Baby barely eating!

[MartinW]

I had my first hatchling on June 23rd and she's hardly eating and hardly growing. I'm guessing she's eating at most 2 1/4" crickets a day but I've never seen her eat. Is this common for a baby? The temperature is around 90*F in the hot end. There's a water dish and a humid and non-humid hide. A lot of the crickets get under the paper towel so I'm thinking of taping down the edges so they don't hide there. I'm also going to start counting the crickets so I know exactly how much she's eating. Does anyone have any other advice?

Martin

[nellie]

I got my leos when they were tiny babies and they didn't eat for what seemed like forever (I can't remember now just how long).
They were afraid of crickets, so I switched to mealworms. Even then, it took a really long time before they started to eat.
I'm not an expert by any means, so I would like to see what everyone else says, but that was my experience.
~Nellie

[damzookeeper]

gee, 2 crickets a day is a small amount, but it sounds like you are doing everything else right. Most of my hatchlings will eat 2 or 3 crickets for the first couple days but by a week they are eating 4 or 5 or more a day. I have recently started feeding mealies as well so I'm not sure how much they are eating but they sure are growing alot faster with their constant supply of mealies and occasional crickets. I leave the mealies in a dish and check on them every night or every other night at the least and pull out any roaming mealies or refill the dish. My older geckos that were only on crickets for there first 3 months are the same size as some of my one month olds that have been on both crickets and mealies for the month. lol. Crazy!! Anyway, I hope she starts eating more soon. Try making it hard for the crickets to hide and see if that helps. But as long as she is eating and growing, even if it is slow, I wouldn't worry too much at this point she is still very young.

[MartinW]

What size are the mealies you feed your babies? I'm trying to breed mealies and so far I just have some very tiny ones. The biggest babies are around 4 mm long, and I think the adult mealies are too big for a baby.

Martin

[Pixie]

I fed my little baby gecko 1/2" mealies to start off with. She grew very quickly and in 2 1/2 months is now chowing down on the 1" and + mealies.

If you keep your mealworm colony in a warm place mid 80's and make sure they have enough fresh veggies they will be big enough to feed in 10-14 days.

Pixie

[Samba]

Martin - Perhaps your baby, like many others at their age, become easily stressed with the presence of annoying crickets. Try only placing two or three small crickets in the cage and observing your gecko. Taping down the edges might be good for keeping the crickets in your gecko's view, however, crickets will chew on anything, and who knows what effect it will have on your gecko if it consumes a cricket with a stomach full of who-knows-what. Trying feeding in a separate container, this may help. Hope this works!