my aunt and uncle recently died and one of their sons (13) gave me his leopard gecko, as they were moving to RI now i know a little from what he told me, ive had him for a couple days now. i replaced his heater (his old one was broken) and put a dozen medium sized crickets in his tank. hes been mainly hiding in his little cave and i only see him out if i catch him out on the warm rock over the heater when i walk in the room . he doesent appear to be eating and i think his tail is a little thinner (i know what that means) i think this is all just because hes hetting used to the move (hes in the same tank, just now at my place) he doesent appear to be ill or anything.
so what im asking is
- Is he not eating because hes in shock?
-If so, how long will this last?
- To get him used to me, should i leave him alone or pick him up every once in a while?
- I have seen people feed leos out of there hands. Ive never seen this in this gecko (nor have i seen him eat ever) should he be eating out of hands? Is that normal behaivor? Also is it better to feed him a couple by hand, or just release a bunch in his tank and replace them every week??
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
please answer all questions as i want to take good care of little axel
thank you in advance
here let me help you out:
temperature and heating - depending on where you live they should be in room temperature. but it should be a little bit hotter than that. well i live in chicago so room temp i about 74 - 78. but you need a heat mat on one side . this will make it a few degrees hotter. at night the temperature can drop, but you still need to have the heat mat on. just buy a cheap temperature just to make sure it doesnt go over 79 degress
food and feeding-leopard geckos eat crickets, mealworms ... etc. they tell you they should eat alive, but some prefer dead. it all depends on your gecko. just try out some more food options until it seems he likes one.
feeding: once he/she warms up to you ... put a littl ebut of food right in front of him. direct him to the food and add a littl ebit more everytime you feed him. same with water. put a drop of ater on his nose nad he will lick it. get him closer and closer ot the water dish and soon he/she will know where to eat and drink
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com subtrate - dont use anything that your gecko can swallow. use a repti carpet liner becuase they are cheap, and easy to clean. takes about 5 minutes and you dont have 2 keep buying them. but dont waste 6 dollars on that if you dont want to. paper towel or newpaper is completely fine.
tank and setup-it should be 15 or 20 gallon. needs to have a water dish and a food dish. dont go all out and spend all your money on dishes if you dont want 2. a gatorade cap or a small lid will be perfect . just have fresh, cold and clean water every day. have 2 hides on the cold side and the hot side of the tank. these can be bought or made easily. just make sure they wont tip over. Add climing toys so he/she has something to do, and so he can get some excercise
handling - if he is not eating, he is uncomfortable and not settled. make sure he is in good health before you try to handle him. wait and support him until he seems healthy and then give handling a try. pick him up slowly and only hold him for no more than 10 minutes. if he is fine with it then put him back in his tank .. after a couple of days, hold him for about 2 minutes longer ... then when he knows you well enough, he will let you hold him for hours.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com so hope i helped out ... just do a little bit more research and you will be the best !!!!
There are many reasons why he might not be eating; stress can be one and also it's normal if they don 't eat as much around the time they shed. If he doesn't start eating in a few more days I'd start researching impaction and parasites and take him to a vet. If he's on sand, walnut shells, gravel, or any other kind of substrate that he can swallow then it's most likely an impaction.
Just put your hand in the tank and let your gecko get familiar with you for a week or two before trying to pick it up. After he starts walking over your hand comfortably you can try to pick it up. Some leopard geckos just never like being handled though so keep that in mind.
People hand feeding their leos is more for the enjoyment of the owner unless your leopard gecko is sick. It's up to you if you want to do it or not on a normal basis, but since he's sick right now it's worth a try. Don ' t leave crickets in the tank for more than a few hours because they'll start nibbling on your gecko causing him to get stressed out and have even less of a desire to eat. If the leopard gecko is over a year old then just put a few in every other day and take the ones he didn't eat out after a couple hours (if he's under a year old then do this every day). If you want to keep a constant food source available then you can leave a bowl of gut loaded meal worms in there for a day or two.
- He is probably just getting used to the new environment. He may be in the same cage, but if he can see out of it he can tell things are different.
