New Gecko, need some help!

[Gtwo305]

Hello everyone , i recently purchased a gecko from a Petsmart by where i live. I wanted a healthy gecko so i looked for the most active, stood up from his stomach, active eyes and healthy toes gecko i could find. This gecko im not sure if its a female or male yet as i have not wanted to handle him yet, just to give him some time to get comftarable with the habitat.

My Gecko has a redish orange color to him, im thinking super hypo something not too sure.

Setup : 10 gal with a Room temparature hide (cold hide) a humid hide and also a Warm hide. All of these are made from home made plastic containers. I have a digital thermometer with probe reading on the warm side 87.2 and a regular thermometer on the warm side reading 77 degrees. i have a reptical calcium dish and a water dish. All this on top of a Green repticarpet. Also on the warm side i have a UTH plugged in to a lamp dimmer just to make sure i keep the temparature stable.


Have one question :main_rolleyes:

I dont want to feed my gecko crickets since the one i took care for many years ago i did feed him that, and crickets are sooooo annoying at night, sometimes i couldnt sleep. One time some of them escaped and were all over my closet, it was nasty. So i kind of wanna do mealworms only with an occasional treat of crickets or superworms here and there. Can anyone tel me the right amount to feed a baby to juvenile gecko, im guessing maybe 5 twice a day??? also wats the proper way to "gut load" the mealworms so my gecko gets the best nutrition.

Thanks:main_thumbsup:

 

[justinadavid1104]

leave a bowl of mealworms in the cage with apporx 10-15 mealworms

 

[acpart]

Congratulations on your new gecko. I think the warm side should be (on the floor) just a bit warmer, say in the low 90's. For gutload you can buy commercial stuff, or else just grind up in the blender oats (not instant) and some unsweetened cereal. Use that as mealworm bedding and throw in vegetable parings occasionally for moisture. As mentioned above, just keep a bunch of mealworms in a bowl in the cage. Every now and then a baby will overeat and throw up, but they learn their lesson quickly.

Aliza

 

[Gtwo305]

Thank you, for now im just leaving like 4 or 5 in there and see where that goes. Im going to try and feed that amount twice a day for now. Hes really small. I gave him or her, its first feeding not too long ago it ate 2 and then i guess there were two mealworms "making out" like my girlfriend said lol and he ate both of them at the same time while they were "making out" lol

 

[Gtwo305]

Heres is a picture of the vivarium!

Here is a pic of the Gecko, need morph breed name asap please! I would get a better pic but im still hesitant to handle him

 

[bubblez825]

Your set up looks good, congratulations on your new gecko He may be small, but with the mealworms I would adjust it by the amount he eats. like aliza said, just throw some mealworms in a dish and he will eat his fill. If he eats all 4-5 you put in there, throw a few more in and if he eats all those, throw more in,and repeat till he stops eating. Its better to let a gecko eat their fill then limit their food supply and end up with an underweight gecko juveniles need to be fed daily, but once they hit adulthood they can be fed every day to every other day

As for morph and stuff, you need to get a clearer, regular light(NON colored light, preferably even natural light) picture of the little one, as well as a pretty clear eye picture. colors and patterns, as well as eye colorand design, are what tells the morphs of the geckos. Now, the hets and all that jazz, that involves test breeding. WHO KNOWS what that could pull up :main_rolleyes: :main_laugh:

 

[Russellm0704]

Agreed, allow him to eat as many as he wants

 

[Gtwo305]

Thats my plan, i got in contact with a guy who lives fairly two blocks away from me and breeds mealworms, he wanted to sell me a huge load 1000 mealwprms for 10 bucks n deliver them for free. But that number scares me lol, i really wouldnt know what to do with all of them, i live in an apartment so no backyard to keep them it wil just be in my closet i guess. Anyone have any ideas of what i can do? I know 1000 for 10 bucks is an awsome deal. I just bought. "50" count for 4 bcks at petsmart nearly 70% were dried out. My gecko is still fairly small n im not looking to build colonies pr anything, really no space for that

 

[Angrychair]

1000 mealworms takes up way less space than you think. and thats a really good deal

 

[Gtwo305]

I ended up getting a 250 count for 6$. Pretty cheap.

Currently im gutloading it with just dog food and some sliced apples for hydration. Inside a small container with a couple of small holes for oxygen lol.

Im just having trouble with them moving enough to attract my gecko. Even though when i get home usually their all gone. I usually just leave 10 in the dish for the whole day n when i get home i fill it with 4 at like 11 pm..And repeat next day.

Is it better to leave them inside their container with the dog food or put them in the fridge??

 

[Dimidiata]

Fridge, mealworms o much better in the fridge.

 

[Gtwo305]

Ill see what i figure out, i know having mealworms next to food and stuff would gross my girlfriend out. Maybe getvsome ice bags n put it in a cooler.

 

[Gtwo305]

Btw here is a picture of him can anyone tell me what he is please?

 

[Gtwo305]

Anyone??

 

[Dimidiata]

Hes half way through shedding . Its not gonna kill ya not to immediately know his morph, relax. From his head he looks SUPER orange. So possibly a Super Hypo tangerine Carrot tail, maybe baldy. That will be known as his color changes. For now just make sure his humid hide is well, humid.

 

[Gtwo305]

Sorry if i get annoying man, i just want to know as much as i can. Thank you though. You have any idea how i can get my mealies to move while theyre in the food dish for a long time? Im trying now with the heat lamp over them to see

 

[Dimidiata]

leave some out of the fridge for an hour or so before feeding, let em warm up.

 

[leoguy62]

Looks like a tangerine, about feed, keep a cup of mealworms OUT of the fridge with a carrot in it so they can eat it which will be the gut loading part, then leave like 20 mealworms in a bowl with calcium WITHOUT D³ in the bottom of the dish

 

[Gtwo305]

Right now im just trying to get him or her to eat. Hes been in its humid hide alot. Kind of weird, and he hasnt been eating much out of his bowl. I made a homemade dish for him with a lip n just tall enough so the mealworms cant escape but he can look over.

My only problem is when i put the mealworms in the dish they move for about a minute or two then freeze. I dont know what to do, i try feeding him with tongs but hes still kind of scared and goes to his humid hide.

Any advice or tips on how to keep the mealworms active in the dish?

 

[mango+cola]

From what I read, your gecko has just shed, so he likely ate it and is just full, don't scare the little guy with tongs, he will eat when he is hungry, they are good at regulating their own food. As for the worms, you are supposed to keep them in the fridge, it sends them into a sort of sleep and they live longer. Then what we do is the day before feeding, we pull out 40 mealworms (20 per gecko) and gutload them and leave them out so they liven up and eat the gutload. You can't really force the mealworms to be active, but if you keep them in the fridge and pull them out 24 hrs before feeding they will be lively.