Lived in the middle of the wildlife, geckos become one of the most famous undomesticated lizard being pet. Although born as wild animals, for many people, geckos are the attractive exotic animal they could ever found. Geckos was spread worldwide in the warm temperatures and climates; yes, they could not live in cold. Not only in swamps, forest, and other nature areas, geckos – even though we didn’t know where and how they could get there – often being seen in people’s houses.
As we know, people; geckos owned a very unique voice that become the only earmark of theirs; I believed, you would recognize the voice instantly. However pals, among many other famous species to be pet, one of the very popular species is called leopard geckos. You might already heard about them, or perhaps, you are one of this lizard’s owner. These geckos was named based on the skin pattern which are similar to the leopard, not mention that most of leopard geckos also colored in yellow.
Another trademark of leopard geckos was their big smiley faces. Yes, this iconic feature gained popularity which one of the reason why this particular species so demand. However, become the owners of leopard geckos come with challenges; is not as easy as it’s look, my dear friends. Maintaining the health state and keep it in stable need a stern commitment. There are certain matter need to fill as the basic requirements. Such as the proper habitat – cages – in a good humidity and temperature.
Learn about the nutrition that needed for your geckos; the best ultimate diet to keep geckos healthy. Furthermore, you have to differentiate the need of an adult gecko with the baby one. Both of them developed in different capacity and ability of digestion system; the baby’s system is not fully developed to eat some improper certain diet. Consequently, selectivity were needed to prevent unnecessary thing (accident and illness) get into they baby. That is why, learn the do and don’t for geckos babies food is fundamental matter to learn.
Moreover, the risk not only haunted the baby and juvenile geckos, apparently, the adults also have their own problems which you need to concern about. One of the most devastating case is when your leopard geckos refused to eat. Yes, I know if it’s possible, you would wish that you could speak and understand their language; but it would never happened. All we can do is learn the symptoms to pull the line and identify the culprit behind this loss appetite of your leopard geckos.
Therefore, today, we would give you insight of the culprit loss of appetite and how to solves the issue. Without further do, here is: leopard gecko ain’t eating? 2 ways to solves the mystery.
1. There’s Problem with The Cage
Temperature
Okay, first thing first, checking out the cage’s temperature would be a good idea. A lot of time climate influence the appetite of your geckos. Like human, sometime cold climate impact to the increment of appetite. So, if the gecko cage is too cold or hot would change the your gecko appetite; and correct the temperature as the proper term. Furthermore, geckos are known as cold blooded species which mean that they couldn’t control their own bodies temperatures.
Consequently, you must be the one that provide both temperatures: cold and hot inside the enclosure area to keep them physically stable. Stable environment would bring much influence than you ever thought, my friends. However, the hot temperature if the cage should be around 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cold must be around 73 degrees Fahrenheit. But, if the loss of appetite happened during the winter months, that is a normal thing; nothing need to worry about.
Stress
Uncomfortable cage could lead to stress which is a dangerous subject for your gecko. You need to eliminate the causes of the stress; let your gecko live inside unhealthy environment would only torture him from the inside (psychologically) and out (physically). Deep stress would cause your gecko to loss his appetite and periodically loss his weigh; and I am sure, this is something you wouldn’t wish to happen.
In case of moving them to new habitat and cage could be one of the culprit of loosing appetite. But, as the time goes, in time of your geckos start to adapt with the new environmental, this problem should be solves. Another cause of loss appetite is bullying. Yes, this might be happened if inside a cage there are more than one members in it. The dominant one prone to bullying the weak one; in this particular case, separation would be the best way out.
2. Health Problems
Health problems would be our first though if we see our beloved geckos loss their appetite, and it might be true. Furthermore, here are some step to determine the health status of your geckos:
Searching for The Signs of Illness
Your geckos would loss their appetite when they suffer from the injury of illness. If your concern arise and you suspect uncommon habitual or physical gaffe, it’s better to consult and bring your beloved leopard gecko to the veterinarian. But, you need to careful on evaluate the signs of illness itself:
- The sign of skin infections: skin infection appeared in form of emitting pus, redden areas, and swollen areas on the skin surface.
- Respiratory problems: identified with several signs, such as laboured breathing, plugged nostrils, noises during inhale or out hale.
- Bone Diseases: bone diseases could be form as the weakness in certain areas of the body, such as legs and jaw, sometime followed by the inability to stand walk. Immediately bring your leopard gecko to the vet if you notice these kinds of symptoms.
- Most of illness affected the eyes and caused it appeared cloudy.
Try to Hand-feed your Leopard Gecko
The last leopard gecko ain’t eating? 2 ways to solves the mystery is try to hand-feed your your beloved ones. Offer some of his favorite treat, and see if he wants to eat it or not. However, here are some methods of hand-feeding geckos:
- The most common method: use one hand to handle the gecko and another hand the prey. Get the prey closer to gecko’s mouth and introduce it, and hope that your gecko would start to eat it.
- Q-tip the fruit nectars; the Q-tip should be placed near the gecko’s mouth and if your gecko attract to it, he would start to lick and eat the nectars.
- The last method is smash the prey and present it to your gecko; because perhaps your gecko didn’t like living prey. Rub the prey gently to the gecko’s mouth to get his attention. If he attracts to it, he would eat it.