I've had these 2 geckos for about 4 weeks. Their diet has mostly consisted of meal worms, crickets and super worms, (Wax worms for treats). I typically feed the insects this green cube that’s supposedly good for the geckos. I am going to try crickets again today and see if they will eat those.
I've separated the females into 2 separate 10 GAL tanks. The temps of their enclosures vary and maybe a bit low. I am trying to find better ways to heat them better. The temps get as low as 70 degrees at night and as high as 85 during the day using over head lamps. Also I use the sticky black under heater, under their "hot hide". They substrate I use on both is a mixture. On the cold side of the tank I use dark gray ceramic tiles and on the warm side a thin VERY layer of calcium sand over the top of a "reptile carpet". Of the 2 females I have one is slightly larger than the other not sure what the weight is. The larger of the 2 is a tangelo I think and the smaller is a high yellow. I didn’t give them names yet.
The larger Tangelo has eaten well in the past. In one sitting I fed it 5 super worms and 2 wax worms with feeding tweezers. It didn’t eat for the next 2 days after that, and then it wouldn’t touch any food until I offered MORE wax worms. I didn’t want it to go hungry so I gave her a lot... 11 wax worms to be exact. I've read they are supposed to be a treat but, I figured if they ate enough it would fatten her up and would give her SOME nutrients. It hasn’t eaten again for about 5 days! It behavior isn’t too abnormal from what I can tell, she moves in and out of the "hot hide" and comes out at night. I've got a mix of super worms and meal worms in a little brown worm bowl. It doesn’t eat them though and if I let them run wild she doesn’t go after them either and will not eat off the feeder tweezers either! She has pooped the day before yesterday and it seemed normal, brown and white mix. The only odd behavior I've seen is that she seems to open her mouth a lot and yawn maybe over 10 times a day. Also this one does not let me hold her and squirms a shit ton when I attempt to pick her up. She will crawl on my arm a bit when she settles down but I fear she will attempt to jump off. I worry about stressing her out too much and her dropping her tail so I avoid handling her.
The smaller high yellow which I will attach a picture of is the one I am most concerned about however. I've not actually witnessed her eat more than 1 meal worm... a week ago. I've force fed her a gut loaded meal worm as well about 3 days ago. She pooped 2 days ago a very small half n half white and brown (it was also very smelly). In the past I was worried it could be impacted so I also gave it .2 cc of Caster oil. I inspected it and didn’t see any obvious parasite eggs. Her tail seems like it could be getting smaller. She also shed 2 days ago and didn’t seem to eat all her shed. She also has issues getting the shed off her fingers and eye sockets which I have helped her with every time since I've had her. She has lost a quite a few fingers, none since I've had her though! She has little stumpy fingers especially in the front. I really like this gecko though as she lets me hold handle her VERY easily and will chill on my hand for 5-10 minutes at a time and would like to get her healthy.
Both of these geckos were PETCO buys for $15 and were purchased at the end of September 2012
I know this is a lot of information but I figured the more you know the better you could help me.
-Chad
I've separated the females into 2 separate 10 GAL tanks. The temps of their enclosures vary and maybe a bit low. I am trying to find better ways to heat them better. The temps get as low as 70 degrees at night and as high as 85 during the day using over head lamps. Also I use the sticky black under heater, under their "hot hide". They substrate I use on both is a mixture. On the cold side of the tank I use dark gray ceramic tiles and on the warm side a thin VERY layer of calcium sand over the top of a "reptile carpet". Of the 2 females I have one is slightly larger than the other not sure what the weight is. The larger of the 2 is a tangelo I think and the smaller is a high yellow. I didn’t give them names yet.
The larger Tangelo has eaten well in the past. In one sitting I fed it 5 super worms and 2 wax worms with feeding tweezers. It didn’t eat for the next 2 days after that, and then it wouldn’t touch any food until I offered MORE wax worms. I didn’t want it to go hungry so I gave her a lot... 11 wax worms to be exact. I've read they are supposed to be a treat but, I figured if they ate enough it would fatten her up and would give her SOME nutrients. It hasn’t eaten again for about 5 days! It behavior isn’t too abnormal from what I can tell, she moves in and out of the "hot hide" and comes out at night. I've got a mix of super worms and meal worms in a little brown worm bowl. It doesn’t eat them though and if I let them run wild she doesn’t go after them either and will not eat off the feeder tweezers either! She has pooped the day before yesterday and it seemed normal, brown and white mix. The only odd behavior I've seen is that she seems to open her mouth a lot and yawn maybe over 10 times a day. Also this one does not let me hold her and squirms a shit ton when I attempt to pick her up. She will crawl on my arm a bit when she settles down but I fear she will attempt to jump off. I worry about stressing her out too much and her dropping her tail so I avoid handling her.
The smaller high yellow which I will attach a picture of is the one I am most concerned about however. I've not actually witnessed her eat more than 1 meal worm... a week ago. I've force fed her a gut loaded meal worm as well about 3 days ago. She pooped 2 days ago a very small half n half white and brown (it was also very smelly). In the past I was worried it could be impacted so I also gave it .2 cc of Caster oil. I inspected it and didn’t see any obvious parasite eggs. Her tail seems like it could be getting smaller. She also shed 2 days ago and didn’t seem to eat all her shed. She also has issues getting the shed off her fingers and eye sockets which I have helped her with every time since I've had her. She has lost a quite a few fingers, none since I've had her though! She has little stumpy fingers especially in the front. I really like this gecko though as she lets me hold handle her VERY easily and will chill on my hand for 5-10 minutes at a time and would like to get her healthy.
Both of these geckos were PETCO buys for $15 and were purchased at the end of September 2012
I know this is a lot of information but I figured the more you know the better you could help me.
-Chad
