LIVES in his humid hide unless he's out hunting or using the "facilities".
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2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
0.1.1 Leopard Gecko's-Kalypso & Phoenix
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps