Gaining health and weight

[LimeGreen]

It certainly is mating season...
I was trying to get Fritter into a little sauna and he stuck out his male bits.
I've definitely washed since the last time I handled stella so that was a pretty big shock.

I've never seen that happen before... O_o

[StickyFeet.]

It happens quite often. Picking them up or petting them the right way gets them going.. -.-'

They are total horndogs. I've had 2 of my males do this several times now to me.. The worst part is, they are so cute you can't help but forgive them.

Lol.. Have fun!

[LimeGreen]

Alright... I've now had him for 24 days.
Still hasn't eaten or pooped so I'm resorting to sticking an eyedropper with a mixture of CGD, mushed meal worms and added calcium in it down his throat once a day.

He doesn't like the idea much and likes to shake all the food out of his mouth if I don't keep him upright after feeding.

I took this picture while he was laying in my hand last night, didn't look like a healthy gecko to me. (Sorry to anyone who doesn't believe in force feeding, right now it seems to be the only way to get food into him until he's healthy)

[Spankenstyne]

Will he eat crickets still? I'd get him back onto dusted bugs he was being fed before, ASAP. He doesn't look good. I would only try to switch over once he has size put back on.

[KiKiKiKida]

I agree. Wanting him to switch is no reason to let him starve, if he'll take crickets, let him have them!

Maybe just give the crickets lots of nutritious stuff to eat, even some reashy

[LimeGreen]

I picked up crickets and he didn't touch them.
They all ended up dying.

Remember, this is him stretched out. He looked like this 3 weeks ago stretched out as well. In all the other pictures he's laying with his belly on a flat surface poofing him out.

I found little poops in his tank today, but they seem dry crusty and a yellowy white... no brown and definitely not like regular crestie poops.

[Spankenstyne]

Have you tried different sizes of crickets? How many are you offering at a time and how are you presenting them?

[StickyFeet.]

What are your temperatures sitting at right now? I know you're room mates like the cold and all, but if it's really cool it might be worth trying to bump your temps to encourage him to eat more. While he is pretty thin, I think he'll be able to bounce back just fine. The reason why I say that is because he's decent girth to his tail.

Other cresties that I have seen that are in trouble have tails that are very thin, and they look much like a skeleton. While your boy is small, he still looks to have some meat on him.

I'm also waiting for the replies to Spank's questions, cricket size can make a WORLD of difference with these guys as well as the way they are being offered.

Edit - Are his eyes sunken in at all?

[LimeGreen]

Crickets:
3-4 at a time, at 'night time' (I'm working early morning and graveyard shifts most of the time... so when it's darkest in my room and they have an actual night)
When he was first brought home I tried 4 week crickets, last week I tried 2 week crickets and tried offering a meal worm. I was able to get one meal worm into him, but so far all of the crickets have been wasted and died.
I had a suggestion at J&J's to gutload crickets with CGD, so the two week old crickets were gutloaded with CGD and dusted with calcium.
I've also tried putting him in a large tupperware container in the dark with a few crickets for an hour or two. No luck on that.

Temperatures:
Usually around 68-74. When I'm going to bed and have my own space heater on they raise possibly a little too high, but not for prolonged periods of time. If I'm sleeping normal people hours the temperature is highest when the sun's coming up because it directly hits my window.

Eyes:
Not normally. When he's being fed and trying to keep as much of the food in his mouth without swallowing as possible he sinks in his eyes like he's biting down hard.

Photo, same day different angle. My flash erases the outline on his ribs, you can count almost all of them... but not when flash is used.
I've also got tiny childlike hands and he's only about as thick as my thumb... which isn't that big.

[Bamboozoo]

Did you ever manage to find an electrolyte?

colour and dryness of the excretement means dehydration.

Would you try a couple of "natural" remedies?