re:one of my geckos isnt eating

Question
QUESTION: webought 2 geckos yesterday. theyre both around 6 months old. one is larger than the other. the bigger one ate 5 crickets this morning, but the smaller one has taken no interest in them. the crickets have even been waling on her head and shes not eating them. is it because shes scared or sick or maybe cuz its a new cage and new invornment?

ANSWER: Hello Brit,

They can become stressed after a move yes.  Also, if the larger one is dominating the smaller one she wont eat.  You may need to take them out & feed them separately right now until she gets more comfortable with everything.

What is your setup like?  Do you have an undertank heater & a low wattage basking light?  

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i dont think the big one is dominating at all. she is still very shy. we have two seperate dens, they seem to each have chosen one. the big one pretty much stays in there all day. but the smaller one, the one thats not eating, goes into the other ones cage and looks like shes almost trying to snuggle with the other.
weve been sitting and watching them tonight, the small one creeps upto the big one and eventually is lying side by side, and then usually puts her head on the big one.
we have a 30"x12"x12" tank. we have a heat pad on the bottom and a regular 60 watt bulb placed a bit higher above the top of the cage. we have a small cup with calcium powder. a water dish. and theyre on turf.
the small one is still quite lively, she runs and likes to climb and is walking around a lot. they both move fom the cold side to the warm side, although i havent seem them drink water yet.
as for feeding her seperatly we put her in a box for a couple minutes with the cricket but she ignored it. how long should i leave her with the cricket for?


ANSWER: Hello Brit,

Well, for the little one it may take a little longer for her to come around & she might have more relocation stress than the larger one does.
How large are the crickets you are feeding?  You could also try putting a small dish of worms in the tank, as well.  Usually, if they are hungry they don't waste too much time going after the crickets or other prey.  Make sure though, that the cricket is not too large for her.
GREAT you did not put them on calcisand.  The turf will be just fine.  
Keep a close eye on her, & if she goes to the bathroom, as to whether or not it is runny or really smelly which indicates parasites or worms.  
Give her a little time, & let me know how she is doing shortly.  It can sometimes take up to 2 weeks for them to adjust to a new home.  Leopard geckos are extremely sensitive to environmental changes.

Tracie


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi tracie, so good new, but also some strange behavior....
the good news is my little gecko last night decided to eat a cricket! Yay!  and tonight they both ate alot actually, we gave them 2 meal worms each, which they eat without hesitation and 4 crickets each, to us it seemed like maybe the crickets are just a bit too fast for them and thats why they dont take that much interest in the ones that are faster. even with the jumping legs removed the cricket still crawl really fast. so we tried smaller crickets and pulled off most of their legs and the 2 geckos ate them all.
The strange behavior that we just noticed tonight when we turned off the day time light and switched to the night light, was that the geckos get low to the ground and put their tails up in the air and sway them slowly. they didnt do it at the same time, its usually one or the other,  ( it was the smaller one that did it first) and it is usually when one of them is under a certain spot under a log. its almost as if they are trying to scare the other one out of the spot.
we looked up the tail thing and it says that this is a defensive behavior.
once again, the smaller gecko still follows the larger gecko around, and tries to sleep with it and snuggle up to it. and theyre not atttacking after the tail thing,
the pet store we bought them from wasnt 100% sure if they were male or female, but said he hardly ever got males so they were probably female.
also he apparently got them at the same time, so i'd assume the same  "batch" "or litter", but one is definitely alot bigger than the other one.
maybe its just normal gecko behavior but if you have any info we'd be really grateful to hear it
Thanks
Brit  

Answer
Hello Brit,

That is great that they finally ate!  You could also try putting the crickets in the fridge for a few minutes to slow them down!  They could get them better.  :-))
Oh that is definitely defensive & dominant behavior.  You may have 2 males then so, you are going to have to watch them closely because you will have to separate them at one point, soon.  If you have 2 females, it is just the larger one showing dominance.  
In that instance, you will still need to watch for behavior between them that could hurt the smaller one.

Tracie