need help for a tank mod any ideas?

[toronto420]

ok so here the story i have a crested who was well under weight when i got it so on advice of a breeder/vet  friend of mine i have been feeding cricks daily that are gut loaded on cgd  now im only doing this because its not eating the cgd at all and i need it to catch its weight back up  but on to my question i need ideas on how to put like a cricket holder in my 12x12x18 tank .now it needs to be open on top so the gecko can get in and eat but it also needs to be removed for cleaning or if i sell the tank any ideas ? thanks for all the help with this question and the many in the past.

[samanthajane13]

Actually, what you should do-rather than modifying the tank to offer crickets-is to apply some tough love, and feed the new kid CGD and nothing else!!

He may refuse it for a week or two, but I GUARANTEE that he will eat it in the end, WITHOUT STARVING TO DEATH.

Start by weighing him to give yourself a base-line measurement.

Take a Gatorade cap, fill it with CGD and put it in his tank.

Take a bit on your finger, and dab it on his lips to give him a taste.

Put him back in.

Watch the level of CGD in the cap, and change it every two to three days.  (Some geckos prefer the taste when it ferments a day or two.  Remember-in the wild, they eat the fruit that's over-ripe and drops off the trees, and gets all snotty.)

Weigh him once a week.

Make sure you're misting him at least twice a day, and give him a water dish, too.  (Sometimes when they go off food, they fill up on water.)

Don't fold and give him crickets until he's eating CGD for at least a month, and even then, only give him a few each week as a treat.

Good luck with your new kid!!

[toronto420]

hey thing about that is i have had him a few months and i tried tuff love lol for just under a month and  he came close because he was already not the greatest helth wise  hence why i am at this step lol under advice from a breeder who is also a herp vet lol hence my issue but i think i have that solved with a 1.4L container with the top cut off but if anyone has ideas i would like to hear them thanks again

[amcclain1092]

The crickets do not have proper nutrition to maintain a healthy crestie over time.
It would be EXTREMELY beneficial to convert to CGD.
Samanthajane is correct, these geckos will not start themselves to death.
I've had a crestie stubborn as they come. Took 3 months to convert to CDG and he lost quiet a bit of weight. But eventually got hooked.
We are all breeders here too, and many of us have talked to herp vets and nearly ALL cases come down to converting the crestie to CGD.
Crickets may be a temporary fix to the "weight" problem but you are mostly just adding fat to your gecko by feeding crickets.
And reptile obesity is the #1 problem among almost ALL reptiles.

Pointers for conversion to CGD:

Keep CGD in cage while feeding crickets and slowly add less and less crickets and continue to just leave CGD.
Add honey to the CGD.
Try Clark's diet then later convert to CGD.
Dip crickets into CGD.


Hope this helps 

[architeuthis]

This season I actually had someone sell me a $300 female for $125 because it wouldn't eat CGD. I got it eating in three days. Tough love works pretty well, also adding a little bit of honey into the food seems to help the process along. The only time I feed crickets is when my breeders are cooling off and I want to help fatten them up, but that's typically about two or three months out of the whole year.

[crazytanak]

my cresties are so hooked on CGD they wont even touch baby food when i try giving it to them as a treat. (first time in a year)

All animals are instinct driven. They will eat whatever food is available, they wont just starve themselves to death. if you go cold turkey on the crickets and only offer CGD (maybe with a tiny bit of baby food or honey or fruit powder mix at first) they will eat it

[zuk450]

some of my cresties wont even eat crickets, theyve eaten nothing but CGD straight from the egg and when i  try putting some crickets in with them they (usually) totally ignore them haha.