Leo Not Eating - Leopard Gecko

I've had my leopard gecko (about 2 years old) since the beginning of July and she has always been very interested in supervising her meal prep. Her normal schedule is 10 Mealworms on Monday's and Thursdays, and 5 on Saturdays. I normally put them in her food/water dish (so I don't have to tear apart the enclosure looking for uneaten ones) and she runs over to it so she can immediately start eating.

On Monday she didn't seem to care and only ate 2/10 mealworms. On Thursday she didn't care either and ate 1 that I hand-fed her. I didn't feed her yesterday because I wanted to see if she would act hungry tonight (so far she's still asleep). Other than that she's looking and acting perfectly normal- sleeping most of the day, roaming the enclosure at her normal time, going back into her favorite hide afterward. The one weird thing she has been doing is begging for my attention, and by that I mean if I come near the enclosure sometimes she comes out of her hide to greet me and even "stand up" with her belly against the glass if that makes sense. This is as opposed to her normally just looking up while still in her hide. She has also started crawling into my hand when I put it into the enclosure. I don't think that's related to her possibly begging for food because she's hungry, considering she did the "standing" thing on Thursday before I tried to feed her, but I figured I would include all of the things I've seen over the past week.

A friend with multiple Leo's said to research brumation, so I did, and I'm not entirely sure that's what's going on considering this seems to be more of a sudden disinterest in food than a gradual getting ready for winter type thing. I am in the basement though, and it is getting colder at night, but she has a heat lamp to keep the air temp at about 60 on one side and 70 on the other and the heat pad is on a thermostat set at 91 (fluctuates between about 89.5 and 92.5.. the sensor thing is underneath her eco carpet though so now that I'm thinking about it that's probably not exactly how hot it is on her belly). I'm not sure why she's not eating, but I didn't want to spend $100+ just for the vet to say this is common or something, so I'm asking for opinions from you guys first.

I just looked over and she's staring at me now, so I'm going to offer her a mealworm and see what she does. I'll update this after I do it.

• offered it to her with the tongs and she turned her head away
• put it in food dish to see if she wants to eat it in there
• Removed after 10 minutes

 

Are you supplementing vitamin D3 or do you have a UVB light? Not UVA, UVB. Have you tried crickets?

 

Are you supplementing vitamin D3 or do you have a UVB light? Not UVA, UVB. Have you tried crickets?

Yes, the mealworms are coated in calcium dust with D3 before I feed her
Her daytime light is UVA and the night light doesn't say UVA or UVB (I read that since they don't bask they don't really need either.. is that true? I'm second guessing it now.. paranoid mom lol)
I haven't tried crickets yet

 

Okay good, I’d try the crickets, she may just be bored.

 

Okay good, I’d try the crickets, she may just be bored.

Okay, I'll go get some tomorrow. If she normally eats 10 mealworms how many crickets do you think she'd eat? 10?

 

Possibly, just put in a couple to see if she eats them. Don’t put 10 in at once because they can actually gang up and hurt the Gecko (probably would require more than 10 but just to be safe)

 

Just a tip, try to guide the crickets toward your gecko. For me, the crickets try to escape and get under the tile I have at the bottom, which makes them unreachable. It's also good to get the younger crickets that don't "chirp" (idk what to call the sound they make lol), that gets really annoying.

 

Thanks for the advice! I'll update you on how it goes tomorrow night

 

Gutload the crickets with Leo safe foods first if you’re going to feed crickets. Don’t feed mealworms all of the time, you need to vary her diet, they can’t eat one type of insect forever.

Do you keep the heat lamp on at night? And is it a ceramic heat emitter or an actual light? And by eco carpet you mean that green carpet stuff, right? If so, I would get rid of it as soon as you can and replace it with something like tile. Those reptile carpets never come completely clean and they harbor massive amounts of bacteria.

 

Gutload the crickets with Leo safe foods first if you’re going to feed crickets. Don’t feed mealworms all of the time, you need to vary her diet, they can’t eat one type of insect forever.

Do you keep the heat lamp on at night? And is it a ceramic heat emitter or an actual light? And by eco carpet you mean that green carpet stuff, right? If so, I would get rid of it as soon as you can and replace it with something like tile. Those reptile carpets never come completely clean and they harbor massive amounts of bacteria.

They’re both actual lights - 25W Moonlight Reptile Bulb at night and 40W Daylight blue bulb during the day
And yeah that’s the carpet I’m talking about. The temperature probe thing is glued or something on a suction cup so I’m limited to the carpet bc I can’t put that under tile (unless you have a solution.. definitely open to it)

 

I have kept my leo on carpet at first, then when she got older I tried everything from Eco Earth, excavator clay, tile and currently I use simply paper towels for the most part. You can keep an UTH beneath a tank that is tiled too btw. Oh wait...I see what you mean now. Wish you can unstick the probe somehow and lay it ontop of a spot on the tile or something. Sounds tricky, hopefully BReefer97 has a suggestion.

As for not eating. There's crickets, roaches and superworms. If still refuses to eat, then it might be time to pull out the big guns i.e. hornworms, waxworms, a pinkie mouse dusted in D3.

