ACKIE WONT EAT

[Lukecee]

Had my ackie for 12 days now, he/she is supposedly aroundb8 months old, 25cm approx and 15 grams approx. Brought him home and let him settle for a couple days, then re arranged his whole enclosure adding new substrate and hides etc, a bit of forced handling was also done during the purchase of the ackie. Looks like he might also be shedding a bit,
Now problem is I have only seen him eat one cricket in 12 days, have been offering crickets mealworms and boiled egg daily , sniffs them out a bit then aborts.
Temps are 35-40 ambient and 50-60 basking, between 20-25 on cold.side. please help, is he just settling in or ....?

 

[Stompsy]

I'm only just about to start feeding my monitors again as it's getting closer to spring. If he was cooled before you picked him up, he may not be ready for a big feed just yet. I'm about to increase heat and light times, which will ultimately result in them coming out of brumation... and being hungry again.

Get some mice and see if he's more interested in those than crickets.

Don't stress though... they can go a long time without a lot to eat.

 

[Tobe404]

You could also try Woodies over Crickets. See how that goes.

I was stressed too when I first got my Yellow Spotted Monitor as it took him a while to get into the swing of things, but he soon started smashing down everything offered.

He's now outside (was in a heated enclosure indoors for the first Winter so kept eating regardless) and hasn't eaten since mid-May.

He pops out of his heated burrow every now and then and from what I can tell he doesn't seem to of lost much condition at all.

Hopefully he'll start eating again soon. I wont try just yet though as it's still too cool. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

 

[GBWhite]

Mate,

I've kept Ackies and Tristis successfully for the past 25 years or more and they live on a staple diet of chicken based cat food, puppy food and puppy sausage loaf and because I've been breeding crickets and woodies for the past 30 years and have them on hand they get the occasional meal of them, as well as fuzzie mice (when I've got baby monitors they get pinkies). All my critters are very active and have thrived on this diet. I'll add that I have never provided UV or supplemented food with vitamins, I keep them in simple enclosures (with artificial grass substrate, small water bowl, branches as cage decorations and pavers as a basking spot under their basking light as well as a box filled with "brickies" sand as a hide) and never had any problems or health issues and only lost animals to old age. I'll also breed them on occasion for friends if they ask for some. I'll add that I don't sell them but give them away to those friends unless they have something that I might consider swapping for.

12 days without a feed is nothing but my advice is to get rid of the mealworms and forget about offering egg, boost the basking spot temp to 70 and try what I have mentioned above and see how it goes.

George.

Ps - nice looking little Ackie you have there.

 

[Lukecee]

I'm only just about to start feeding my monitors again as it's getting closer to spring. If he was cooled before you picked him up, he may not be ready for a big feed just yet. I'm about to increase heat and light times, which will ultimately result in them coming out of brumation... and being hungry again.

Get some mice and see if he's more interested in those than crickets.

Don't stress though... they can go a long time without a lot to eat.

Ok thanks that puts my mind at ease a bit , I'll keep an eye on his weight in the meantime
[doublepost=1566368235,1566366378][/doublepost]Thanks guys for the advice this info puts my mind at ease and I'll put all that advice into practice now Thank you
[doublepost=1566395698][/doublepost]Guys I thought I would add something, i don't know if this is relevant. The enclosure I purchased has one uv light at the cold end and a 250watt ceramic heat emitter at the hot end, is the ceramic heat emitter good enough to double up as a basking spot or do I need a actual light source ??
Cheers
[doublepost=1566565208][/doublepost]Just to add a bit of an update, I made a separate thread questioning the fact that I only have a ceramic heat emitter in my enclosure and wondering if that could be the problem, turns out I swapped the ceramic globe with 100w bulb from Bunnings and ackie was smashing woodies within 10 minutes!!! I do still think that the time of year , cold weather and settling in did play a part but he seems to be all good now, and thanks for the support .