I've been noticing some odd behaviour with my 5 month old gecko, Edward. I'll begin with the setup (please excuse me if my thought process seems kind of scattered) I have him in a 10 gallon tank with paper towels (not sure what he was on before), a hide on both hot and cool sides plus a moist hide, a calicium dish, a mealworm dish that is always filled, and a water dish. I have an UTH and a little over head light with an 25w night bulb (was a 15w, which I changed out right before the wierd behaviour started). Well the beginning of this week, around the 24th it started to get cold (well not so bad cold since I live in California), but it finally started to rain. Anyway that weekend I was gone for a couple of days and left him with mealworms, which he ate. So far he's been a great feeder, he's a pig is what he is. Anyway I got the 25w bulb on tues, since its starting to get cold. I put that in, then weds he starts acting "wierd". Mainly what he does is when I would go to feed him at night, he wouldn't be out staring at me to feed him, or sometimes he would. But what he does do when he notices me when I put the crickets in his tank he has no interest in the crickets instead he paces and looks for a way out of his tank. What he does is climbs all over everything, stares up and tries and climbs the walls. And when I put my hand in the tank he is more than eager to get onto my hand so he can get out. He's done this before in the past, but was never this obssessed before. He ate one cricket on Weds and has repeated this behaviour everyday so far. He hasn't eaten anything since weds, even tho I've offered it to him. Of course when I am not near the tank his behaviour is normal, but he still won't eat. So I tried putting his tank back to the same position it was at, tho that hadn't bothered him before. I also tried leaving him with the mealworms and not being in the same room with him until midnight, but he still won't eat. I haven't tried yet putting the old bulb back in.
Now questions:
1. Might this behaviour have anything to do with the weather getting cold? My snake does the same thing during the winter, tho he usually refuses to eat starting late Dec. but does try to escape now heh
2. If this is just a nature thing, how long can he go without food? I'm used to the snake being ok for a while without food, but this gecko eats a lot more often than the snake. The gecko is of a good weight. But with him being a bit young is it ok for him to not eat for however long?
3. Could this restless behaviour be warning signs of something more serious, that I should take him to the vet? Which I have a feeling I might have to. Can anyone recomend a good reptile vet in the Sacramento area?
4. Does there look to be anything wrong with my setup? the UTH is set at the right temp but maybe the air needs to be a little bit warmer?
hmmm I think thats it.
