When to feed crickets to young cresties?

[skinnyrascal]

I've had my crestie for 3 months [not sure of gender yet but I'm just going to guess male for now, he's always been on the slim side but seems healthy]. I feed him every other day or every 2 days by hand in a small dish, to make sure he's eating. He won't eat more often than that. He gets out of his enclosure a lot. He's about 2 1/2 inches from nose to tail base. He's very calm and seems to like being handled. But lately he's been snapping at my fingers when they're in front of him and at the water droplets when I mist his tank. Do you think he wants some crickets? Is he old enough to start eating them? I just want him to be as healthy as possible without overdoing it.
Let me know if that would be a good idea, how many to let him eat or if a different insect would be a better choice. :} thank you!

[mlededee]

You should leave a dish of crested gecko diet in his enclosure at all times. A lot of times they are eating it, you just can't tell because they aren't eating a lot (their stomach's are pretty small).

Crickets can be fed one or two times per week. They should be no longer than the space in between the gecko's eyes. Make sure they are gut loaded and dusted with a good calcium/multivitamin powder. They can eat crickets pretty much from the time they are born as long as they are appropriately sized, so I'm sure he can handle them.

[skinnyrascal]

You should leave a dish of crested gecko diet in his enclosure at all times. A lot of times they are eating it, you just can't tell because they aren't eating a lot (their stomach's are pretty small).

Crickets can be fed one or two times per week. They should be no longer than the space in between the gecko's eyes. Make sure they are gut loaded and dusted with a good calcium/multivitamin powder. They can eat crickets pretty much from the time they are born as long as they are appropriately sized, so I'm sure he can handle them.

I forgot to mention the other reason I don't is because it rots very quickly. By the next day it stinks and I don't imagine it'd be good for him then. It's Repashy because that's all I could find locally. I figured it better to feed him as much as he'll eat whenever he seems hungry than waste almost all the food. Probably when he gets older I'll try leaving it in.

I appreciate your reply. I'll try to get him some crickets and vitamin powder today or tomorrow.

[LightningPython]

I feed my geckos crickets out of their enclosure using those tweesers that open when you press it together (I can't remember what they are called). That way I can clearly monitor now many crickets they eat, without letting the cricket bite the cresties nose or getting lost in the enclosure.

If your little one is anything like my little one, he should go nuts for them. Just make sure they aren't too big!

[mlededee]

I forgot to mention the other reason I don't is because it rots very quickly. By the next day it stinks and I don't imagine it'd be good for him then.

I would still leave it in the enclosure for 24 hours, or at the very least make a fresh batch and leave it in overnight each night. That way you know for sure your gecko is getting enough to eat. It is also a bad idea to hand feed every time, because they will learn to rely on that and not ever eat out of a dish on their own.

[michaelatennison27]

I have about 8 baby cresties about the same size as yours and I am trying to get them to start eating some live food . They just haven't seem very interested i have only tried nymph size dubia roaches though. For there main food source i give them Pangea crested gecko diet and it seems not to mold as fast as Repashy did for me. it is a little expensive but for one small bag its not much and for one crestie it will last a while. i also feel my cresties feel better after i switched they seem to really enjoy it. There are a few flavors to choose from mine like the Banana Apricot. I did hand feed mine a long time ago then i found out that it wasn't a good idea. I started leaving the food in the enclosure and eventually they will start eating. I put down clean paper towels and in a week I saw poo so I knew they were eating.