Is Charlie ok? New owner has many questions!

[m_bangle]

I got Charlie from ++++++++ a week ago. Not sure of sex, how much it weighs, or how old. I haven't tried to handle it yet because I wanted to for it a chance to settle in. When and how should I begin to handle it?


I think I've got a good habitat so far. The tank is 10 gallon and has reptile carpet and tile. Temp is btwn 85-90 on the warm side, 75-80 on the cool. 70s at night. I'm going to get a UTH and thermostat at the end of the week because I know it needs to get warmer. Any suggestions on what type is best? Trying to keep humidity btwn 20-30 requires frequent misting, not sure how to keep it stable. Suggestions? 3 hides-hot, cool, and moist. The moist hide has paper towels and I'm making sure it's always saturated. There's a water dish and a calcium dish.


As far as feeding, Charlie had been eating crickets at the store so for the first few days I had been feeding btwn 5-8 daily. They weren't gut-loaded at first, but I've since added food for the crickets. One poop a day, normal looking (brown and a little white). It would scarf them down fast and always looked like it wanted more.


So after reading that they'll only eat until they were full, I fed Charlie 12 crickets. This was 2 days ago. Charlie looked so full. It spent the whole day and most of the night in the moist hide. Yesterday, it didn't poop and not came out to eat 2 crickets. This morning I noticed that it pooped, but it doesn't look normal. Also, it's color is totally starting to change. Is Charlie ok? Should I be worried?


Any help is greatly appreciated. I love my Charlie and want to make sure I take good care of her.

 

[staceyleigh]

The UTH is very important, they digest through belly heat- so definitely get that asap. You little guy looks good in the pics- eating pooping sounds normal. Some days they eat more, some a little less. Tank looks good. As far as color changes they change quite dramatically from babies to adults and yours looks quite young still, colors and pattern usually change some.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

New leos either off-feed or eat a lot. Either way, it will only take time til they get back on their regular feeding routine so don't worry about it too much. Just watch out for the tail plumpness

 

[Phantom240]

Looks like your little leo is about to shed.

 

[Walter H. White]

just wondering what are you using in his wet hide??
Also do you meen your Gecko is changing color or his poop is changing color?

 

[m_bangle]

Thanks for the feedback. Charlie seems to be fine. Just a case of serious overrating. It's pooping again and it looks normal. Color is back to normal and there aren't any sides of shedding.

We've started feeding Charlie mealworms in addition to the crickets and it loves them. Any suggestions on how many I should feed it? For the past two days we fed 3 worms and 2 crickets.

 

[m_bangle]

just wondering what are you using in his wet hide??
Also do you meen your Gecko is changing color or his poop is changing color?

We've got wet paper towel in the moist hide.

 

[Walter H. White]

Ahh ok I see I wasn't sure. from every thing I have read its how ever many your Charlie will eat in like ten min I think it is. like for my Rodney I feed him 5-6 crickets every other day and about 10 mealworms. I have also read its one cricket per inch of length. Also unless you are staring at his cage 24/7 you might not have noticed his shed as they do eat it. ( I think I have read that it will make your leos poop look different) like the other day my daughter was over and wanted to hold my leo Rodney so I pulled him out and MAN was he grey and dull (a sign that he was ready to shed)as a son of gun. held him for al ittle bit and put him back. well my son got home and we need to clean down his cage. ( waash his tiles hides ect....) so we took him out and put him in his cleaning tank ( its just a bucket) and wouldn't you know it he had shed in the half hour that it took for my son to get home from school from when we put him back in the first time. Charlie is very very pretty btw.

 

[m_bangle]

Thanks. I think he's doing fine, I just want to make sure we're taking good care of him.

I didn't realize that they can shed so quickly. So it's possible that he shed and we didn't even notice? That's cool!

This morning we fed him 3 mealworms which he gobbled down. Then we offered 1 cricket, but he wasn't interested so after a 1/2 hr we just took it out. Do you suggest keeping some mealworms in the tank for him to eat as he pleases? I've heard some people do that?

A couple more questions--
any guesses on how old Charlie is? And how should we go about handling and taming him? We haven't tried yet because we wanted him to get comfortable in his new home first, but my daughter can't wait to hold him.

 

[Walter H. White]

yes its very likely that you missed the shed I have yet to see mine shed ( I have only had leos for like four months or so But I am always reading about them) I do keep a dish with mealworms in it for my juvie that we just brought home and I keep ten mealworms in it that way when I check on her I can do a fast count and see if she has eaten anything(because she hasn't eaten anything realy yet). and as far as handleing I am not sure when a good amount of time is to let them get used to everything. iwas hopeing to get an answer to that cuz as I said in a nother post I am dieing to hold her as well.