Knob tail feeding problem

[Gavin123]

Hi I have two knob tail geckos nearly 6 weeks old. One of them is eating 6 small crickets per feed (every 2nd night) but the other is barely eating at all it seems to be scared of the crickets.

I put about 3 crickets in at a time and when the good eater finishes them off I drop another 3 in.

i did get it to eat one cricket by pulling one of its legs off (the crickets leg not the gecko's) and placing it right in front of it but it hasn't eaten anything else.

Any suggestions at what else I can try or any other food I can give it e.g. Mealworms?

 

[Pilbarensis]

seperate them into different enclosures

 

[xAshx]

I had a young wheeleri scared of crix... So I'd put 3 in his enclosure before I went to bed, but I'd put a circle of carrot in the middle of his enclosure so the crix would be attracted to it and not go near him... That way he could go to them... Worked really well...I can now feed him late arvo and he hunts them all down himself within 10 mins.

 

[mummabear]

Try woodies.

 

[Thyla]

yeah taking of the rear legs of the crickets means they are easier to catch for the gecko. Also what size are you feeding? What is your hot side temp at?

 

[NickGeee]

I don't find many of my knobs like mealies, I would just separate them whilst feeding.

 

[Gavin123]

Thanks guys, the temps are 30 at the hottest spot down to 21 in the coolest. I'm feeding them the smallest size/pin size crickets (I've tried medium but they both weren't eating those.

they are both sharing the same burrow even though they've dug out two which I figure is a good sign they are getting on.

ive put a small piece of carrot in so will see how they go when I feed them tonight. I don't have a second enclosure so I'm hoping I don't need to separate them but if both of them don't feed well tonight I will get one and separate them tomorrow.

edit: also I've noticed that the one that's not feeding well is the first one out of the burrow each night and the last one to go back in each morning.

 

[kitten_pheonix]

Thanks guys, the temps are 30 at the hottest spot down to 21 in the coolest. I'm feeding them the smallest size/pin size crickets (I've tried medium but they both weren't eating those.

they are both sharing the same burrow even though they've dug out two which I figure is a good sign they are getting on.

ive put a small piece of carrot in so will see how they go when I feed them tonight. I don't have a second enclosure so I'm hoping I don't need to separate them but if both of them don't feed well tonight I will get one and separate them tomorrow.

edit: also I've noticed that the one that's not feeding well is the first one out of the burrow each night and the last one to go back in each morning.

can you devide the enclosure with a piece of cardboard whilst feeding?
What size enclosure do you have them in?

 

[Thyla]

Temps seem alright and so do the size of the crickets.

I recommend for the one that's struggling to put in a simple, small sized enclosure with only 1-2cm of sand (so he/she cannot burrow) and a small hide at either end of enclosure. When feeding, remove hides and take the rear legs off the crickets.
That way it has the best chance of seeing and then catching the crickets.
If you don't have another enclosure, maybe just separate for feeding time, then return the animals to the original enclosure. However you should start thinking about setting up another enclosure because after a few months they should be separated as they can mistake another's wriggling knob-tail for food and bite it off the other (had it happen to mine).

 

[Gavin123]

Thanks again. I'll grab another enclosure tomorrow. There in a 30x30x30 cube, is that too small for them at their age? I've replaced the sand with washed Sydney sand instead of the red stuff you see in the photo because I thought that might be making them uncomfortable.

tonight I dropped 3 in again while only one gecko was out of the burrow (the one that hasn't been eating). After a while he pounced on one of them and bit it but didn't eat it. I put another 3 in when the other gecko came out of the burrow but neither of them have eaten any. The crickets are walking straight past their faces and they notice them but won't eat them. I pulled the legs off a few of them and dropped them in right in front of them but they still wouldn't go for them.

What I meant before about them coming out of the burrow at different times is that when I put the first three crickets in the one that's struggling is out by himself with for a few hours before the other one comes out. So it doesn't seem like he's being disturbed by the other gecko.