Sudden behaviour change

Hello,

I've noticed over the last 48-72 hours some strange behaviour from rambo, my first concern being until last night he had only eaten 1 mealworm (managed to entice him to eat a wax worm easy enough, surprise! ) and hes normally quite a greedy leo eating around 8-10 worms every day. I have noticed he is brighter in colour some im guessing hes just finished a shed, can this put them off food after aswell as before the shed?

And his behaviour has gone quite different, nice, but different. Normally he is a little bit skittish about coming out of his tank to play, although hes fine once hes out. in the last 72 hours all he wants to do is come out! hes up at the glass when i come in around 10pm and as soon as i slide the door across he comes right to the edge and pops his head out until i put my hand out for him. i sit for 15-20mins with him while he runs around all over me but once i put him back in his viv within 10 seconds hes back at the glass begging to come out and if i slide the glass open a little, pop his head comes back out and waits for my hand to appear.

I thinks its quite nice that he wants to come out and play so much but it has me a bit confused that hes gone from being "un-sure" to "PET ME!" almost overnight

anyone else had this in there leo? could just be he's now decided that he has settled in?

Shedding will definitely put them off food. For most of mine the first sign to me that they are going to shed is when they put off food. That is not a worry for a few more days usually. They all for the most part have attitude and behavior change when they are getting ready to shed.

As for the wanting to be help, just go with it and watch for any other signs that there might be something wrong. He might just finally be settled in and just finally feeling secure in his home. My only other thoughts would be wondering if you changed your temps or anything. Maybe you just got everything "perfect" for him and he is really more comfortable now.

I wouldn't really worry about anything yet but please of course feel free to keep an eye and let us know if there are any other changes with him.

I think he has already shed, as he was looking quite ghosty last week and now looks brighter to me. do they go off food after a shed and not just before?

They eat their shed so they can go off for a few days afterwards because they just had a BIG meal

It is a weird transition definitely, even for a leo in shed.

The scratching against the glass is quite a normal thing though, looooads of leo's do it. So its not normally anything to be worried about. Its just odd how it has changed so suddenly.

Maybe something has changed in the enclosure, like the temps are now too hot, and if he scratches too come out, obviously when oyu take him out, its a nice cool area.
Maybe there is something he is getting out of the enclosure he isn't getting inside, like maybe the chance to cool down, or it could be the opposite, his enclosure is too cold and he likes the warmth of your hand.

With certain developmental milestones as well you can see some "behavioral" changes "overnight". If you could take a minute to fill our our care questionaire we would have all the info we need to see why there are changes happening that could be env ironmental. You can find the questionaire as a sticky in the health section. Just copy/paste it into this thread and aswer as much as you can.

Care Questionaire:

About your leo:
- Sex - male
- Age & Weight - 17g - around 8-10 weeks i think
- Morph (if you know) - RAPTOR
- How long have you owned your leo - 4 weeks
- Where was he/she obtained (Pet store, breeder, wild caught, etc.) - Breeder online
- Is your leo wild caught or captive bred - captive bred

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo - every night at around 10pm
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how - alot more sociable wants to come out and play
- Has he/she had any problems in the past, if so please describe.
B) Fecals
- Describe-Do they look any different than normal
- When was the last time he/she went - unsure, but there is a bit poop there to be removed so im guessing hes doin that fine
C) Problem
- Please briefly describe the problem/issue you are experiencing and how long it has been going on - sudden change in behavior wants to come out of the enclosure and not eating as normal

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size - 36"
- Type (ex. glass tank, screen enclosure, tub kept) - Wooden viv
- Type of substrate (sand, vinyl tiles, ceramic/stone tiles, etc.) - Reptile carpet
- Hides (how many, location and type (hothide, humid hide, regular hide etc.) - A hot hide on the hot side with misted moss inside and a cool cave on the other side with no bedding
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** - pro rep 7w heat mat
- What are your cage temps (hot side and cool side) - Current - 93.8 Hot / 79 on the cold
- Method of regulating your heat source (thermostat, rheostat, light dimmer etc.) - Mat stat
- What are you using to measure your temps (probe thermometer, infrared lazer tempo gun, stick on temp gauge, etc) twin probe digital thermometer
- Do you have any lights (describe type (red,blue, basking etc) and cycle duration)
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females) - just 1 male
- Describe health, or previous problems of cage mates

