ThePinkPanther
New Member
- Messages
- 1
Hi everybody,
I am new here, and I have a little problem with a Mediterranean gecko, and this forum was the closest I could find that could help me.
So the following happened: I have a dorm room on a campus, and was one day there, when I saw a tiny Mediterranean gecko (at most an inch long) on the bathroom wall. At first I just left it there, but it kept coming back, and I started to worry about it. As the university sprays against bugs all the time in the hallways and around the building, there is hardly ever food for him in the dorm. Also, I mostly stay at a friends house when I am not in class, so there is also not a lot of water, since I don't use it. So I thought I'd capture the gecko to help him from starving to death.
Now, he is in a cage that should be big enough for him right now until I find something better. I actually did not want to keep him, but I know somebody who keeps lizards as pets, and he told me that most probably he was separated from his mom, and now cannot really care for himself. So I decided to keep him at least until he is able to hunt his own food.
I tried to make his life as well as possible in that cage, gave him rocks, water, some leaves and so on, so that he feels comfortable. He also does not seem stressed or things alike. I have seen him drinking for at least two times, and he seems fine to me. However, now to the problem:
He will not really eat. First, I tried mealworms. I only have dead ones right now (from some kind of can), but I will try living ones too. Those, he tasted with his tongue, but did not even try to eat one. They were about the size to smaller then his head. Next, we bought some baby crickets. They seemed to be small enough for him, so that he could at least try them. But for some reason, when we put some in his cage, he was scared of them. He would sit on his favorite stone, and jump away whenever a cricket tried to touch him. He even climbed the walls, what he does never do otherwise.
Now, I am trying to let him out at night with his cage open at the top, and placed some pieces of fruit in there so flies and small flying bugs get attracted, so he could eat them. But I am not sure if he does so. I do not think he can hunt yet, and I am also not sure if he would like those insects...
Has anybody an idea what I could try to do, so that he does not starve? I thought of wingless flies and other small living preys, but at the three local petstores I was to ask for that, they did only have crickets. Could it be that he would like some of those dried gecko foods? Or is that generally not appreciated that much? I think he did never really see living prey before, since he was living in that dorm that does not have anything living, and I saw him once eating a dead spider. So perhaps he is not used to living things either...
He does not look too skinny, and he is still responding well when I try to for example get near him. He lets things come near him, but as soon as they touch him, he moves quickly. He also jumps around and moves if nobody bothers him at night.
I would appreciate any kind of tips to get him through this stage, so that he gets better.
Thanks to everybody who has read all of that, I am sorry it got so long...
The pink panther
I am new here, and I have a little problem with a Mediterranean gecko, and this forum was the closest I could find that could help me.
So the following happened: I have a dorm room on a campus, and was one day there, when I saw a tiny Mediterranean gecko (at most an inch long) on the bathroom wall. At first I just left it there, but it kept coming back, and I started to worry about it. As the university sprays against bugs all the time in the hallways and around the building, there is hardly ever food for him in the dorm. Also, I mostly stay at a friends house when I am not in class, so there is also not a lot of water, since I don't use it. So I thought I'd capture the gecko to help him from starving to death.
Now, he is in a cage that should be big enough for him right now until I find something better. I actually did not want to keep him, but I know somebody who keeps lizards as pets, and he told me that most probably he was separated from his mom, and now cannot really care for himself. So I decided to keep him at least until he is able to hunt his own food.
I tried to make his life as well as possible in that cage, gave him rocks, water, some leaves and so on, so that he feels comfortable. He also does not seem stressed or things alike. I have seen him drinking for at least two times, and he seems fine to me. However, now to the problem:
He will not really eat. First, I tried mealworms. I only have dead ones right now (from some kind of can), but I will try living ones too. Those, he tasted with his tongue, but did not even try to eat one. They were about the size to smaller then his head. Next, we bought some baby crickets. They seemed to be small enough for him, so that he could at least try them. But for some reason, when we put some in his cage, he was scared of them. He would sit on his favorite stone, and jump away whenever a cricket tried to touch him. He even climbed the walls, what he does never do otherwise.
Now, I am trying to let him out at night with his cage open at the top, and placed some pieces of fruit in there so flies and small flying bugs get attracted, so he could eat them. But I am not sure if he does so. I do not think he can hunt yet, and I am also not sure if he would like those insects...
Has anybody an idea what I could try to do, so that he does not starve? I thought of wingless flies and other small living preys, but at the three local petstores I was to ask for that, they did only have crickets. Could it be that he would like some of those dried gecko foods? Or is that generally not appreciated that much? I think he did never really see living prey before, since he was living in that dorm that does not have anything living, and I saw him once eating a dead spider. So perhaps he is not used to living things either...
He does not look too skinny, and he is still responding well when I try to for example get near him. He lets things come near him, but as soon as they touch him, he moves quickly. He also jumps around and moves if nobody bothers him at night.
I would appreciate any kind of tips to get him through this stage, so that he gets better.
Thanks to everybody who has read all of that, I am sorry it got so long...
The pink panther
