Help! Crested Gecko Leg Issue!

Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Buttons said:
The main reason I am not feeding him only crickets is because He needs daily calcium intake and I feel like giving him daily crickets might not be the best idea. Also the amount of calcium he gets per cricket is a lot and I don't want to over load him with calcium either.
I can check with the vet to be sure of course although I told the vet that I can give Buttons daily Pangea with his normal feeding of crickets.


**Note: I Contacted The Vet, Providing all information regarding diet and such to make sure I am doing it right. I hope to hear back from the Vet later today.**
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When you dust Buttons' crickets have you been adding D3 calcium to a tall container, swirling the crickets in the powder, & then bouncing the crickets against the bottom of the dusting container? When the crickets are "bounced" that "shakes off" excess powder.

At this time Buttons will benefit from a little more D3 calcium powder than he's been getting.
 
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Buttons

Buttons

Member
So I managed to get a response from the Vet in regards to Buttons Diet.

thank you for sending in the picture of the product. Your feeding regime is appropriate and I would keep doing what you are doing.

"Give Buttons 2 to 4 crickets every Monday and Friday.
Other then that every day that Buttons doesn't get crickets he has Commercial Diet available to him every day. Normally he doesn't eat it every day unless I feed him myself as in I put some on my finger and he will eat with me.
So the idea here is I was thinking I can keep doing the crickets on Mondays and Fridays then any other day I would take my time with him and make sure he eats a good amount of his commercial diet. "
- This is appropriate.

As of regard to the UVB light. This is not the most important thing in Button's healing. Please do not break the bank to purchase this. This was just as supportive therapy.

As for gut loading, this is what I generally what I recommend

Feed your invertebrate prey before feeding your reptile. Prey bought from pet stores are generally in dire need of a good meal, having subsisted on cardboard or bran for several days at least. Sprinkle or dust prey with a calcium supplement just before feeding them to your lizard 2 times a week. Prepare an enclosure for your crickets, furnishing it with pieces of egg crate or cardboard cores from paper towels and toilet paper. Pieces of fruits and vegetables (sweet potatoes, fresh greens, carrots, apples, ground legumes, oranges), as well as food such as high-protein baby cereal mixed, rolled oats, corn meal with reptile vitamins, tropical fish flakes, and rodent chow, all make suitable foods. Since smaller crickets are more nutritious than larger crickets (proportionately less exoskeleton) it is better to feed out more of the smaller ones than fewer of the big ones.


So this is generally what the Vet is requesting I do. I will follow this diet strictly and again Buttons won't eat by himself. He is a big baby haha.. So every day I will be sitting with him and having him eat. Hopefully I don't make him to fat but I feel him a pretty okay amount I wouldn't say I am over feeding him and if I am it isn't by much at all. Although again that is my personal opinion. I can take a video of me feeding him though to show you how much I am feeding him and so on. Perhaps someone can give me some insight on that. I don't have proper measurements although I use a baby spoon to make his food. Typically filling the small baby spoon with dry powder then of course mixing it with bottled spring water and then he will usually eat about half if not sometimes maybe a tiny more of that per day. He gets a lot of it on me more then in his belly which is why I say he eats about half lol.

As for the crickets. I feed them every couple or days although sometimes they will have left overs and I typically wait until either "A" their food isn't edible anymore or "B" until there is none left to eat.

I hope this information helps ^_^
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Buttons said:
The main reason I am not feeding him only crickets is because He needs daily calcium intake and I feel like giving him daily crickets might not be the best idea. Also the amount of calcium he gets per cricket is a lot and I don't want to over load him with calcium either.
I can check with the vet to be sure of course although I told the vet that I can give Buttons daily Pangea with his normal feeding of crickets.


**Note: I Contacted The Vet, Providing all information regarding diet and such to make sure I am doing it right. I hope to hear back from the Vet later today.**
Click to expand...

Since I posted, I can now view your message from 1:29 PM this afternoon.

For whatever reason, this thread seems ''stuck" and won't advance to the next message. This has happened before on Geckos Unlimited :(

Usually it takes time, but the problem ultimately resolves on its own.


PS:
I realize that information sometimes conflicts. Years ago I did feed my crickets Tetramin Fish Flakes. I was told they contain excessive protein for crickets (~46% protein). As soon as I knew that, I used other foods.

Here are some reputable guidelines for cricket food. Many of these foods are the same foods your vet suggested.

"Lettuce (except dark, leafy greens) is just water and nutritionally irrelevant. People don't even give lettuce to tortoises and iguanas because it's worthless as food. The same could be said for potatoes. Fish flakes are very high in protein and this can lead to a build-up of uric acid in feeders/reptiles and end up causing gout. A little now and then is fine but this should never be the bulk of any gutload."

"A commercial gut loading food like Bug Burger or Superload (both by Repashy), Cricket Crack, Dinofuel, etc. is going to make your life easier AND provide a nutritious diet to your crickets at the same time. Avoid Fluker's gutloads, as they are super feeble in their formulas."

