is he eating dirt

mmichele · 09-19-05, 06:41 PM

I was was watching my male last night and he was drying to lik brownish blakesh stuff of his mouth. is he eating dirt?or his poop? he is acting fine. but why did he want to eat dirt. there was no crix in the cage at the time so he could not have just missed.

clint545 · 09-19-05, 06:43 PM

Are you sure it's a male? Females tend to do that when they are looking to lay eggs.
He might have mistakened some poop for a bug and took a lunge at it.

mmichele · 09-19-05, 08:10 PM

well no but its only for monthes old and has started devolping a buldge she/he is to young to lay eggs. is it bad for them to eat poop.

HerpAddict · 09-19-05, 09:34 PM

I highly doubt that your crested goes grocery shopping for gecko-pies at night...

You say you are certain that there were no crickets in the enclosure, but can you be abosultely certain? They can hide almost anywhere!!

They are bounc to ingest a little substrate when they have a miss, or grab some dirt with the cricket. As long as you are using an appropriate substrate, the consumption of a tiny bit of it should be fine. If you get worried, then you should be checking for poops, because if they get their digestive tract clogged with substrate, then they will become constipated and will not be able to poop. If you get really worried about it, then you could always change the substrate to something that he cannot ingest, such as newsprint or paper towel. The disadvantage of these are that they don't hold moisture well, and crickets will often hide under them.

When one of my guys gets too much coco fibre in their mouth, they will often try to rub it off on a branch or the wall of the enclosure. I do believe that they realise it's not food.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

mmichele · 09-20-05, 03:41 PM

yah he was kinda rubing his mouth on a leaf. and i do use coco fiber. so no harm done

Muhahaha · 09-20-05, 05:09 PM

why do you hate cats? i do too

mmichele · 09-20-05, 05:51 PM

i HATE CATS beacause there so not cute. All my freinds love cats they talk about cats all day and when i ever say somting about reptiles they get all grossed out. I hate that. they think im so wierd for liking reptiles. Thats why I hate cats.
No offense to all you cat lovers.