Gus's final moments
Like 1 Dislike 0 Published on 16 Jun 2009
Gus's many afllictions - He suffered from calcium deficiency. Although his crickets were 'gut loaded', without a UV-B lamp, he was unable to metabolize the necessary calcium within his diet. He ate and overate a 'superworm' that he could not digest the outer shell. Near the end, he lost his tail. He possibly had Entameoba Invadens, a common parasite in Cresteds which could have been introduced by the self-contained eco-system in which he lived that contained decaying food and fecal material. He also could have suffered from mites from the self-contained eco-system. In the end, Gus died of asphyxiation. Asphyxiation caused by thick calcium powder clogging his throat. Although crested gecko's are hearty and robust gecko's with a life expectancy of 12-15 years, it's clear they are quite volatile to slight changes to their environmental eco-system. Gus thrived and entertained for 10 months. Crickets! Crickets!
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Updating the research and data provided that led to this lizards diet. The true source of ill health was not a superworm but instead lack of vitamin-D and UV-B light to metabolize the pureed baby foods and crickets it was eating.
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Plenty of research was done. This is an example of the bad advice offered to solely feed it Crested Gecko Diet or Crickets or even newborn mice provided from the research gathered.
It would not eat the Crested Gecko diet I bought with it. Also, the book 'Crested Geckos' by Philippe de Vosjoli which I bought and researched prior to purchasing the lizard indicates on page 61 'Crested Geckos are opportunistic insect and fruit eaters. In the wild, they may also feed on the nectar and pollen of certain flowers. In captivity, they thrive on commercially raised crickets, pureed diets (baby food), and commercial crested gecko diet. Some adult individuals occasionally eat pink (newborn) mice.
I still have the a big bag of CGD available that this particular lizard refused to eat.
I'm convinced the key element contributing to its death is the lack of vitaman D. Admittedly, I did not provide a UV-B lamp nor did I put calcium-D powder on the baby food or crickets it would eat.
The original comments for this video indicate it ingested a superworm. It did not. I found the beatle from the superworm walking around the house.
The main diet of this crested gecko was crickets, pureed banana baby food, pureed beef baby food and pureed chicken baby food. All taken from the research and data documented in the 'Crested Geckos' book by Philippe de Vosjoli.
Attack the data, not the person that implements the data after obtaining it through ample research.