Permanent appetite loss

[PeppersGirl]

Well seeing as it's almost a year since Pepper has had much of an appetite I figured it's about time I found out what's going on. In the last couple of months he's been eating even less! It started as a dislike for veggies, and then he slowed on eating insects for winter and I thought as he was sleeping it was all brumation related right?
Well it's now nearing the end of summer, and the stubborn dude will eat 3-4 supers a week IF I'm lucky. Only other things he's interested in are caterpillars and witchetty grubs (which of course are rare).
That said he hasn't lost much weight, has the same attitude as always and doesn't appear to be in any distress. He poos fine when he eats, they appear to be healthy.

His temps are correct, using the fake grass as substrate, UV light is changed every ten months or less.
He only eats superworms, when I can't dust these enough I've been giving him some liquid calcium to keep up (once a week). No greens/veggies/fruit in a long time.
He's over two years old and 49cm in length.

Please help? I have no Idea what he's doing! :roll:

 

[Rukii]

I'm not sure exactly whats going on, but I'll try and suggest a few things.

I don't know much about parasites, but have you had him checked for them?

Have you tried a lot of different feeders? Maybe he's too used to what he has. Try roaches or reptiworms maybe?

Maybe try giving him some brightly colored veggies or fruits like mango, carrot, or squash?

Have you tried giving him baby food? When mine wouldn't eat, baby food mixed with their calcium and vitamins worked like a charm. Another time when my male was a juvenile and wasn't eating ANYTHING, I made a homemade smoothie of baby food, fruits, veggies, greens, and their vitamins and calcium, and he ended up eating a good portion of the syringe which was a HUGE turnaround. Have you tried to syringe feed him? That way he doesn't exactly have a choice to eat it, it will already be in his mouth, and the most he could do is spit it out.

That's all I can really think of at the moment. Hopefully some of that helps

 

[PeppersGirl]

Thanks Rukii
He's never been checked for parasites (or to a vet)... simply because he doesn't display any symptoms other than refusing foods.
I have tried different feeders - he used to love crickets, I have a roach colony and I've tried a lot of other insects, but the bugger can even tell the difference between his supers and mealworms :roll:
He never really goes for bright colours (wish he did!) only thing is he used to love green.

I made him a smoothie last week with veggies, had some success before he wiped his face all over my quilt and gave up!! I've also tried poking greens in the side of his mouth, mostly he spits it out and gets grumpy when I try it now... he knows just what I'm about to do! :|

Such a difficult little master :?

 

[Rukii]

What a little pooper! Is your UV bulb new or less than 6 months old? Unfortunately I can't really think of much else to do, hopefully someone will come along to help!

 

[PeppersGirl]

Hehe yes he's a pain! :lol: And UV light is 4 about months old.

 

[fez09]

My suggestion would be to have a fecal done. Mojo had horrible pinworms and the ONLY symptom he ever displayed was a low appetite. I would also reccomend getting an appetite stimulator such as Reptaid or Jumpstart (which is in Petco and Petsmart) that will get some calories into him as well. Good luck!

 

[PeppersGirl]

Okay thanks fez09, you're right I should get him checked

 

[Rukii]

I'm hoping for the best

 

[PeppersGirl]

Thanks Rukki, the vet's out for two weeks... He's not looking real good this arvo either.