not eating?

RaVeNo888o · 03-04-04, 12:28 AM

Hey guys, a little trouble with my crestie Smeagol.. temps are all right, misting cage each night, havent changed anything, but for some reason he doenst really wanna eat. When i used to drop in a mealie he would eye it and pounce and grab it and thrash it around and then eat it. Now he just kinda eyes it and lets it walk by. I offer baby food and stuff also, but its so hard to tell if he is eating that. I bought some more crickets to see if i could trigger a feeding response with the their movements, but no real luck, maybe one or two cricks missing in the tank. been about a month since ive seen a the feeding response he used to have.

so my main questions would be why? and what can i do about it? what food can i offer to hopefully get him to eat. i was thinking wax or silkworms or something, would that be a good idea?

RaVeNo888o · 03-04-04, 12:34 AM

oh i was also considering hand feeding some babyfood or something just to make sure he is eating something at least

ColleenT · 03-04-04, 05:47 PM

is he listless or active, thin or normal? if he is weak, he may have parasites or bacterial infection. you can go take a fecal sample to a vet...but if he looks really weak, don't wait too long, and take him with you to the vet..Good luck.

dj_honeycuts · 03-05-04, 02:43 AM

If you are really worried, I think hand feeding baby food would be perfectly fine for a short period. Mix in some T-rex Gargoyle Gecko Diet if he has lost any weight, or just T-rex CGD if he hasn't. From reading your post in the other thread about this I would say that you don't have too much to worry about if he hasn't lost any weight. One thing to consider is that even though we may think that house temps are stable, herps still feel that slight change in the fall and winter, plus they perceive the seasonal change in daylight duration. They winter whether we try to help them or not. It sounds to me like he is going through his first bout of winter "downtime", and I'd be willing to bet that in no time as temps and light duration increase he'll return back to normal eating patterns. If you did notice any changes in body size or fecal consistency, I would follow the advice of the post before me and take him into a vet. If anything it gives you piece of mind.

RaVeNo888o · 03-05-04, 12:02 PM

thanks guys

...i wouldnt say that there was a change in body size, more like a lack of change .. wut i mean is hasnt been getting bigger, just sorta stayed at the same size. Its hard to tell if he is lazy, during the day he just hangs out in ones spot, but in the morning when i check on him he has moved. I will try hand feeding him a bit, are there any feeders that would probably entice a feeding response?

RaVeNo888o · 03-05-04, 12:37 PM

oh, just curious, how do animals get parasites?

ColleenT · 03-05-04, 02:05 PM

sometimes they get parasites from crickets if their living conditions(crickets) were not the most sanitary. you have to be careful where you get them. wild caught insects can do it. i am not sure if Mealworms carry parasites. they can also get them from another lizard at the breeders, but you have had yours a while by himself.

RaVeNo888o · 03-05-04, 07:06 PM

yep, mine been on his own since he was a few weeks old in august..cant be from the mealies..i breed them myself..i doubt its from cricks..i have given him them since oct...until the other day, after he was already not eating..