[wasabi]

I recently purchased an adult male crested gecko and he is rather skinny. When I was trying to figure out his morph I posted pictures of him on a website and one person on there said he showed signs of MBD. I have looked into that and he literally shows zero signs of it and about every other person on that website who commented, disagreed with the person saying it showed signs of mbd.

I've attached the pictures I put up where the one person thought it was mbd (again I'm not worried about that as he definitely shows none of the following signs: swelling, spinal/tail/hip abnormalities, trouble attaching to surfaces, deposits or bumps on his limbs, shaking/tremors, mobility issues or underbite/jaw issues.) However, multiple people did point out that he looked skinny and after watching him for awhile he does appear that way.

I'm wondering mainly what I should do to start fattening him up and stuff but also would like extra opinions on the mbd thing. I currently feed him repashy and was adding a bit of mashed strawberry to spice it up for him. I have stopped adding the fruit though as I read it could raise some of his metabolic levels out of ratio with what his current calcium levels are. I tried to check his calcium sacs as well but he would not let me and I did not want to stress him out in any way due to him being a new, albeit very human friendly gecko.

I am thinking about getting some crickets and calcium powder with d3 later today to feed him on a papertowel just so I know he is getting a good amount of calcium and is also eating something filling as they will be gutloaded. And as for him eating, of course with crested geckos it is really hard to tell if they eat at all, but I did witness a bowel movement two days ago. It was a clear fluid followed by a solid stool which seems to be what a healthy crested gecko bowel movement is composed of.

Also, I know its almost impossible to tell how old a crested is without knowing its hatch date but I did get this as an adult and he seems full grown. The pet store did not know his hatch date from what I could gather. Do really old crested geckos show any apparent signs of age or anything that I could look for in him? I don't want to have just spent upwards to 100 dollars on him for him to only have like a year left. Also, was 100 too expensive for him?

[Nke]

How old is he ?
Cause imo when they reach their maximum length, and still need to put on a few grams, they can look quite skinny. Otherwise a quite beautiful crested, no doubt

[wasabi]

Originally Posted by Nke

How old is he ?
Cause imo when they reach their maximum length, and still need to put on a few grams, they can look quite skinny. Otherwise a quite beautiful crested, no doubt

Thank you, I find him very cool looking especially when fired up.

And again, I'm not sure how old he is as the pet store was unsure of his hatch date and I have been trying to figure it out. If what you said is the case and he just reached full length and that is why he is skinny, I would be very happy that he has a lot of years left in him and is skinny due to a natural process and not bad care.

[Nke]

Originally Posted by wasabi

Thank you, I find him very cool looking especially when fired up.

And again, I'm not sure how old he is as the pet store was unsure of his hatch date and I have been trying to figure it out. If what you said is the case and he just reached full length and that is why he is skinny, I would be very happy that he has a lot of years left in him and is skinny due to a natural process and not bad care.

I believe that might be the case. Ciliatus is a very robust gecko, but in no way a "fat gecko". Looking skinny is quite usual, untill they reach adulthood

[lauraleellbp]

I don't think he looks too bad, but it also would not be a bad idea to get him to a vet to have a fecal done to rule out parasites, especially since he came from a pet store.

He does look a bit on the thin side to me, so not much room to lose any weight.

CGD and bugs (dusted and gutloaded crickets or roaches once a week) are what you should stick with in terms of diet, though. Perhaps an occasional fruit treat (occasional = 1x a month).

[Nke]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

I don't think he looks too bad, but it also would not be a bad idea to get him to a vet to have a fecal done to rule out parasites, especially since he came from a pet store.

He does look a bit on the thin side to me, so not much room to lose any weight.

CGD and bugs (dusted and gutloaded crickets or roaches once a week) are what you should stick with in terms of diet, though. Perhaps an occasional fruit treat (occasional = 1x a month).

Imo all the vet stuff is way overkill, and only a waste of money. Just make sure he eats well. Ive seen a few adult, who have only eaten GCD all their life, and looked even thinner than that

[wasabi]

I want to just say again that he definitely is eating and his stools look perfectly healthy and don't show signs of malnutrition due to parasites.

I don't want to totally rule that out though at all, the advice is very much appreciated and I might start looking into a reptile specific vet within my community.

I also want to talk about normal crested gecko behavior. I know these guys just chill around all day usually hanging on branches or their enclosure and at night generally become more active. My guy usually sits on his branch all day or hangs on the back glass of his enclosure hiding underneath some ivy. At night he generally does the same thing he just tends to move to a different hanging spot every couple hours.

Are they supposed to be this inactive within their enclosures? I will admit he does not have much in the way of climbing structures so I'm going to add more branches and vines in hopes that will make him want to be a bit more active.

I'm not entirely worried about his behavior as when he is handled he moves around quite a bit and leaps. He is very calm when handling and is very used to it but he does enjoy being walked from hand to hand and to climb all over your arms/shoulders.

I guess what I want to know is it normal for him to be so inactive in his enclosure if he is generally mobile and active outside of it? I'm also guessing because he is knew he will be hiding/inactive due to not being used to the enclosure so that could be part of it, I'd just like other opinions.

[Nke]

Originally Posted by wasabi

I want to just say again that he definitely is eating and his stools look perfectly healthy and don't show signs of malnutrition due to parasites.

I don't want to totally rule that out though at all, the advice is very much appreciated and I might start looking into a reptile specific vet within my community.

I also want to talk about normal crested gecko behavior. I know these guys just chill around all day usually hanging on branches or their enclosure and at night generally become more active. My guy usually sits on his branch all day or hangs on the back glass of his enclosure hiding underneath some ivy. At night he generally does the same thing he just tends to move to a different hanging spot every couple hours.

Are they supposed to be this inactive within their enclosures? I will admit he does not have much in the way of climbing structures so I'm going to add more branches and vines in hopes that will make him want to be a bit more active.

I'm not entirely worried about his behavior as when he is handled he moves around quite a bit and leaps. He is very calm when handling and is very used to it but he does enjoy being walked from hand to hand and to climb all over your arms/shoulders.

I guess what I want to know is it normal for him to be so inactive in his enclosure if he is generally mobile and active outside of it? I'm also guessing because he is knew he will be hiding/inactive due to not being used to the enclosure so that could be part of it, I'd just like other opinions.

Well, how long has he been in this enclosure ?
Cause imo it can take awhile for them to feel secure. As soon as the light turns off, my ciliatus comes out and eats, but it takes a while for them to be this secure! So you might not even see him for a long time!

[wasabi]

I have had him four days.

[Nke]

Originally Posted by wasabi

I have had him four days.

Okay.
Really give the poor guy some privacy, and you will see a completely definitely gecko soon