babysweet
03-25-05, 09:42 PM
Ok, I'm a little concerned... I picked up two Geckos today, one from the Reptile Store (named Skye) who's about two and a half months old, weighing in at 4g. Gorgeous little patternless gecko with grey blue eyes... absolutely stunning creature.
The second one was from a private sale in Hamilton (not going to mention a name) and we're worried about the little fellow. Joey weighs in at barely 3g, and his former owner told us that he was 3 or 4 months old. He's so tiny... I'm nothing close to a gecko expert, and I can see quite visably that he's underweight. He's somewhat active, although he can be overly placid at times. He had no food dishes in his tank when we picked him up, just a few dead crickets.
We brought him home (I know, I know... but I couldn't leave him), cleaned out his tank, and put in only a fake plant, piece of wood, a coconut hide and some paper towel. We mixed a combination of CGD and peach/banana baby food, and gave him a handful of crickets. He showed a bit of interest in the crickets, and even attempted to grab one or two, but failed miserably at both attempts. He's now ignoring them completely.
With our other three, I can take a bit of food on my finger, and the little fatties greedily lick it off. This guy seems quite put off by it. In fact, the few times that he got it on his face, he shook it off and cleaned his face with a bit of paper towel!
Our other geckos have all come straight home and wolfed down crickets within seconds of their arrival, and taken food immediately.
I'm concerned about little Joey, but I don't really know what to do next. I've hand nursed every walk of animal *except* a reptile, but I have no problem force feeding him if that's what's necessary to get him started. Of course, I won't attempt it unless it's required.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? I would normally just wait and see, but he's so little, I know they can crash quite quickly at this size.
All help will be thoroughly appreciated. :) Thanks, and apologies for the newbie questions..
ps - I took a pic with my keychain digi (still don't have my good one back) and couldn't seem to attach it. So you can see it in the gallery. Oh, and for clarification... I didn't have a quarter, so in the pic I used a looney. Sorry to the US members.. ;)
http://ssnakess.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=32149
The second one was from a private sale in Hamilton (not going to mention a name) and we're worried about the little fellow. Joey weighs in at barely 3g, and his former owner told us that he was 3 or 4 months old. He's so tiny... I'm nothing close to a gecko expert, and I can see quite visably that he's underweight. He's somewhat active, although he can be overly placid at times. He had no food dishes in his tank when we picked him up, just a few dead crickets.
We brought him home (I know, I know... but I couldn't leave him), cleaned out his tank, and put in only a fake plant, piece of wood, a coconut hide and some paper towel. We mixed a combination of CGD and peach/banana baby food, and gave him a handful of crickets. He showed a bit of interest in the crickets, and even attempted to grab one or two, but failed miserably at both attempts. He's now ignoring them completely.
With our other three, I can take a bit of food on my finger, and the little fatties greedily lick it off. This guy seems quite put off by it. In fact, the few times that he got it on his face, he shook it off and cleaned his face with a bit of paper towel!
Our other geckos have all come straight home and wolfed down crickets within seconds of their arrival, and taken food immediately.
I'm concerned about little Joey, but I don't really know what to do next. I've hand nursed every walk of animal *except* a reptile, but I have no problem force feeding him if that's what's necessary to get him started. Of course, I won't attempt it unless it's required.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? I would normally just wait and see, but he's so little, I know they can crash quite quickly at this size.
All help will be thoroughly appreciated. :) Thanks, and apologies for the newbie questions..
ps - I took a pic with my keychain digi (still don't have my good one back) and couldn't seem to attach it. So you can see it in the gallery. Oh, and for clarification... I didn't have a quarter, so in the pic I used a looney. Sorry to the US members.. ;)
http://ssnakess.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=32149