 

Would it be okay to get some crickets and feed her tonight, then assuming she eats them get more to gut load for Thursday? I know they're cheap but I don't want to get food that she isn't going to eat and I'd rather have her eat something than nothing if that makes sense... I also don't looove crickets but hey if she eats them I'll suck it up lol

I'll try again to get the suction cup off.. its been a few months and maybe the heat somehow made the glue loose

 

Yes, let’s tackle the most important thing of actually eating before we go gut loading etc.

 

Yes, let’s tackle the most important thing of actually eating before we go gut loading etc.

Unfortunately that is kind of a crucial step. Crickets from the pet store are essentially useless unless gutloaded. Crickets are very low in any nutriontal value, and it only takes a few minutes to get them full of some food. They’re often so starved at the pet store that whatever food I give them is gone within 5-10 minutes and they’re ready to get fed to whatever reptile that day. The gecko is also more likely to eat a cricket that has been eating good food as opposed to what they’ve probably been eating — each other.


And in response to OP, is there anyway you can post a picture of your set up? And I would put the temperature probe on the carpet/tile (or suction cupped to the side of the glass as close to the area of the heat pad) because that’s where you’re going to want to keep the temperature stable at, not underneath the carpet/tile. It’s probably lower than what it’s supposed to be at which may be causing her disgestive problems because they need belly heat to digest food. Has her poop and pee looked normal?

Also, have you been feeding her just mealworms since you got her? And are they live mealworms?

 

Unfortunately that is kind of a crucial step. Crickets from the pet store are essentially useless unless gutloaded. Crickets are very low in any nutriontal value, and it only takes a few minutes to get them full of some food. They’re often so starved at the pet store that whatever food I give them is gone within 5-10 minutes and they’re ready to get fed to whatever reptile that day. The gecko is also more likely to eat a cricket that has been eating good food as opposed to what they’ve probably been eating — each other.


And in response to OP, is there anyway you can post a picture of your set up? And I would put the temperature probe on the carpet/tile (or suction cupped to the side of the glass as close to the area of the heat pad) because that’s where you’re going to want to keep the temperature stable at, not underneath the carpet/tile. It’s probably lower than what it’s supposed to be at which may be causing her disgestive problems because they need belly heat to digest food. Has her poop and pee looked normal?

Also, have you been feeding her just mealworms since you got her? And are they live mealworms?

I’m not trying to battle with you, I swear lol, but Crickets are high in a lot of vitamins, especially B12, and they also have a lot of amino acids, such as Lysine, Phenylalanine, and Valine. They’re also high in Calcium and protein, while moderately high in fat. Both the stores I worked at fed the Crickets. All I’m saying is for OP to focus on getting her to actually eat before buying things to gut-load.

 

I’m not trying to battle with you, I swear lol, but Crickets are high in a lot of vitamins, especially B12, and they also have a lot of amino acids, such as Lysine, Phenylalanine, and Valine. They’re also high in Calcium and protein, while moderately high in fat. Both the stores I worked at fed the Crickets. All I’m saying is for OP to focus on getting her to actually eat before buying things to gut-load.

I’m not trying to battle with you either, I’m just trying to help OP. Very sorry if it came off that way. I breed, sell, and take care of reptiles as a full-time job, so I’m just trying to educate and possibly resolve this

I’m not disagreeing that crickets have all of those things, but a vitamin and calcium powered supplement that you dust them with contains all of those things already (or it should). The big issue with not gut loading crickets is that they’re super low on calcium, high in phosphorus - and while dusting them helps balance that ratio, it’s not ideal.

I also agree with you that it’s important on getting her gecko to try and eat, but you have to first address the issues as to why it isn’t eating in the first place. So it’s best to cover all of the bases.

I think the issue is a combination of a few things:
1. Not having a varied diet. Of course mealworms and crickets can be a staple diet for a leopard gecko, but they still very much need a variety of different foods that are being gutloaded and supplemented properly.
2. The heat light being left on at night. They should have lighting for maximum of 12 hours a day, at night you should only use a heat mat or a ceramic heat emitter and keep all other lights off. This is because they are nocturnal and need to regulate their day and night schedules.
3. The heat probe should also be above the carpet or tile so it gets a proper temperature reading. The gecko isn’t laying underneath of the carpet so it’s not getting the temperature you have it set to. You can get a heat gun at Walmart for around $17-$20 to see what it’s actually reading at and adjust the temperature accordingly OR find a way to put the probe above the carpet.


Sorry this is so long, and again - I’m not trying to argue with anyone or belittle anyone’s opinion because I do agree with everything that’s been said so far, but I just wanted to stress that with reptiles it’s not always so black and white and you have to address every issue from top to bottom in order to come to a solution.

 

I’m not trying to battle with you either, I’m just trying to help OP. Very sorry if it came off that way. I breed, sell, and take care of reptiles as a full-time job, so I’m just trying to educate and possibly resolve this

I’m not disagreeing that crickets have all of those things, but a vitamin and calcium powered supplement that you dust them with contains all of those things already (or it should). The big issue with not gut loading crickets is that they’re super low on calcium, high in phosphorus - and while dusting them helps balance that ratio, it’s not ideal.

