New Crested Gecko(PLEASE ANSWER BACK) I have a new juvenile buckskin I got from petsmart 2 days ago. He's a chocolate patternless. I currently have him in a all living things 5 gallon hexagonal acylic tank with a mesh screed top. His substrate is coco husk. Ihave a slanted medium mopani wood in there with hime along with large fake phothos plants from flukers and an overturned plastic flower pot with an hole cut on the side of it for extra hiding places. I mist him heavily every night, and I let every thing dry out completely before his next misting. At night his temperature is about 75-77 and in the morning 70-75 average 73. Story- when I went into petsmart I saw him hiding under a half a log hut. The petsmart custodians persisted on me buying him three lights (I know much more about cresties than they do.) And in his tank was a couple of small crickets running around, overall fairly clean tank nice setup. He wasnt feeding on cgd, only insects mostly crickets. But they didn't have any more small crickets so the custodian suggested small mealworms which she claim he its too. so now hes very calm but snapped a few times from being nervous. Shivers his tail slightly from thinking I might drop him butoverall is in good condition. He doesnt hide much but his behavior is normal for a new crestie. the only thing is that when i tryed to feed him his mealworms by the way i forgot to mention I do got him calcium with d3. to be continued when I try to feed him his mealworms he acts like they arent even ther he just wonders off not even looking at them. but i kow hes been eating good at petsmart because he pooded on the leaves of his cage. now im starting to wonder abount him not eating I think he wants crickets not mealworms because he seems uniterested in mealworms. What is the problem is it because of he doesnt want mealworms or he is still stressed and acclimating to his new environment. he seems very healthy tough and is very sweetplease answer back.
Welcome to the boards! I think its actually a combination: it has only been 2 days since he's arrived in your new home, so naturally he is going to be a bit more stressed and need some time to acclimate to the new environment. I would avoid handling him as much as possible during this acclimation time, and keep stress levels to a minimum. With time, he'll come around and become more comfortable with his new home - this will result in heightened feeding response, and a bit more confidence during interaction with you. Give him a good week or two before handling again if you can help it, and we'll see if we can start encouraging him to eat more regularly. With the above being said - mealworms really aren't an ideal feeder for crested geckos. Cresties are very visually stimulated feeders when it comes to their insects, and will often ignore many feeder worms. I've even had issues with them having an interest in some feeder cockroaches who aren't active enough to elicit a feeding response. In addition, crested geckos have pretty weak jaw strength, which makes eating harder-bodied insects like mealworms more difficult for them. Try to find some crickets for him, and I think you'll notice he'll take an interest to them much more readily than mealworms. Do not fear if he takes some time to begin eating - this is perfectly normal for newly acquired reptiles and it can often take several days to week+ for some inidivuals to feel comfortable enough to feed. If you are interested in switching him over to Crested Gecko Diet (CGD), feel free to pick some up. You can begin offering it daily. He'll likely not take to it right away, but it can give you the peace of mind that he at least has some kind of food available. He won't let himself starve, and will feed on the CGD if he gets too hungry.
