my new gecko, Alucard. plz help.

[huntertreat14]

Basic info
Sex:I think male
Age/weight: he's about a year old I think and I have no way to weigh him but he's about 5 inches long.
Iv had him for a little over a week now, obtained from a friend of mine. Who got sick of having it.

I try to handle him for a few minutes a day at the least.

His fecal looks normal, blackish/green.
The problem is I'm told he's a year old but he looks like a juvenile. Still has stripes and is extremely small for his age.
Housing:
Glass 10 gallon cage, substrate is paper towels, 2 hides, dry on warm side and humid on cool side.
Heating:
Under tank heating pad along with heat lamp generates 85 on warm side and 75 on cool side.
No cage mates
Diet:
Mealworms daily
Have not started gut loading yet.

I would provide a picture but since I have no internet on mycomputer at the moment I am using my phone, as soon as I get my internet runnning again I will post a picture. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.

 

[huntertreat14]

here is the picture of Alucard. He fits in the palm of my hand, give or take a few centimeters. I would also like to know the morph of him, if anyone could tell me itd be great.

 

[LeoparddGeckoss]

I think he's a normal. Good job taking care of him.

 

[Jordycakes]

Looks like you have all you need just do your best to make him healthy and also punch your "friend" in the face.

Jordan

 

[huntertreat14]

i havnt had the chance or the money to go get any calcium or gut load stuff yet but ill be doing that as soon as i can. Hes actually fatter now than he was when i got him so im pretty sure he'll get better, i really dont think he has MBD. I also know he's growing because as we speak he is in his humid hide starting the shedding process.

 

[LeoparddGeckoss]

i havnt had the chance or the money to go get any calcium or gut load stuff yet but ill be doing that as soon as i can. Hes actually fatter now than he was when i got him so im pretty sure he'll get better, i really dont think he has MBD.

I don't think he does either; sorry, I posted on the wrong thread.

 

[huntertreat14]

yeah cause at my local pet store i brought him in cause i read on the internet about MBD and saw that post about "yoshi" having it and it got me really scared. She said he doesnt look like he has MBD but is just severely malnourished. also hes lively as all hell, runnin around his cage climbin on anything he can, not lethargic in the least.

 

[huntertreat14]

Looks like you have all you need just do your best to make him healthy and also punch your "friend" in the face.

Jordan

lol ill definately let him know how much of a mistake he made.

 

[huntertreat14]

Ok so I went out and got some reptocal and crickets. Dusted the crickets and put three of them in with Alucard. I also put a watercap full of the calcium/d3 in the cage itself. Also dusted the mealworms I have. Am I going about this right?

 

[sausage]

hiya. yeah hes quite slim but it sounds like the set up is okay. you dont realy need the lamp as well as the UTH, watch the temp dosnt get to high during the summer

Glad to hear hes fattening up already, it defo sound like he just need some love and attention.
Gut loading is easy, you dont have to buy shop gut loader, you can use some foods that you eat.

eg..
- whole grain cereal such as shreddies or plain cornflakes. (NOT surgery types of cereal or chocolate ones obviously).
- veg peelings and salad eg carrots and greens (Organic or wash thoroughly before use to make sure there's no chemicals or pesticides on them. ALSO NO spinach, its toxic to geckos once the insects have broken it down inside them).
- Fruit (NO ACIDIC fruit like lemons).
- tropical fish food flakes is good for a short while.

 

[mango+cola]

He will likely eat more than 3 crickets, especially because he needs to put on alot of weight. Just feed him until he doesn't want to eat any more. Also, the temp on your hot side could be hotter, aim for mid 90's. And I agree about the MBD, he doesn't look like he has it

 

[huntertreat14]

He will likely eat more than 3 crickets, especially because he needs to put on alot of weight. Just feed him until he doesn't want to eat any more. Also, the temp on your hot side could be hotter, aim for mid 90's. And I agree about the MBD, he doesn't look like he has it

That's pretty much what I'm doing, I'm feeding him mostly mealworms and just putting crickets in so he has that opportunity if he wants one. He has kind of a hard time catching the crickets at the moment since he's so malnourished and not used to hunting. Also, the girl at the pet store recomended I feed him a waxworm every once in a while since there so fattening, I fed him one yesterday and he gobbled it up quick, but when I woke up this morning he had scat it out whole, so I don't think ill be feeding him another until he's gained weight off the crickets and mealworms.

Thank you all for your help, seriously. Ill make a post of his progress in the next week or so.

 

[mango+cola]

Try pulling off the back legs of the crickets, they are slower that way and your gecko will be able to catch them.

I dont feed waxworms because they can be addicting, but yours doesnt seem to like it anyway haha

Goodluck!

 

[huntertreat14]

Try pulling off the back legs of the crickets, they are slower that way and your gecko will be able to catch them.

I dont feed waxworms because they can be addicting, but yours doesnt seem to like it anyway haha

Goodluck!

Yeah I noticed they can be addicting, I put a waxworm and a mealworm in front of him and he started to go for the waxworm but I pulled it away before he could get to it. He gobbled down two mealworms this morning gutloaded with oatmeal so he's pretty full at the moment. Any more tips are more than welcome.
Thank you.

 

[mango+cola]

Is reptocal a vitamin supplement too? If not then you should get a multi vitamin so he doesn't get any vitamin defeciencies because those can be nasty.

Other than that, just making sure that he eats enough food will get him to put on weight in no time

Do you have a scale? I keep track of both of my geckos weights so I know if they are gaining or loosing significant weight, because all geckos weigh in differently, my older gecko weighs 80g and my younger one weighs 50g but they are both perfectly healthy, one is just bigger built (or fat)

 

[huntertreat14]

Yeah reptocal has his D3 in it and I'm gutloading with a bunch of different things full of good stuff. I don't have a scale at the moment but I'm gonna go get one asap, don't have a job at the moment but once I do I'm pretty much gonna redo all of his stuff. Need to get a bigger aquarium cause I got the one I have from a second hand store and thought it was 10gal but I measured it today and it ads up to about a 5.5 gal. He's fine in it for now though, I don't want him to have to work too hard to get his meals.

 

[huntertreat14]

YAY I just saw alucard eat a dusted cricket. At least now I know he's gettn his calcium.

 

[sausage]

 

[huntertreat14]

So I woke up this morning and saw alucard climbinng on his fake plants. He's runnin around like he has WAY more energy, and he's verry close to shedding as he's almost completely milky white.

 

[sausage]

thats really good news, make a huid hide for him if you havnt already and it should go well