Gargoyle Diet help please

[Redbulldog]

Hi guys,

I am very new to the world of Geckos as I have been an owner of 2 Gargoyles for just 2 days now, so any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

I am happy with my initial set up, the terrarium and habitat are all fine - the one thing that worries me at the moment is the food.

I have read several forum threads on the benefits of T-Rex Gargoyle Gecko Diet and I have tried using it. I follow the instructions on the tub - 1 part GGD to 2 parts water, wait a while and it will gel....there's the problem, no gel!

What consistency should this be? I would have thought it would need to be thicker than soup, or do I need to supply my Geckos with a straw :)

Thanks,

Mic.

[CDN-Cresties]

Nothing to worry about if you are following the instructions properly. Its better to have it a bit thinner than thicker. You can also try adding more powder if its too thin. Hope this helps.
Good Luck! :)

[little_dragon_]

Your Geckos will take a week or so to adjust to their new home so don't panic if they aren't chowing down yet. ;)

[stickytoedgecko]

I agree with David. It will quite often take some time for new additions to start eating. I myself have noticed that with my new arrivals they seem more willing to eat crickets first, but I always keep some type of "non-live" food for them as well.

I believe that it was you that asked in the other thread if Hilde's recepie is good for gargoyles, and the answer is yes. My 2 babies are doing quite well with this recipe, althou I have noticed that they don't eat nearly as much as our cresties.

my $0.02
hope it helps.

[impy]

hello u did no mention there age if they r juvies or smaller i would keep them in seperate cages or they tend to eat each outher. also i find that they dont eat as much as cresties & they take longer to grow. i mix the ggd in with some babby food (peach, apple, pear,) and they seam to like it more.

hope this helps
lindsay

[Redbulldog]

Thanks for all your help guys, I will keep an eye on their feeding - one of them has eaten some mashed banana, but very little.

I will keep you all updated.

Cheers.

[Redbulldog]

Hello again,

Thanks for all your advise, I am very nervous being a new 'parent'. Everything Rocky and Downspout do is new to me and I'm glad I have you experienced lizard wizards to chat with.

Both Geckos have now been seen to eat mashed banana so it looks like everything is OK. All I have to do now is figure out the correct consistency of the GGD.

Thanks,

Mic.

[Phoenix]

Hi. Tonight is my first night with my new gargoyle. I'm very excited and VERY nervous. I have some apple baby food in with him, and I'll put crickets in tomorrow. Then when I have the time and materials, I'll do Hilde's recepie. (I was the one who asked about it for Gargoyles recently... ;)) However, I couldn't find the Mango pulp... anyone found something to replace it with? Is there a store others get it from, like a brand chain or someting?

The other thing I'm thinking about is with the temperature and range for him/her. I'm a little worried that my room is too cold, but it seems to be about 72-73 in his cage. Anyone know the suggested temp. or whether or not I should put a small heat lamp on one cornor.

And.. this might be a really silly question.... but... how much movement should I expect? He hasn't moved an inch in 6 hours. I've timed it. He's just sitting on top of the cork bark. I figured he might hide in the leaves or on the glass, or something. I wasn't expecting wide out and open. :s

Sorry if I sound like a fretfull mother.... thats how I'm feeling tonight. :P Thanks for your time.

[DragnDrop]

However, I couldn't find the Mango pulp... anyone found something to replace it with? Is there a store others get it from, like a brand chain or someting?

I use canned mango pulp because it's easily available here at the East Indian food store. If you can't find it, you can substitute fresh mango, it will work in the blender. Another option is canned mango or peaches, preferably in juice or light syrup.


The other thing I'm thinking about is with the temperature and range for him/her. I'm a little worried that my room is too cold, but it seems to be about 72-73 in his cage. Anyone know the suggested temp. or whether or not I should put a small heat lamp on one cornor.

Mine get room temperature all the time. Here in Southern Ontario, it means whatever the temperature is in summer since I don't have A/C. In winter the furnace is set for 68F/20C but it might get to 73F/22-23C on sunny days near the window, down to maybe 67F/19.5C at night. None of the Rhacs object to that range. If you aren't using a light for his enclosure, he'll adjust to the temperature range nicely with the lessening daylight, so he'll also be a bit less active than in summer. If you do feel better about supplying heat, just use a low wattage bulb in one corner where he can get close to warm up for a few hours each day. Don't make it warmer than around 80F/26.5C, no need for it linger than 4 or 5 hours. He can warm up for a bit if he wants but doesn't have to sit in the extra heat all day.

