New Crested Gecko Owner, Looking for help

[Rieguy220]

I Did a bit of research on crested geckos before i got mine, hes a cute little bugger but i cant help but worry about him, hes 4 days old and i still havent seen him eat i give him the smallest crickets i can find and coat them in the calcium powder but they just sit in his vivarium all day and eventually die ( i feed my crickets lettuce), i mist his tank twice a day once in the morning, once before bed. and i try to handle him as little as possible. he is really tiny right now, id say no more than 3 1/2 inches. im not sure if im supposed to but i keep him in my old fish tank i think its only 7 gallons or so. i have a uv light but i dont usually use it during the day because the lady at the pet store told me as long as he has natural sunlight and your house isnt freezing cold hell be okay. the thermometer in the tank usually reads around 68-72 degrees farenheight. (i know it sounds redneck-ish but the tank didnt come with a glass roof, so i just put saran wrap over the top and poked a couple holes in it). I have no idea what im doing right or wrong or what i should do to improve his health, you could say im a reptile noob. if anyone could give me some pointers or tell me if im doing anything wrong i would really appreciate it!!

Heres a picture of him his name is charizard =3

 

[crestokay]

Hello congrats on your first crestie. if he is only four days he is fine. when theyre are hatchlings it could take 5 or a few more days for them to eat. as long as you keep the humidity and temps right (your temps should be fine but i keep mine at the high 70's on the hot side) he should be fine. but as he is a baby you should try to get him to eat repashy diet. its pretty inexpensive and is way better than crickets if you want a healthy gecko. another thing is you can try puting him in a smaller tank. something small like a critter keeper, or a small plastic container. when they are hatchlings they can have a hard time finding food in a big tank.

 

[potatoeschicka]

also if you dont see your crestie eat much i have been told that their stomachs are about as big as one of their eyes. i would also reccamend putting him on the repashy. you should gutload your crickets with repashy gutload for crickets before you feed them to your crestie it will be healthier for him

 

[Kristy]

Congrats! My crestie is almost 7 months old and I got him at 3 days old! Since you dont want to handle the crestie too much yet, and they have trouble finding and catching food so young, get a critter keeper at petsmart. Get the one that is about 8x5x6 inches. He can stay in that for a couple months. just put a fake branch and leaves in there. When you feed him take out the leaves and just do a couple crickets at a time, so he can see them. Also order repashy crested gecko diet on pangea or amazon, for now just get the 1/4 lb original. It will last you a long time. You just need to feed a dab a day this young. You can judge if he is eating it by seeing poo a few times a week. Dont worry about the UVB light, if thats what you have, at this age, yet you can put it on the cricket keeper lid a few hours a day if you wish. Just keep your bedroom light on. If your house gets below 63 degrees I would put a heater in your room for a few hours then at night. I dont know if you can put a blue moonglo 50watt bulb over the critter tank, it may be too warm in the small space. You can still mist him through the vented lid of the critter keeper. He probably shed once already, but should shed every month or so. You may not even notice it, but before he sheds he may eat less and look pale for a few days and you may see white-ishness of his skin. As for the crickets they need hydration. Get the yellow flukers cricket gell at petsmart. Put some in the cricket keeper in a bottle lid and change it out every few days as it dries up. You can get cricket food too, I forget what its called, but it in a clear jar and looks like shredded up baby oatmeal or wheat, at petsmart too. I sprinkle calcium powder on that too. This is all the stuff I did and he turned out ok! While he is in the smaller critter keeper, this gives you time to save up and search on craigslist for an exo terra or zoomed terrarium, unless you can pay store prices!! Plus all the tank decor!! If you cant order the repashy or clarks crested gecko diet online, you can try the t-rex kind in the stores, but it is more costly in the long run and I dont know if it is as nutritionally balanced. Slow down on the crickets over time and eventually getting your crestie to eat crickets just once a week or two weeks is all you need while he eats repashy. Also, get a mini humidity gauge to put in the critter keeper. You want the humidity higher at night, like 75% -90% and let it cycle down till the next big misting, although ok to mist a little in the morning so he has something to dink. Good luck, just looks like you need to spend some extra money!!!