my leopard gecko will not eat

[j***@yahoo.com]

i have 2 leopard gecko 1 male and 1 female. they been mating for two
weeks new.
they both have not been eating as much for the last week i give them
crickets and waxworms. They have been pooping but i have not seen them
eat. they are about a year and a half old. maybe it is because they are

mating? plz someone help me

[b***@cs.toronto.no-uce.edu]

Post by j***@yahoo.com
i have 2 leopard gecko 1 male and 1 female. they been mating for two
weeks new.
they both have not been eating as much for the last week i give them
crickets and waxworms. They have been pooping but i have not seen them
eat. they are about a year and a half old. maybe it is because they are
mating? plz someone help me

As you suggest they probably have other things on their minds than food!

Don't worry too much if lizards lose their appetites briefly as long as
they act healthy and active, and aren't losing weight. Unlike mammals,
reptiles don't need to eat much at all once they stop growing, unless
they are producing eggs. If they are defecating normally, they are
eating as much as they need to.

That said, waxworms aren't a very good food for leopard geckos. They
are extremely high in fat, and the geckos can get 'addicted' to them
and refuse more nutritious food. Just use them for the occasional
treat or to tempt a sick or malnourished animal to eat. Waxworms are
the cheesecake of the feeder insect world. You can feed mealworms or
superworms instead -- they are comparable to crickets in nutritional
value, and the geckos like them. Put them in a dish they can't climb
out of.

Your female will probably lay her first clutch in a week or two. Sometimes
the first egg or pair of eggs of the season is infertile or defective,
and the gecko may lay it or them outside the nest box. Don't worry --
this is common. It's as if the animal needs to do a trial run to get
things working properly.

You can separate the pair now if you like, or if the male is giving the
female a hard time. She only needs to mate once to lay all season. Be
sure she has a dish (a bottle top or small jar lid works fine) of calcium
supplement so she can eat as much as she likes. She'll need it for the
egg shells.

Leopard geckos are ideal pet lizards. Enjoy your geckos!

Btw, questions about captive reptiles are more likely to get good answers
in rec.pets.herp than here.

[joey]

thanks for the help. i should feed them mealworms not waxworms, should
i cut the head off the mealworms, because people tell me they will eat
the Leopard geckos in stomace.

<and the gecko may lay it or them outside the nest box. Don't worry
-->
i do not have a nest box and i never seen one where can i get one.
(like a web site link)

[b***@cs.toronto.no-uce.edu]

Post by joey
thanks for the help. i should feed them mealworms not waxworms, should
i cut the head off the mealworms, because people tell me they will eat
the Leopard geckos in stomace.

That's an urban legend. The geckos have no trouble killing the mealworms
(and superworms) as they bite them, and even if they swallowed them
whole, they would rapidly die in the gecko's stomach. Leos have
tiny teeth, but they have a lot of them and they are very sharp.
While they don't chew the mealworms into pieces, they bite many tiny
holes in them before they swallow them.

Many large and respected breeders feed their leos mealworms exclusively.
If any mealworms you buy turn into pupae, no problem, leos will eat
them just as eagerly. Mealworms can be refrigerated to slow their
growth, and they are much easier to keep alive and healthy than crickets.
I keep them in wheat bran and give them a chunk of carrot for moisture.
It's very easy to raise them, too, much easier and cleaner than crickets.

Post by joey
<and the gecko may lay it or them outside the nest box. Don't worry
-->
i do not have a nest box and i never seen one where can i get one.
(like a web site link)

I meant the humidity box, which they usually have to sleep in. I use
plastic food containers from the dollar store and cut a hole in the
lid for an entry -- this keeps them from digging the bedding out. They
dig *very* enthusiastically when they lay eggs. For babies, I use a
cottage cheese container with a hole cut in the side. For bedding
inside the box I use coconut fibre, the stuff that comes in blocks that
you soak. It's cheaper at garden centers than at pet shops, but with
just a few animals, one block should last you a long time. Peat works
fine, too.

If you plan to incubate the eggs and raise the hatchlings, I recommend
you get the details from one of the better web sites or a good book.
Perhaps somebody on rec.pets.herp can recommend some.

[joey]

i have made the humidity box with a plastic food container and i will
start buying mealworm.

thanks for all the help.