HELP!!! My Leo wont eat!!

[KJLegend]

I adopted an adult leo 2 weeks ago from someone here in town. He seemed to look very healthy and still does but he/she "i think its a he" has not eaten anything at all I dont think. He has not pooped at all since I got him either. Please help I really hope there is nothing wrong with him. If I have to I can take him to a vet but I thought I'd check here first.

[Freakie_frog]

I adopted an adult leo 2 weeks ago from someone here in town. He seemed to look very healthy and still does but he/she "i think its a he" has not eaten anything at all I dont think. He has not pooped at all since I got him either. Please help I really hope there is nothing wrong with him. If I have to I can take him to a vet but I thought I'd check here first.

what are you offering him?

[mlededee]

what have you offered him to eat thus far? what are the temps in his tank and what is the set up like?

try hand feeding him some turkey flavored baby food with mashed up mealworms and waxworms in it (i remove the mealworm skin from the mix after i mash it all up). i dab a little mix on the geckos nose and wait for them to lick it off, then hold up a little baby sized spoon for them to keep licking the mix out of. let him lick as much as he wants. you can also leave some in a dish in his enclosure overnight.

[KJLegend]

I have him in a 20 gal long tank, He has a temp gradient at 89 degrees on the hot side. I am feeding him crickets of assorted sizes, and meal worms. The lady I got him from said he was eating the meal worms fine. He has a hide spot on each side of the tank with a small water dish next to his food on the cool side to keep the humidity level low. He seems active and perfectly fine especially when I take him out to run around and play. I will try your food trick.

[mlededee]

try not to handle him right now until he starts eating on his own (just handle for spoon feeding). handling might be causing him some stress and stress can lead to not eating.

89 degrees is good for the warm side. what is the cool side temp? maybe that is too low? around 80 is good.

you might add some hides for him around the tank to help make him feel secure right now.

keep a dish of mealworms in the tank with him at all times so he can munch if he wants to. count the mealworms each day so you know if he ate any or not. if you offer crickets remove any that he doesn't eat within an hours time and don't leave them with him overnight until he starts eating regularly. at that point they can be left in for 24 hours.

does his abdomen seem bloated or distended at all? is it discolored or bruised looking? what type of substrate did the person who had him keep him on and what are you keeping him on now? (i'm looking for any potential signs that he could be impacted.)

also, how old is the gecko?

[KJLegend]

She said he is about 1 1/2 years old, hes about 7 inches or so. He looks fine all around, and she did have him on some calci sand stuff. I put him in my 20 long with terrarium carpet so if he is impacted at all what should I do or how can I tell? I see no bruising at all. I will take the crickets out and start counting the meal worms. He might be eating the meal worms for all I know cuz i didnt count them but it looks like about the same amount as I started him with. The cool side is about 80 so thats good. I do not handel him to often at all just to make sure he's okay basically, and he is perfectly fine he just runs around finding hiding spots and licks me. . Maybe he is eating and just not as much as I thought compared to my fatty beardie. I really love these guys and hope he will do okay. Thanks for all the help! I am going to get some turkey flavored baby food today and see what happens.

[mlededee]

everything sounds pretty good really. he won't eat like your beardie though--beardie's are big eaters!

he may very well be eating mealworms but he still should have defecated by now. try giving him a lukewarm soak for 10-15 minutes and massaging his belly really lightly and see if that stimulates him. the calci-sand isn't great but unless he was really injesting a decent amount of it he should probably be okay. try the soak and see what happens.

[KJLegend]

UPDATE!
Okay well I gave him the bath and he pretty much hated that. after a while he cooled down but I dont think he liked it a whole lot. I also tried to turkey flavored baby food with meal worms mashed up in it. He licked it off his nose and didnt touch the rest of it at all. I put 15 meal worms in his bowl to keep count and he has eaten nothing so far. But one good thing out of all this he has finally pooped! It was very small and dried up right away. When I say small I am comparing it to my beardie so I dont know how big it should be as he has not yet pooped. If anyone else has any suggestions that would be great I really hope this guy will be okay. I'll try and post a pic of him here.

[mlededee]

well if you are comparing your leo's poop to what your beardie does, you're talking tiny. it is good that is was dry though--runny feces is definitely not a good thing.

can he see the mealworms in the dish easily? is it possible he can't see them if the dish has high sides?

keep trying the turkey babyfood with mashed mealworms. he won't love the fact that you are putting it on his nose and putting a spoon up to his face but he doesn't realize it's food that you are giving him. usually once they figure that out they will at least lick some out of the spoon. you have to keep the spoon right there so as soon as they lick their nose you can hold it so that they are licking from the spoon. sometimes this results in them jumping back or shaking their head because they didn't expect it but try again and they won't be as surprised by it.

how long has it been exactly since he has eaten?

[KJLegend]

more than 3 weeks because I got him from this lady 3 weeks ago and I have yet to see him eat.