meal replacement Powder

[Troy L]

I bought a small bottle of Trex Crested Gecko Diet (MRP).my question is how long is it good for when you mix it up? can you mix a large portion of it up and store in the refridgerator? If so how long does it stay good? I know you are sopose to change it daily or every other day. I have read both... so which one is it?
Mixing up 3/4tsp of food at a time just sucks. My crested gecko is only like 3 inches from nose to tail. It is alot smaller then what I thought it was going to be. The guy I got it from has been feeding it meal worms. i am feeding my leo's meal worms as well and am trying to grow a colony for it. Any suggestions on how to get them to eat the MRP?
any help or suggestions would be great.

Thanks.
Troy

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I mix it up for each feeding so it's fresh. I don't think it's intended to mix up any quantity to feed as needed. Using a small measuring spoon (1/4 t) is really easy. At first mine didn't eat it so well so I started using my bottled drinking water and they started to lap it up. They eat at night so that's when I put it in, then remove it the next morning. This is an every other day feeding and they're happy with it, sometimes waiting for the expected arrival of their food dish

 

[Daedric1]

I would probably avoid feeding the cresty mealworms. From time to time it's probably fine, but I wouldn't do it in any large quantity. Think of them like waxworms for leos - not that they're addicting to cresties necessarily, but that they may be hard to digest.

One good way to get the cresty to start eating its mixed diet is to stop frequently feeding live foods. Most cresties will hold out for live foods over the diet. If they get hungry enough, they will eat it. I wouldn't feed live foods more than once every week or two.

I haven't used the T-Rexx MRP (I use the Repashy CGD), but I imagine they are similar. It is fine to leave it in the cage for a couple days. Some cresties actually prefer the diet to be gloppier (if that's a word, lol) and thick after sitting for awhile than when it's really runny and watery.

You can also try adding a small amount of honey to the diet to make it sweeter. Once they're eating, slowly cut back on the honey each feeding until they are eating the pure mixed diet.

 

[supremegecko]

We feed the CGD/MRP every other day as well (M-W-F) then over the weekends, add insects (crickets or mealworms).

The mixed diet will last a couple of feedings if kept covered in the fridge..

 

[Troy L]

Ok I opened the cage up tonight and the food seemed to have a not so sweet smell anymore... guessing its a 1 day thing. With him being so small is it is ok to put his food on the floor of the cage in the front? I have him in an inverted 10 gallon tank with a papertowel substate in it since he is sooooo small. I kinda taped up some exo-terra greenery in there. i am atempting to attach a picture of the setup and one of my very tiny guy.
any suggestions welcomed.

Troy

 

[Merriweather]

Ive been mixing my cresteds food daily, although she got stuck with 2-day food when I went outta town. X(
Ive heard you can pre-mix your CGD and store it in the fridge... but I havent looked into that. It doesnt take that long to mix each day, I use a little measuring spoon and put that in the cup, add two parts water, and then use a different spoon to stir. That way the measuring spoon is clean and I can use it again the next day.
If you have the ability to weigh your gecko, do so to make sure its finding food and eating. If not, check for poop. Poop means its eating and finding food, a lack of poop means it isnt eating, and you might want to move your tiny gecko to a smaller cage so it can find its food better until it gets larger.

 

[Northstar Herp]

In the cage, it's pretty much a one day thing. Although sometimes it doesn't smell as funky as others. You could mix it up and put it in a container and keep it in the fridge, but that sounds like a bigger butt pain than mixing a little bit every couple of days. You shouldn't have to feed daily. I feed my rhacs every third day or so. It looks something like this-

Mon- feed
Tues- leave in cage
wed- take out of cage
thursday- feed
friday- leave in
saturday- take out
sunday- feed

and so on and so forth, infinitely.

IMO, rhacs are certainly superior pets to most other herps, simple because you don't HAVE to feed them anything besides CGD. That takes the butt pain out the process for me.

And I second the idea of not feeding mealies to cresties. If nothing else, it's a heck of a lot more fun to watch them jumping around after crix or dubias.

 

[Troy L]

The guy I got him from fed strictly mealies. not a good thing i know. I did find some poop in the cage yesturday on a fake plant. so figureing that is a good thing. its so tiny i almost missed it.
Will continue to check plants daily till I see it and know he is eating.

Troy

 

[Troy L]

Ok so I weighed my them just about an hour ago. This poor little thing weighs a huge 2.6grams!!!! I about fell over at how little it weighs. I called the guy to get an extimated DOB on it. He told me that picked it up from a breeder in Tennessee. They had only had it a week or two and are rehoming it since they have decided to move to Florida this next week. So now my question is.. is it even big enough to make it?? any concerns or issues I need to know of? other then they are really freaking quick. He jumped when I was weighing them today and I thought he got lose in the room and I was never going to find him!!! It took 45 minutes but I found him and now safe and sound back in the enclosure! I think I want to put him in a 1.5 gallon tank or maybe a 5 gallon tank. A 10gallon just seems soooo big for 2.6grams.
any suggestions?

Troy

 

[Dron2124]

use the bigger kritter keeper. great size. i tried to put my guy into the 20 gallon i got with my crested he didnt gain to much. had him in his kritter keeper and he has easiely doubles in liek a month

 

[Troy L]

use the bigger kritter keeper. great size. i tried to put my guy into the 20 gallon i got with my crested he didnt gain to much. had him in his kritter keeper and he has easiely doubles in liek a month

What size Kritter Keeper did you put him in? how big was your little one when you got it?


Troy

 

[Dron2124]

i got the 14x8x10 inch kitter keeper and he was about the size of my finger a little bigger thats head to tip of tail. had him in the big 20 gallon for prob about a month noticed he wasnt rly getting any bigger. so i put him in the kritter keeper and he is head to vent the size of my finger. he grew about an inch or bigger in that month. probably a little bit of catch up as well.

 

[Daedric1]

I would say it's best to keep hatchlings in kritter keepers until they reach about 10g. After that, you can move them to a bigger enclosure.

 

[stubb]

i had mine in a 10 gallon i have 2 and neither were eating or getting any bigger after a month. i just now put them in a large critter keeper and hopefully they will find their food..

 

[Troy L]

stubb... are you about 25 minutes outside Fort Wayne?

I moved my crested into a 1/2 gallon plastic container tonight with food and water cups. I also did a paper towel substrate and put some plastic plant parts in for coverage. Put my probe in to monitor the temps with in. I think i put 43 holes in the encloseure for good air flow.