#Leo hasn't eaten past three sheds. also refusing food

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

hollow escarp
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My Leo hasn't been eating his most recent sheds and has been refusing food since around December. The shedding part is more recent but I haven't really been worrying about the food since he hasn't been losing weight but recently he looks to be much thinner. He also looks like he's no longer trying to take his shed off and I've been having to help him with it. I'm not sure if he's sick or if there's another reason but it's starting to worry me. He seems interested in food but after a few seconds of watching it, he'll just ignore it and move on. Same thing happens with shedding expect he'll chew on it a few times before just spitting it out.

Can someone please give me some help? Idk what to do to make him eat again. I'll send pics and stuff if needed

mystic bridge
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A lot of Leopard geckos love wax worms and will favour them over many foods. If they’re loosing weight and ur concerned I’d try wax worms if you haven’t as there pretty fatty. Only thing is they tend to get addicted to them. Leopard geckos do go off eating when shedding but if it’s been continually that’s strange. Try wax worms but you could also consider going to a veterinarian

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Could you show pics of him?

hollow escarp
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I'll try to see if waxworms get him eating again. Do I just continue helping him with his shed like I've been doing? I can't figure out why he just randomly decided to stop tryna take it off himself

mystic bridge
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How old is he?

hollow escarp
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Also I just noticed in the one pic his foot looks a bit red

mystic bridge
hollow escarp
# mystic bridge How old is he?

About 3-4 years now. The person we got him from didn't know the exact age but we were told he was probably between 8-12 months when we got him

hollow escarp
mystic bridge
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how long has the shed been stuck

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A lot of Leopard geckos rub against objects to get hard to reach places

hollow escarp
mystic bridge
hollow escarp
mystic bridge
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I mean they do get pretty tired removing shed it does use a lot of energy up

hollow escarp
mystic bridge
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If you have a humid hide, I don’t see the problem with maybe when close to shedding give small baths

hollow escarp
mystic bridge
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Also sometimes due to seasons and months they won’t want to eat

mystic bridge
robust apexBOT
hollow escarp
vapid lake
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hello

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let’s remember to disclaim pls

mystic bridge
vapid lake
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if your leo is consistently having stuck shed issues i would see a vet. if your leo is losing a noticeable amount of weight i would also recommend that. outside of that, what is your care like? setup, temps, heating, supplements

hollow escarp
# vapid lake if your leo is consistently having stuck shed issues i would see a vet. if your ...

Not sure of the current size of his tank but I finally was able to order a big 50 gal for him after I realized he was too big for his current one (he came with his current tank we didn't buy it for him). Heating rn is a heat mat under his hide. Not sure of the exact temps tho. I dust his food with calcium powder and I also leave a little dish with calcium in it so he can take some if he needs it

vapid lake
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okay then this might explain some things. improper heating can cause a lack of appetite. ideally youd want an incandescent bulb connected to a thermostat. also, is calcium the only supplement you are using? no multivitamin ?

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id make sure you are 100% aware of the temps. you should have it connected to a thermostat as well as use something like a temp gun to monitor surface temps and digital thermometers to monitor ambients.

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we have some in !shoppinglist

robust apexBOT
hollow escarp
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Ah I wasn't aware they needed multivitamin. I only knew they needed calcium. Also I'm getting all new lighting, decor, substrate, etc with his new tank. I'll add a thermostat, temp gun, and the multivitamin all to the list. Ty for telling me about that aaa

vapid lake
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improper supplementation can cause shedding issues among other things. id take a look at this command (its a huge text wall and i apologize for that lol). there are some brands for supplements + a schedule at bottom. !supplement

robust apexBOT
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Supplements are a necessary part of a leopard gecko's (or most any captive herp's) diet. In the wild, they would be eating a wide variety of prey, and that prey would be eating a wide variety of foods itself. In captivity, there's no way to replicate this perfectly, which is why offering supplements and as varied of a diet as possible is crucial in preventing deficiencies and illness.

The exact schedule you use for supplements will depend on your individual animal, its age, and your feeding schedule. However, a good place to start is by picking up some calcium, calcium + D3, and multivitamins. If you use UVB, you will likely not need a D3 supplement since UVB allows reptiles to produce their own D3. This takes the guessing game out of how much D3 to provide (they can overdose on it) since they will regulate their exposure and D3 levels themselves. D3 is needed to use calcium in the body, so animals will become calcium deficient without D3. Additionally, make sure any calcium supplements you use are phosphorus free since they generally get enough phosphorus in their diet, and too much will cause a calcium deficiency.

Fluker's Calcium + D3 https://bit.ly/39lMQ9d
ZooMed's ReptiCalcium with D3 https://bit.ly/3f7lHdS
Fluker's Calcium (no D3) https://bit.ly/3ntLUpD
ZooMed's ReptiCalcium (no D3) https://bit.ly/2wrkeN0
RepCal Calcium (no D3) https://bit.ly/35DMY4u
Repashy Calcium Plus Multivitamin https://bit.ly/39kqVPu
RepCal Herpivite Multivitamin https://amzn.to/3lBo4rK
ZooMed Reptivite Multivitamin https://amzn.to/38NMQRL
Fluker's Repta Vitamin Multivitamin https://amzn.to/3lC8TON

If you'd like to learn more about how to assess supplement brands, here's a good article from Reptifiles: https://reptifiles.com/reptile-vitamins-reptile-calcium/

If you'd like to learn more about how reptiles use D3, here's an article from Arcadia: https://www.arcadiareptile.com/d3-cycle/

Example supplementation schedules:
http://bit.ly/3cpFcyO