Strange death, need advice

[M'axe]

Yes I know there is probably a lot of post on that out there, but dont wanna mix answers and I guess each may differ due to given care.
So here's how it died, my caring habits and other detail to help diagnotic cause of death since I want to get a new one and avoid the same fate

FEEDING:
Got him a month ago, he was 1 month old. I've waited 4-5 days before handling.
First week I got suspicious he wasnt eating his Repashy superfood, so I went and bought him a few baby crickets and a appricot baby food can, wich I mixed 50/50 with prepared repashi.
I fed him 2-3 times with my finger,forcing him to taste adding some on his mouth. he'd give a few licks but no more, put him back in his tank on the food bowl to make sure he'd know where it is. Stoped adding baby food after 2-3 days to feed only repashy.
I actually never seen him eating by himself, but he was often lying on his bowl edge so I figured he was eating.
Did any gecko ever rejected repashy as far as letting themselve starve to death ? I didnt gave him cricket for the past 2 weeks.

HOUSING:
-18x18x24 Tank, no added eat ( kept room temperature around 75 faraneit / 24 celsius ).
-12h/day of UVB lamp, misted twice a day ( 60-80% humidity )
-for the first 3 weeks, he's been on jungle mix wich contained lots of wood chunks, bowl of food, bowl of tap water, plastic plants and a driftwood piece.
-last week, changed the jungle mix for coconut fibers and cleaned his tank with hot water only, during that time I've had him in an empty plastic tank I used to house crikets, didnt washed it prior to puting him there, and added a soaked towel in it since he still had shedded skin on all toes

Habits:
-he never been very active, sometimes walking / climbing around but always slow and stealthy
-he only shed once in 2 months, few days after his first meal of crikets ( about 10 in a week-end )
-after that he seemed a bit more energic for a while...till last week, after I changed the tank bedding, He stayed for a whole day at the same exact place , on the ground not even climbing. I didnt got suspicious at that time since I tought he felt like in a new home.

DEATH:
on that day, I came back from work and the heater's fuse was blown, so room temperature droped to 60 F / 16 C.
I found him lying on his side in his food bowl, seemed already dead,didnt responded to the touch and he was literally glued to his bowl.
So I went to get water to unstick his skin, when I added some water he got up, took him fearing he was cold and sitted next to the heater, using my hand as a shield against direct heat.
for a minute he seemed to wake up a bit but stayed lying flat in my hand. His skin was really sticky.
Took him to the bathroom to rince him in warm water, he was moving not liking it, but his activity made me feel he could get better.
I've put him back in his tank hoping to go on the net looking for quick answers. I added warmer water to his bowl ( where he was now lying ) to make sure he wouldnt get cold if that was the problem . He kinda jumpstarted when I added the water...ran fast a few inch, staled on his side, legs all twiched up. He started open his mouth wide open a few times then went on a crazy roll streak ( like an aligator rolling with his pray ). This was so disturbing I took him back in my hand and started crying ...thats when he passed away, on his back month open :'(

GECKO'S LOOK
-age 2 months
-very small (about 2 inch tail included, seen 3 months old ones 3x his size)
-skinny (could see his ribcage when he was flexing on a side )
-seemed always fired-up, chocolate brown ans bright orange ( had good hope he'd keep his orange pinstripe )

R.I.P Zeek, 2 month old, My 1st crested and total failure I feel so bad feeling it could have been avoided with better care

So with those details, anyone have an idea what caused his death ? Here's some of my known mistake and hypothesis:

-Starved ( very unsure he was eating repashy, didnt had anything else for 2 week before dying
-Cold ( doupt he would have died from a few hours at 60 F though.. )
-Lack of vitamin / calcium, looked in his mouth after death to see the calcium reserves I've seen in picture before ( white bulbs on the upper jaw ), but the inside of his mouth was flat and pitch black
-infection / poisoned ( gave him 2 crikets I had forgot in a tank with a rotten piece of mangos; used the same bucket I use to wash my car to make his coconut fiber's mix..rince it prior to that but didnt wash throughly; also handled him a few times right back from work wit hand still a bit dirty or freshly washed with indistrial soap )
-blockage (used jungle mix with chunks he could have injested while hunting crickets )

[mh728]

I would recomend using a smaller enclosure and NEVER using baby food. I prefer paper towels as well but understand that many simply refuse to use them for substrate. I wouldn't use UVB either.

