Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There are lots of questions and answers about feeding cresties on these forums, but I could not find the answers to the below questions. For reference, my crestie is TINY, about 2.5 inches TL and housed in a nicely furnished 10G with lots of branches and plastic foliage to hide in. I have had him for 3 days, so he should be comfortable in his enclosure by now. I have apricot baby food and about 1/8 to 1/4 inch crickets.

1) About how many will one eat at a time?
2) Is there any fear of uneaten crix attacking my crestie?
3) Will they only feed at night, or any time?
4) Should one this size only be fed crix? For how long?
5) Should they be fed inside or outside the enclosure?

My little guy is very shy right now, and I only worry that if I feed him in the enclosure, he may not eat all or any of the crix I put in there. I have heard of crix turning against their would be attackers and possibly harming them. I'm just a worried papa! I think for today I will put him inside the cricket cage and closely monitor him. If he doesn't eat, then I'll just drop maybe 2-3 crix in his home and leave them there. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? If he doesn't eat, how long should I wait before taking him to a vet.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

Hey,

In my experience with cresteds, they eat very little and a lot of the time it is hard to tell if they have eaten. Especially when you are talking about baby food. I would NOT move him into your cricket enclosure because that will only stress him more, since he was just relocated a few days ago when you brought him home. Just let him adjust to his new home for at least a week before you even attempt to handle him. One thing that you can try is get a small deli cup that he can get into and place 3-4 crickets in it so they are contained. You can try and pinch their back legs off but that is tough with pinhead crickets. Also, I am a big fan of crested gecko diet and with my cresteds I have noticed that some of them love the crested diet and won't touch crickets while others are the opposite. Finally, don't stress to much if he doesn't eat right away. Sometimes they just have to adjust. One of mine I did not see eat for sure for 6 days after I got her. If you see feces, over the next few days then you know that he is eating. As far as the c rickets harming him, I have heard this and I attempt to prevent it but I feel that one or two running around the cage is ok unless you have a female who might lay eggs because the crickets might eat them!

Hope this helps

Eric

2.3 cresteds
2.0 tegus
1.1 black roughneck monitors
1.1 hybrid blue rock iguanas
1.0 green iguana
2.2 beardeds
1.6 leos
1.1 timor monitors

Thanks a ton for the reply, I didn't think anyone would ever reply! One guy emailed me, so I thank the two of you. I like the idea of setting a cup in the cage, I will probably do that. I looked in the cage last night and the little guy was shedding, so maybe that has something to do with the withdrawn appetite. Anyway, I will try the cup thing tonight. It will let him eat if he wants to, but not let the crix get out. Many thanks.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com