fat tail help, not eating, weird poop

wgparks

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i have had my fat tail about 3 months now, his name is don Juan Matus (Juan for short) named after the shaman Carlos castaneda wrote about. and he usually ate about 6 crickets a day which was about the beginning of october and now for the last week and a half he hasn't been eating nearly as many, i offer two crickets a day (1 morning, 1 night) but usually he eats like 1 every couple days. i leave one in there throughout the day with a piece of food for the cricket so it doesn't bother my gecko.
I dust the crickets with reptivite each feeding, i keep the tank humidity between 70-80 at all times. he has a UT heater with a cave over it that keeps temps between 80-85 and a cool side of the cage never drops below 70 and he has a tree cave to sleep in with moss. i use coconut substrate in the tank, except for where the heater is, i have repticarpet there. he is in a 20 G long aquarium. i mist daily. he is also on a LED light that is on 12 hours off 12 hours. i clean up whenever he poops, which is about every 2 days

I have no clue how old he is honestly, i figure he is not yet fully grown/filled out. but he weighs about 46 grams-51 when he was eating nicely. and last time i measured him he was about 7 inches long nose to tip of the tail, so if anyone could help me determine how old he is or link me to a measurement:age chart or something that would be awesome :)

I have read that geckos slow down eating when it starts getting cold, which here in Texas, its been a getting pretty chilly and cooling down so i am hoping this is the only reason, he seems normal, moves fine, eyes look good, poops isn't as big but its still well formed.and he spends a lot of time sleeping.

I'm hoping this is just normal, but i am just making sure there is nothing seriously wrong with him. also is there anything better i could feed to him? possibly to make him grow as big as possible? a special diet/feeding schedule i should put him on? i have a constant supply of crickets because i breed my own.

EDIT: his poop has been weird the past few times (pooping every other day to every 2 days) its not as large and it seems to have some mucus in it and today it has white and yellow in it. though the poop is still well formed it worries me because it used to be a lot larger.


this is from today with the white and yellow in it, quarter for size comparison
 

wgparks

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hmmm i tried to put a link to an image i took of the weird poop...but it didn't show up
 

LZRDGRL

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Maybe he senses that it's getting colder and wants to start brumation? I would just continue feeding as usual. Seems like you're doing everything right. When it's colder, they eat a bit less.

His weight sounds very good! I wouldn't worry about the poop; only when it gets liquid.

Also, I don't think you need to dust with vitamins EVERY day. Maybe 2-3 times a week? I dust with calcium / have calcium in a lid available every day, but I don't supply that much vitamin powder.

Apart from that, your husbandry sounds excellent :main_thumbsup: I wish I cleaned up poop as soon as I see it :D

Chrissy
 

wgparks

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i have been trying to get him to eat more, i put some crickets without back or front legs in a small bowl by his favorite hide over night, he ate one, so im happy with that. i heard you can feed turkey baby food to them? is this true? if it is how much
 

Imperial Geckos

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i have been trying to get him to eat more, i put some crickets without back or front legs in a small bowl by his favorite hide over night, he ate one, so im happy with that. i heard you can feed turkey baby food to them? is this true? if it is how much

You are getting WAY TOO ahead of yourself here.

What you said before is very true...Fat tail breeding season has just started. And your gecko is just starting to go into it's normal cycle.

Continue offering food, every other day and monitor its weight and fecal matter. Believe it or not, offering food everyday to a reptile that is not eating stresses them out.

Also you can try maybe boosting his night time temps, but I pretty sure they feel the difference in atmospheric pressure. But its worth a shot...

Ohhh I forgot to mention, DO NOT feed him baby food! If this becomes a problem take him to a vet to get a fecal test. He can then tell you what the problem is, and get him on the proper meds. BUT, I doubt (hope) you don't need to take him, it sounds like he is just ready to breed, and this is normal Fat Tail behaviour.

Hope this helps!

Good luck! :main_thumbsup:
 

wgparks

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so is the yellow in the poop normal? its pretty recent that its been showing up, just a hard little yellow thing, looks like clumpbed up powder that went through, looks like the white i see in there from the dusting, but its only been yellow recently
 

Imperial Geckos

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so is the yellow in the poop normal? its pretty recent that its been showing up, just a hard little yellow thing, looks like clumpbed up powder that went through, looks like the white i see in there from the dusting, but its only been yellow recently

That would be urates. If its yellow, maybe your gecko is a bit dehydrated.
 

wgparks

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how would i ensure he gets rehydrated then? i offer a bowl of clean water at all times in his cage at all times that i change out every 1-2 days, could it be that he's not drinking from this bowl or something?
 

LZRDGRL

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Yes, that might be. Is the bowl too high, by chance? Do you mist the cage? If you do, he can also lick up some water droplets :main_yes:

Chrissy
 

wgparks

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no i just got one of those basic corner bowls from petco and I know he knows its there he's walked through it plenty of times, i do mist the cage a few times a day though, should i setup a drop system type thing so that water drips down from a straw or something into the water bowl? maybe he'll think its a vine and drip from it?
 

Imperial Geckos

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no i just got one of those basic corner bowls from petco and I know he knows its there he's walked through it plenty of times, i do mist the cage a few times a day though, should i setup a drop system type thing so that water drips down from a straw or something into the water bowl? maybe he'll think its a vine and drip from it?

I said MAYBE it might be a bit dehydrated. If it has water available at all times then it should be okay.

How is it doing? Has it eaten? If you are worried just take it to a vet. If not...all I can recommend, is to offer food every 2-3 days...supply with fresh water as always, monitor its weight and fecal matter....Its Fat Tail breeding season, going off feed is something normal that happens.
 

wgparks

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he finally ate some phoenix worms last night, only a few but its something so that makes me happy
 

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