# In need of crested gecko advice please



## JennieWren (Jan 19, 2011)

We bought our first crested gecko a week and a half ago, it's about 9 months old and we think it's a girl. She had a shed the first day we had her at home, then didn't eat anything for a few days which we've heard can be normal. 

We've been giving her baby food mixed with gecko diet powder but she doesn't seem to be eating much of it, even when we take her out and put food on her nose - she will lick it off but reluctantly. However she has eaten a a few crickets (not sprayed with calcium as we haven't bought any yet), and she's done a few poos so she is eating something. 

Generally we've had her vivarium at between 60 - 80 humidity, and from about 18 degrees C to 22 degrees C. However she often seems a bit lethargic when we take her out, and doesn't jump or walk around her viv as much as we thought was normal. Last night we took her out of her viv and she appeared to be shaking or shivering, quite a bit at first but when she warmed up on our hands she seemed to get more energy, stopped shaking, and was happy to explore and jump around. 

I'm going to take her to a reptile vet as soon as I can but I wondered if anyone could advise, on whether we're doing something wrong, and whether she might be ill? We haven't got a UV light as we were told at the reptile shop where we bought her that cresties don't need them.


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

Well there could be a number of reasons. One is not enough heat, two is calcium deficiency. MBD is caused by lack of calcium and can cause shaking. If your crestie is eating crickets I would stick with those but make sure they are well gutloaded. You want to lightly dust these with pure calcium powder. I have more success with african banded crickets than browns and more with browns than black. Make sure these are an appropriate size - no larger than the width between her eyes. 

Can I suggest no baby food. If it is the organic pure fruit ones it isn't so bad but they sometimes still put citric acid in them. What kind of food were you feeding (brand/flavours etc)? If you want a complete diet to feed every other day for a mixed diet with crix etc can I suggest Clarks? The Repashy 3.1 seems not to have had much success in comparison. 

UV - mixed argument.

You say lethargic - it isn't just the time of day you are handling her? Mine were always sluggish until after around 8 pm. 

Yep a repti vet is probably a good idea just in case. Sorry I can't be more help!


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## JennieWren (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks Nix, this is really useful. We'll try keeping the viv warmer during the day as she often feels quite cold when we take her out, so I think that might be it. I'll also get some calcium for dusting the crickets - as it's the shaking that really concerns me. Can cresties recover from MBD? Is it just a case of giving them crickets dusted with calcium powder, to help them get better?

The baby food we've been giving her is Boots organic, apple and banana flavour - I've actually just ordered some Repashy 3.1 but I'll have a look into Clarks and maybe try that too. 

We tend not to take her out till after 7 or 8pm, and she does walk around a little bit, but when we put her back in her viv she will just sit in one place until we go to bed, around 11 or midnight - it could be just that she's shy when we're around and she gets more active when we're not there, but I expected her to climb around a bit more in the evening. 

Thanks again!


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## quizicalkat (Jul 7, 2007)

Nix said:


> Well there could be a number of reasons. One is not enough heat, two is calcium deficiency. MBD is caused by lack of calcium and can cause shaking. If your crestie is eating crickets I would stick with those but make sure they are well gutloaded. You want to lightly dust these with pure calcium powder. I have more success with african banded crickets than browns and more with browns than black. Make sure these are an appropriate size - no larger than the width between her eyes.
> 
> Can I suggest no baby food. If it is the organic pure fruit ones it isn't so bad but they sometimes still put citric acid in them. What kind of food were you feeding (brand/flavours etc)? If you want a complete diet to feed every other day for a mixed diet with crix etc can I suggest Clarks? The Repashy 3.1 seems not to have had much success in comparison.
> 
> ...


all good advice here - you need reasonable temps day and night - use calcuim/vit D3 powder on the crickets and use a proper cgd not babyfood (I use clarkes personally).

Opinion is divided on uv but I use a very low watt, old, bulb on 1/2 of mine then swap over to the other half.

Yes it is possible to stop mbd as long as the crestie is getting everything it needs.


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## JennieWren (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks Quizicalkat - I think we will try a UV light, if only for the winter, as our house gets cold quite quickly when the heating's off.

Will definitely pick up some calcium tonight - hopefully that will see her right!


