Two month old not eating

[TheCrazyFishLady]

So, I'm getting worried since he is so young. I got him from a breeder that I have previously gotten my two leos from. He has all of his animals eating mealworms from tongs and told me he was having no issues feeding this little guy. I fed him the second night of having him (which was the fourteenth of this month) and he readily ate three small mealworms. He was eating steadily until last Sunday (the twenty first) where he was taking no interest. I assumed he just needed a day off from eating, so I didn't worry. But, he hasn't eaten since Sunday. I tried feeding him today. He at least looked at it, but made no motions towards biting the worm. He is 7g now, so I'm kind of worried about how long he can go without eating. I have an UTH that keeps the cave he mostly stays in around the lower 90s. He has lots of hiding places, but he chooses to dig burrows in the substrate in that cave. He did come out to get water last night.

I may be just over thinking things, but I haven't had a gecko this young before, so I am uneasy. Any help would be great and if I left out any other info, feel free to ask.

Thanks!

 

[EverEvolvingExotics]

There are many breeders that have success feeding mealworms but I feel that Fat Tails respond really well to fast moving prey and they seem to ambush their prey instead of stalking, at least in my experience. If you can't get your little one to feed try using some small roaches or crickets, that might engage it's prey drive.

These are just my experiences hopefully others will throw in some ideas as well. Good luck!

 

[geckobabies]

There could be a lot of things going on to cause this problem. Stress from a new move at such a small age could be your problem. It might also be going into shed. It could be parasites or change in ambient temps inside the cage. All those factors impact small fat tails.. the older they are the more stable they are.

I've bought fat tails before that haven't touched mealies or crix for weeks until they settled in. If yours was eating well then just stopped, at that age my guess would be it's going into a shed, the ambient temps have dropped, some change has caused it a lot of stress, or possibly parasite buildup from any of the above.

I agree with Lee, feeding it a cricket it can hunt might spark back an appetite. My first option however would be to check for a shed and monitor your ambient temps to make sure that hasn't changed.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Oh, he shed on Saturday night. Would that affect him to not eat for awhile? When I fed him Saturday night, he ate three worms, no problem. I attempted to feed him again tonight and he had no interest. I tried a cricket, but he didn't even care for it, so I took it out. Hopefully he picks up eating soon and this won't turn into weeks. How long can he go without eating before it becomes something that I should truely be concerned for?

 

[geckobabies]

No, shedding out would not cause your gecko not to eat for almost a week. It has to be something else. They can go a few weeks without eating without much problem when they are bigger, but at that size it would not be great. My hatchlings do at times decide not to eat for awhile at what seems to be random events.

At this point, I would suggest leaving it alone for at least 3 days and not disturb it. It could still be stress from the move at that size. You trying to feed it may be causing stress, they are very shy at times. Since it's only been a week I would not worry to much.

Have you tried leaving the mealworms in there without the tong feeding? Have you checked the ambient temps?

Hoping something helps soon!