Feeding and weight questions?

[Jenn_tigercat]

I have looked all over this site (including the search) and can't find what I am looking for so I am going to ask here. Phantom weighs 7g and Cameron weighs 5g (weighed them this morning). I have been feeding them about 5-6 crickets a night and they have meal worms for the day. However they don't ever seem to touch the meal worms and will only eat them if I give them to them during their nightly feeding. I am dusting their crickets with rep-cal calcium plus D3 as well as rep-cal herptivite. They also have a small dish with pure calcium in it. Which I haven't seen them touch. They went to the vet on Friday for a check up just to make sure they were healthy and were 7g and 5g then. So their weights haven't dropped any.

1. How quickly do hatchlings put on weight?
2. How often do you all weigh your hatchlings to see that they are gaining weight?
3. Should I offer them more crickets in one feeding?
4. they seem to only want to eat once a day, is this ok or should I be worried?

 

[roger]

I have looked all over this site (including the search) and can't find what I am looking for so I am going to ask here. Phantom weighs 7g and Cameron weighs 5g (weighed them this morning). I have been feeding them about 5-6 crickets a night and they have meal worms for the day. However they don't ever seem to touch the meal worms and will only eat them if I give them to them during their nightly feeding. I am dusting their crickets with rep-cal calcium plus D3 as well as rep-cal herptivite. They also have a small dish with pure calcium in it. Which I haven't seen them touch. They went to the vet on Friday for a check up just to make sure they were healthy and were 7g and 5g then. So their weights haven't dropped any.

1. How quickly do hatchlings put on weight?
2. How often do you all weigh your hatchlings to see that they are gaining weight?
3. Should I offer them more crickets in one feeding?
4. they seem to only want to eat once a day, is this ok or should I be worried?

Each hatchling grows at their own rate.As long as they are all eating I wouldnt worry.I weigh my hatchlings weekly.I will feed them daily and as much as they can eat.U are only suppose to feed them once daily, at least thats what I do

 

[Jenn_tigercat]

thanks Roger

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I leave a dish of mealworms in a spot of Rephashy plus powder for them to eat at their own pace. We don't use cricket feeders at all for babes. Some are little piggies and eat a lot of worms, stalk their dish for more. Others come running when they see worms placed in their dish. Eat a few now, a few later, as long as they eat its all good Some days they might not want as much. Their personalities begin to develop early as far as aggressive feeders or casual diners. I weigh every couple weeks unless there is a problem. They are checked on several times a day so I notice if something isn't quite right pretty quickly and address the issue immediately. I would consider them hatchlings until they're over 10 grams. Others may have a different view there tho.

 

[Jenn_tigercat]

I leave a dish of mealworms in a spot of Rephashy plus powder for them to eat at their own pace. We don't use cricket feeders at all for babes. Some are little piggies and eat a lot of worms, stalk their dish for more. Others come running when they see worms placed in their dish. Eat a few now, a few later, as long as they eat its all good Some days they might not want as much. Their personalities begin to develop early as far as aggressive feeders or casual diners. I weigh every couple weeks unless there is a problem. They are checked on several times a day so I notice if something isn't quite right pretty quickly and address the issue immediately. I would consider them hatchlings until they're over 10 grams. Others may have a different view there tho.

LOL I think mine are casual diners. Yeah I think I am going to forgo the crickets. Don't really like dealing with them, especially when they escape. I leave a small bowl of mealworms in a dish in their tanks and they both refuse to eat them. I am worried about my one cause he/she hasn't eaten in the past two days. He has been battling coccidia to and is on meds for it, but doesn't seem to be doing well. How long can a hatchling go before it becomes a major concern? I do have repta-aid if I need to use it.

 

[gothra]

I give my 2 hatchlings 8-10 food items per night; I think they can eat more (well, they look at me like they're still starving...), but I don't want to overfeed them. So 10 is the max per night. I try to give them a variety of food; I use mainly lateralis, then alternate with silkworms, dubias, crickets and mealworms. I didn't weigh them when they first hatch out, but they were 6.6g and 6.3g at week 1. And then consistently gaining 3-4g per week. At week 7, they weighed 27.9g and 32.5g. They both ate the same amount every night, just that one seem to absorb the nutrients better than the other, hence the 4.5g difference. I dust with Repashy Calcium Plus every 2nd day.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

LOL I think mine are casual diners. Yeah I think I am going to forgo the crickets. Don't really like dealing with them, especially when they escape. I leave a small bowl of mealworms in a dish in their tanks and they both refuse to eat them. I am worried about my one cause he/she hasn't eaten in the past two days. He has been battling coccidia to and is on meds for it, but doesn't seem to be doing well. How long can a hatchling go before it becomes a major concern? I do have repta-aid if I need to use it.

Any kind of oral medications are harsh on a gecko's system, whether it be antibiotic or parasitic drugs. I hope your vet took into consideration the delicacy of your gecko when setting up the frequency schedule. You will want to be very careful that no excess is given. In a gecko so young, he has little defense within his body to bounce back, nor much of a fat store in the tail. Take a look at the sticky in the health/medication section of this forum for the gecko soup/slurry recipe. More than a few days without eating for a hatchling can be big trouble that is already struggling. Don't try to syringe anything to him (major stressor), but dotting food on his little lips will cause him to lick it up.

Poor little guy, hope he pulls thru

 

[Jenn_tigercat]

I will definitely look into making that formula for my little one thank you