Gargoyle Gecko doesn't want to eat anything but Fruit is that ok?

PERSONAL HISTORY (Rhacodactylus)
Name: Dustin ( Chomper)
Age, weight if you know? aprox 1 year old no known weight
How long with you? less than a year
What is his condition recently and if it changed, when? Seemed normal until she started turning white more often and stopped eating crickets and that has been in the past month or so that she wont eat crickets. The only things she's been eating is fruit
Any physical features that do not appear normal (walking/moving normally)? Walking and moving normal but has been white.
Has he ever been treated by a vet, if yes, for what and what meds were used/prescribed and when was this? Hasn't been to the vet.
Is he going to the bathroom? haven't seen anything in the cage.
Is he housed alone or with others? Alone
If with others, what sex, size and age?
How often are you misting, at what time(s) of day? We mist aprox 4 times a day to just wet the leaves

ENCLOSURE
Set-up info: tank size and contents?12x12x18
Temp and what are you measuring it with? the temp stays close to 75 and we use a thermometer on the glass
Humidity % and what are you measuring it with? Humidity stays about 50%-60% we use the same thermometer.
What do you use for substrate? Don't know what that means
Do you use any type of night time heat or light, if so what? we use a 15W Heating/Night light with UV Moon

FOOD
How is his appetite? Is there a change? She use to eat crickets and now she's not eating them only fruit like blueberry's
What kind of diet is your Rhac on? (CGD, baby food, insects etc, please list all of the foods you feed your crestie and your feeding schedule.) We use to feed 2 crickets everyother night and dust them with calcium every other time.
If you feed insects what size, kind and how many insects does he eat daily? use to eat 1 cricket a day the size of her head
What do you feed to the insects (gut-loading)? Flukers Orange Cute Complete Cricket diet

SUPPLEMENTS?
What kind of calcium/how often? we were dusting the crickets with Repti Calcium with D3
What kind of vitamins how often
How are these given to him?Dusting Every other time

 

Welcome to the forums = )

Substrate = Bedding, the stuff you put on the bottom of the enclosure.

It's not uncommon for older specimens, particularly males to develop a sweet tooth and take favor to a lower protein diet. My suspicion is that their metabolism isn't quite as fast, and because they aren't actively putting energy toward growth any longer the need and desire to hunt insects as a protein source diminishes.

Can you possibly take a picture of the little guy for us to examine? We can instruct you how to upload it...either via an image hosting site like http://tinypic.com or http://photobucket.com and posting a link or IMG code, or by attaching a file to you post.

Many rhacs experience color change as they age, although something extremely drastic isn't normal. I'd like to take a look at him. They do generally exhibit a lighter/duller coloration during the day and often "fire" up to a brighter/more intense coloration when fully active during the evening hours. My first instinct was shedding - but you say this color has been happening over the course of some time... it could be nothing, but coloration can also dictate stress levels. Has he be sleeping more often or acting more lethargic lately?

The issue with only eating fruit is that, over time, it can lead to obesity and lack of adequate necessary protein in the diet (and fats). The structure of fruit is primarily simple and complex carbohydrates (sugars), so while they have good things in them like antioxidants, they aren't the best thing to feed entirely...better for treats and varying the diet.

My recommendation would be to get him on a diet of Crested or Gargoyle Gecko Diet by Repashy Superfoods (CGD or GGD) as the main food source such as this .It has an appropriate mix of protein, fats, carbs, calcium, D3, and other essential vitamins and minerals to sustain the geckos. Plus, most of them enjoy eating it, although those who have developed a sweet tooth can be reluctant to try it out. I would feed this stuff every other day or so, and keep trying crickets once every week or two... he might appreciate bugs more on this diet plan as he ventures away from an overly sweet diet.

When you feed fruit, do you feed it by hand/force him to lick it on his face or do you feed from a dish in the container?

