Reptile & Amphibian Forums

#1 - I don't think my gecko is eating any of the mealworms I bought her. I know they had the canned ones in her tank when we got her, so I've been feeding her crickets daily, and I have some of those canned worms in there with her too. So does that mean she is full after the 5 or so crickets I give her, or maybe she doesn't know the worms are there? She is still a little skiddish of humans, so when I tried to place her in/near the dish where the worms are she just ran away really frightened. I suppose its also possibly she just doesn't like them and it was her cagemates that were eating them. Comments or suggestions?

#2 - What can I use to clean the spots off of the glass of her tank that won't be harmful to her? I don't want to use Windex or something because I don't know how the fumes will affect her. It also just strikes me as a bad idea in general. Hehe. Anyway, so what can I do?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

-----
---
I didn't do it, unless it was a good thing, then it was all my idea!

Alrighty, here we go =)

First off, I have 2 geckos that no matter how hard I tried would not eat mealworms. They enjoy the chase too much and the mealworms just don't move fast enough. You described her being skiddish, so I'm assuming she's new. Therefore, try to avoid handling her.. Place the mealworms near her hideout and just let them be. Change them every day or so to avoid bacterial growths and just let her get used to be home. Also, new leos will sometimes not eat for weeks, or months until they've adjusted. I have had leos that I've owned for 6 months who weren't afraid of me at all stop eating for a week or 2 when I simply put them in a new tank... so just give her time. Wait a few days so she realizes shes hungry before placing any new food in the tank.

Secondly, you can use a mild vinegar and water solution to clean the inside of the glass, and Flukers makes a really good cage cleaner to use on the outside.

Jeff

Question 1:

I would only feed your gecko 'live' foods. And I would also only put the food into a feeder dish, don't let it run around the cage. For mealworms I would use some that are about 3/4" if your gecko is large enough (e.g her head is about the size of the worm). To keep crickets inside a feeder dish, all you have to do is pinch their hind 'jumper' legs right at the knee joint, and they will fall right off. You don't need to rip or tear them off, simply a good PINCH will do it. This will stimulate their eating more because the crickets/worms will be moving around more in a consolidated area and will be a major attraction.

Question 2:
DO NOT clean with Windex or any other household cleaner! The fumes will make your herp sick, and/or kill it depending on what you are using. A simple vinegar/water mixture on a damp rag will clean the inside walls, or you can buy commercially made 'terrarium cleaner' products try . For a deep clean (e.g the entire cage, fixtures etc) I use about 1part bleach per 10parts water. Give it a good soak, and scrub it a bit. For fixtures/rocks/hides etc just drop them in a 5gallon bucket and soak them in that. Then allow everything to air dry for about 12-24hours. With some of the fixtures, if they are rock or wood (real rocks and real wood) some people like to bake them at about 250-300F afterwards. I personally don't like to do this, because some of the agents inside the bleach still remain inside of the wood and will cause it to expand (not a lot), but after a few times of it getting wet it will gradually lose the solid makeup.