Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got a new crested that arrived on Tuesday. I didnt want to stress him with handling yet since he's just a juvie (2-3 months)so I set up his cage and then opened the lid on his deli cup and walked away.

When I came back he was exploring one side of the cage, he then found a hiding spot under some leaves on a branch, and hasn't moved from there.

I put some baby food in a small water bottle top, which it seems he hasn't touched. I know sometimes they make real small toungue marks, but he has not pooped either.

Is this normal behavior for a new arrival? He was shipped so I'm guessing he's a bit stressed, but I am concerned because he needs to eat as well.

If he hasn't done much since tuesday that's starting to become troublesome. Basically, you want to do the run down and make sure you have everything right:

Right temps? Not too hot or cold.

Humidity? Make sure you're misting once a day to give him a drink if he's not finding the water bowl.

Food? Try picking up some crickets and Crested Gecko Diet (CGD). I've hardly known any juvis that would turn down the opportunity to eat a cricket even on a first day home and some geckos enjoy CGD better than babyfood. (It is certainly more healthy. I would try 1/2 and 1/2 mixture with an organic babyfood like peaches or bananas to start.)

If you are getting close to a week without pooping then it is time for the vet. Good luck. You are correct in leaving him alone, make sure the room he's in is quiet and low or not lit at night and (I know it is hard) try not to hover over him, he'll think you might be looking to eat him. I'd suggest next time a different gecko supplier, all things on your end being right sounds like he might not have been ready to ship.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Thanks for the response. I saw some movement from him last night. I put 2 small crickets in there just to see if it would entice him. While he was moving around in his plant, looking down at the ground, I didn't see him actually get any of them. They are small so some might be under the paper towel in there.

I still have a cap of new baby food in there, which I'm assuming if he is really hungry, he will go for eventually. It's gotta be instinct to eat what you can find, right?

My temp is around 78-80. He's in a 20H w/ a 40 watt which seems to do the trick. Humidity is around 40-50% when it's low, since the heat in the room seems to dry it out, and gets up to 80 when I mist.

He is shedding, or starting to, so maybe that has something to do with his lack of appetite?

If he is shedding he may show a lack of appetite. Our crested doesn't but I've seen that behavior in other species of gecko and I am much less worried. If s/he was looking at the ground when you had crickets in there, that is a good sign as well.

Change out the babyfood every day or every other day whether he eats it or not. Your temps and humi sound just fine. I would guess that it is a bad combination of transportation stress and shedding stress and would give him a few more days. If you don't see anything out of him after you've had him home a week, then you might want to consider something else, but since you are noticing some shed, I would just leave him be. But if you notice him losing weight or his tail looking limp, then you'd want to consider the vet sooner than later. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

When I recently had a new juvenile gargoyle gecko not seem to eat for me, I talked with the breeder i bought him from. She was feeding him a different kind of crested gecko diet...Clarks I think it was called. She gave me a sample of it and he ate it right away. Find out what the breeder was feeding the geckos before selling them and offer the same thing. Familiarity will make it alot easier for your gecko to start eating for you. Once he is eating again regularly, you can wean him off what the breeder was giving to what you prefer to feed, though I do recommend offering a crested gecko diet by T-Rex or the Clark's diet. The former is a complete diet so you don't need to offer any additional insects or vitamin/minerial suppliments. The Clark's diet you have to offer insects as it doesn't contain much protein.

Baby food tends to be too high in sugar and lacks alot of needed minerals and vitamins. Not to mention it is hard to get the right ratio of meat baby foods and fruit baby foods mixed together.

You can also try dabbing a bit of the food on your gecko's nose, though try not to cover the nostrals in the process. I was able to get my juvenile gargoyle to eat some of the T-Rex gecko diet before I learned he was on Clark's with the breeder. However it can be a pain to get them to stay still long enough to dab them with food and the last thing you want to do is chase them around the cage trying to get some food on their snout.
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PHLdyPayne