Hi all, we really need help with our little baby Cosmo.
My 9 year old son and I got him 2 weeks ago from a breeder at a reptile show. The breeder said he was about 6 weeks at that time so I guess he's 8 weeks old now. He's about 8.5" from nose to tail. The problem is that he won't eat. When he first came home we tried phoenix worms. He ate 6 on the first day but then wouldn't eat them any more. Last weekend we switched to crickets. He ate 10 the first day but now only eats about 2-3 a day (1 in the morning and maybe 2 in the evening). He has taken maybe a couple nibbles of salad (collard greens, and sweet potato). We just ordered dubia roaches and they should arrive within the next day or two.
His stool seems okay - he poops 1-2 times a day and it looks like a white ball with some clear liquid and sometimes a brown/black ball. We give him a bath almost every night and he'll drink several swallows at that time.
His activity seems okay but I don't know how they are supposed to be. He's active in the bath and runs around during the day sometimes but spends a lot of time basking.
In terms of husbandry, we originally had him in a big 48"x24"x20" tank but a few people suggested it was too big so we put him in a 10 gallon tank instead. He has a 18" Reptisun 10.0 mounted inside the tank. We use an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe and our temps run about 105-110 in the basking area and 85-90 on the cool side. We had been using slate siles for substrate but the breeder told us to switch to paper towels (something about the ammonia needs to be absorbed - is this true??) so when we set up the smaller tank I put paper towels on the bottom. I feed him in a plastic bin so the crickets can't hide in his enclosure. I dust them most of time but as he hardly eats them he's probably not getting much calcium...
He's lost weight! He was 15g when we got him and is down to 11g. I'm very worried he's not going to make it and can't figure out what we are doing wrong...
Thanks,
Annie
PS I can't figure out how to post pictures but here's one of him (when we first got him - I don't have a recent one but he's skinnier) and one of the small enclosure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7718231586/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7774231406/
My 9 year old son and I got him 2 weeks ago from a breeder at a reptile show. The breeder said he was about 6 weeks at that time so I guess he's 8 weeks old now. He's about 8.5" from nose to tail. The problem is that he won't eat. When he first came home we tried phoenix worms. He ate 6 on the first day but then wouldn't eat them any more. Last weekend we switched to crickets. He ate 10 the first day but now only eats about 2-3 a day (1 in the morning and maybe 2 in the evening). He has taken maybe a couple nibbles of salad (collard greens, and sweet potato). We just ordered dubia roaches and they should arrive within the next day or two.
His stool seems okay - he poops 1-2 times a day and it looks like a white ball with some clear liquid and sometimes a brown/black ball. We give him a bath almost every night and he'll drink several swallows at that time.
His activity seems okay but I don't know how they are supposed to be. He's active in the bath and runs around during the day sometimes but spends a lot of time basking.
In terms of husbandry, we originally had him in a big 48"x24"x20" tank but a few people suggested it was too big so we put him in a 10 gallon tank instead. He has a 18" Reptisun 10.0 mounted inside the tank. We use an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe and our temps run about 105-110 in the basking area and 85-90 on the cool side. We had been using slate siles for substrate but the breeder told us to switch to paper towels (something about the ammonia needs to be absorbed - is this true??) so when we set up the smaller tank I put paper towels on the bottom. I feed him in a plastic bin so the crickets can't hide in his enclosure. I dust them most of time but as he hardly eats them he's probably not getting much calcium...
He's lost weight! He was 15g when we got him and is down to 11g. I'm very worried he's not going to make it and can't figure out what we are doing wrong...
Thanks,
Annie
PS I can't figure out how to post pictures but here's one of him (when we first got him - I don't have a recent one but he's skinnier) and one of the small enclosure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7718231586/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69524977@N06/7774231406/