I also agree with you that it’s important on getting her gecko to try and eat, but you have to first address the issues as to why it isn’t eating in the first place. So it’s best to cover all of the bases.

I think the issue is a combination of a few things:
1. Not having a varied diet. Of course mealworms and crickets can be a staple diet for a leopard gecko, but they still very much need a variety of different foods that are being gutloaded and supplemented properly.
2. The heat light being left on at night. They should have lighting for maximum of 12 hours a day, at night you should only use a heat mat or a ceramic heat emitter and keep all other lights off. This is because they are nocturnal and need to regulate their day and night schedules.
3. The heat probe should also be above the carpet or tile so it gets a proper temperature reading. The gecko isn’t laying underneath of the carpet so it’s not getting the temperature you have it set to. You can get a heat gun at Walmart for around $17-$20 to see what it’s actually reading at and adjust the temperature accordingly OR find a way to put the probe above the carpet.


Sorry this is so long, and again - I’m not trying to argue with anyone or belittle anyone’s opinion because I do agree with everything that’s been said so far, but I just wanted to stress that with reptiles it’s not always so black and white and you have to address every issue from top to bottom in order to come to a solution.

I’m on my phone rn so I can’t fully reply but the reason I have a heat light on at night is because my room gets to 50 degrees at night. It’s a moonlight reptile bulb that to my understanding (off the box) is not visible to reptiles. I’ve only seen ceramic heaters in the daylight section so I guess I’m confused

And everything else I’ve seen says crickets need to be gut loaded for 2 days before they’re good enough to be fed??? Can you maybe explain why it would say this instead of pretty much immediately after they have eaten? I’m just wondering

 

I’m on my phone rn so I can’t fully reply but the reason I have a heat light on at night is because my room gets to 50 degrees at night. It’s a moonlight reptile bulb that to my understanding (off the box) is not visible to reptiles. I’ve only seen ceramic heaters in the daylight section so I guess I’m confused

And everything else I’ve seen says crickets need to be gut loaded for 2 days before they’re good enough to be fed??? Can you maybe explain why it would say this instead of pretty much immediately after they have eaten? I’m just wondering

I see a lot of people with this issue. The moonlight bulb is a lie, it still puts off light that they can see. Some reptiles, including leopard geckos, have gland on their head referred to as a “third eye.” The third eye senses changes in light, so they essentially see a dark shadow when something is trying to prey on them from above. This would tell me your gecko is definitely able to tell that the light is still on and isn’t able to regulate day and night.

Ceramic heat emitters are in a variety of different sections because they can be used 24/7. A lot of people use them when they already have another form of lighting (like UVB) or need to keep temperatures up at night. I’m not sure what wattage your tank would need, but whatever you choose I would also get a thermostat for it so it’s at a stable temperature. Make sure you fix the probe for your heat mat as well, that’s really important for digestion. I would again suggest getting rid of the carpet and going for tile because tile holds more heat and makes it a bit easier for them to regulate.

And they say 2 days because you want to ensure they’ve all eaten a good amount of food, but honestly - any time I’ve gotten crickets, they’re so starved that you can throw food in with them and it be gone within half an hour. Just buy them in the afternoon, put some cricket diet in with them, and feed them to your gecko around dusk (that’s when they’re the most active). Ideally you would want to gutload them for a few days, but that’s kind of “just to be sure.”

 

Okay so I got 6 crickets, fed her 1 not-gut loaded cricket that she hunted down, so now I'm going to put some food in the kritter keeper for the rest of them and hopefutly they'll eat it up so I can give them to her by the end of the day!

 

Okay so I got 6 crickets, fed her 1 not-gut loaded cricket that she hunted down, so now I'm going to put some food in the kritter keeper for the rest of them and hopefutly they'll eat it up so I can give them to her by the end of the day!

Yay! That’s really really good news.

 

I just had an idea but it might be dumb lol... if I take the night bulb out, could I put a scarf or something over part of the tank to keep the heat in overnight?? until I can go back to the store tomorrow? then there would be no light and only the heat mat overnight

I also managed to get the suction cup off with the help of a fork so that's on top of the carpet now

 

I just had an idea but it might be dumb lol... if I take the night bulb out, could I put a scarf or something over part of the tank to keep the heat in overnight?? until I can go back to the store tomorrow? then there would be no light and only the heat mat overnight

I also managed to get the suction cup off with the help of a fork so that's on top of the carpet now

I would just use the light for now until you’re able to get a CHE and awesome! That works also haha. If you have a dome already, a CHE will fit in it, and they’re fairly inexpensive.

 

I would just use the light for now until you’re able to get a CHE and awesome! That works also haha. If you have a dome already, a CHE will fit in it, and they’re fairly inexpensive.

Okay! I actually found some leftover tiles and strategically placed/cut the carpet so the tiles would fit under her warm hide.. the tile is obviously a little taller so I had to stack some carpet hahaha but it does the job... here's the new setup for now (minus CHE) until I find the right size tiles!


also, she just finished eating and had all 6 crickets!!!