"If you opt for making your own gutload at home, here's a list of great ingredients to use:
Best: mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion flowers & leaves, collard greens, escarole lettuce, papaya, watercress, and alfalfa.
Good: sweet potato, carrots, oranges, mango, butternut squash, kale, apples, beet greens, blackberries, bok choy, and green beans.
Dry food: bee pollen, organic non-salted sunflower seeds, spirulina, dried seaweed, flax seed, and organic non-salted almonds.
Avoid as much as possible: potatoes, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, corn, grains, beans, oats, bread, cereal, meat, eggs, dog food, cat food, fish food, canned or dead insects, vertebrates."
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Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Buttons said:
So I managed to get a response from the Vet in regards to Buttons Diet.

. . . . . .

So this is generally what the Vet is requesting I do. I will follow this diet strictly and again Buttons won't eat by himself. He is a big baby haha.. So every day I will be sitting with him and having him eat. Hopefully I don't make him to fat but I feel him a pretty okay amount I wouldn't say I am over feeding him and if I am it isn't by much at all. Although again that is my personal opinion. I can take a video of me feeding him though to show you how much I am feeding him and so on. Perhaps someone can give me some insight on that. I don't have proper measurements although I use a baby spoon to make his food. Typically filling the small baby spoon with dry powder then of course mixing it with bottled spring water and then he will usually eat about half if not sometimes maybe a tiny more of that per day. He gets a lot of it on me more then in his belly which is why I say he eats about half lol.

As for the crickets. I feed them every couple or days although sometimes they will have left overs and I typically wait until either "A" their food isn't edible anymore or "B" until there is none left to eat.

I hope this information helps ^_^
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The main reason I suggested crickets full-time right now is that Buttons won't eat Pangea independently. I thought that might be less stressful for Buttons.

Your method mixing Pangea sounds excellent! Feed as much Pangea with Insects as Buttons will consume at each feeding. There is no need to make a video. Onward & upward, crestie Buttons!

Carry on with your vet's recs as I know you're doing. Concentrate on cricket foods from the Best & Good lists like the vet recommends. Papaya is excellent!!!
 
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Buttons

Buttons

Member
Alright finally! The forum thread is now functioning again! Hilde has offered up a few fixes which has functioned for me. So I can now see the thread again! Woohoo!

So for everyone who would like an update on little Buttons! He is currently using his leg more although his feet/toes are still not functional or he isn't actually using them as they may hurt? Although I find that to be unlikely as he wants to climb on me and such but isn't opening his foot up to use his toes properly.

He can most definitely move his leg though as he uses it to crawl around which is a good sign I think.

Other then that the vet won't know more until the next visit on Jan 14th. So fingers crossed he will be okay.

Regarding his weight and feeding yesterday was the first time he ever refused his Pangea feeding time with me which I got concerned so I gave him 1 gut loaded small cricket for the night (of course dusted as well) I stayed up until 3am trying to see if he would eat even a little of his Pangea though and he refused. As for his weight he is still gaining weigh which is good I weighed him before giving him that cricket and he gained a bit of weight since the last time he was weighed. Currently he is at 6.95Grams.


::Weight Chart::
November 13th: 4.58Grams
November 16th: 4.70Grams
November 21st 4.90Grams
November 30th 5.78Grams
December 8th 6.15Grams
December 15th 6.54Grams
December 20th 6.95Grams

Buttons will be 4 months old as of December 28th. So I would say he is growing properly so far. As charts I've seen previously and such he is a bit bigger then he should be for his age as some charts show only 5Grams at 4months old. Although perhaps he will be a nice big boy when fully grown!

OH! Other news which was exciting for me ^_^ Buttons finally is drinking water from his dish all by himself! until very recently He would refuse to drink still water and would only drink droplets from glass but for the very first time I noticed him finally drinking water from his dish all by himself! I was such a proud papa when I saw that and I honestly got so excited to see that haha. As for the Pangea diet though that is for sure still a big work in progress.... -.- but baby steps and surely one day he will grow up to do these things without me ^_^

If anyone has any questions in regards to Buttons and his health or any questions in general regarding his leg that I haven't already answered please feel free to ask and don't be shy! ^_^
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
::Weight Chart::
November 13th: 4.58Grams
November 16th: 4.70Grams
November 21st 4.90Grams
November 30th 5.78Grams
December 8th 6.15Grams
December 15th 6.54Grams
December 20th 6.95Grams

Buttons will be 4 months old as of December 28th. So I would say he is growing properly so far.
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Buttons IS doing well growing!

I hope his foot gets better too.
 
Buttons

Buttons

Member
Hey everyone, Sorry I've not posted recently things have been crazy around here although I'd like take this moment to tell everyone that Buttons is doing great and actually fully recovered roughly around Jan 15th / Jan 20th.

Buttons is effectively back to normal, running around, jumping around Just having an absolutely great and enjoyable time! He is eating all his noms as well so he is so far being a healthy little gecko!
Last weighted on Feb 8th at 10.71 Grams.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Buttons said:
Hey everyone, Sorry I've not posted recently things have been crazy around here although I'd like take this moment to tell everyone that Buttons is doing great and actually fully recovered roughly around Jan 15th / Jan 20th.

Buttons is effectively back to normal, running around, jumping around Just having an absolutely great and enjoyable time! He is eating all his noms as well so he is so far being a healthy little gecko!
Last weighted on Feb 8th at 10.71 Grams.
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Thanks for ALL Buttons' TLC! He's continuing to grow just like he should.
 
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