Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my guy for about a month now, he's about 6" long and weighs about 26 grams. He's my first experience keeping crested geckos, and ever since I've gotten him I've had reason to believe something wasn't quite right. He seems to barely have an appetite eating only 2 to 3 crickets out of the 5 I give him twice a week. I've also tried mealies, wax worms, and silk worms which go uneaten.
For his daily food, I supply him with peach baby food CGD or just plain CGD... I've tried varying the mixture but he seems to only take a few licks if I'm lucky.
Now my concern has been intensified with my new addition of a female who has a voracious appetite.

Here's a pic of him

What am I to do?
Any suggestions and help will be greatly appreciated
thanks,

Dave

I would probably get a fecal exam on him.
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm

Thanks

I have gotten in touch with some local vets with herp experience.
I also noticed that in a few peoples experiences that cresteds are just difficult eaters...

Would the fecal exam be sufficient as a first step? What is a healthy weight for a 6" male?

Dave

looks healthy size wise to me. i would say he's probably eating more of the CGD and that is fine. no hips sticking out and you can't see his ribs so i'd let him be. if you see un digested crickets and stuff in his poop then there may be a reason for concern.

A fecal exam is like $10 (atleast at my vet it is) so I wouldn't hurt to do it if you are worried about him. A healthy weight is around 32grams (it can be from 32-60 it just depends on bloodlines, etc) yours looks like it would be in the 30-40gram range. Like Elli said he does not have any ribs showing so he is probably fine weight wise.

Hope this Helped
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm

n/p
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm

A little off topic, but, yesterday at the vet, I could of sworn they told me Syth was 5 ounces in weight. I saw that you have all been talking in grams so I used a conversion table and 5 ounces = 141 grams. O_o

I know that can't be right because Syth is far smaller than Dave's gecko.
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~Kimmy
Mom to a young Crested Gecko named Syth

Would an undigested cricket be caused by an internal parasite?
Because I have notcied from time to time undigested cricket parts in his droppings. I've been feeding him large crickets.

Thanks
Dave

Your little guy looks a lot like my Syth. I hope he's okay.

He looks perfectly healthy and he's probably eating more than you think (when you aren't looking). I very rarely see my males eating, but they're fine.
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

Thanks for the tip.
Are your females more active?
Because my new gal is acting more like my leo when I toss a cricket in. Once she catches sight of it she's on hunt and catches it very quickly. Where as my male acts as if he couldn't care less.
BTW I've had him about a month longer.

Thanks,
Dave

he looks nice and healthy...what size crickets?

cresteds seem to have different growth rates based on what they are fed, how often and shape and size of the parents...25g at 6 months sound good and from the pictures he looks good...

if you're worried and want to be extremely cautious, you can get a fecal done, but he looks good
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Rachel
Hatching Herps
1.0 bearded, 2.4.9 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 1.2 corns (reg, butter, caramel), 1.1 ball python, 1.1 sinaloan milks, white's tree frog, orange belly newt

most vet offices charge something like 10$ and you dont even have to take the animal in.

are both lizards housed together? if they are u will need a fecal exam from both, and have to treat them at the same time if there is a problem with parasites or flagellates. i personaly would go ahead and get it done if i was worried about an animal. saves on vet bills later!

hope its ok.

Andrew Ellis

I got a fecal exam done on him the other day and it came back negative. So I'm not too worried, he moves around just fine especially when I try to take him out he can be pretty quick. Though just to be safe I'll check up on him every few days to make sure his weight remains relatively consistent.

I only had them together for about 30 mins after realizing that the female was too underweight to risk becoming gravid.

Thanks a bunch for the help

Dave