Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After I posted the picture of Corwin, I followed everyones advice and stopped the "cricket paste" mix and have been offering live food for about 2 weeks now. No luck. Corwin will not eat! I was told by a friend of the family that had snakes, and has skinks that when snakes and lizards do this that they will not refuse food long enough to die. The size of her tail has definitly decreased. I just want to make sure that she wont starve herself to death or even get sick from doing this.

Corwin, I remember you saying that you talked to a vet about the problems you are having, but I was wondering if you have had her checked out by one. Have you had a fecal done? It may very well be parasites causing this problem. I am by no means trying to say that you are being irresponsible, I just want to make sure you've done everything you could for her. I'm no expert, I've got 3 fat tails and have only had them for about a year now. It just seems really odd that she hasn't eaten yet. I wish there were more I could do to help. Good luck and keep us informed.

Quig

When I first got mine, he didn't eat for 3 and a half weeks! So it may not be a big deal, but since it has been so long I would ABSOLUTELY get her seen by a vet. Good luck!!!!

I sent you a PM about what I did to get a female eating that sounded just like yours.

hi! thanks i got your email! i responded but it got sent back to me. i was just wondering how the mineral oil worked. the other day she ate a freeze dried cricket that had been soaked in the electolyte/cricket paste substance. that was exciting. maybe we'll be moving on to live crickets soon! the mineral oil sounds interesting though...

Hi, I might have used an email that I no longer use when I registered a long time ago.

Anyway, since I was basically only a couple days away from likely death and I did start keeping animals back when a lot of stuff was do it yourself I figured I might as well try.

My rational for a mineral oil laxative was that if she did have parasites the oil might interfere with various exchanges (such as "eating","breathing". Additionally, it might help with an impactation or gut inflamation since it would be a lubricant that won't brake down inside the body. (This could also be a bad thing, but it was a calculated risk.)

Funny thing is an X-ray showed nothing and a fecal came back negative. Still she ate the next night after giving the oil.

In about a week she is still basically skin and bones except she has a little bit more meat on her and her tail is still small, but it's plumped out again. It's remarkable what eating 6 crickets a night for a week can do.

Please try Macia's slurry (Golden Gate Geckos). She created a miraculous recipe that I swear by. It includes a jar of baby squash, a can of Hill's a/d food, milk thistle, ensure (not chocolate), mealworms and supplements. A few drops fed via syringe will build him back up until he eats on his own.
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