How Do I Get My Leopard Gecko To Eat?

I got my one year old leopard gecko from some people on Craigslist that didn’t want her anymore. I’ve had her for a month and all she’s eaten in that time is 4 meal worms and 5 hornworms. I know hornworms are a treat but it’s the only thing she’ll really eat.

 

How does she look? Is she a healthy weight? Any sign of MBD?

 

How does she look? Is she a healthy weight? Any sign of MBD?

She weighs 64gm and looks completely normal but for some reason won’t eat

 

Photo please?
I got mine as well online. He is one eyars old and has been passed down 2 times. I'm hoping to be his forever home with proper care! You may have to force feed if needed but try these.
Have you tryed, Crickets, mealworms (small and large), butter worms, wax worms, super worms other worms and roachs?
Try cutting a worm in half so she can see the tasty ness ( Heard it works) try putting a bit on her nose.
I'm fairly new to leopard geckos but know a lot.

 

They can go off food sometimes and they can also develop favorite foods. If you'd had her for a while and she'd been healthy it's not normally something to worry too much about. However, I always worry about health and husbandry in new geckos because so many people listen to pet stores (not you! previous owner) and the pet stores are usually really wrong on care advice. So many little things will start building up to major problems and not wanting to eat is the first major sign. They can show up in bad shape and sometimes it's not very noticeable at first.

Not enough calcium supplements leads to metabolic bone disease. First signs are problems with muscles which includes hunting, vision problems and digesting. Every gecko I have ever adopted had at the very least mild MBD symptoms from owners not knowing they had to dust calcium all the time, or who rehomed because they had lost interest and weren't caring for it properly anymore. Extreme cases of MBD are physical changes like jaw and leg deformation and broken bones.

If the temperatures aren't right then they can't digest properly and go off their meals. Usually 90 for basking and 80 overall is recommended. It can take them a while to bounce back if it wasn't good before!

 

Photo please?
I got mine as well online. He is one eyars old and has been passed down 2 times. I'm hoping to be his forever home with proper care! You may have to force feed if needed but try these.
Have you tryed, Crickets, mealworms (small and large), butter worms, wax worms, super worms other worms and roachs?
Try cutting a worm in half so she can see the tasty ness ( Heard it works) try putting a bit on her nose.
I'm fairly new to leopard geckos but know a lot.

I’ll try cutting one of the giant mealworms up cause she had no interest in the small ones

 

They can go off food sometimes and they can also develop favorite foods. If you'd had her for a while and she'd been healthy it's not normally something to worry too much about. However, I always worry about health and husbandry in new geckos because so many people listen to pet stores (not you! previous owner) and the pet stores are usually really wrong on care advice. So many little things will start building up to major problems and not wanting to eat is the first major sign. They can show up in bad shape and sometimes it's not very noticeable at first.

Not enough calcium supplements leads to metabolic bone disease. First signs are problems with muscles which includes hunting, vision problems and digesting. Every gecko I have ever adopted had at the very least mild MBD symptoms from owners not knowing they had to dust calcium all the time, or who rehomed because they had lost interest and weren't caring for it properly anymore. Extreme cases of MBD are physical changes like jaw and leg deformation and broken bones.

If the temperatures aren't right then they can't digest properly and go off their meals. Usually 90 for basking and 80 overall is recommended. It can take them a while to bounce back if it wasn't good before!

They gave me all of the lights and her tank so it’s all the same as before. I tried cutting a mealworm to see if she’d eat it and she licked it and walked away

 

Do you supplement with calcium and multivitamins? What temperature is her basking spot, and what temperature is the rest of the tank? What’s her humidity like?

Sorry for so many questions, but sometimes husbandry is the issue but you more than likely just have a picky leopard gecko. I would stop feeding the treat items until she’s eating a good staple food (crickets, dubia roaches, etc) because that will be all she wants to eat, and it causes more issues than what it’s worth. A healthy animal will not starve itself and will eventually eat.

 

Try crickets!!! Some are just picky and will only eat crickets since they move much more than mealworms. If that's what she was eating before you got her then that's probably it. Like someone else said she won't starve herself, but the goal is not to get her to the point where she's so hungry that she gives in. I think you should get 1-2 crickets from the pet store, dust them with calcium, and dump them in her enclosure right in front of her. If she eats them then you know what you need to feed her from now on and you should get some, gut load them, and feed them to her (24 hours after gut loading). I don't think you'd have to gut load the first 2 since this is kind of an experiment- I say any cricket is better than not eating and she'll be getting gut loaded ones afterward anyway, assuming its successful.