Gecko won't eat

Question

I need help. Recently I've been neglecting my gecko because of something that happened to me that left me emotionally distressed. My gecko used to be healthy, but now he's skinny, squints his eyes, and refuses to eat what I give him. I don't know what vet will look at him and I don't know if he's sick.

I'm giving I'm fresh water every 2-3 days and mealworms everyday. Sometimes he'll eat, but the worms usually end up drying up and dying. My temperature gauge is broken and I have to get a new one so I have no idea what temperature it is in his cage.

I need help. I feel so guilty and I don't want to get hated on by the vet or judged. I signed a pet form to take care of him and I failed it.

Answer 1

You must take him to the vet and also get a new temperature gauge today. Also give him fresh water daily and feed your gecko crickets and only occasionally give him meal worms.

Feeding Common House Geckos
House geckos should be fed a variety of small prey items. Crickets can make up the main part of their diet with the addition of fruit flies and other small flies, silkworms, the occasional mealworm, and other insects. Gut load prey prior to feeding them to your geckos, dust them with a calcium supplement two to three times a week, and a dusting of a multivitamin once a week. Feed your common house geckos in the evening since they are nocturnal. Juveniles should be fed daily but adults can be fed every other day. Feed as much prey as your house gecko will eagerly consume.

Lighting and Humidity for Common House Geckos
Try to maintain a daytime temperature gradient of 75-90 degrees Fahrenheit with a night time low of 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat can be provided by utilizing ceramic heat elements or reptile bulbs in a reflector lighting fixture. .../...

Use white reptile heat bulbs during day time hours. At night utilize a red or purple night time bulb for heat. These bulbs can be purchased in any reptile section of the pet store or online.

Common house geckos are nocturnal so they do not need special UVB lighting like many reptiles. However, many experts feel providing UV lighting is still beneficial to the overall health of nocturnal animals therefore it is still recommended to use a UVA/UVB light bulb during the day time.

House geckos need a moderate to high humidity level in their enclosure so you should aim for 60-75 percent relative humidity which you can measure with a hygrometer. Provide humidity with regular misting, bowls of water, or a fogger and you will find that your geckos will likely drink from water droplets left from the mist.

Put your own shame aside and fulfil your agreement to take care of him. He's alive it is not too late, but it will be if he dies.
If the temperature is out of range for him that could be making him ill, but seek the veterinary advice today.
We cannot control how others perceive us. If the vet is judgemental, there is nothing you can do about that. Most people understand a person going through difficulties, the problem is with a pet (just like with a child), they are dependent upon us and no matter what happens we need to put aside our difficulties to care for them. If we are failing to do this, it is our responsibility to seek help.
Now you are doing so here and good on you for that. Please go and get the help your lizard needs and let us know how you get on.

Answer 2

Is it possible for you to give a temperature reading on humidity and heat? He/she looks to be very hungry and could be starving. It's fat levels have clearly depleted due to the tail size and it needs to get a few good days of eating to fix that issue.

Also change its water every day and dust the food with calcium maybe every day except Sunday, and dust the food with ONLY multivitamins on Sunday. Take him/her to a Herp vet ASAP and keep a close eye on it for a while.

Good for you with getting help and I hope you the best. Also if your leopard gecko is on sand I would look into changing the substrate because the gecko could have ingested sand and it could have clogged up their digestive system.

Answer 3

Although it will be painful, the best thing that you can do is to be honest about the situation and seek expert help. Things do not sound good as they are, and you will be respected for asking for help sooner, rather than later.

Answer 4

All of the above info is correct and good advice, just note this pic is of a leopard gecko.. his tail just isn't fat due to the mal-nutrition. His body has absorbed all the nutrient and water that would've been stored in the fat cells in his tail's tissue. The skinnier the tail gets is a sign of the severity of their condition and dehydration- the fatter the better. Glad the question was asked and you're seeking help. Great start! There sure is hope for you and this little guy as previously stated. His color looks pretty good so your lights and temperature are probably in the safe zone. Also, this breed of gecko typically DOES NOT NEED HUMIDITY but grab a clean spray bottle and using luke warm to warm water (not hot, not shockingly cold) and lightly mist his body until the water starts to glide off. He will lick drops of water from his face and maybe front legs and feet. If he's not drinking well this will be at least something and a percentage will be absorbed through his skin. Any updates on how he's doing? I hope better.

Answer 5

Get yourself some help, and then the Gecko's.... and everyone stop making this person feel guilty.

Answer 6

Mealworms are very poorly nutritious. It has a lot of fat and a very unbalanced calcium-phosphorous ratio. Changing to crickets should help a lot. Please, update us with is current status.