Juvenile garg help

[kimmu]

So I picked up a juvenile garg last week at Repticon. Strict no handling since I got the little guy to let him destress, but I've not been able to get him to eat at all this week. Been putting fresh Repashy in his cage every day, but no signs of eating or poop. Since he's so little, I'm concerned about not eating for a week. I got my other garg as an adult who was a total pig, so I've never had problems feeding her.

Any advice?

[daniel1983]

How are you offering the food?

Water is more important than food. Is it consuming water? I mist my little ones twice a day to make sure they are getting some water.

[kimmu]

It's in a milk cap I leave on the bottom of the cage. I've been changing it out every day. Water dish is filled every day and I mist once a day.

[daniel1983]

After you mix the food, dab a bit on your finger than dab a bit on the mouth of the gecko.....they will 99% of the time lick off the little bit you dabbed on. This is a good check to make sure.

Do you notice it drinking when you mist?

Also, you may want to make an order of a few different "flavors" of Pangaea or other mix. I alternate my "flavors" once a week, but a few of my geckos go crazy over particular types.

You can also try some banana or other baby food. The baby food should ONLY be used as a treat or to help animals that need a kickstart. If you feed the baby food all the time, the access sugars will lead to obesity.

[kimmu]

I have not seen it drinking when I mist. I will try dabbing the food on its mouth. I've not seen it at any time go down to the floor of the tank. Should I try taking out the vine?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First it's a lot of food so it maybe eating without you noticing, at that size I feed the equivalent of a bottle cap (coke) every other day even that is more food than needed.

Second the enclosure make sure it is not to big usually for hatchling ang juvies I recommend nothing bigger than a critter keeper.

Third the food those days rephashy is not what it used to be and a lot of gecko will refuse it, try Pangea Diet watermelon mango, banana apricot, or fruit mix with insect, they will rarely refuse that food and more and more breeders use it for that reason. Consistency can also be an issue try to get a ketchup like consistency.

And of course make sure your husbandry is correct to low of temperatures or too high and you can have issues.

[kimmu]

It's an 8x8x8 Exoterra with a UTH attached to the side to help with keeping it warm. I use an IR heat gun to spot check and it's right now at 75.

I will try the different food. I don't think it's eaten anything because the food looks untouched when I check it.

[mlededee]

Definitely try the Pangea foods. They are very palatable. Also, if you can find out what it was eating before that might be helpful--it might not want to eat unless you offer it the same thing to start out with. The best way to know if it is eating is to look for poop. It may be eating a few licks of food here and there. Dabbing a little bit of food on the nose as suggested can be helpful as well, and then when the gecko licks it off you can hold the dish of food up for it to lick more. Ultimately you want for the gecko to eat on its own, but sometimes they need a little assistance while getting settled into a new home.

[kimmu]

So finally the little bugger pooped in the water dish and ate a sizable portion of a bottle cap of the Pangea mix and left little feet prints. So, phew, crisis averted.