Hi - I just aquired a leopard gecko from someone's child who was not taking care of it. He is very skinny but otherwise seems in good health. I have had him for 2 days and he does not seem to be eating the crickets I put in his cage and I have not seen him drinking either. What do I do? Is there anything special I can give him to jump start him eating?
Any help would be appreciated - I'm afraid he is starving himself.

I just read some of the other threads - guess I should have done that before posting my question.......anyway, I guess I need to give him time to settle in. I just got scared because he is so skinny - his tail is pencil thin, poor thing. I have him in a tank with only paper towels, heat and a hiding place. I may get some meal worms later today, if he doesn't eat them my Bearded Dragons will.

Don't worry to much, once he settles down and starts eating he'll put on wait in no time. I took in my brothers geckos and one was like yours. well with a good diet of crickets mealworms and waxworm she was looking better in less than a week.

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"Reality is wrong, Dreams are for real"
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Aww, the poor thing! Thank goodness it will be fattening up soon. As you have discovered, time and patience are all you can do for now. Let us know how things go, and pictures are always welcome .

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Alex Hitch Hitchens: "Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away."

Keep in mind that it could also be a parasite. When the little guy has a bowel movement, have a good look at it. If it is at all runny or foul smelling, there is a parasite present and he will need to get dewormed. (Typically they administer panacur.)

Make sure you have the proper temperature gradient. This will play a key role in the Leopard Geckos appetite and weight gain. Once the leo starts to eat, you will see a massive increase in the thickness of his tail over the first 30 days. It's always a good idea to snap a photo to visually see the difference. This way, if he isn't gaining weight, you will be able to confirm this with the photo if you don't have a scale. If over a 30 day period he hasn't gained weight, but is eating, he needs to get dewormed.

You also want to add another hide. If he gets too warm and wants to move, he should have a hide he can retreat to and feel secure on the cooler end of the enclosure. If one isn't present, he may stay in the warm hide opposed to coming out in the open to cool off.

How do you know he isn't drinking water? Leopard geckos are nocturnal and it takes them seconds to drink. He may have come out while you were asleep and found the water.

We have a good caresheet on Leopard Geckos in the caresheet drop menu at the top of the page. I say good because I am currently rewriting it and the new one is great.

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Leopard Gecko Care Guide

Heres a pic of him currently. Found him sitting in the bowl and looked like he was drinking a bit.




And just so anybody thats interested knows, this is the gecko that came with the boa from my A New Life for a Neglected Boa topic

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i'd be better off opening my own small zoo.