 

Well we started giving her/him fruit when the same cricket was in his cage for over a week. We heard that it was ok to give them fruit and in our minds if thats all we can get her/him to eat then we'll do it. And I have no idea if its lethargic or not. I mean she's not in the same place all the time but she does stay in one spot for a couple hours sometimes. Also when she turns white once I mist her cage a little she tends to color right back up with no problem. And because we can't get her to eat crickets we just put her bowl back in there and put some fruit in it and she seems to enjoy that. especially blueberry's ( is there a certain fruit they shouldn't eat?) I'll see about loading a pic on here, she doesn't seem to be losing weight just her color is freaking me out and the not eating her crickets is starting to worry me. Thank you for your help so far

 

Also forgot that the bedding is this dirt stuff I guess, I heard bark wasn't safe so we got reptile dirt(?) I'm honestly not sure sorry, but we do have plants along the glass and a log in there that she seems to like laying on or in (don't know if thats normal or not)

 

He can be raised entirely on the diet I mentioned earlier and linked too; its probably cheaper than feeding fruit and just as easy anyway, so it shouldn't be an inconvenience for you. It's often found in stores like Petco... you can use the Crested Gecko Diet or Gargoyle Gecko diet. You just mix it with water as instructed, and add it to a dish within the enclosure. If feeding the Crested Gecko Diet (Gargoyle diet isn't as readily available, unless you order online) then I would still feed insects from time to time. Most breeders feed crickets or roaches once every two weeks and offer CGD or GGD every day to every other day to the geckos. You can also order the diet online froma number of suppliers if you can't find anything local, it can keep for quite some time, and little goes a long way with one gecko.

They can be stubborn about switching to the diet, if yours seem to have trouble let us know and we can give you tips to help get him adjusted to eating it. Its not as sweet an delicious as fruit, but once they develop a taste for it they learn to love it and wil readily consume it. Sometimes mixing it with some fruit and gradually reducing the amount of fruit in the mix every few days can work to get them eating it too.

It sounds like he is probably okay, the lighter coloration is likely just his normal, resting/inactive coloration. When you mist him and he becomes excited and active, his colors become more vibrant and often darker. This is typical of most Rhacodactylus geckos...
Check this out, are the colors different in this sense? The pics on the left depict unfired, resting colors while the colors on the right are of the same gecko that has "fired up."
http://gecko.ignominious.org/rhacodatylus_auriculatus.html

You can still offer some fruit from time to time, I'm always an advocate for variety. Perhaps just as small treat after handling or a few licks here and there. You don't want them thinking it can be a constant food source though, or they might stop eating the diet.

Fruits to avoid: Citrus fruits, and Avocado. The latter has unknown toxicity and is known to be lethal to birds, so it may pose a threat to reptiles.

 

Ok I'm trying to load a pic and I'm not sure how to do it. I loaded them to photobucket i guess the IMG is . I hope thats what you needed

 

Do you happen to know what kind of "real" plants you cant put in there cage? And thank you, you have been very helpful!

 

No problem! And he looks good, very pretty colors on him = )

I'd say he's fine, just experiencing normal color change throughout the day. He may be lighter more frequently due to the seasonal change (lower temps or less light means less activity) or any number of reasons, but he otherwise looks like a healthy auric at a glance.

I'd say nothing to worry about, although a diet change would be helpful for his long-term health due to his protein needs. They really can't survive entirely on fruit, but thankfully Repashy Superfoods has made raising Rhacs as easy as feeding dogs and cats... The product is backed by years of research and use on thousands of animals reared on it exclusively from hatching to adulthood, even for breeding animals with great success. Allen Repashy is the essentially the man who introduced these species into the pet trade, and owns the largest collection in the world.

I can link you to a couple of sites that sell the product if you have trouble finding it locally, good luck!

 

To name a few:

Bromeliads
Orchid
Air Plant species
Pothos vine
Dwarf umbrella tree
Snake plant
Ficus benjamin (Weeping Fig)
Bird's Nest Fern
Janet Craig Compacta (Dracaena compacta)

The Dracaena sp is favored by my Crested Geckos, they can get up in the leaves and rest...its a common houseplant in many nurseries and home imporvement stores. They also love the Pothos as hiding structure, and its super easy to grow. Pothos does have some mild toxicity, but because these geckos don't consume plant matter its not an issue for these species and this plant is commonly kept in the hobby.

Make sure to wash off the leaves and plant thoroughly before adding to the viv, and don't use and fertilizers in the enclosure.

 

Cool thank you soooooo much You have been a great help and I'm less worried about her now!!!

 

why dont you just feed cgd? wil he take it?

 

Be sure to read the previous posts and dates to get an understanding of the circumstances; the OP didn't know what CGD or GGD was but that idea has been very thoroughly covered ; )

 

Dude did you read any of the above posts?

 

my badd