[Anton]

Hi guys we got 2 Madagascar Day Geckos about 2 weeks ago. We haven't seen them eating at all. We tried to give them meal-worms and crickets but the geckos didn't eat the crickets and so we suspected that they didn't eat the meal-worms either, probably they just escaped. But we feed our geckos with honey every day and they like it. Another problem is that, whenever the geckos try to climb the glass or bamboo, they always end up slipping and our girl Emmy almost never even tries to climb at all, but she's shedding now. We never had lizards or geckos before so we don't really know how to take care of them. We read books on geckos and searched on the Internet and found this geckos' lovers site. All we can do for them is to keep the right temperature and moisture, and to put a bit of calcium to honey. So we really need your advice, thank you.

[daggekko]

Sometimes when Phelsuma shed they kindof lose their stickyness. This might be whats going on now. What are your tank temperatures? How about basking spot temps?

Are you feeding every day? Are the geckos that love the honey the new Madagascar days or other geckos you might have?

Mealworms aren't usually the best option as a food source for Phelsuma. These worms tend to bury themselves and will be hard for the day geckos to find. Crickets work better.

Can you upload a picture of your setup? We can help you with more suggestions if you have more details.

[lauraleellbp]

Here's the forum's P. m. grandis caresheet: Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis

There are some others here:

Phelsuma Care Sheet

Care Sheet- Day Geckos

Care Sheets

I would highly recommend picking up some Repashy Day Gecko Diet for your gecko, as I know it's available in Canada and is a much healthier diet for them than honey. The Repashy DGD is properly supplemented with the correct balance of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients they need in addition to sugars. It's very easy to feed, just mix with a little water and serve per the directions.

[Anton]

The temperature in the tank of my geckos is around 80F, it never drops lower than 75F. On the right side of the tank there is a basket space with pieces of bark, fake plants and bamboo (second picture). On the left side of our tank is a waterfall and real plants (third picture). Our tank is large, about 45-50 gallons, it is difficult to maintain proper moisture. Any advice? The boy Freddy mostly hides under a bark, and Emerald is always under a bush. I don't know if they are starving or not, so I offered them food every day, but they didn't eat, and every time I took out crickets and gave them some honey. Two days ago I stopped feeding them and now I gave them 6 crickets, but the geckos haven't eaten them yet. Emmy is shedding third of forth day. Is it OK? Freddy is looking slightly lighter in colour, maybe he is going to shed also? I'm going to leave crickets for the night. Do geckos eat at night? I couldn't find Repashy DGD in our local pet stores, but I'll do it for sure. Thanks for all your advice.

[hexentanz]

What types of lighting are you using?

[Anton]

One is Sun Glo Neodymium Daylight Lamp 60W, another - Exo-Terra Sun Glo 50 W. I don't use them both at the same time, and I don't know which one is better.

[hexentanz]

Originally Posted by Anton

One is Sun Glo Neodymium Daylight Lamp 60W, another - Exo-Terra Sun Glo 50 W. I don't use them both at the same time, and I don't know which one is better.

Neither for Phelsuma. My guess is they are hiding and not eating because they are receiving poor lighting conditions. These bulbs are simply meant for providing heat for other types of animals.

Since you are pretty new to keeping Phelsuma I would recommend picking up some quality UVB bulbs Zoomed, Exo-Terra & Arcadia all make good lamps. You will want something in the 5% range for main UVB and 2% range for daylight color, or you can simply pickup a daylight rated T5 or T8 tube for the second bulb. For basking I would recommend halogen puck lights. If your screen top is pretty dense you will want to select a 10-12% UVB tube over the 5%.

[lauraleellbp]

Once you start feeding the Repashy food, as long as you dust bugs with calcium containing D3 (I personally use the Repashy insect dusts though there are plenty of other good options out there), providing UV for P. m. grandis is optional (though not a bad idea), but you most definitely need some additional lighting. You need a basking spot at 85F or so plus some full spectrum flourescent light.

I'm currently using 2 floodlights (the kind designed for mechanics/workshops), one with a 40 watt halogen bulbs and one with a spiral 5500 kelvin daylight flourescent spiral bulb, over each of my P. m. grandis enclosures.

Once you have the proper lighting, you should see your grandis out basking under the lights.

Elevating your food stations often helps. I use magnetic feeding ledges and see them frequently eating as well as drinking from their water bowls (which some people claim Phelsuma won't do- but I've observed almost all of my Phelsuma doing this).

[sweetpeaa]

heyy guys you all seem to know your stuff. and this is the first time ive owned a gecko and i want to make him a homemade diet because he doesnt seem to be eating the food we got for him. and i found a fruit diet for him on here and i was wondering if there is a special type of vitamins that could hurt him and what would be the best vitamin to add with this diet.

[Anton]

Thanks everybody. Finally Freddy is active, he climbs the glass, hunts crickets and looks healthy. But Emmy is still hiding and doesn't eat. It seems that she has shedding problem: she has old skin on a tip of her tail, belly, and dark-brown toes. I put her in a small terrarium with wet paper towels, hope it'll help. Is it normal for geckos to have dark-brown, almost black toes during shedding?