Randomly Stopped Eating Mealies *UPDATED 2/11*

I'm a long time leopard gecko owner, and just like to get the opinion of others as it's highly likely one of you guys will have thought of something I haven't. But anyway, I have one 5 ish month old leo who has randomly stopped eating her mealies. She never had a big appetite to begin with, so its not too concerning, however she is going on her 5th day (maybe 6th) without eating. She has emptied her water dish at a normal rate however, which is a good sign. I have her in a quarantine tub that gives her all her basic needs, and she has never been near any loose substrate in her life so I don't fear her being compacted, though I have not noticed any new feces since the eating has stopped. I upped the heat side of her tub slightly hoping to help with digestion if that was a possible issue, but again no change. I have tried rubbing some of the meal worm guts on her lips to entice her appetite which she licked, but it seemed to have no effect. However, when doing that she gaped at me and I managed to sneak a meal worm in there which was gobbled mostly on her own once it hit her mouth (that has been done twice). That was two or three days ago, and again no feces or change in appetite. I have lowered all possible stress factors and have little light in her tank as she is albino and though maybe too much light was getting to her. I am not handling her currently, to lower stress, and haven't done more than check on her and change her water, etc, in the last two days. She was born and raised on mealies, though a few months ago I gave her a few dubias which she ate at the same rate as the mealies it seems, and I would highly doubt that has anything to do with whats going on now, months later. I do think she shedded the last day that she ate, or the day directly after. I do not believe she has had a bowel movement since the possible shed, so my biggest fear is somehow this has her bound up inside. That would seem highly unlikely though as the skin she dissolve/digest quite easily to the best of my knowledge.

During previous shedding it usually leads to a lowered appetite for the next couple days, but it always goes back to normal and the eating never stopped entirely.

I thinks that's all the info I have for this case, so any ideas anyone on what I can try or do? Thanks!

Care Questionaire:

About your leo:
- Sex - Female
- Age & Weight - around five months, born in August/September, yet no idea when.
- Morph (if you know) - RAPTOR/Sunglow (Tremper line)
- How long have you owned your leo - 3 months
- Where was he/she obtained (Pet store, breeder, wild caught, etc.) - Breeder (with four others, who are doing great btw)
- Is your leo wild caught or captive bred Captive

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - At most once a day, never every day
- Is your leo acting any different today? - I wouldn't say so, possibly less active,, yet I worked all day and only saw her this evening. Overall same activity as always it seems
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe - Low appetite compared to the others, but not severely so.
B) Fecals
- Describe-Do they look any different than normal - Normal, but haven't had one in a week now so...?
- When was the last time he/she went - a week ago, give or take a day.
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem/issue you are experiencing and how long it has been going on - Refer to above.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - 15 gal
- Type (ex. glass tank, screen enclosure, tub kept) - tub
- Type of substrate (sand, vinyl tiles, ceramic/stone tiles, etc.) - paper towels or just the bottom of the tub which has a grip texture
- Hides (how many, location and type (hothide, humid hide, regular hide etc.) - three. hot hide, cold hide, humid hide (always plays with them all and moves them around her tub.)
B) Heating
- What is your main heat source (heat bulbs, under tank heat mat etc) **Please include the brand and size of your UTH if you use one** - UTH, zoo med
- What are your cage temps (hot side and cool side) - 95 currently, did have her at 92, and 89 previously.
- Method of regulating your heat source (thermostat, rheostat, light dimmer etc.) - thermostat and I check with a probe thermo.
- What are you using to measure your temps (probe thermometer, infrared lazer tempo gun, stick on temp gauge, etc) - Probe thermometer
- Do you have any lights (describe type (red,blue, basking etc) and cycle duration) - at the moment just the natural light, which I thought might help with her sensitive eyes, though alot of the time she is in darkness, and seemed to like this previously as this was when she would eat, never with the light on.
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - none
- Describe health, or previous problems of cage mates - none

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet - mealworms/superworms occasionally, has had dubias in past, but only once, and am now trying small crickets, which are too msall for her, while large are too big.. Still looking for medium.
- What are you feeding - meal, super worms, crickets
- How often are you feeding your gecko and how much per feeding?
- How are you feeding (hand fed, tongs/tweezers, left in dish, ect) - left in tub, I have 10 meal worms in the tub currently, 1 super, and 5 crickets, hoping something will be to her liking.
B) Supplements
- What calcium suppliment are you using (please include brand) - d 12 calcium dusted, and calcium left in tank.
- What multi vitimin are you using (please include brand) - dunno brand. generic stuff I buy from a breeder which works well for all my reptiles.
-How are you implimenting your suppliment program (how often do you dust with each suppliment, do you leave calcium in the tank 24/7 etc.) - dust a few times a week, leave a calcium dish in tank at all times.
- What are you gutloading your feeder insects with - pre gut loaded, but also loaded with lettuce, carrots, potatoes, oats, you name it I've tried it.

UPDATE 2/11

Still no change to my knowledge. Possibly ate one mealworm, though I could have been off one in my count as I noticed one dead one in there which I would have tryed to clear out before counting, but could had missed.

