Why isn't my leopard gecko eating?

He hasn't eaten I'n about a week. He is very skinny and he spends most of the time sleeping or basking I'n his heat light. He still drinks normally but he hasn't popped or shed I'n about a week I am very worried about him and btw he is 3 years old

 

First things first, welcome to the forums. :]
That doesn't sound fun. Could you give us some information about your setup?

1. What substrate are you using?:​

2. What sized enclosure do you have your leo in?​

3. What are your warm side temperatures?
4. How are the temperatures measured?
5. What are you using as your heat source?
6. Do you have any method of regulating the temperatures?
7. How many hides do you have for your leo? What are they?
8. What food have you offered?
9. How often do you offer food?
10. Are you supplementing the food? If so, with what and how often?
11. How old is your leo?
12. How long have you had your leo?
13. Give a little detail about the behaviour of the Leo also.​

 

Again, welcome to reptile rooms!

I'm sorry to hear your gecko isnt eating. Hopefully we can help to figure out what is going on with him. It would be very helpful if you could try to answer the questions posted by Rowan. Many times geckos will stop eating because something is a little off, and by answering the questions we can hopefully figure it out. Also, pictures of the gecko and the geckos tank are also very helpful.

Around this time of year many reptiles will experience hunger strikes with their animals as nature starts the winter cool down. You may just be experiencing this, which is nothing to be worried about, but we still want to rule out any other possibilities. Has your gecko been relatively active or lethargic (sleeping all the time, not as responsive when you go up to the tank or put your hand in the tank). The last time he did go to the bathroom was it runny or smelly? Are you using sand for the flooring in the tank? As much information you can provide us would be very helpful in figuring out the problem and helping him get back to tip-top shape.

 

1. I'm just using orange calcium sand
2. Its a medium sized one the width is about two feet long and the length is 1 foot long
3. I dont have a thermonetor
4.^
5. A UV light, a heat rock, and a heat light
6.no
7. im not sure what you mean by that
8. crickets
9. about once every two weeks
10. no
11.3
12. 2 1/2 years
13. All he ever does is sleep and lays on his heat rock, or on top of his log- house and basks in the heat light. he isnt responsive while walking up to the tank but is when i stick my hand in the cage. he still drinks normally and sometimes is just as active as he normally is but that only happens about once or twice a day. he now usually has droopy eyes and is like half asleep about 95% of the time. He has not made a bm in a while either. This has been going on for about a week and a half now.

 

1. Ditch that. Calcium sand is one of the absolute worst substrates on the market; worse than plain sand, because your leopard gecko will eat it on purpose. It is NOT digestible, as anyone on here will tell you. On top of that, leopard geckos can develop respiratory issues from inhaling it and dye can stain their skin. Replace it with paper towel as soon as possible. You can remove that and put in non-adhesive shelf liner, reptile carpet, or ceramic tile, all great safe substrates. This may be the source of your problem (impaction).

2. Sounds good. A twenty gallon long (20gL)?

3. Get some, or a temp gun. Temperature is one of the most important things to get right when keeping any reptile. And not those crappy stick-on thermometers, you're going to want some digital thermometers with probes. The probe is the important part; leopard geckos rely mostly on belly heat to digest food and maintain internal body temperature. You can purchase these at your local hardware store for roughly $6, or from a pet store for about $11, and you will need two of them (one on the warm side, one on the cool side). A temperature gun can be used too, and you can get one for $30+ (though for a good one you'll be spending around $50; but you can use these for all your reptiles and to take both warm and cool side temps, so if you have multiple geckos then it's a good investment). For all you know, you could be roasting your gecko alive.

4. See above. Ideal temperature range is 85-94 degrees.

5. You don't need the UVB light, they're nocturnal and wouldn't get much sunlight in the wild anyway. Actually, they're sensitive to light, so having one can even be counter-productive. A heat lamp isn't doing you much good, as they rely on ground temperature, not air (ambient) temperature to maintain internal temperatures. I recommend an under tank heater (UTH) or a heat pad. These should be the length of about a third to a half of your tank, to achieve a thermal gradient (cool and warm side). As for heat rocks, please take the time to read through this thread: http://www.reptileboards.com/threads/heat-rocks.64390/#post-508094

6. I recommend getting a thermostat or rheostat (dimmer switch); that way if your heat source is too warm, you can turn down the heat (or likewise, if it's too cold, you can raise the temperature just as easily).

7. Hiding spaces; logs he can hide under, or caves. You should have one on the warm side, one on the cool side, and a humid hide in the middle.

