Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone, i need all the information i can get! I just adopted 6 crested geckos and 3 day geckos. I have not fully examined them all but i think there is 3 female cresteds and 3 males. they have all been living together for 2 yrs but now all the plants are dead in the cage and everything is covered with Poop. all the geckos appear in good health and are adults. HOWEVER there is one male that has a very thin floppy tail. the tail itself looks kind of dark and scabbed at the end. It is also stiff and rigded at the base and seems to stick up a little. I have read that it may and probably has a calcium defeciency but i am concerned because of the darkness and scabbing. I took this picture for you all to look at. i was wondering if it may need to be amputated because if it is rotting or anything i will get him the surgery. i am somewhat new to cresteds and day geckos but i am a breeder of leopard and fat tailed geckos so i have a good herp vet but he is somewhat far away. for now i am going to hand feed the big guy some peach baby food with my vitamin/calci dust mixed in.

In my opinion I would go and buy crested gecko diet and mix it according to the instructions. That has all the balanced minerals, vitamins, calcium you need. With his tail looking like that I would go and buy some crickets, gutload them real well and dust the crickets in RepCal D3 at feed them to the cresties at least twice a week. if you stick with that regiment, his tail should start to fill out a bit more. If not, I would maybe have a vet take a look as to what might be going on. I personally feel that he was not getting enough to eat or there was definitely a pecking order that was trying to be established and he was not at the top.
I forget if you said it but I would most definitely separate each and everyone and keep them on papertowel for now. That way you can monitor any strange looking fecals and such. I would provide a water dish to all plus a laybox (with coconut fibre) for the females in case they are gravid.
By the way, he is a nice looking crestie. Good luck and I am sure someone else with offer be able to add to my suggestions.

dont worry i do gutload and dust my crickets and i feed all my 30 geckos everynight. he will be monitored very closly but i dont know if you read the part about his tail possible rotting? it is scabbed and totally limp except for the base where it is stiff and rigged like a dead area. i think he has no control of his tail at all, its like its dead. also i think his deficiency is a little more advanced then just his tail. he seems to be a little shaky and week thats why i will probably be hand feeding him until he improves. however crickets are available to him.
as for the crested gecko diet food stuff i dont really like that pre formulated stuff becuase i know the stuff for leos is no good and they dont want to be anywhere near it. haha. i have been looking for the crested gecko dust by t-rex though but havnt had any luck, i may have to order it off the internet. for now i am just going to use the vitamin/mineral dust by sticky farms and the leopard gecko dust by t-rex.
i also sent my vet a fax explaining this but i am waiting for him to contact me.

CGD really is the better than baby food and guessing at vitamins, it was developed by the "Tremper" of the crested gecko world over many years and then sold to the company. Our gecko eats it like we're going to take it away from her at any moment.

As for looking for a dust formula, all the books I have read recommend using t-rex leopard gecko dust to dust the crickets for cresties. We have been feeding CGD and leo formula dusted crickets and found fast growth and good weight in very short times.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents. Good luck, hopefully the vet will take care of that tail, most likely it is a poor separation when the gecko tried to drop it during stress. That would explain the look and the rotting from poor blood flow. IMHO. An underfed tail doesn't look that crinkled, if that makes sense.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

ya i hear ya on the tail thing sleepygecko. well since 2 people have now rocomended the crested gecko diet stuff what does its packaging look like so i can keep an eye open for it? so far i havent seen anything but last time i was at the herp shop was b4 i had cresties so i may have missed it. glad the t-rex leo dust is recomended, and i also bought the t-rex day gecko dust for the others; because i buy it in bulk so i have no problem there.

In the little shop we prefer it is next to all the other Trex stuff, it comes in a few different sizes and stays potent for about 6 months opened with no refridge, longer with. We go by smell, if it smells like a tropical drink, it is fresh still; faded means toss it. The thing I look for is the purple cap, all the Trex products seem to be in the same black bottles with pictures on them, but the cap colors are different for each product, for instance leo cricket dust is pink.

BTW they also sell CGD in chain pet stores, although I prefer to support my independent shop cause she's so great and her animals are amazing, you can find the CGD just about anywhere in a pinch. Good luck! Hope the tail thing goes ok!
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Yes CGD is the best. I offer it exclusively to my breeders. As for the tail, it looks like there was a stuck shed that never came off. If that's the case the tail will be dead and fall off. Other than that he looks fat and healthy.