Fussy Eaters!

ok so a fecal exam is best at the moment. i am very RELIEVED! i just watched my skinny gecko eat a locust. so at least he might eat something. hopefully loss of appetite is not a problem.

well its great that he ate something

Don't try and feed him too much at once by the way, he needs to be fed small amounts and weened back on to a normal diet.
If he has a bigger meal than he can handle then he may regurgitate
or explode. (lol no im kidding about explode)

Agree'd. A locust sounds awefully large for a young leo PLUS you need to remove their jumper legs or they can do some damage on the way down.

When they are under weight or emaciated you need to re-feed slowly and consistant diet to gradually build the weight back on or you can risk re-feeding syndrom (please google this).

different size locusts are available though im sure?
lol that wasn't sarcasm, Im genuinely asking as i have rarely bought locusts.

And i've never heard the legs need to be pulled off. With them on, they are just a lot harder for the gecko's to catch, aren't they?
I can't see a locust doing much damage?

I'm not trying to contradict you, im genuinely asking.

From the reading I have done on my chameleon forum locust do come in different sizes but even the littler ones are still rather large for a leo and even a chameleon has a hard time handling a full sized locust. It is there that I read about having to remove the jumper legs because of them being dangerous and hard to digest.

yes Jordan there are various different sided locusts lol

hatchling or small locust are fine for young leo's, all my babies last year were started on hatchling or small locust and mini-mealworms and i never had any problems with them catching the locust.

on bigger locust you can remove the jumper legs as they are quite spiky and hurt if they catch on your skin lol

I'm wondering if you have tried hand feeding the leos so that the prey items moves arund more. Also if your locusts are escaping from the dish and getting to your leos when you're not looking they could be harassing the leos and causing them stress. Free range crickets and locusts are known to nibble on/harass our leos when we aren't watching.

When I mentioned removing the jumper legs on the lousts it wasn't to make it easier to catch them it was because of the spikey legs thing. Also please don't offer your leo fruit products. They aren't designed to eat frit... they are insectavoires... giving fruit can seriously mess up their digestive tracts plus it is highly unlikely they'll eat it. I'd rather see you try feeding a pinkey mouse over fruit any day and even that is usually frowned upon.

i cannot hand feed my leos. as i mentioned they are babies and are very scared as i have not been able to get them accustomed to me. i would rather not stress them out if they are already unwell. i would not have a problem feeding them but they run a mile when they see my hand. also this may seem a bit of a stupid question but how am i supposed to get hold of the damn locusts to get their legs off? they are packaged in a clear plastic tub and i cannot open it to grab one as the rest hop out.

haha VioletEye's, good quesiton lol. I've never pulled legs off of crickets or locusts... and if i wanted to i wouldn't have a clue how to lol.

Its not absolutely necessary to have crickets in a bowl, personally i've never had any problems with frree roamng crickets. but if you can get them in a bowl and to stay in a bowl then place the bowl right outside the gecko's main hide. or even inside. They feel alo more comfortable about eating that way.

hmmm. surely crickets and locusts can jump out the bowl? and my geckos would be too smal to get in the bowl with my older gecko when he wouldnt eat i used to place him in a tub full of livefood and he would run around and eat loads. its just a shame these babies are too scared to.

Maybe a less intimidating prey could help... have you tried phoenix worms or roaches?

unfortunately our local livefood store doesnt stock them and buying online is expensive, however i just bought a punnet of newborn locusts, smaller than previous ones so maybe that will help. although i dont like the idea of roaches i will buy them next time to see if they like them. i did observe this evening my skinny gecko trying to hunt. unfortunately he just doesnt seem to have the energy to catch anything- i could do with a food that will provide lots of energy, or something i could put in the water as i know he is drinking that.

Hmm, if he hasnt got the energy to hunt that is very bad. Inactive is bad.

Have you heard of gecko soup?
It might be worth a google.

ok well thats ok i suppose i could make my own version with meal worms calcium and water but how am i supposed to feed it to him? he wont exactly eat out of my hand

a squirty syringe thing, or ina bottle cap left in his enclosure... i think.
Personally i've never done it, so someone else might know a bit more about this.

thanks, il try both. gecko soup bought up a whole host of nasty things in google so hopefully the recipe is a decent one
thanks for everyones help

haha, ew i hope there isn't any soup recipes made from gecko's!?!? lol.

Glad we could help, let us know how it goes.

When you make the gecko soup to get him to eat it they say to put lil dabs on the end of his nose and he'll lick it off thus by eating/ingesting the gecko soup.

The recipe is:

In a blender, combine:
1 small can Hill's A/D pet food (available at most vets)

1/4-1/3 cup Ensure (not chocolate)-

1 jar baby food squash -

1/4-1/3 cup Pedialite

2 crushed tablets or contents of 2 capsules Milk Thistle (herbal supplement, liver purifier, found at most drug stores.)

1/2 tsp. each calcium powder and herp vitamin powder -

1-2 extra large handfuls of mealworms

you can use 2 tabs or caps of Acidophilus, a probiotic that helps restore natural gut flora, which is recommended for a leo that is not eating but not a mandatory ingredient.

After you make the "soup" pour the contents in a ice cube tray and freeze it.
You can then thaw out one cube at a time & store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Just as a little note, a Cup is a unit of measurement i believe in the US.

So Kel, it might be worth converting them cups to a more UK recognisable unit. lol.

You said you were gonna take care of the UK conversions for me jordan

Sorry i didnt get round to converting this, been busy with bloomin reports thing

Any updates? did the soup work?

Was it nice? :P

well he licked a good amount of it off his nose but im not sure he liked it very much as he kept flicking it everywhere. could have been that it was uncomfortable for him. he is still walking and running around fine so he must have some energy. as for eating, i dont know. i havnt seen his poo in the viv for a while which is a bit worrying im hoping he isnt constipated or anything. i have not seen him catch a locust but then i dont have a 24 hour infra red camera watching him (i wish i did!!!)

Well its good that he ate some, i'm not sure how long it takes to work or anything, but hopefully he wil be eating again soon.

its been a good day today, he has been prowling around and ate at least one thing i saw so thumbs up also i keep seeing my geckos 'kissing' where they lick each others tongues which is really cute

Ah thats great, im really glad the gecko soup worked for you.

If i ever need to make it myself anytime, i'll be turning to you :tongue:

Haha, yeah the tongue flick that gecko's do is their sort sixth sense, its for testing chemicals in the air.
When they do it to other gecko's its to check things like, if they are male or female, ovulating or not, stressed or not and stuff.