Cant get my male crested to eat fruit...

[ADHybrid]

I've been trying to get my male crested gecko to eat fruit since I got him (about a month ago) and he absolutely wont eat any fruit I offer. I've heard males tend to be more cricket oriented but my crested wont even TOUCH fruit. I've tried peach,banana, and fruit medly baby food. I've also tried fresh apricots, bananas, and nectarines (all overripe) with no success. I'll take my crested out and feed him baby food on my hand and he'll lick it for a second or two then leave it. Should I be concerned? Is there a trick to get him to eat fruit? Any other fruit that I should try? If I cant get him to eat fruit do I need to add something special (besides vitamins) to his crickets? Sorry for all the questions but I'm just worried I may be hurting him with a bad diet.

-Chris

[Marla]

What you don't say here is how old your crestie is. Hatchlings and juveniles need more protein than fruit and adults will generally eat more fruit (sexually mature females may tend to eat more protein than males to help with reproduction). Anyhow, if he's just a baby, try giving him the crested gecko diet to supplement his crickets and see how he does, and if he doesn't eat that (keeping in mind they have tiny tummies), add Herptivite to his crickets every other feeding.

Let us know how he does.

[JLC]

Could it be that he's eating it and you just can't tell? Keep in mind that cresties have tiny little stomachs, so it would only take a teensy amount of baby food to fill them up...especially if they're also eating crix. You could try what I do with my beardie...which is give the veggies (fruit in your case) first thing in the morning...and save the crix for later in the day. That way they don't get filled up on bugs before eating the other things they should.

And if he's a baby, I do believe they need a higher percentage of insects in their diet. I know that's true for beardies. If it needs more clarification, I'm sure Marla will help out!

[JLC]

Hehe....Marla beat me to the punch! At least I know I was right about the babies!

[Marla]

True, but generally cresties only eat after 8 PM or so, so giving any food in the morning isn't likely to be effective. If you're a night person, you could try giving the fruit around 8 PM and the crickets around 2-3 AM and that might work, but like Judy and I said, they have teeny tummies.

[ADHybrid]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm not sure exactly how old my crested is (It wasn't a baby when I bought it) but if it helps any he's about 6 inches tip of nose to tip of tail. As far as him even touching the food, I'm pretty sure he isn't. I usually put it in a neat little puddle in his food tray and when I wake up its in the same neat little shape (where as my friends gecko usually leave tons of little tongue marks in her baby food ) I usually leave it in there untill it starts to get a lil hard then I take it out and try again in a couple days. I thought that it was just the fact that the food tray was at the bottom of the enclosure (which he NEVER goes to) so I elevated his tray to right next to his favorite limb but still no luck. I'll try and find out how old my crested is today (gotta go pick up my paycheck so I'll stop by the reptile section at the store) and I'll probably grab some crested gecko diet also. Again, thanks for your help guys.

-Chris

[Marla]

Good luck, Chris, and let us know how it goes. Going by size, that suggests he's a teenager-ish crestie. I take it he's sexable and the 'he' isn't just for convenience or a guess. Crickets definitely aren't a sufficient diet for him at that age, so hopefully he will take the diet easily. You can also withhold crickets from him for a week or two as a means of persuading him to try other food. When he gets hungry, he'll eat.

[ADHybrid]

Yup, he is of sexable age, and I went out with the intent of buying a male crested. A guy from our reptile department estimated that he's about a year old or so. I'm gonna try withholding crickets for a while and also try the honey in the babyfood trick. If I could get him to start eating babyfood that would be awsome.


-Chris

[Marla]

There is honey in the crested gecko diet (you can smell it when you fix it), and it's better balanced than just fruit, so if you have a source for that, I'd definitely give it a shot. Definitely let us know how it goes.

[ADHybrid]

I'll pick up some crested gecko diet tomorrow (I work for a petstore so I can get an almost unlimited supply). I tried adding honey to his fruit a few minutes ago, still nothing. He licked it off when I placed a drop on his nose but thats it. I'm gonna try not feeding crickets a while in hopes he'll go to the fruit. It just worries me that I've had him almost a month now and he hasn't touched even the slightest bit of fruit since I had him and according to some of the guys at the petstore, he was never offered fruit while he was there!!!! Sean (reptile employee) said that he told Jay (reptile manager) that they need to get them used to baby food but Jay wouldn't permit it . I guess I'm in quite a bind now. I'll keep you guys updated on his progress.

-Chris