Crested Gecko Help

[Flirtycuddle]

I have 2 geckos that are housed seperatly since one is male and one is female. The male is sub-adult the female a juvie. My problem is neither are eating the CGD from what I can tell. I only put 1/8 teaspoon in so I figured I'd see some missing. I have added a little bit of fruit juice and am trying baby food tonight. I can get both to eat from my fingers if I hold them and put it on their faces but having to do that to both is kinda a pain. I use the cgd avaible in the petstores but its made by the same people as the pangea stuff. The male wont touch crix but the female will so I have been giving her a few every couple days to keep her weight up. What else can I do?

[Otter_23]

To be honest a lot of times I can't really tell that they have eaten, but if they are pooping and not getting skinny they are eating. I wouldn't feed them baby food, just watch for the pooh they have small stomachs and don't eat a bunch. I really don't notice until they are close to adults and then I just see little scoops eaten out here and there.

[mlededee]

Don't add anything to the CGD if at all possible as it throws off the balance of the vitamins and nutrients it contains. You can add a small amount of organic baby food to the CGD at first if you have to, but you should wean them off of it as soon as possible.

They may need smaller or less elaborate enclosures depending on what they are in now so that they can more easily find the food. If you feed too many crickets they will sometimes learn to hold out for the crickets if they favor those over the CGD. Get them eating well on the CGD and then add crickets back as a supplement.

You might also try to CGD that Pangea Reptile sells: www.pangeareptile.com/products.htm. Most rhacs favor it as it has been reformulated and has a better flavor.

[Flirtycuddle]

There is urates in the cage or should I say white streaks on stuff that I have to clean out. Haven't really seen much poo. They are both on the skinny side compared to when I got them. THe sub-adult was eating the pangea stuff but the juvie came from petco where they said they fed the stuff I already have. I am thinking of just ordering the pangea reptile stuff for them and hoping it helps. I have cut back and not given any crix cuz I couldn't ever tell if they are eating the cgd but with them being skinny its worrying me.

[NightLad]

I agree that you should avoid mixing the CGD with outside products, like baby food. It will throw off the balance.

If they are eating from your fingers, you can be sure they are eating from the bowls. It can be hard to notice, especially since the CGD is watery and will evaporate over time, making it even harder to know if they ate or not.

What type of food bowl do you use? What flavor of CGD are you using?

For additional feeding tips, you can try asking on the Rapashy Superfoods forums. http://www.superfoods.repashy.com/

You only ever really notice the big poops when you feed them crickets. I now my new little guy is eating because I put 8 gut-loaded cricks in his enclosure tonight and he was hunting them around 12AM.

If your geckos seem to be losing weight, or they are not growing fast enough, you can supplement their diet with gut-loaded crickets once per week. Toss in about 8-10 small crickets after gut-loading them for 24hrs with the Repashy insect gut-load, and remove the CGD overnight.

A final suggestion:
Repashy makes a flavor-pack that contains one CGD 'base' and then several flavor supplement packs. You mix the base and flavor in a 1:1 ratio, and then add 2:1 water. That way you can offer a variety of flavors. Maybe you will find one they enjoy more? Read more about it on the Repashy website.

I hope this helps!

[mlededee]

What are your temps and what is your setup like? Remind me again how long you have had them? How often do you feed the CGD?

They really shouldn't be losing a noticeable amount of weight. I suggest a fecal on each and handfeeding for now until you are sure they are eating from the food you put in their cage. If you are just feeding small amounts you should be able to tell that at least the subadult is eating.

You may need to keep them in very simple kritter keepers with paper towel substrate for now, so that you can more closely monitor their feeding and defecating. Once they are doing both well you can upgrade them to large, more naturalistic enclosures if you choose.

[Flirtycuddle]

Had them almost a month (25 will be a month), they are both in an 18x18x18 extro terra cage with branches and vines and a waterfall. The day time temps are around 74 and the night around 69. I don't let my house get below 70 at night really. Not using any heating on them and od have a compact light u use in the house to show day and night cycles. Had a fecal done not long after I get them like I do with all my pets that come home. Both were clear. I am using 1/8 for the baby and 1/4 for the sub-adult. They both eat if I stick it on their noses. I have papertowls for substrate for now in the smaller one and then that echo-earth stuff for the sub-adult. The bowls I use is just a bottle top since I can toss it if it gets to icky after a while. I have water dishes that are really shallow and then mist daily so humidity is around 65%. I did mix with pear baby food last night but just a 1/8 teaspoon for the adult then the the rest was water and he ate to where I could tell. The little girl i put just barly in and then mixed up the cgd normal and I can't tell if she even ate any. I would rather not use the baby food so I am ordering in the stuff pangea sells today but wont be hear for a few days. THe sub-adult does not eat crix or anything no matter what I do but the girl wil eat 5 or 6 if offerred. I wanted to get them eating the cgd before ofering to many crix.