Weird AFT

[cassicat4]

My AFT has developed a weird eating habit.

When I first got her about a month ago, I fed her by sectioning off a part of her tank and/or hide (tried a couple different methods) and dropping disabled crickets in, and she had no problems chasing them down and eating them. Unsure of how old she was (and how much to feed) I would offer her crickets daily, and she would eat around 10-15 of them.

Doing some reading, I found that I should only be feeding her every second day based on her likely age (7-8 months old).

I started offering her non-disabled food only every two days starting about a week ago. And she responded by completely ceasing eating. Wouldn't touch any crickets. Yet...

After a few days of her fast, I tried offering her crickets by hand. She readily ate every one! (12 in total).

Since then, she will only eat food that's proffered by hand. She will even book it across her tank to my hand just to get to the cricket, so it's not like she's suddenly become uber lazy. I even disabled her crickets again to make them nice and easy to catch on her own, but she refused.

What is up with that? Any idea why she became a princess?

To note - I've never offered her food by hand before. Once, when I'd only had her a couple days, she did snatch a cricket out of my hand that I was in the process of disabling, but that was the only time.

I would like her to eat on her own again so she's not dependent on me, but I'm unsure of what to try. I would also really hate to try and starve her out of it, especially since she's so young, and especially if these guys are known for being stubborn.

Any ideas?

 

[KTyne]

Maybe try tong feeding? Yes it's not much better than hand feeding but it's not a horrible thing that she is being a spoiled princess.
My AFT will hunt down his crickets wherever they are in the tank and I don't need to disable them at all. I think it's just a personality thing.
As for the eating every day thing, if they're acting hungry, feed them. I learned with my Leo that when she was younger she would eat every day and then once she got older I started feeding her every 2-3 days because she wasn't hungry and wouldn't eat every day. I just go by their appetite. I don't think you can over feed a growing Gecko.
Maybe if you want her to start hunting again put the crickets in her tank and leave the room for a few minutes?

 

[cassicat4]

Haha princess indeed...I already have one in my house (my water dragon) so I was hoping the rest of my critters could be somewhat self-sufficient to make up for it.

Mine was never a hunter per se...she needs them to wander fairly close to her before she'll go for them. Maybe it's a gender thing? My Leos are much the same way - my female needs them to come to her, whereas my male will stalk them all over his enclosure.

Yes, that makes sense. That's how I did it with my Leos too. What prompted me (other than reading) to switch my AFT to the every second day feeding was that she didn't seem hungry during her usual feeding day...only ate one and was done. Then the next day she ate a lot. So that's when I decided to only feed her every 2 days, because I was thinking that's her way of telling me she doesn't need daily sustenance. Now with her princessy attitude, it's hard to say if it's lack of hunger that's caused her to change up her eating style, or if it's a mood thing.

I normally do just drop crickets in when I see her out wandering, and I do leave the room. It was working for the longest time, until now. Nothing else seems to have changed with her - she's bright-eyed, active, curious, a good weight, a real sweetie - she just seems to have lost interest in hunting her bugs.

Is it possible since I stopped disabling the crickets that the "speedier" ones now stress her out since she can't eat them before they start climbing all over her? I did notice her waving her tail at them when they got too close...:main_huh:

 

[KTyne]

HmMm, maybe it IS a gender thing. Gaia, my Leo, won't hunt down Crickets and she is the clumsiest hunter EVER, lol. She'll strike at a Cricket 3 or 4 times before she gets it. My AFT I'm not sure of the gender yet though because I haven't been able to get a good look at his underside. Plus I'm not even sure he's old enough to sex yet.

Maybe the crickets DO stress her out being too fast? I know that with my AFT if the crickets touch him he'll jump, lol.

Have you double checked her temps and humidity and such? Maybe she's just slowing down with eating because it's winter.

I hope you can figure it out, it's definitely frustrating when they won't eat! My Leo has refused food for a week before and I was freaking out because I thought she was sick, lol. Turns out she was just stressed out because of my Cats and as soon as I moved her into a room where the cats couldn't go she started eating again.

 

[acpart]

She's got you VERY well trained. Maybe a little "if you want them, here they are and it's not my problem" to see if she'll get the idea.

Aliza

 

[Fatal_S]

My 3 female AFTs will eat just about anything I offer. Whether they have to hunt it, or it's on tongs. They do freak a bit if I dump in too many crickets or the crickets climb on them, but they're fantastic hunters.

As with all my healthy reptiles, if they're picky they just don't eat that day. I hate picky-eaters.