#cgd

First page of notes for an oc/wordbuilding thing which i wrote a chapter for a creative writing project in high school, and am now revisiting.

Transcript under the cut, because I know my handwriting is barely legible.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Link above to the Center for Global Development...

Oh yeah, he lives in a planted vivarium with springtails isopods and tiny snails but I've never seen him eat any even when they were right in his face and he was active and moving.

A crested gecko stomach is smaller than most people think! 

For an adult crested gecko their stomach is around the size of their eye when empty.

For a baby crestie, the stomach is smaller than their eye. 

As such, crested geckos don’t need a ton to eat at one sitting. Most people offer a tablespoon or more of food and they can’t be expected to finish it all in one go. 

Rather than monitoring the food intake, monitor both his weight (with a gram scale) and his body condition. That is more important than a set amount of food.

If he’s pooping, has good body condition, isn’t losing (or gaining too much) weight, and shows good health, then don’t worry he’s not finishing. If you’re not sure if he looks healthy, then a vet trip is in order. 

In my experience, as geckos get older they are less interested in bugs. This is pretty common among all the crested keepers I’ve spoken to, with only some cresties showing interest in insects into adulthood.  I don’t know how old your crested gecko is.  My smallest crestie, who was a slow-growing runt, used to eat bugs voraciously; when I was feeding him bugs I had to watch out because he’d lunge for anything that moved, including my hand! But as he reached a normal adult weight, he started ignoring them the vast majority of the time. I only have one other gecko that very occasionally will accept a bug and she is nine years old but would be considered “food motivated” if she was a dog. I offer a wide variety of bugs regularly because I have tons on hand, but it’s been literally months since I’ve had a crestie accept one. I just keep offering in various ways! (Bowls, tongs, free in the enclosure for bugs that are safe to feed that way.) Also, I always use CGDs that include insect protein in them.