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What are you feeding - Mealworms
- How often are you feeding your gecko and how much per feeding? - every night around 6-10 mealworms
- How are you feeding (hand fed, tongs/tweezers, left in dish, ect) - tong fed and allowing him to hunt depending on speed of worm
B) Supplements
- What calcium suppliment are you using (please include brand) - Exo Terra calcium sup
- What multi vitimin are you using (please include brand) - Exo Terra multi vit
-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.) - all worms are dusted briefly and there is also a dish of calcium inside the viv
- What are you gutloading your feeder insects with - Pro Rep bug grub / bug gel thinks thats the best i can do lol thats a looong questionaire

Sorry it is a bit long but it does cover everything we would need to know to help pinpoint if there are any husbandry issues that could be causing a problem. It looks to me that everything is proper with your husbandry. You could try dropping your temps to 90*f to see if that helps at all. Some leos like it hotter, some like it cooler. Mine seems happiest at 93. Also he may not like the feel of the repti carpet under his feet. It is quite a prickly feeling that he may be trying to get away from. Their rock dwellers and don't often encounter that feeling of carpet. Aside of that, it is likely age related. Or he just digs you you have an outgoing leo mines rather shy and doesn't ask to come out often. Lastly id check to make sure he hasn't accidentally gotten a loop of reticarpet stuck in his mouth. That could impact appetite or he could have snagged a tooth in the rug now he's a bit put off. Maybe a piece of tile in his feeding area could help avoid accidental teeth snags. Appetite varies... if he just ate a shed or coming into a shed those will impact appetite and at 10 weeks old he will be shedding quite often like every couple weeks or less. So... ope some of that helps... let us know how it goes

Tried feeding rambo again last night with no result, he just wasnt interested.. im starting to wonder if the weather is effecting him as this hot humid weather were having for few days here in uk is horrible, im sweating sitting on the sofa! even my 20 month old little boy doesnt want to eat lol

It's good that Rambo's suddenly so active and wanting to come out of the tank so often but it's a good idea to fill us in on any other strange behaviour you notice.

Maybe, i know the weather has been crazy, so it could possibly be affecting him.

The ambient air temp in there might be getting a little too hot and its making it hard for him to cool down.
Which leads me back to my previous point of; he may be coming out too cool down.

Has he been sticking to a particular side of the viv? (Warm or cool side)

If you think the cool side is too hot you can cool it down with a small frozen bottle of water placed on the cool side in his viv.

That's a good idea, but we have to know what side it is so that we can determine whether it's too hot or too cold.

Not quite understanding. what you mean there jess. He knows his hot and cool sides, all you do is place the frozenbottle in the furthest corner of your cool side to cool it more as far as the ambient temp goes. It won't affect the hot sie as the heat mat will keep that consistantly at the right temp.

Oh... right. Ok i get you now.

Well that was interesting.... got a very nasty worm virus onto my pc and had to wipe the whole thing clean ! rambo managed 2 mealworms last night which i would say is an improvement over none ! hes still desperate to come out and play im wondering if hes just so desperate to come out and explore if hes overlooking his food a little

I'm sorry, i didn't get that but it sounded like you're worried because he's wanting out a lot but he's not eating well?

Jess if you go back and read the original post the very first part of it talks about the feeding issues. It is also talked about throughout most of the thread.

Oh! I get it now! Ok!

And back on form, tonight rambo devoured 9 mealworms freak out over.

Yay Rambo freak out overted you'll figure him out and the off food days won't geek you out as much

wooooo! thats great :P

Yippeeee, go Rambo

Yay Rambo!!!