Baby setup and not eating video

I have a 5 week old baby I just bought from a breeder and he isn't eating very much. I know it's probably relocation stress but wanted to find the best solution for offering him food.
He ate Dubia at his breeders and so I have been offering the same. Yesterday he ate 4 Dubia and a little bit of salad. This morning he will not eat at all.
What methods should I try in order to offer food? I have been putting him in a separate container to feed the roaches as there are too many cracks and crevices in his cage to offer in there. What about hand feeding? Or tongs? What about force feeding, when would I need to think about that? Any suggestions?
He loves his basking area which sits at 105. He only leaves there a couple of times a day and yesterday he did leave to go potty. His potty looked nice and solid.
Thanks for any help.

Whitenerj":2u9zk813 said:

I have a 5 week old baby I just bought from a breeder and he isn't eating very much. I know it's probably relocation stress but wanted to find the best solution for offering him food.
He ate Dubia at his breeders and so I have been offering the same. Yesterday he ate 4 Dubia and a little bit of salad. This morning he will not eat at all. <<<<< he likely arrived at your place HUNGRY. Is common for them to be too stressed by the relocation and all the changes that are associated with this to go off the food somewhat for a few days. Relocation stress can last up to a week, is very unlikely it'll stop eating long enough to starve itself though.

What methods should I try in order to offer food? I have been putting him in a separate container to feed the roaches as there are too many cracks and crevices in his cage to offer in there. <<<< worth a try. Didn't work very well for Peppa and Toothless (or Rex and Puff, or George and Mildred , or Wriggles) for me, too interested in me , and the surroundings to eat the crickets in the tub with them. (try a tub that is sides it can't see through maybe.)
What about hand feeding? <<<< this works , there is a nack to it, and expect some accidential finger and thumb tip nips , this is what I did (for the first few crickets of the first meal each day. Or tongs? What about force feeding, when would I need to think about that? Any suggestions?
He loves his basking area which sits at 105. He only leaves there a couple of times a day and yesterday he did leave to go potty. His potty looked nice and solid.
Thanks for any help.

Click to expand...

At it's age :
Three live insect feeds per day , largest two feeds in am and near lunch/mid pm, smaller feed about diner time.
Try putting a few bugs in with it at time in it's tank so it's not overwhelmed.

You should be pleased it already likes it salad, offer the salad AFTER it's 2nd insect meal, little hatchling are buggers for filling up on the greens and grated veg and not having room left for the bugs , MORE IMPORTANT at it's age and for the next 9 - 12 months to make sure it gets lots of high quality insect protein so it can grow and develop properly.

Recommend a 14-16hr light/heat cycle/day.

Recommend keeping the handling to a minimum (just to handfeed, moving to feeding tub maybe (but can be more stressful than it's worth), to cleanup) unless it is comfortable with being handled.

Recommend weighing it weekly, and keeping very detailed records on it's eating, lighting and feeding schedule, toileting, behaviours, all very helpful to be able refer to if the need arises.

Thought I would share this in a video to give a better understanding of my babies setup.

https://youtu.be/B7AsOVEpdA4