CGD

[Herpisphere]

My baby gecko that recently died had all the signs of being impacted.

What had it eaten? Crested Gecko Diet.

I want this to be a warning to others. Wait until your gecko is a few months old to feed it CGD. Why risk death?

[Salzy]

Whoa! Please don't go jumping to conclusions like that. I just don't think it is fair for you to say that due to this isolated case.

You just said that it had the signs of being impacted, but you can't prove that it was the CGD. I don't know how CGD could cause impaction in the first place. There are loads of people that feed CGD, and CGD only to their geckos...hatchlings included. Perhaps what you had was a freak accident, which I suppose could happen but it is quite unlikely. If I had to guess, there was probably something else wrong with your gecko that made it pass away on you.

Also, feeding it anything else besides some type of CGD would have even higher risks of causing impaction. Cricket, roach, mealworm, etc. exoskeletons could also cause this to happen.

Could it have been the substrate the gecko was on? Even if it was only on paper towel, it could have eaten a corner or it or something. I just want you to see that there may be other causes and reasons as to why this happened.

[BrianLorys]

Sorry about your loss, but i have to agree with Kyle on this one. I just dont see how a soft, liquidy food could cause impaction. Besides, unless you had a herp vet cut it open and see what really caused it, i dont think you could prove it was infact, impaction. I tend to think there was something else wrong with your gecko, and the symptoms were similar to impaction symptoms. Or, maybe your gecko had something wrong with his digestive process, and couldnt digest the food properly, so it just built up in the intestines.

[samanthajane13]

Herpisphere-

I'm so sorry for your loss...

We've all been there ourselves, and can understand your pain.

Hugs-
Donna

[Herpisphere]

Thanks Samantha.

CGD was the only thing the gecko had eaten. As for being liquidy, it also has some grainish things in it, not at all unlike the size of sand particles (or is the CGD I bought somehow different?).

I can't prove it, but I do believe it. It's possible that it could have just been something else, I know, but the signs tell me otherwise. I just wanted to warn people so that the same thing doesn't happen to them. This having happened to me, there's no way I'm going to put my babies at a risk by feeding it to them so young again and I think it would be wise for others to be wary also.

[samanthajane13]

I've been feeding the original CGD-haven't had the funds to order the 2 part yet, but none of my kids have had any problems with it.

Even my anoles will slurp at it now and then.  I keep a small plastic milk bottle cap of itin their cages, figuringthat if the anoles don't eat all the crickets, the crickets will at least get gut-loaded with wholesome food before the anoles finally chow down on them.

But as I said-none of my kids have any problems with it.

So sorry your gecko died.

[monster]

this post has me curious, can you tell us more about how the gecko was kept? substrates, temps etc?
i'm not looking for what you "did wrong", i would like to see the big picture leading up to the event.

either way, im very sorry you lost a gecko no matter how it happened. it's never easy.

[Herpisphere]

The gecko was born. A few days later he shed and ate his skin. I let a day pass between when he completely shed his skin and when I first fed him. I fed him CGD. He ate a good amount of it and seemed to like it a lot. The next day he was very lethargic and had a weird seizure, his legs seeming paralyzed. There's another thread about this gecko when it was happening... you can search for it if you like.

He was kept on paper towel in a tank by himself. Temps were around 71-75 degrees, on the lower end of that.

[ColleenM]

It sounds more like he was born with a defect. I've fed hatchlings CGD and tons of breeders do as well i really doubt impaction.

[honuman]

It sounds more like he was born with a defect. I've fed hatchlings CGD and tons of breeders do as well i really doubt impaction.

Agreed. A defect is likely the cause of death.  If it was impaction perhaps it had eaten some of the substrate in the hatching tub while emerging from the egg.

[Herpisphere]

Don't deny that it could be a birth defect. But I think there's a big chance that it wasn't considering the symptons.

Also, I watched it hatch and the egg was incubated on paper towel, so it didn't eat any of that.

[honuman]

Don't deny that it could be a birth defect. But I think there's a big chance that it wasn't considering the symptons.

Also, I watched it hatch and the egg was incubated on paper towel, so it didn't eat any of that.

Now this is a first.  How did you incubate an egg on a paper towel and maintain the humidity?

[Herpisphere]

I just sprayed it every day as I did with the moss I'd used with some of the others and, keeping it in a tupaware container, it retained the humidity. I hatched a couple of my cresteds this way. It actually worked much better than the moss for me.

[warnersister_2000]

sorry, but i gotta call BS, especially since you have never taken this animal to a vet.

you posted about your baby gecko dying 2 1/2 weeks ago.  here are some quotes from you:

"The other in its clutch did not hatch and he WAS born with slight kinks in his tail."

1/7/08:
"Ok, so up until about a week ago I fed my geckos on crickets and baby food with supplement added to it. This worked fine for me and I don't believe there was anything wrong with it because I never had any problems."

again, i'm sorry to be blunt, but your gecko was probably doomed before it was ever created.  now you HAVE seen the problems with your previous diet, and i highly suggest you do NOT stop feeding CGD to your hatchlings.

[marigold]

would just like to add that, if you are worried about impaction, to stop feeding cgd, and go with, like, crickets... that would provide a greater risk of impaction than cgd.  so that doesn't sound logical.  if you went with, like, baby food, you'd really be asking for trouble.  some babies are born unhealthy.  it's very sad if they die...  but you are talking to some very experienced people here who know better.