# Please help, my crested gecko won't eat! :(



## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

I picked up my 5 month old crestie a week and a half ago and he/she seems quite settled. He is very nocturnal coming out at around 9pm and sleeping under his favourite leaf during daylight hours. He is getting more and more active each night and seems happy enough roaming his faunarium but he hasn't eaten anything yet and i haven't seen any faeces on the kitchen roll.

I haven't handled him much at all only once to clean his tank (change the kitchen roll) which really stressed him and he stayed under his leaf all night, but he did come back out the next night, and i've left him alone ever since.

I have been giving him melon mixed with CGD (fresh every other day) and have tried a few times to give him a little off the end of a pen lid and twice he has licked at the lid (maybe 10 - 15 licks, i'm a quite sure this is not enough for him) and seems to quite like the mix, i have also caught him licking the side of his tank where some of the mix has accidentally come off the lid and onto the glass, but he just won't touch the mix in the milk bottle top. I have tried moving his food near to his leaf.....but still nothing. Also i am not feeding him any live food, i got a crestie so i didn't have to and the breeder said that he has been feeding well on the CGD. I have also been freezing the mix into ice cubes and letting it thaw out into his bowl.....is this ok?

Many thanks for all your help.....and i hope together we can get the wee fella eating again.
: victory:


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## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

You should really try to vary the diet with some insect food as it's in their nature to eat them anyway.......If he doesnt eat out of the lid change what you put the CGD into maybe get one of those things that sticks on the side of tank


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## chondro13 (Aug 18, 2008)

If hes young he will probably prefer live food, try throwing in a few dusted crickets of suitable size and he should hopefully go for that : victory:


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

is is still young, so he wont be eating LOADS anyhoo, as long as he is pooping, its a good sign  

If on the other hand there is no poop...then that might be something to worry about


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## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

imitebmike said:


> is is still young, so he wont be eating LOADS anyhoo, as long as he is pooping, its a good sign
> 
> If on the other hand there is no poop...then that might be something to worry about


Nope...no poop, now i'm worried, what do i do?


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## tigerbaby2k (Feb 10, 2009)

The breeder you bought your crestie off is right you don't have to feed them live, but a mixture of live and cgd is better. 10 - 15 licks in one night for a 5 months is plenty. 
We personally don't freeze our cgd but we make so much to feed everyone anyway lol a would try making if fresh for a few weeks, maybe put a few different milk bottle tops around and see which place he/she prefers to eat from. 
you could also try a different flavour maybe? 
I would really keep an eye on the pooing situation no poo isn't great news. I would speak to your vet about that.

Hope this helps.


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

well...you have only had him for a week and abit, so he is prolly off his food for now cause of the new environment, and he is settling in...although i woulda thought if he was eating before hand he woulda done a poopy thing by now...


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## adivallender (Mar 21, 2010)

I feed mine:
Komodo mix and 2 part
i buy innocent smoothies 2 types ( i have fussy cresties)
and my baby boy will eat a lid full every night but one of my adults will only lick it off my finger... 

try something berry mine love blackberrys n strawberrys.

one of my old ones wont touch the fruit if its got the diet formular in it and wont eat live foods.. 

they are that fussy i have a list of stuff they will and wont eat by their vivs. Ive worked out that all mine prefer different diets which is annoying but each to their own i guess...


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## spiderman13 (Mar 27, 2010)

Look hes a lizard a gecko so the best thing is dusted crickets or small locusts ! :no1:...dont feed him mealworms hes two young for them yet..

i through in some chopped up pear,apple,oranged just friut along with livefood so the livefood eas some of the fruit and when the geckos come out they eat them and lick away ..........
SIMPLE NO BIG DEAL..THO!!! if he wont eat anything at all!!
take him to a vet/reptile person incase he might have indestainly parasites thats messing him up inside :2thumb:

goodluck m8...you will need it lol


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## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

adivallender said:


> I feed mine:
> Komodo mix and 2 part
> i buy innocent smoothies 2 types ( i have fussy cresties)
> and my baby boy will eat a lid full every night but one of my adults will only lick it off my finger...
> ...


Ok.....so i'm trying out the innocent smoothie/cgd mix, but i've also put a bottle top of water/cgd and melon/cdg, and i'm hoping he goes for at least one of them.....i'm getting really worried now.....what's the longest i can leave it without seeing poop?????
:?:?:?


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## k42c (Jan 29, 2010)

Malekko said:


> what's the longest i can leave it without seeing poop?????
> :?:?:?


i wouldnt like to say how long they can go but if your really worried get booked in to see a rep vet. 

however they do seem to take a while to get settled in i find mine perfer the two part diet to the komodo stuff. although they would eat that if i mixed in smoothys. 

kyle


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## x_Living_Dead_Girl_x (Feb 16, 2009)

I wouldn't recommend feeding cresties smoothies as I'm sure there'll be chemicals in them that aren't suitable. Keep trying with the CGD mix you were already using. Try talking to Sparkle on here - she's really helpful and knows her stuff when it comes to cresties.

Also, someone said before about feeding their crestie apple... do NOT feed your crestie citrus based fruits!


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## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

x_Living_Dead_Girl_x said:


> I wouldn't recommend feeding cresties smoothies as I'm sure there'll be chemicals in them that aren't suitable. Keep trying with the CGD mix you were already using. Try talking to Sparkle on here - she's really helpful and knows her stuff when it comes to cresties.
> 
> Also, someone said before about feeding their crestie apple... do NOT feed your crestie citrus based fruits!