[that_girl]

Originally Posted by M'axe

FEEDING:-Starved ( very unsure he was eating repashy, didnt had anything else for 2 week before dying
-Cold ( doupt he would have died from a few hours at 60 F though.. )

-infection / poisoned ( gave him 2 crikets I had forgot in a tank with a rotten piece of mangos; used the same bucket I use to wash my car to make his coconut fiber's mix..rince it prior to that but didnt wash throughly; also handled him a few times right back from work wit hand still a bit dirty or freshly washed with indistrial soap )
-blockage (used jungle mix with chunks he could have injested while hunting crickets )

You had a lot of things going on that could have been the cause, unfortunately. I would lean toward it either being related to being cold and then warming him up too fast, or injesting wood chunks while hunting crix.

If you decide to get another gecko, please don't keep them on anything that they could injest. Either plain old dirt or paper towel. Also, don't freak out if you don't see them eating the cgd. Take away the crickets, and offer fresh cgd every other night. CGD was designed to be an entire diet for them, the don't need crix.

Also, your tank is way to big for a gecko this small. As the gecko grows, you want to move him/her up to a bigger enclosure. Otherwise it's just too hard for them to get food.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but it's a good way to learn how to improve things for the next one.

[sciteacher]

I'm also sorry your first experience ended so sadly as it really seems you tried to do right by your little one. Nothing jumps out immediately as a big red flag in your setup. Some of the suggestions given are very good in terms of decreasing chances of problems, but don't beat yourself up over this, as there's nothing described here that's an immediate "Oh my gosh, you did what?".

I set up my babies very simply in a slide in rack that holds small kritter keepers with a screen top. I use paper towels and some egg carton and a few fake silk leaves. I keep a small dish of CGD and a small dish of water, both of which I change every 2 - 3 days. I never add anything extra to the 1 part CGD, and I've never done any hand feeding. I spray once a day in the evening. I try to spray the egg cartons so they get kind of damp. I feel that they act somewhat like a sponge, keeping the humidity higher for a more extended period of time than if I simply sprayed the walls of the container. I generally don't offer any insects at all for at least the first few months of their lives. I usually keep clutchmates together during the first few months of their lives, and then separate them out into individual containers. It is at this time that I may start to add roach nymphs very sparingly, maybe once every week or two.

I've kept my babies this way for years, and I really can't remember the last time I lost a crestie baby. I know a bad first experience is a tough way to start in this hobby, but I hope you give it another try. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

Gary

[M'axe]

Just got a reply from a local breeder who says some of his crested dont accept Repashy at all even if they never tasted baby food or crix . Sent him a picture of the corpse and he said he was so skinny he realy looked like he starved to death. He sent me back a picture of tongue marks in his repashy food plate, wich I never seen in mine

If he did eat, then probably had an oclusion and as many suggest using paper towel....does anyone have a more "fashionable" alternative ? I'm a bit fency when it come to decoration and paper towel is not something I wanna see in my beautifull tank :S

[Megan Sandbox]

Any substrate, no matter how 'fancy', runs the risk for cresteds to ingest it, especially if you're offering live food. They tend to dive around willy-nilly and get big mouthfuls of the stuff. Paper towels are really the safest way to go, 'cause anything else you use WILL get ingested if they see crickets running around on it.

Uhhmm... you could try the reptile carpet? I think it's even uglier than paper towels, but you might like it.

[clreptiles]

Originally Posted by mh728

I would recomend using a smaller enclosure and NEVER using baby food. I prefer paper towels as well but understand that many simply refuse to use them for substrate. I wouldn't use UVB either.

I would have to agree 100%. Also use a plain bedding such as paper towels or news papers or cage carpet just to make sure they dont injest anything. Sorry for your loss.

[M'axe]

I was looking for a new older one on the net from a local owner, found this red one that looked fat...asked the owner what diet he was on...50-60 crix a week and baby food everyday Oo...something tells me she feed her 3 year old kids pizza everyday !

For bedding, do you think a simple cloth piece would work ? could probably find one with a jungle pattern or something similar

[Megan Sandbox]

Originally Posted by M'axe

For bedding, do you think a simple cloth piece would work ? could probably find one with a jungle pattern or something similar

Just be careful when you're trying these out- cresteds can get their teeth caught on the small fibers.

Good luck

[Earfarmer]

You could try that fake green grass/carpet stuff. I think its called turf? I think you can buy it in a roll at a hardware store and just cut it to fit your enclosure. Good luck!