Amyae gecko hasn’t eaten yet

[Peppa]

Hi I really would love some tips on a 2-3 month old Nephrurus Amyae gecko, I received him 5 days ago and he still has not eaten. He is being kept in a 40x60cm enclosure with 3 hides, a cool side and a hot (about 31-33°C). I have tried feeding crickets, woodies and Calci Worms, the breeder had him on a diet of woodies every three days and he last ate 6 days ago. I assume it’s due to stress of a new enclosure but would love some advice.

 

[VintagePArk]

I’m no proclaimed expert with geckos but they generally are fairly consistent when kept correctly. I would back the hot spot off to 30 at the hottests and thermal gradient to mid 20’s, make sure that you are checking temps with a heat gun and that it is actually working
Other thing I would check is feed response, these geckos should actively hunt if not and you are feeding appropriate sizes, try hand feeding, pick him up and hold him firmly and brush a feed item across his snout, he should respond rather quickly to the stimuli
Has he got enough hides and the like ? They sometimes won’t eat before shedding also

 

[Sdaji]

I've kept hundreds of Nephrurus and would politely question some of the above, especially about picking the lizard up and shoving food into its face while holding it.

The hot spot in the low 30s sounds great, especially if you have a large tub (60cm is more than I'd use) with a good gradient. As long as there's ample space at warm temperatures, the cool side shouldn't matter too much. I kept them on a substrate of sand and a single hide at the warm end, but a second or third hide at different parts of the tub won't hurt, especially in something that large.

I'd use a relatively deep amount of sand and keep it slightly moist. Even when keeping desert/arid forms, I always kept the sand moist and had great results. Keep in mind that in the wild it might be scorching hot and bone dry on the surface, but these things burrow down into the sand and can stay nice and humid - remember that they manage to incubate their eggs out in that environment, so lovely places with enough moisture exist there. With a nice large tub like yours you can probably provide a fairly stable moisture gradient as well as a temperature gradient.

I basically only ever used dusted woodies as a feed source, and if he was eating that before, the type of feed probably isn't the issue.

Does he look to be in good condition and has he put on size yet? If not he may just be one of those annoying slow/squeamish starters and you may actually need to assist feed (they do assist feed pretty easily) and if not, it'll either be that he's just settling in or sloughing or something, or there's an issue with the environment. A picture of the enclosure may help - sometimes people have no idea what's wrong and the picture immediately shows it.

 

[Peppa]

Hi sorry for the late reply and update. I had planned to take him to a vet as to try find the issue, but the night before he had started eating. From what i can tell he is either uncoordinated or the food is too fast but he eats when tong-fed. Thank you for all the replies and yes he seems healthy and has settled in well to his new aquarium.