Hello all. This is my baby Quasimodo, and I've had him/her for a couple months now and they are doing really well but I am not finding any good resources for a couple questions that I have relating to their deformities. I was hoping that maybe some of the people here would have experience with some of the deformities my baby has and can help.
When I got them they were given to me by the shop, due to them being unsellable, as a juvenile but they only weighed 6.6 grams. They have gained weight steadily since then, but have never kept up with "normal" weight projections for non-deformed geckos. Most of the time "sexing a gecko" estimates I have seen are based on weight, how will I know when I can reliably tell Quai's sex?
Either due to a lack of one eye, or possibly neuro issues, Quasi cannot reliably attack bugs. As a result I have been hand feeding them all of their meals. I was hoping to give them a chance to try and hunt for bugs without the risk of them smashing their face into a hard surface like most escape proof bowls, but most products look like they would hurt themselves. Are there any alternatives to hand feeding or would that be best going forward?
Are there any good visual weight charts for geckos with short tails? Quasi's tail is about half the length of a normal gecko and is making it hard for me to tell visually if they are a healthy weight.
Due to how deformed quasi's upper jaw is they have a very hard time eating anything fatter than a large mealworm. I can only occasionally get them to eat a very small dubia and even then they need that to be their only bug for the day. They have gotten better as they have gotten bigger, but are there any big concerns with quasi eating mainly mealworms until they are bigger?
Finally, as just a fun question, the shop said quasi was a hypo jungle gecko. Does that morph have a history of these deformities, or is it likely that quai came from bad breeding practices?
For anyone who reads this far and is concerned, thank you for your concern about Quasi and I was not planning on getting a gecko from the store I got quasi from. I knew they weren't great, but I live in a pretty rural area and they were the only place that sold exotic pet supplys where I live. I did not pay a cent for Quasi. Thank you to anyone who answers my questions.