Magnetic rock hide problem

[Vargblod]

I have one of those neat magnetic rock hides where the outside is magnetized on the other side of the glass. It's all well and good, but..

With how secluded it seems to be, with no way of seeing outside except to leave, he doesn't know when I drop crickets in to feed. And if I just leave the crickets in there for him to come out and get them at night (because he never does during the day), then they will hide in places he cant reach them.

So basically I don't know if this rock is a good idea if he cant see when I drop food in, or maybe I have this whole feeding thing wrong... Am I supposed to get his attention first or just rely on him getting them himself? The only food he's eaten since I got him 2 weeks ago has been either hand fed crickets or superworms that I drop in front of him and he chases and eats.

Thanks!

 

[acpart]

I have one of those magnetic things and one of my geckos hides in there all the time. She (and it) are in a 20 gallon long with a total of 4 geckos (1.3) and an upstairs to give them more room. For all my tanks, when I feed I take most of the furniture out, put the crickets in and give them about 15 minutes before I re-furnish their house. I actually extract the hermit gecko from her magnet hide and remove the hide before feeding. That seems to work for everyone.

Aliza

 

[AntMan612]

I have a magnetic rock den, and have gotten my geckos used to a routine. I remove the cover sometime between 6-7 pm (and leave it open all night). They seem recognize this as a signal for a possible feeding time, so they come out to explore the rest of their home. When they're nice and active, I drop some crickets in. Also, they have lots of other hides in the tank and the room is dark, so I'm sure they don't mind that their favorite den is missing a wall.

 

[Ccrashca069]

I have a few of those hides. I don't keep the outside cover on mine any more. One of my leopards kept getting a tail or toe stuck when I closed it back up. I still use those hides.

 

[Vargblod]

Thank you all very much, thats very helpful information. I did seem to make him notice the insects by taking off the cover and moving his hide to the other side (as he is still new I don't want to stress him by actually taking him out) so that he sees everything. I just wasn't sure if it was okay to make it an event of sorts, or if you should be more natural and just let him get them when he wants. But if it seems to be the general concensus to let him know when hes going to be fed, then that solves my problem

Also for the last week he hadn't been eating, but he would get excited and hunt the crickets or superworms, but when he got close to them, he would stop and lick them a couple times, then turn around and hide in his cave... After awhile he would bite at and try to eat the crickets, but they kept jumping out of his mouth on the second bite, and then he would give up..

But today after trying to feed him some superworms and having him lick them and then turn away, I tried taking them away and putting the smallest one I could find, which he then ate. Finding two more small ones, he ate those... Making me think that he was only stopping in his hunt when he thought it was too big for him? He's not a baby but I think he is only around 6 months or so, so maybe its more than he would like.

I wanted to get mealworms for him instead of these rediculously huge things, but the reptile shop owner was insistant that they were only for babies (which I knew wasn't true) so I just tried the superworms... But I think I will try the mealworms next.

Sorry for the wall of text!

 

[Ccrashca069]

Thats good news that he is eating. I use medium Mealworms for all my geckos except hatchlings. Hatchlings get small or really small mealworms.

 

[Vargblod]

I'm sorry, I just noticed that this should have gone in the housing forum sub category.. Durrr.

 

[Vargblod]

Thats good news that he is eating. I use medium Mealworms for all my geckos except hatchlings. Hatchlings get small or really small mealworms.

Yeah, I was worried for awhile, but I'm glad to see he ate the smaller ones right away because that seems to tell me that I was right about him just not wanting to eat the huge fat superworms. I'm pretty sure that he actually puked up his first superworm as I found one stiff dead in the corner that couldn't have got there otherwise..