quick question about newborns

[bonez]

is it guaranteed that a new born will eat?
ive been lookin up gecko's and i think the crested gecko's are thecoolest lookin things and i feel i have to have one lol. i was also wondering how much of ahastle it is like not to breed but if iwere to get a male and female and have like a batch once in a while u know?

[tigerlily]

No it's not guaranteed that a newborn will eat. Fortunately all 6 of mine have done tremendously well. I still have a few that are not great cricket eaters, but that is not necessary to their diet. Anytime I was unsure that they recognized the Crested Gecko Diet as food, I just put some in a small spoon and dabbed a bit on their nose. They'll lick it off, and you just got food down. I'm sure there will be the rare hatchling that just wasn't meant to make it.

As for breeding. Females lay eggs two eggs (typically) per clutch, and will lay several clutches. Mine laid 3 clutches, hence 6 hatchlings. My last clutch is only 3 weeks old, and doing well. The only way to control the mating is to separate the male and female.

I hope that helps.

[mlededee]

i have hatched about 70 crested geckos this season and every one of them eats well. i did have a few that were slow starters, so i just took the extra time to hand feed them for the first few weeks until i saw that they were eating well enough on their own and growing normally. if you purchase from a reputable breeder you shouldn't have any trouble getting a new crested to eat once it settles in.

unfortunately it isn't that easy to control how many eggs a female crested lays when breeding. you can't just put a pair together every now and then and get a single clutch. one successful copulation could result in 5-6 clutches (2 eggs) being laid. i have one female who was separated from her mate over 9 months ago and she is still laying eggs! although this isn't the norm, it can happen, so just be prepared.