He's eating!!!!! I've seen it with my own two eyes!!! YAY! :no1:

BUT :hmm:...... judging by the previous threads this isn't such a good thing as this afternoon i put three mixes of CGD in his tank...one just cgd, one melon, and one innocent smoothie....you can guess which one i caught him chomping away at not long after he'd woken up.....that's right the innocent smoothie one....he loved it, but i've since been told not to give him anything apart from the CGD alone, what do i do, take the other stuff out and risk him not eating again or give him what he/she obviously enjoys????

Feels like a vicious circle.

Please help, and many thanks as always


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## tigger79 (Aug 22, 2006)

Go to the supermarket and buy the organics stage one baby food, get the ones that only contain pure fruit puree, i use this mixed with cgd, also live crickets now and again will give them some exercise too, but do not use the ones that contain rice, it HAS to bee the fruit only one.

Our Foods | Organix Brands Ltd

another thing i found my cresties like is mango, apple or pears, cut a piece off the fruit and leave it in the tanks, when it starts going a little soft n mouldy then your crestie will start to eat it.

Also it may take a few weeks for your crestie to settle in, i would worry too much unless its showing signs of illness or stress.

hope this helps


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## Fill (Nov 24, 2007)

I found that once my cresties have found where the food is, they will go back there again. My adults will now wait by the spot that I put the food bowl in for them. I'd put a few bottle lids of pure CGD in the tank and once you notice where he goes to eat, don't move that one. If you keep moving it about then he has to find it every night.

Good luck!


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## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

They also don't eat alot, so you may not notice if he is really small, have you noticed if he has pooped?

They cab take a while to settle in, he will be chomping it down soon enough,

My crestie loves brown crickets, goes crazy for them, you could maybe try some of them aswell as the CGD.

Also have you tried Rapshey diet, this is very good and alot of cresties love it.


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## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

*OK....So I will change the error of my ways!!!!!*

I have been sent this link Want to really screw up a Crested Gecko? - Gecko Resource Forums
by someone on another forum so thought you guys should see it too, it's definitely made me sit up and think about what i am doing to the poor little guy. As soon as i get home i will be changing back to the CGD/water mix, just want to ask though, if my crestie really doesn't like what i am serving him will he starve himself????????? Also having still not seen any poop, how long should i leave it before i should be truly worried????? I'll also post her post here too as it's very useful info!!

_There is something to consider in terms of feeding "smoothies" and baby food. 

In the wild, Rhac's eat ripe fruit (some also eat insects) and this serves their purpose well, because they are in their native environments. This means they have plenty of room for exercise (and are required to hunt/search for their food), and are exposed to natural sunlight during the day (albeit, while they are sleeping). The raw fruits are great because the animals have plenty of space and are active enough to metabolize the sugars and fats in a beneficial way.

However, our Rhac's are kept in cages (natural or not), which means they don't have as much area to move around in as their native counterparts. This, coupled with the fact that they don't really have to search for their food source, and thus don't expend as much energy as their wild counterparts do, often leads to obesity, and poor health.

A fruit smoothie every now and then as a treat is not a bad thing, and I know some of the keepers do give fruit treats to their pets. The thing is to make sure your gecko is eating well on straight CGD before introducing any "goodies" into their diet. The likelihood that your gecko will starve itself is pretty slim to none, so "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again!"

We're here for you to help you through the transition, so please feel free to keep us updated on your little ones progress. In parting, I'd like to share with you this link *(the link i gave at the top of the post)* that was posted by another member a while back. It shows the effects on a gecko who was not fed a proper diet._


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

he might not see it as food (different smells and such) so you may have to ween him onto it...ie gradually adding less smoothie/more water...


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## andy007 (May 13, 2008)

Just persevere with the cgd and dusted crickets. Try liquidized melon, mango or papaya to mix the cgd base powder into. If you only put a little in the bottle top, just enough to cover the bottom, you'll be able to see if he's taken any.

I really wouldn't start down the baby food route at all. The reason baby food is used, is because when the Cresty was rediscovered and brought into captivity in the mid 90's, there were no other foods available. However since then, through research the Crested gecko diets have been developed. 

Maybe "smoothies" are ok every once in a while, who knows? but as you can see from the link, messing around with baby foods and the like dont do them any good.

These are animals of habit, so new environments, new foods, will cause stress to some degree. 

If you haven't already, get yourself a set of digital scales. Something like these New Digital Pocket Scales 0.01g x 100g Gold Scale MZ100 on eBay (end time 01-May-10 21:33:06 BST)

keeping an accurate weight record is the best way to check your Crestys health.


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## andy007 (May 13, 2008)

spiderman13 said:


> i through in some chopped up pear,apple,oranged just friut along with livefood so the livefood eas some of the fruit and when the geckos come out they eat them and lick away ..........



Orange is too citrus for Cresties, so best avoided.


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## Malekko (Apr 10, 2010)

*WOOHOO HOO MALEKKO DID A POO!!! I'M SO HAPPY MASSIVE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU TOO!!!*
:no1::flrt::lol2:: victory:


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

Congratulations!

Also as suggested earlier I would ask Sparkle for her crestie mix. It is awesome and my male went mad for it when he was young. He was fed initially on baby food (before I got him) and was loathe to take anything else. Sparkles mix got him going great. My female would only eat live food but she is doing great too. Just ensure they are gut loaded and supplemented properly.


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