Hasn't eaten for over a week -- worried!

[CoolioTiffany]

This past week or so my Giant Leopard gecko, Sobe, has been refusing meals. I mainly feed her mealworms, dusted with Calcium powder since she refuses to eat any crickets. I have fed her the mealworms on tongs all of the time, so I don't see how impaction would be the cause. She is actually very healthy with a big tummy and a fat tail. She used to have a great feeding response, but now she is just refusing. She did also shed, and ate the shed, but since then has been refusing meals. After she shed, I knew she wasn't going to be hungry for the next few days (since when she shed before she refused food for a few days) so I tried feeding her a few days later. This entire time she has not accepted it. Earlier I bathed her in warm water just in case impaction may be the cause, but she did not defecate or anything. I think she may also be dehydrated, but I always see her run through the water dish and catch her drinking sometimes. I looked at the skin on her belly when she was kinda hunched over but then when she straightened out one part of the skin did not go back like normal. I heard that could be signs of dehydration from being on this forum. I even pulled up a little bit of skin on her belly and it didn't go back to normal. She does have her lamp on at the correct temps, so I don't see how that could be a problem. She has one dry and one moist hide, and a large water dish for her to fit in with sand as substrate. I know your not supposed to use sand, but I feed her from tongs so I don't see how she could get impacted.

[Boanerges]

Sometimes they just go off feeding for awhile. keep a close watch on her to make sure she looks good (over all) and make sure her tail is not shrinking. You could always try the slurry if you are worried. You can also try different feeders (some leo's for whatever reason randomly decide they don't want to eat a certain feeder any more). And leo's randomly lick everything so even though you were tong feeding doesn't mean she didn't ingest any sand. What are your hot spot and cool spot temps? I have never had an impactation so unfortunately I can't tell you what to look for These are just random thoughts off the top of my head, hopefully more people will chime in!!!

[dsirkle]

They can live off the fat in their tail for a good long while assuming that is has a healthy fat tail to start with . If impaction is the problem you should be able able to see the impacted area on the underside of the leo. You could try to set the leo in a bowl with some warm water for a laxative effect if you think that impaction is the cause.

[CoolioTiffany]

I did soak her in warm water, but nothing happened. I looked at her belly, and didn't see anything abnormal. The warm side temps are usually between 88F-90F, and the cool end is usually between 80F-85F.

[Laterr]

my gecko just finished shedding as well and only ate a few mealies after a week. There was a point where he refused mealies and demanded crickets even though he's a slow hunter but that didn't last so long since i guess he realized how bad he was. Lol.
I would just keep an eye on her tail to make sure she's not dramatically losing weight. They can go quite a while not eating. Did the weather in the room or area cool down? Is it getting darker earlier?

[771subliminal]

try another food type. mine will eat one food for months then one day wont touch it and want something else for a month or so, i dont try to understand it i just go with the flow.