Looking for some advice here, got a young crested gecko and he will eat from my hands while holding him if I put the cup right to his face but I’m not noticing any of his food being eaten over night when left in a feeding cup in the enclosure. Any advice on how to get him eating
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For how long have you had him? You’re supposed to leave them completely alone until they start eating, which can take anywhere from a day to a month, sometimes (but rarely) longer. Usually it takes a week or two. So just leave him alone until he’s eating, and make sure he’s got plenty of cover so he feels safe (:
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Do not hand feed, that can cause issues and you don’t want to have to then try sort stopping them hand feeding.
Put the food in and leave be, check in morning, he may just be being fussy.
What food? Some can be fussy on flavours.
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As @ghoulishcresties said, some geckos won’t want to eat unless it is hand fed to it. Unless you have a very skinny or unhealthy gecko, I wouldn’t risk it. just put the food in and it will catch on eventually. pics of enclosure, gecko, and the food you are using can help
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Welcome to the forum @ryanjc91080! Glad you found us! I bought my little crestie on a whim at Petsmart. He was a little tiny dude in a huge enclosure that was for sale. He was huddled in a corner terrified so I took him home. After I set him up I left him alone for about 6 months except for putting food and water in his enclosure and spritzing it once in a while. I gave him fresh Repashy every day. He ate just fine and grew a bit before I attempted to interact him. Now he is puppy dog tame.
The bottom line is your little one will eat when he gets hungry so don’t stress. 
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He’s not a baby but not full grown I’m not sure how to best explain his size as I don’t have a scale to provide a weight. I have him in an 18x18x24 which I’ll provide pictures of and and as I thought it might be too big for him I’ve witnessed him moving around and using the entire enclosure although he does have a certain spot he prefers I will find him all throughout the enclosure. I’m currently using Pangea with insects it’s the red bag. I also have the apricot flavored one and haven’t tested that yet because it has only been a couple days.
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You may find putting a few feeding places in his enclosure might help short term , then remove a few as he starts eating more.
I wouldn’t worry too much ATM, however it will become a problem if you continue to hand feed.
I’ve stated in another of your posts, more climbing options. This might also help him get to his food.
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I definitely second the more climbing options stated by @foxreptile. When my guy was so small he made use of the different climbing branches to get to his foot but I kept it on a lower level at first. You could invest in some feeding shelves with disposable cups/ containers to put food and water in and put the shelves on different levels. The shelves stick on with suction cups. I got mine from The Bean Farm……
So I have a suction cup on feeding shelf and as an update he is eating I was using a cup too large and too much food to notice as he is not full grown but now I’ve got smaller cups and portions better and he is eating great I’ve actually caught him in the act as proof to myself thanks for the advice though.
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Glad he’s eating!
He looks full grown in pics?
Most of mine actually prefer eating off the bottom. So I have the bowl on the floor of the viv for them. It’s strange!
First reason could be concentration of the superfood. It is okay to hand feed high concentration, because you are directly putting it up to it’s mouth, but when it comes to feed it on the plate or bowl, they have to use their tongue to scoop it up, so it is better to mix more water to make it like a ketchup like concentration.
Second reason is enclosure. People wants to give their crestie the best enclosure, large and looking nice with good decoration, but what is actually matter for them is, it is better to have smaller enclosure, so they feel safe, and also helps them to find food better.
Lastly is the kind of food you are giving, when it is given on the bowl, they have hard time finding the food when it does not have that much strong smell to it. Use some superfood that are made with Banana, Mango, etc.
I won’t agree here. A Crestie should have a minimum of a 45x45x60. And imo bio. All planted out, branches, and full of climbing and hiding places for them.
Shouldn’t hand feed as they rely on it and won’t eat if you stop. Had this issue before when I’ve received geckos. Took ages to get them eating.
They’ll find bowl fine, they can smell food. Banana is also a treat food as too high in potassium etc for them.
Mango is fine.
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Definitely agreed with Ghoulish,
It’s not the size of the enclosure it’s how it’s set up that can be a problem. If you have a huge enclosure with one coconut hide and a single plant then the gecko will obviously feel exposed. You just have to fill it out with stuff for the gecko to climb on/hide in, regardless of the size.
And they can absolutely find their food just fine in a dish regardless of the size of the enclosure or the type of food.
Both of these myths seem super common, but make no sense if you think about it for a second - in the wild they don’t have strong smelling food within 30cm of their noses at all times, and they don’t have small enclosures to make them feel safe enough to eat. In stead they have tons of places to hide, and have to move around and look for their food
Also; imo hand-feeding can be done as a way to “bond”, but should be done sparingly, and should not be done to encourage the gecko to eat unless it’s sick.
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I agree with both ghoulish cresties & autumn geckos
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Welcome to the forum @hjh09678! Glad to have another crestie lover here! We all love pictures if you have any you would want to share with us!