In her tank I currently have two medium sized crickets (found some finally), two dubias, eight mealworms, and one smaller super worm. No interest it seems....

A few days ago I did try to guts on lip trick again, which has always worked for me in the past. I couldn't help sneaking two mealworms in her when she licked the guts up, and she eats well once she gets the food in her mouth (stubborn eaters in the past that I've nursed back to health fought off eating this way, and spit out the worms). Having these two worms did lead to a stool, which was mostly skin, meaning I was right about the shed, and also no blockage. Keep the ideas flowing if anyone has any...

Hi there, first thing I would like to ask you to do is full out our care questionnaire so we can see exactly what your husbandry is like http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t134-please-read-and-fill-out-with-your-health-questions just copy/paste it into this thread. Next with her age she could be coming into her first ovulation which affects appetite. If you could take a picture of her belly that would help. Just a slight correction in your post, it's not compaction, that means your leo would be squished, I believe the word youre looking for is IMPACTED which us where they're bound up and unable to poo. If your leo isn't eating, she likely won't be pooing, nothing going in, nothing coming out. If this goes in for too long you risk gi stasis, where the gi will shut down and stop pushing waste out. Not eating for 6 days isn't drastic, but would start to raise concerns. You could try making her a slurry found here http://www.leopardgeckoforum.com/t815-slurry-recipe-for-the-long-term-fasting-gecko you can dab this on her nose for her to lick off, be careful to not get it in her nostrils. Also you could dab a little mineral oil on her nose which is a laxative to help anything that could be blocking her up move along. I would make sure her hot side temp is a bit higher, around 96*F for optimum digestion and regulation of her core temperature.

She could be put off mealies because they're not moving enough. You could try her on superworms, less shell than mealies so easier to digest, or you can chill crickets in the fridge for about a half hour to slow them down and make them easier to catch, or remove the jumper legs. So that's about all I have to offer until you get the care questionaire filled out. I'm sure some other members will chime in as well with their suggestions.

Moving this to the health forum as I think it'll get more attention there.

A few suggestions:

-Are you tracking her weight? If not you should start, because a leopard gecko that stops eating but does not lose much weight usually isn't cause for concern. But if she has rapid weight loss, then you definitely need to think about getting at least a fecal exam done.

-Try a different feeder. Geckos can get tired of the same feeder. I would suggest getting some dubia roaches if she liked them before, and see if that'll excite her. Sometimes mealworms just look too boring, they need something that moves and runs like dubia roaches or crickets. I've successfully jump started feeding on some of my geckos using crickets. For some reason crickets just brings out that hunting instinct. This is when dubia roaches didn't work and crickets worked. So if you haven't tried a different feeder, definitely give that a try first.

-Check her belly, she could be ovulating. I've had females ovulate around 6 month of age, and they do go off feed when they ovulate.

Thanks for the replies guys. . Once I get on a computer I'll fill out that questionnaire. Yes, impacted not compaction, no idea why I typed that lol. The ovulation is something I did not think of, and will check for. So thank you both for that suggestion. As for checking weight, no drop off as of yet Mardy, but something I'm def. keeping an eye on . Again, I'll get to that questionnaire when I'm back at home and can get to my desktop. I'll also check for ovulation then.

P.s. I'm very surprised I had any responses today, as it is super bowl day lol

Isn't a football fan. Hubby has the game on so I'm just on my android killing time till something more entertaning comes on.

Updated. Any info helps, still no change.

If anyone wants pictures, just say so

Hello,

Post a pic which will help to rule out the possibility of ovulation. Also does she have at least a 10 degree gradient from cold to hot? It's difficult to get a good gradient in anything smaller than a 20 gallon. Sometimes if it becomes to dry in the winter they can refuse to eat. Try to maintain the humidity at 40 which will help her remain hydrated. If she is even a bit dehydrated mealworms and superworms can cause constipation.

Another thing that concerns me is you mentioned D12, I am guessing you meant calcium with D3? It should only be used on her insects 2 X times a week. Only plain Calcium can be left in the tank (chance of D3 overdose) and dusted on the insects on the other days. Try dropping some drops of water on her lips to see if she will drink some.

I just noticed you said she was emptying out her water dish? Do you mean she is drinking that much water? If so it could be it is too hot or too your giving her too much D3 or MVI. It's ok for them to drink occasionally, but not constant drinking.
Make sure you take the D3 out and only use MVI 2X a week if young-1X a week as adult. Also make sure her her air temperature is not above 85 on the warm side. No higher than 75 on the cool side.

Yes herp, I meant D3. I typed alot of this with an ipod, and if anyone has used one before to type out anything longer than a text you know why I have so many typos such as that. Couldn't hit that frigging three and backspace lol As for the calcium left in the tank, it does NOT contain D3. Sorry if I didn't explain that enough.

She does empty her water dish, however I am only using a gatorade top as the dish. So I don't think that is too much water? It's not always bone dry, but I try to keep it fresh and full to the brim.

I rarely check air temps as they are always good, but I will check those more frequently if that could be an issue (one I didn't think of).

Her temp gradient is fine, it spans 12 degrees.

I will try to get a good pic up my the end of today