Hatchling won't eat.

[Kingofdeath]

So like the name of the thread i have a 9 day old baby leo who doesn't eat by himself. His brother eats fine. I don't think he knows a mealworm is food ( if thats possible). I have to grab a mealworm poke it with a needle untill juices come out grab him and rub the juices on his mouth untill he eats it. Today was the third day of doing that and he eats 3-6 of them fine.

Is there anything i can do to make him eat on his own?

 

[acpart]

Here are 2 choices:

--see if you can get him to take a mealworm by holding him gently and poking a mealworm at the side of his mouth. Usually this makes the hatchling open its mouth and maybe he'll bite the mealworm. Hold the mealworm so only about 1/4" or 1/8" of it is sticking out from your finger. The only problem with this method is that many of the babies I've tried it on start to think that mealworms come from my fingers and then get dependent on me for feeding

--this is harder to do: keep providing the mealworms, maybe even having a few crawling on the floor of the cage. Just give him time to figure it out on his own. It can be worrisome but this way he won't become dependent on you. I have found from experience that even hatchlings can go quite awhile without eating, though this is not desirable.

Good luck,

Aliza

 

[Kingofdeath]

I have tryed the first method already and he doesn't seem to eat it. So i will try the second. But i might wait a bit untill he grows more. Thanks for the help.

 

[Kingofdeath]

Anyone else got anything i can do to make him realize a mealworm is food?

 

[Zynx_Keekeio]

Yeah still no luck with mine but were only on day 2 after shedding

 

[snowgyre]

I've noticed that with some baby geckos, the yolk sac retains a lot of fluid even after the nutrients have been absorbed. I think this fools the young gecko into thinking it doesn't have to eat, either that or the internalized yolk sac presses against the digestive tract and suppresses appetite.

Flip the gecko over. If there's a large clear area in the abdomen below the lungs (where the guts are), then this is what your gecko is suffering from. It may take up to a month for the gecko to actually absorb the sac, and until then feeding is going to be a chore.

I generally have one baby a year with this. I hand feed them until their little bodies realize they don't have yolk in the yolk sac anymore, and after that they start feeding on their own.