Hi, My leopard gecko, Lightning, has not eaten in about 4 days now. I try to feed him meal worms and crickets and he won't touch either. The only thing he will eat are wax worms but I know the are not suppose to be a part of the main diet. I have 2 geckos (Thunder and Lightning) in a 20 gallon tank with a screen lid. They have 3 hides, one of them humid. They have an under tank heater, a cool side and a hot side, and a thermometer. The cool side is about 78 degrees and the warm side is about 88. They also have an overhead lamp. He uses reptile carpet as his substrate and has a water dish that I change every day. I feed them meal worms usually dusted/gutloaded with calcium and vitamins and D3. They also have 2 water bottle caps of calcium in their tank at all times (Lightning has still been licking the calcium). Neither of them will eat crickets either. Since I have 2 geckos, I am not sure if he has been pooping. I find poop about every other day but I never usually find more than one nugget at a time. I am afraid he might be impacted? I have checked his underside for any signs but everything looks normal. The other day though, one of the poos was a lime green color. Other than that, he looks and seems healthy. He is active and lively and I cannot see anything on his body that looks like there is something wrong. He is a big guy and has a big fat tail and while I think it looks skinnier (my boyfriend tells me I am crazy) it is still pretty fat. Can anyone give me any advice? I don't want him to go hungry .
Hello, and welcome to the Reptile Boards : ) I'm sorry one of your geckos is not eating, hopefully we can sort it all out and get him eating again. Your husbandry sounds very good, and it sounds like you take great care of them. I have a few suggestions that may help you out. The first thing is that the warm side of the tank could be a little warmer, about 93 degrees. The warmer temperature helps leopard geckos digest their food and is also helpful when they aren't feeling well, so it might help to get Lighting eating again. Another possible problem is that Thunder may be bullying Lightning a little bit (very cute names by the way!). This is very common when you have two leopard geckos in the same tank, especially with adults. It is usually suggested that leopard geckos are housed separately to avoid bullying behavior. You may not even notice this behavior with them, but one gecko will show dominance to the other and prevent them from eating as much. You could try feeding them separately, either in or out of the tank which may help. But if this does not seem to work, you may be forced to separate them. Occasionally two female gecko can be housed together, but only if these issues do not occur. Have you checked the sex of the geckos? If you search on Google Images for "leopard gecko sexing", there are a variety of pictures that will help you figure this out. If you have a male and a female, or two males, they need to be separated. Two males will eventually physically fight, and it can get ugly. And I'm sure you can imaging what a headache a pregnant female would be. The last thing I was thinking was related to the greenish stool you saw. This makes me think that one could have some sort of digestion issue or possibly parasites. If you only saw it once then you might not have to worry unless you see it again. If so, you will want to separate them to figure out who is having an issue and you may want to find a vet to figure out what is going on. So, after that long winded response, lol. You can try bumping up the temperature then feed them both separately to see if Lightning will eat. If he/she still does not eat for another week or so, or starts to lose weight, then you want to separate them until you can figure out what is going on. I'm sorry that was such a long response, I tend to ramble. Keep us updated!
I have turned up the heat in their room, the thermometer says its just above 90 now so hopefully that helps. I have sexed my geckos. Lightning is a boy and Thunder is a girl so I think bullying is probably unlikely. Also, Lightning is quite a bit bigger than her but anything is possible. I found 2 separate poos today so I am pretty sure they are both pooping and the coloring seems okay. One was definitely much smaller than usual though. Despite this, he still seems uninterested in food. I have tried feeding him separately and letting him eat on his own time but the worms just crawl under the carpet and die. He will eat the wax worms though but obviously they arent enough to keep him healthy. Should I feed him the wax worms so he has something? Or should I just hold out on him until he buckles down an eats?
