Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I built my babies a large enclosure that is approx. the same size as a 65 gallon breeder. I made it out of wood and plexiglass and chicken wire. The whole thing is wood. The door is sliding plexiglass and the 2 windows on each end are just a whole covered by chicken wire. Now I have a problem. They are used to eating crix, mealies, butterworms, and a few small superworms when I can find them around. I just realized that if I put crix in the cage they will climb the wood and get out. Will they be ok without the crix or does anyone have an idea as to how to keep the crix in and still leave them ventilation. I was thinking about putting a plastic bowl high enough for crix to not be able to jump out of, but then I realized if I did that and the leos got in they wouldn't be able to get out either. If they don't have to eat crix that would make my life easier.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

You can always move them to a rubbermaid container to feed.

I would love to, that is what I do with my boas. How do you suggest I go about that? They are babies and won't even eat in front of me, I can barely handle them? What do I do?
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))

>>I would love to, that is what I do with my boas. How do you suggest I go about >>that? They are babies and won't even eat in front of me, I can barely handle >>them? What do I do?

Well, obviously you'll have to handle them for this idea to work. I'd suggest setting aside some time to just be with the geckos. Put a hand down in their enclosure and just sit still. Eventually, curiosity will get the better of them and they'll come investigate. Don't force them to do anything, just let them figure out what you are and that you're not going to hurt them. You'll probably get licked - they rely on that a lot to identify new objects. After a couple of times doing this, they'll likely be a lot more handleable, as they won't see your hands as a threat. Eventually you might get them to the point where I'm lucky enough to have mine - she willingly climbs up on my hand almost every time I put it in front of her.

Obviously this doesn't really solve the issue short term, but as long as they're willing to eat mealworms and such, you're probably ok short term. I tend to agree with a lot of what was said in your other thread, both about crickets being good and variety being good, but for the short term, at least, mealworms, etc should be fine, and then once you've got the geckos to a more handling-friendly state, you can easily move them to a different container for cricket feedings.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

I tried what you said last night with the tupperware. The male will let me pick him up most of the time without too much of a scared look and one of the females will most of the time too. The other female is very flighty and runs when I open the cage. Anyway. I put them all in tubs and the flighty female ate all her crickets, 6. The male laid down and tried to ignore his, and the other female ate about 2 of her 6 crickets. They had about 20 melaworms in their dish last night as well and all of them were gone this morning so I guess everyone ate what they wanted to eat. By the way I left them in their boxes for about 1 hr in the dark. Do you know if vaseline will work for crickets? I hear it works for roaches if you don't want them to go somewhere. I explained it better in my other post above this.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Edge, Jazzy (short for Jasmine), and Dot (so named for the cute dot that is right above her tail))