Mediterranean gecko won’t eat

[Nrnrnr]

We need help with a Mediterranean gecko. It’s a juvenile we caught it yesterday l. so far we’ve offered him meal worms and he has not eaten yet. We don’t have a heating pad yet and hoping to get a heater tomorrow a fish tank heater that we will rig up to go under the tank.

If you have any idea why he is not eating please let us know. We can’t figure it out.

 

[acpart]

There are several possible reasons:
--if the temperatures in the enclosure are below the id 70's, the gecko may be cold. This is an arboreal gecko and it doesn't need a heating pad on the bottom of the tank. If you put a heat light on the top, it will be warmest up near the light and cooler lower down so the gecko can choose where to be depending on how hot/cool it wants to be

--some geckos don't really eat mealworms. An arboreal gecko might enjoy chasing down crickets more, so it's worth a try

-- it's most likely that the gecko is just freaked out by the new environment. It's not unusual for a gecko in a new place not to eat for days or a few weeks. Keep offering but don't let a huge number of feeders accumulate in the ennclosure

--there's always the possibility that the gecko is not in the best health which is why you may have been able to catch it. I'm not saying it's sick, just trying to cover all the basics

Google "Mediterranean gecko care" and read some care sheets.

Aliza

 

[Nrnrnr]

Thank you so much for your detailed response! It is really helpful. We have two mealworms right now in the enclosure, do you think that’s too much?

we can’t afford at the moment to get a heat lamp because they are expensive where we live in Israel but someone is giving me an aquarium heater and I’m going to see how that works for him and hopefully we can get one part of the tank up to 85 degrees or so. If not, we’ll try to find some other solution.

I don’t know if he’s sick or not. But he is very active and was able to run up my arm yesterday when I put my hand inside.

 

[acpart]

You don't need an official heat lamp. Just a regular dome light that can sit on top of the cage. If you have a Do It Yourself store, I imagine they would be less expensive (though I don't know for sure). Often items that are expensive at a reptile store are much cheaper at a store that's not for reptiles.

Aliza

 

[mrgrimm]

I'm having a similar with my crested gecko, I got him 3-30-23 from petco he real small maybe a hatchling, I had him or her in a 20 gallon hexagon enclosure then I switch it to a medium size critter keeper and it's still not eating

 

[acpart]

Are you seeing any droppings at all? Sometimes it seems as if they aren't eating but they are eating small amounts.

Aliza