How old is each gecko? Only reason I ask; breeding will occur between a male and female and I want to ensure that the female is of appropriate age and weight to breed and produce eggs without complications. You'll want to have a lay box of some kind as well for when laying time comes around. Four days without food isn't a huge concern yet, especially for older animals. If he is otherwise behaving normally and no weight loss is noted then he is probably okay - and it will best to hold off until he starts feeding on something else. The waxworms will actually be counterproductive in feeding efforts, as they will give him large energy stores via fat metabolism and taste much better than anything else... some species of reptile and individuals are notoriously picky and will wait out for their favorite food items when they know will be fed daily. If you begin to notice any changes in behavior...lethargy, weight loss, excessive hiding and sleeping, or continued discoloration in stool I would separate them. I would also separate if you do not intend to breed them, and the male will need to be separated from the female for several months of the year to allow recovery (usually throughout winter). If any of these signs develop consider taking stool samples to the vet to have them examined for parasitic infections of the GI just in case (you don't need to schedule and appointment, fecals are generally quite cheap).
bullying is just as likely regarless if one is a girl or if they are both girls. leos are solitary animals in the wild and you are forcing them both into a 20gal. if you want to house 2 females together its still not prefered but can be done with a 40gal and 2 of everything so they never have to share or be near each other if they dont want to. but since one is a boy i would seperate them as soon as you can since he will overbreed the female long term. if he is eating waxworms though then he may just be being a picky gecko and is bored of the normal food. try some different feeders and wait him out a bit
I got Lightning to eat! Basically, I had to put a meal worm right next to a wax worm and when he went for the wax worm, I moved it and he ate the meal worm. I got him to eat 5 using this method. I am thinking i must have spoiled his appetite with the wax worms. Does any one have any advice to deal with this? On the breeding issue, both geckos are 2 years old and have grown up together. Is there any way to keep them from breeding besides separating them? I dont want any baby geckos running around . Thanks for all your help!
Good to hear! = ) He is probably just being picky because he knows food will come daily; at 2yrs of age adult leopard geckos really only need to be fed in the ballpark of 3x a week. Some offer food daily, but their metabolism slows down substantially while they are not growing. Because he knows food will come frequently, and he has accustomed himself to the variety you provide, he is probably just holding out a few days in hopes that the tasty treats will come ; ) I had a similar problem with my bearded dragon. At one point he would only consume silkworms and completely ignored all other feeders; even getting to the point where if they were not hand delivered to him he would refuse to touch them or hunt them down. Spoiled brat. Continue to keep an eye on your leos though - while this is a likely problem just keep an eye on them both and make sure no behavioral changes or weight loss, etc as covered earlier ensues just in case. You can keep trying the method you just used to get Lightning to eat, but perhaps start limiting feedings to every other day or so so that he gets just a little hungrier as well to help your cause. And finally - there is no way to prevent them to breed, but in all honestly I'm very surprised they haven't given it a go yet. Sometimes reptiles kept together for long periods of time lose the drive and almost need to mix it up, or have something to encourage a breeding response (new female, separation for a bit, temp changes, etc). Thats not to say they will not breed ever just because they haven't yet; male and female will breed with certainty at some point, its really just a matter of when. If you'd like, you could take photos of the vent area of each and we can confirm the sexes for you. Females are significantly more prominant in the trade than males. There are also other factors that can contribute to the fact they haven't bred, such as incubation sex determination failing (ie. 'hot' females).
i think all you need is a bit of tough love and wait him out. leos can be picky little things when they want to be lol and not really a way you can stop them from breeding other than to seperate them. if you had a larger tank you could put in a devider. just seperate them when you are able to have another tank set up. if you do end up with eggs before then you can freeze them and that kills them before they have a chance to grow or hatch in the trash
Thanks for all your help! He was just being a spoiled gecko. Ill post some pictures tomorrow and you guys can double check my sexing.
Your gecko may be impacted with seminal plugs. Look up hemipenis impactions to see what they look like. The tell-tale sign is it looks like there's a little bit of poop sticking out of the cloaca, but it's really the top of the plugs. Put some vaseline or oil in the dirty area and massage the base of each lump between her legs, one side at a time, and use your thumb or other hand to open up the area that looks dirty. If the plugs don't pop out, use a paper towel and wipe upward while pressing at the base. Don't be afraid to be firm. Takes about 5 mins.