And.. this might be a really silly question.... but... how much movement should I expect? He hasn't moved an inch in 6 hours. I've timed it. He's just sitting on top of the cork bark. I figured he might hide in the leaves or on the glass, or something. I wasn't expecting wide out and open. :s

They tend to just sit around vegetating when they're not looking for food, a mate, or a rival to fight off. Mine come to life at feeding time, that's about it except for mating purposes. There's not much else to do after that, except hang out and keep an eye out for rivals or predators.

[stickytoedgecko]

Hello Pheonex. Your questions aren't silly, as far as I can tell with my 2 gargoyles it is normal for them to hide in plain sight. Both of mine spend most of there time sitting on fake vines, and that's about all they do. Hang out on there vines and eat. They get to be pudgie, cause they don't move.

As for the temps. I think they are ok. But if someone else who has more experence should answer that.

[Phoenix]

Phew! So I can breath a sigh of releif. I rent a room in the basement of a house, and I find it nice and cool, (currently about 74 F). Very little to no natural light gets in so I have the 3 room lights on pretty much all the time. He's on my bedside table, so a lamp is there too, sitting at one end of the cage. It doesn't give off a lot of heat, but I thought he might like it. Now I won't worry so much.

When I went to bed, he was still in the same spot, but when I woke up he had moved to a nice leaf and thats where he is now. :)

So now I'm just wondering, when feeding the baby food, do you put it on the floor or up higher? I'll try some canned peaches since I've still had no luck with finding mangos. :S

Thanks for all your help guys!

[impy]

hello just put the food dish on the ground and he/she will eat it. or if u want u can hand feed it just dab some food on the end of its nose using your finger & it will lick it off (its pritty cool). also i used fresh mango when i made the food & it worked out fine just a little more work thats all. also the temps r fine mine house is 75 all year round, u can let it get down to 68 or as high as 80 (for a little while) with out any problems. hope this helps.

lindsay

[Iggy&Roxi]

Impy...I used to have a mala/wolf cross...does your have web toes???

[impy]

no he (kaos) dose not. but i have a ? 4u did your dog have seizures & if so how bad were they. Kaos dose & his meds r not working it is to the point where he might be getting put down. any ideas would be great.

[Phoenix]

About the seizures... that such sad news. :'( The only thing that pops to my mind is a warning I received about Swiffer products and related floor cleaners. Apparently they totally kill an animals system, like the kidney functions etc. This might be totally unrelated but I've talked to 3 people whose cats and 1 person whose dog had major issues that turned out to be caused by the mops. Again sorry to hear about your pet.

[impy]

it is a common thing with his bread and quite a fue others as well. but thanx for the info

[Phoenix]

So I've had my little guy for a few weeks now and I've been giving him some baby food by dipping a q-tip into the dish and holding it close to his head. He licks some off, and when he stops, I just put the rest of the dish in the cage. I am very careful that he doesn't lick the cotten, don't worry. But the thing is, he doesn't seem to eat otherwise. I don't want him becomming dependant on me, so I've only done this once in a while, but there are still crickets (alive) in the cage from last week, etc. I've also never seen him hunt for them or appear interested at all. Once one drowned in the baby food, so I left it in a glob on the leaf, and he ate that.... but otherwise...nothing.

My other question is relating to my substrate. I am using eco-earth and I had a hide in, but when I went to take it out, I noticed some mold on it and the eco-earth?!?! I thought this stuff didn't mold that much. Any suggestions. Should I start checking for it?

[snakelover123]

pheonix how much did your geckos cost

[clint545]

Phoenix, mold on the eco earth I find is usually from high humidity and not enough venilation. How much/often are you spraying the enclosure?
How big are the crix that you're feeding him? Could be that they might be too small for him to take notice of.
I have found with my Gargoyles that they switch back and forth from bugs to fruit mix, eating it one week, not bothering with it at all the next. Hope this helps

[Phoenix]

Well... I got it from Impy and it was $145.

What snake is that in your icon?

[impy]

his icon is a rosie boa (i think)

[aasagan]

I am by no means expert in this, but....

- Many gargoyle gecko owners report that thier pets don't know what to do with live food. (me too)
- The gel takes a while.
- I mix the GGD in with baby food. They seem to like it, and I put quite a bit in. By next day it is pretty thick, but they've eaten most of it.

Andy

[DragnDrop]

I'll second the info posted by Clint and Aasagan.
Also, don't forget that young geckos have tiny tummies, they don't eat an awful lot at one sitting. Over the years I've noticed they'll eat all the crickets I put in there one week, the next week they won't look at them. Same with fruit - one week they can't get enough and then they won't touch it. Babies are weird. :) Try to check a few times over the course of the evening to see if you can catch him licking the food. Chances are he is, but he eats so little that the 'tongue prints' don't last long and it looks like it's untouched.