Need crestie help please

[Fallout32]

I didn't get any answers over at pangea so i figured I'd ask at my home forum lol.
One of my cresteds is almost a year old and only 16g. I know that she eats a little because i'll still find droppings, but very infrequently. But the problem is that she eats just enough to survive basically. When i spread the cgd thin in the bottle cap, there is usually only one lick taken over the two days that each cap is in there. In the past week I haven't noticed any gone. She is really skinny compared to my other girl of the same weight.
She is not lethargic or anything. When I take her out she is a little spitfire jumping everywhere.

So I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to get her to eat more, or if there might be something wrong such as a parasite? She is in an 11x14x11 tub (plenty of foliage and climbing) eating repashy cgd one-part v3.1 and temps of ~71 (which might also be the problem)

Thanks, any help is appreciated

[AkHerps]

Do you feed bugs? I've had some cresties refuse the CGD for their entire lives, and am forced to feed bugs.

You can also try buying the base diet, and the other flavor diet, maybe your crestie doesn't just like the base diet.

I would suggest a fecal exam, if she has parasites, she may feel too crappy to eat a lot.

You could try upping the temps also.

[bad-one]

Well, some grow super slow and don't eat a lot but the gecko shouldn't be skinny. At lower temps they eat less (but again shouldn't be skinny).

If it is parasites I'd be expecting weight loss and lethargy as well as odd/runny stool. However, it wouldn't hurt to get a fecal done.

Is this gecko housed alone? If not it may be being bullied.

You can try hand feeding... but it sounds like she is a pain to handle and it is stressful. You can offer crickets to see if you can boost weight. Try the flavored diets maybe. If you absolutely have to, add a bit of baby food (peach works good) to flavor her diet to see if it gets her attention and once she is eating it wean it out- that's how I eventually got my male to switch to pure CGD and eat normally.

[Fallout32]

I tried feeding crickets for a couple weeks. I first tried putting her in a a small tub (the size of a small kk) with the crickets and showed no interest in them at all and only tried to escape. So i just put them in her tub. But the tub is part screen and part melted holes. The crickets were usually always gone the next day but I'm not sure if it was because she ate them or because they crawled out through the holes, even though the holes are fairly small.

At the next show i go to I'll probably pick up the 2-part with a couple different nectars and try them out. Because even if I try to hand feed her she shows no interest in the 1-part.

Would a heat lamp be the best way to get the temps up? Or FlexWatt on the back?Because I live with my dad and am at the mercy of the thermostat nazi (how do dads always know when you change the thermostat? lol)

[Fallout32]

Yes she is housed alone.

And I wouldn't be so worried if she was just small or slow growing, but she does seem skinny, not super skinny but still enough to worry. Especially compared to my other girl of about the same weight who has a healthy plump look.

[mlededee]

Go ahead and get a fecal done in order to rule out parasites. A crested will not starve itself unless there is actually something wrong with it. You cannot rely on insects alone to be enough nutrition because they simply do not contain the nutrients and calcium content that the gecko needs, but it is fine to supplement with them. You can try different flavors of CGD if necessary and hand feed some too. How long have you had this gecko?

[Fallout32]

I've had her for a little under a year. And yes when I was attempting to feed crickets I only offered them twice a week with cgd on the other days. Hopefully I can find fresh droppings this week to bring into the vet so i don't have to take her in for a swab.

[olstyn]

If she'll take crickets but isn't interested in the CGD, you can try dusting the crickets with the CGD powder - sometimes that can help get them used to the idea that CGD is food. Also, have you tried fruit baby food? It's not great, nutrition-wise, and definitely is not a long-term staple, but at least it would be some calories, and you can transition to CGD with that as well. Start off with a mix of a lot of baby food and a little CGD (3/4 baby food to 1/4 CGD or something similar to that) and gradually work your way to pure CGD. Here's hoping you find the solution.

[Fallout32]

UPDATE: Well I decided to try adding a little bit of peach baby food to the cgd to see if she would go for it like Brittany and olstyn suggested, hoping that the problem was that she just didn't like the taste of the regular one-part cgd, and.... She ate like a champ! I hand fed her first and she ate more than I'd ever seen her eat before. Then I left a cap full of the food in her enclosure over night and she ate about a 1/4 of it! I'm so happy!

By no means am I going to keep using the baby food for an extended period. I'm gonna wean her off of it and pick up the 2-part diet with a couple different nectars to see what she likes best. But for a short term solution I'm pretty pleased. Thanks so much for all of your help everyone!

[bad-one]

Good to hear she's eating!