Help with Crested Gecko (Feeding / Weight Issues)

On Feb 22 I got a male crested gecko off of a guy on CL. He bought it for his two boys, but they lost interest. He told me he was about 3 years old and he had not eaten any insects, live or otherwise for 2 Years! He was strictly on CGD powder mix and pellets. Although he appeared to be otherwise healthy he was severely underweight, weighing in at only 11g!

We have gotten his weight up since then and gotten him to eat crickets 3 times. He weighed 25g as of 3/26, and looks a lot better, but from what I understand, that is still underweight for a full grown Crested. I thought that maybe his growth overall may have been stunted so I checked his length and he is 8 inches to tip of tail, which from what I read is average so it would seem he should put on another 10grams or so.

The problem is this, it has been a couple weeks since the last time he accepted crickets. I tried wax worms and dubias but he would not take those either. He doesn't even seem to want to willingly eat his CGD or fruit. I have been making sure he has a fresh supply in his tank but it doesnt appear he is eating it. He also hasn't eaten the roach that is still alive in after three weeks in there as well as a few crickets.

Every few days I offer crickets and fruit/CGD outside his tank. (Which is how he ate them the few times he did before. I have a little bin I put him and them in. If after about ten minutes he hasn't shown any interest in the crickets, I take him out and try to feed him something else. Sometimes I cant get him to take anything, other times if I push his nose in the food or smear it on his face he will lick it off and then eat from the "dish" (usually a small bottle cap or from a spoon) A few times I got him to eat about half a cap full. I also got him to lick quite a bit of applesauce once (I know its not great for him, but I was willing to try anything as long as he would eat). He wont eat fresh mashed banana. I once mixed in the guts from a wax worm into his CGD and got him to eat some of the guts that way, but still, it was a very small amount.

I am just wondering if there is anything else I should try or am I just worrying too much? He still appears very healthy, he is alert and clear eyes and vent. Active at night. He is a real great little guy and I just want to make sure he is healthy.

Cause I know some people will ask about his setup.

30g tall
substrate is mix of cocoa earth and sphagnum moss.
He has multiple tree branches and a hollow cork bark log to climb up and in.
Temp is kept between 75-85 degrees by ambient room temp. On colder nights I have a ceramic heat emitter that I turn on.
humidity is high
tank is misted twice a day and he does drink readily.

If he is alert and active, keep putting small amounts of CGD in his enclosure, and let him do his thing. If he truly weren't eating, he wouldn't be nearly so alert. Cresteds only eat small amounts at a time. I would stop putting it on his nose and let him eat on his own. This is probably stressing him, since he already knows it's food. Once a week or so, dust a couple of large crickets and put them in the enclosure. Trust me, it'll be fine. Lose the waxworms and applesauce.
One more thing, 85 is way too hot for a crested. The temps need to stay in the mid 70's. Other than that, it sounds like you have a healthy little guy!

Noelle

Thanks for the advice. This is my first gecko so I really didn't know what to expect or how much they ate. I just thought since what I read said to feed them live crickets twice a week, and he hasnt eaten any in weeks that he would need to eat a lot more of the other stuff, but whatever he may be eating is so little that I don't even notice any gone really. That and then seeing that people have adults weighing as much as 45g with it seems 30-40 being average, It makes me worried that hes not getting enough.

like said before just give him crickets once a week i give mine a pop bottle of cgd every 3 days if they eat half of that in 3 days i would be happy with that. temps should be 70 +/- 5 deg. if he isnt eating his crickets try using just paper towels in the bottom he will be able to spot them easier.