I have 4 Leopard Geckos, 1 male, and 3 females the male is housed separately, and the male is having no problems, but my 3 females don't seem to have much of a feeding trigger, ie they don't eat much.

I'm confused, temps, and environment are fine,
but regular feeding has been tricky lately, I can't regularly get food, and wonder if irregular feeding could cause this

I am keeping them at a stable weight with hand feeding, and food when I can get it, but they don't eat enough to grow, when food is available
(This sumer I get my license, and won't have this problem)

could you help me entice my Leopard Geckos to eat better, and gain weight/size

THANKS
Lizardpoo

WHat size tank are the females in ?? do they have enough hides to get away from each other if needed ? both in the warm and cool end ? what are the temps and lighting periods ?? The more info you give us the easier to help.

__________________
Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

Are they a good weight, plenty of fat on their tails?

How long have you had them, how old are they?

If your male is fine and all your females are off feeding, it could be stress related with being housed together, you could try feeding seperatley if your not already, and see how that goes, or just seperating them all, and see if feeding improves..

they are 11/2 year and1/2 year old, I keep them in a 20 long tank, with three hides, and a humid hide, and lighting of about 14hrs/day.
they are small for their ages, and are fairly matched my early 2 females never grew much, but I have heard they don't stunt which didn't make me worry until now that I have food and they aren't growing much

I've been considering building a big tank with removeable dividers, but haven't had time or $ and I'm sceptical to whether this realy would work for my "hard earned" $,

I think I am going to reconsider building my tank

I'm a bit confused by your ages - you are housing a 1 1/2 yr old with a 6 month old? If your male is housed separately then he won't be causing them any stress. I wouldn't personally worry too much, unless they are losing weight - can you weigh them/how much do they weigh? How big are they?

Babies eat much more than juveniles and adults as they are growing more quickly,. as they get a bit older the appetite tends to decrease slightly. Our geckos eat much less than they did when they were babies (they are about 6 or 7 months old now), although their appetite has increased a little lately. They are gaining about 2g each every month.

What do you mean you are unable to get food on a regular basis? I'm also a bit confused by this - how often do you get food and how much? What do you feed the geckos and how often?

Also, as Ken asked, how big is the tank you have them in?

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

I think I know what I need to do now,

1st- build my tanks keeping all of the Leopard Geckos separate
( I will be able to monitor how each of them eat, allowing me to better feed each, and cause them less stress )

2nd- make an individualized feeding schedual for my Leopard Geckos
( when I first got my Leopard Geckos, I didn't feed them individualy so as to monitor how much each ate, leaving me with underweight Leopard Geckos (1 would eat leaving the other hungry vice versa), causing my trouble that I have now-getting them to eat )

3rd- find foods that interest the lizards more
( I hope this will entice them to eat )

ps I found a more reliable way to get food, and hope that with a more regular feeding schedual, my Leopard Geckos will be more enticed to eat what they have. I thank you for your help, but I think I have it worked out how to set my Leopard Geckos straight

but I have one unanswered question left,
could irregular feeding have caused them not to eat

No offense but you still didn't answer the question. I am also confused. What do you mean by "food when I can get it? Are you saying that you are going for periods of time when you are unable to feed your animals?
What way is that. Please clear this up for us.

What have you been feeding and what was the interval between feedings.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

#1
yes, but not for such a period as to loose weight.
the problem is that lately, after I have been able to get food, they don't want to eat it and have begun to loose weight

I don't go any further than a few days without feeding. I usualy try to feed them 5-10 live crix or mealies every to every other day when food is available.

#2
Before, I'd depend 100% on my mealies, I breed them in a small tub, but that began to falter when they quit reproducing, then I tried to depend upon store bought Crix/mealies 100% that also began to falter because I live about a half hour from any stores, and would wait to long, allowing my supplies to completely drain before a visit to the store(I'm at the will of my mother to drive me when I can go Isn't always my choice, (she's a very busy person))

My New Plan is to depend equaly on both store and home breeding, and not to allow my food to completely run out, this should help create a steady food source.

I'm sorry about the confusion, i hope this clears up several questions, I'm only conserned about my lizards' wellfare.

Hey awesome news, my lizards resumed normal feeding without any changes,
I assume all there poor eating must have been a faze

Thank you all for your help