8. Great. I'm assuming that you gut-load them (feed them commercial cricket food or chunks of fruit and vegetable).

9. Afgoufgabn Once every two weeks? Dude, this is the reason he's skinny. You feed leopard geckos every other day, at the least. Preferably every day.

10. From our own care guide:

11. ~
12. ~
13. ~

 

Can we get some pics? Especially of his underside?

 

here are some pics i just took

 

Not showing up. ]: Could you upload a file instead?

 

You can upload the pictures to a website such as photobucket.com or something similar. Then there should be a link below the photo that you can copy and paste directly into your post so we can see the images. That should fix the problem.

As for your gecko, there are a few things you may want to change to help him start feeling better. The first thing is probably the Calci-Sand. Calci-Sand is marketed as an acceptable substrate for geckos and many pet stores will recommend it, so it is actually a very common mistake. It actually turns out to be a poor substrate because the geckos will eat a large amount when eating their food and this can cause impaction if they eat too much. So I would switch the sand out for paper towels as soon as possible, and then you can look at nicer looking options such as tile, shelf liner, or repti-carpet.

Another thing would be to increase the feeding schedule to every other day. Honestly, you can offer food anytime of the day and see what happens. You may even find that he prefers to eat at a certain time of the day. You can also try different feeders and that might help stimulate his appetite.

Lastly, it is important to buy some kind of thermometer. Reptiles are very picky about the tank temperatures, so even if it is only off a few degrees they can stop eating. So definitely buy a thermometer with a probe and check the temperatures. They are not that expensive either, only about 10 dollars. One side of the tank should be around 93 and the other side should be about 80.

Hopefully this helps.

 

http://sn122w.snt122.mail.live.com/...1|0|0|7|5&maxwidth=220&maxheight=160&size=Att

 

does this work?

 

I need to sign in. Here; save the images to your computer, and click upload a file (next to post reply).
Meanwhile, have you had a chance to take out the calci-sand yet?

 

here i can see that it looks redder in some places

 

Oh, wow. He's skeletal. You're calcium sand wouldn't be red, would it?

 

Its a reddish-orange color

 

Yeah, he's probably impacted. I don't know much about this, so maybe someone who does could chime in? Anyways, have you switched it out with paper towel yet?

 

I agree, it is probably the sand that is changing the color on the geckos belly. I would get rid of that as soon as possible. It is really important that you do that. Just change to paper towels for now until you can get a better substrate. And as I mentioned before, start feeding every other day and buy a thermometer to check the temperatures. Temperature is the most common reason for a gecko to stop eating. Without the proper temperatures he won't be able to digest his food which will cause him to loss his appetite. Those three things are very important because the poor thing has got to start eating again. He is looking very thin.

From the picture he doesn't necessarily look impacted, but that could just be the picture. If you lightly touch his belly, are there any hard spots? If he has not been eating then it would make sense that he has not gone to the bathroom. You could try giving him a warm bath (not hot) for about 15 minutes. Make sure the water stays warm, you may need to change it out during the bath. Fill it up to his belly and keep an eye on him when he is in the bath. Hopefully that will help get him to go to the bathroom. Another thing to try is to put one drop of mineral oil (you can buy this at a pharmacy or supermarket) on his lips for him to lick up. This helps to coat his insides and also makes it easier to go to the bathroom.

I really hope he starts feeling better!

 

The sand is gone. Theres paper towel in now. i have cut away a corner of the paper towel for the heat rock, but i was wondering if it was afe to have a heat light from above over the paper towel. i will touch is belly right now and i plan on giving him a warm bath tomorrow

 

Excellent job on the sand! And let us know how his belly feel. When my gecko was impacted, it felt like she had a round ball in her belly, and you could see the outline of it when you look at her from the top.

One thing about the heat rocks though, is they are known to malfunction very easily and overheat, which can cause serious burns to the belly of the gecko. I don't think that this has happened to your gecko, but it is something you want to think about for the future. This could also be the reason he is not eating. If there is only one place to get warm (the heat rock) and he is hanging out in his hide a lot, then he would not be getting the proper temps on his belly to digest food. You will want to buy a under tank heater (UTH) and switch out the heat rock for that. This way, he can get the proper temperature anywhere on the hot side of the tank and he will be able to digest food.

Yes it is safe to have a heat lamp with paper towel as the substrate. I would actually be more worried about the heat rock than the light. You know, this is just a crazy idea, but if you have an extra thermometer used for people when they are sick, you might be able to stick that in the tank and see what comes up. This might give you a general idea of the air temps, but it also might not work, I'm not sure. Just an idea.

 

So how is this little guy doing? Any update?