Q: HELP!!! My Leopard Gecko will not eat

Answered by lizard_expert on 10/2/02, 10:25 am

A: HELP!!! My Leopard Gecko will not eat

-First of all, if you recently purchased your lizard remember that a lot of "newly-purchased" lizards go through a time period of either not eating, acting lethargic...this is becasue they are very stressed from the new change of environment, and should not be handled for atleast three days. Its normal that they act like this for about a week or so, but keep a close eye on your lizard, because if he continues on acting like this, you should take him to a qualified reptile vet and have his stool tested for parasites, and otherwise, make sure he is healthy. (I truly beleive that parasites is the #1 killer disease in newly-aquired reptiles. Keep in mind that lizards may also get parasites from eating foor items that contain parasites, which is why you should never feed wild-caught food items to a lizard) Anyway, please don't bring home a newly purchased lizard and cuddle it to death. Please set-up your lizards enclosure in a quiet room, with not a lot of activity. If you have any other pets, it's a good idea not to get them to close to the lizards, because added stress can cause illness. Lizards that are often wild-caught are usually skittish at first and may try to run away from you at first. Once your lizard has become used to it's new environment, you can begin handling him. It's a good idea to start-off by handling him in his enclosure, because if he runs away from you he will probably run to a corner of his enclosure, instead of under the furniture! Slowly, start to handle your leopard gecko outside of his enclosure. Start-off for about 15 minutes a day, and slowly, start to increase the time of handling. This will build-up your lizards trust.
You have had your lizard for a while though...since your leopard gecko is a baby the best substrate to use is newspaper or towels...juveniles and adults should have a safe, and digestible sand substrate such as repti-sand. It is highly possible that your lizard swallowed a piece of bark, and has a blockage in his intestine...the best thing that I would recommend doing is to rub his belly in lukewarm water for about 25 minutes, then stop for 15, and then continue...if this process does not help please take your lizard to a qualified reptile vet ASAP! Good luck :)

> Lemon my young, 6'' Leopard Gecko will not eat. I've had
> him (her?) for 17 days, I at first tried small crickets, but
> he just let them run around his cage, I tried a mealworms 9
> days ago and he ate two, but nothing sence. I've tried
> getting him to eat crickets, but he will not, I've tried
> mealworms again, but he wont touch them. There is some
> small amount of stool in the cage. The substrate I'm using
> is bark.
>
> Thanks
>