I am SO relieved! I ended up not having to force feed him. I had moved the enclosure last Friday out of the living room and into a quieter area. This seemed to help some of his stress but he still wasn't eating. So after attempting to get him to eat a Dubia (which he may have eaten overnight, or it may have burrowed, not sure) I gave up for the night and decided to re-***** the next day. I woke up to a poop in the tank so he must have eaten something! I do have a few worms wiggling around the substrate because he didn't eat them and I left crickets in there on more than one occasion hoping that he would eat when I wasn't looking. But I have a textured background that they can easily climb and possibly escape so I never really knew. But after seeing that poop I decided to buy some wax worms to entice him. I also bought a clear food storage container that I could put on top of him and his potential food like a dome so it would be easier to catch and so that he wouldn't get stressed from moving. When I got home I decided to try just the wax worms to start and wouldn't you know he lunged right for it! He had trouble catching the first one but once he got that in him he ate two more! I'm so excited that I got him to eat. And I made sure to dust them too so he can get some vitamins he's probably been lacking!

So here is my question: I know wax worms are very high in fat and are NOT a good stable BUT he's so very underweight. Is it nutritionally safe to feed them as a staple until he is a healthy weight again? And if so, how many per day should he eat? He's about an inch and a half long and I've had him almost three months but I'm not sure how old he was when I got him but he was very small (size of a nickel?).

And about the thermometers. It's actually not "in" the substrate. It has a weighted bottom that I put in the substrate. And I have two, one on each end so I can measure the temps on the cool end and the warm end. Is this still okay? I can stick in the middle of the back if need be. And Any other suggestions about feeding and keeping his appetite up would be great. I'm hoping I can get him used to tong feeding again so I know exactly how much he's getting.