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

A UV light won't help with the temperature, if you think that it might be dropping below ideal teps you'd be better off sticking a heat mat on one wall and thermostatically controlling it.

As for the not looking like it's eating much, I really think that they don't eat much... Sometimes mine dont touch any of their food one night, other nights they'll 'pig out'.

The not moving around much while your watching, depends on the gecko too I reckon. I have a male and female in seperate vivs. If I'm up the female will sneak around her viv, very quietly and creeping behind plants so as she's not seen. She can be like that until I go to bed, no matter what time that is, and no matter where I am in the room, its like she senses i'm still there. However my male is completrely different, 6 o'clock comes and he's out doing laps of his viv, jumping and waliking in plain view, even though it's still fairly light and even my noisy one year old is still up. 

The shaking however is not right and I would work on giving dusted crickets, especially if he definately likes the crickets. A UV light may help, but then it may not, some say it's not needed because they are nocturnal, however just because they are sleep doesn't necessarily mean they are completely blocked from UV rays. 

Also, your humidity... How are you keeping it that high? You do have to let your viv have a drying off period. Don't keep it wet all the time, that could be making him cold too. Maybe try keeping most of it 50/60 and then give him a damper place to crawl to should he need it? like a pile of damp moss in the corner.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

you need to dust the live food - geckos need vitamin d3 or uv light to absorb the calcium properly too. 
go get some calcium today and dust some crix - its only a couple of quid.
as you`re seems to have health issues already i`d probly use nutrobol too.

the shaking does sound like the start of mbd tbh. 
what gecko powder food are you using? if its komodo not many peoples geckos will eat that, but you could try putting a tiny bit of honey in it and some pureed fresh fruit - mango, melon, or pear works good.

please NO NOT feed banana to your crestie - it will lead to mbd in no time as it stops the calcium in the diet being used.
i lost my first crestie like this ( despite vet visits ) because the `breeder` was feeding bananas cause they`re cheap.

babyfood is for babies. its not a balanced diet for cresties, you`re better sticking to one of the complete diets and dusted livefood as it takes the guesswork out of things..........and putting it on the nose isnt good, you could block the nostils and you`re better putting the food bowl in the same place all the time so crestie knows where it is

purple-vixen had a crestie food thread going with ideas for feeding your crestie in the lizards section which you might find helpful.

cresties feel cold to us because we are warmer than they are!


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## JennieWren (Jan 19, 2011)

Hi em40, we have a heat mat stuck to one side, but when the house heating is off (most of the time) the temp tends to stay at around 20 degrees C, even with the mat on. I'm not sure how else to boost the temperature by just a degree or two - maybe get a second mat? 

Good to hear that your cresties don't eat much sometimes too - we've been struggling to find any info online to tell us how much we should expect her to eat. So that's a relief. 

We'll give the UV lamp a go and see if she seems happier with it. For the humidity, we spray the viv with warm water once in the morning and once in the evening, and it does dry out between mists - however, as you say, we might try misting a particular area so that it's not affecting the temperature too much. 


Thanks Pigglywiggly - I hadn't heard this about bananas, and we had been feeding her some mashed banana - not too often, just every few days or so, and she doesn't seem to like it much - but we'll definitely stop now! 

We'll get her on the Repashy diet asap and start powdering the crickets with calcium.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

spraying once a day is plenty.

most people change the geckos food every other day - lots of cresties like it a bit manky and off - they`d eat rotten fruit in the wild.
they only eat small amounts tbh babies you just get lick marks in the food, my ones the same age as yours probly eat half a milk bottle tops worth?

is she in an exo terra viv? a 5% uv bulb in one of compact tops on during the day will definatly help with the shakes, sometimes you see the tops for sale cheap secong hand.

if you`re feeding a lot of livefood, less cgd will be eaten anyway. mine only get it a couple of times a week


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## JennieWren (Jan 19, 2011)

Yeah that sounds about right for how much she eats - half a milk bottle top. It is an exo terra viv, so I'll have a look for the compact tops - thanks for the tip. 

The pet shop people told us to keep the humidity around 70 or 80 which is why we've been spraying the viv so often but it sounds like they were being a bit too cautious - so thanks again for the more realistic advice!


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## quizicalkat (Jul 7, 2007)

Sounds like you are going to get this under control really soon 

Can't wait to see pics!


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