There are lots of reasons why leopard geckos don't eat: stress, parasites, problems with husbandry, etc.
Do you know if your leopards are parasite free? What temperatures you maintain on cool and hot spots (air and substrate)? What is the level of humidity? Do they have enough hiding places? Are they overcrowded? Are the geckos together or in separate vivarums? Are you changing their furniture or your frequently?
I have 29 geckos: 26 of them are Leopards. I learned the hard way that a gecko's world is not limited only to what is going on inside their vivarium. I keep my geckos in my livingroom. Their vivariums are as close as their habitats as possible. One day, I started to moved the livingroom furniture around to make space for a new entertainment unit. I went at it for a few weeks, discarting old furniture to make space changing pictures on the walls. Changing, their vivariums areound. It took me approximately two weeks because I will do this at night, when the geckos were awake because I didn't want to disturb them during the day. The same day finished, I noticed that all my geckos came to the front of their vivariums and stared at the room all night. Perhaps, they were doing that for the entire two weeks. I tought they were enjoying my work. Wrong. The next day, I noticed that I got a hunger strike in my hands. No one would eat, I noticed that during those two weeks some will eat a little some will not; but, I thought it was normal. After the second day, I got so worry, I brought them to the vet. He checked them for parasites. None. He asked me about my husbandry techniques. He was satisfied. We then noticed that some of my geckos were kind of oily on their heads. The vet first thought I had rubbed chapstick on their heads. I didn't of course. He was astonished to see so many geckos with the same problem. I guess he has never seen that on his professional life. He prescribed the following: First, to give them .05cc (tuberculin syringe) of pedialite three to four times a day to prevent them from dehydrating. Second, to give them plain yogurt or ensure to maintain nutrients for a few days and try to let them eat on their own after that. I got so worried about the health of my geckos that I forgot all about the livingroom. A week later they started to eat as nothing ever happened. I was so happy and relief. But, I noticed that one of my snow leopards, adult female, was still not eating. I took her back to the vet. He concluded that she was healthy. You know sometimes you train your animals to your ways. Well she has trained us. She will not eat unless we give her the food. To this day, I am trying to have her hunt her prey with small amounts of success.
My suggestion is that you methodically check their habitat and your husbandry methods. There is definitely wrong there, if parasites and other medical conditions are ruled out. They are very hardy and it takes them a long time to show they are stressed.
Let me know how long they have not eating. Also, let me know if you are sure they are parasite free. I don't like to force feed but sometimes is the only choice if it becomes a matter of life and death.
Iris
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Do Leopard Geckos ever get to the point of not eating? Our four don't seem
to want the crickets, superworms, or mealworms that I have been feeding them.
I bought wax worms just to give them something to eat, because I was
worried about them.For the breeders out there -- what do you do in cases where your leopard
geckos won't eat? How long is it ok for them to turn their noses away from
the food?Becky
