My gecko leopard dont eat

Question
Hello,
I have a gecko leopard and he's now 8 or 9 years old.
He's a male, and i've never had too much problem feeding him.
But about 1 month ago, he started to lose his tail fat.
But i was feeding him well, like 7-8 crickets per 2 days,
I always did that, and he always had a big tail.
But now he has a thin tail, and he doesn't want to eat at all.
I'm very worried about his situation, because
I checked on many sites to fing what was the Problem, and
It says maybe he has parasites, but he doesn't seems to
Have diarreha, and his dungs seems fine.
I need help, and maybe i should see the vet, but
I need to know how to make him eat.  

Thanks for your help,
Charles

Answer
Hi Charles,

If you have had your leopard gecko for 8 or 9 years and he has had a fat tail up till now then it sounds like you must be caring for him correctly.

Not eating is a symptom of some other problem rather then being the problem by itself. Your best hope of getting him to eat again is finding out and fixing whatever that problem is. I think you already know that a vet provides your best chance of that.

Parasites are a definite possibility, even after all these years and without diarrhea. Healthy animals can have small amounts of parasities without problems but if these numbers increase for whatever reason then the animal can develop symptoms of infection. Your vet will want to see a fresh poop sample for examination.
Bacterial infections are another possibility.

In the meanwhile, it is important that he stay hydrated. Animals that are not eating are often not drinking either. Soak him in a small amount of barely warm water for 5 or 10 minutes a day or dribble some water over his mouth. You can also try dabbing abit of chicken or turkey based baby food on his snout. Most leos respond by licking it off and that will give him a bit of nutrition and keep his strength up until you get him to the vet and determine what is causing his appetite loss. Good luck with him.