Tell me all about crested geckos!

[Saeleofu]

And if you know of a GOOD forum for them, that would be appreciated, too

I really, REALLY want a crestie. We have two of them at work, and I love them to bits. But I want to be sure I can successfully keep one at home before I get one. I'm willing to consider other similar geckos, too, but I don't really want a leopard gecko.

Anybody know why they shake their head? My guess is it's when they're agitated. But **** it's a cute response to being ticked off

[*blackrose]

My brother owned a Crestie for awhile. Raffiki-Waldo:


He was really easy to care for. Had to keep his cage at a certain humidity level that was achieved by misting it once or twice a day (I think it was 70% or something like that?) and he ate a powdered Crested Gecko diet that we ordered online and then reconstituted. He loved it, and did well on it. We'd also give him applesauce and such from time to time.

This was his cage:

29 gallon tank with some fake vines and a branch from one of our fruit trees that we sanitized. Bedding was this mulch block that you would soak in water and it would come apart for you to spread. Helped with the humidity a lot.

And...that's about all I remember about Raffiki-Waldo. Other than that when we'd try to hold him, he'd have nasty poop all over the place. LOL

[Saeleofu]

he ate a powdered Crested Gecko diet that we ordered online and then reconstituted. He loved it

The geckos at work get this sort of thing on Wednesdays. I've taken to hand-feeding it because they love it that way (otherwise they won't touch it) and their tongues are adorable On Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays they get crickets, or waxworms if we run out of crickets. I made them mashed carrot for enrichment on Sunday this week and they ate a bit but weren't impressed with it.

Bedding was this mulch block that you would soak in water and it would come apart for you to spread. Helped with the humidity a lot.

That sounds like the same thing we use at the zoo - it's coconut fiber, and comes in a brick. You soak it in water and it turns to a powdery, soil-like substrate that retains moisture pretty well. And unlike actual soil, you can get it all over you and it just brushed off, it doesn't leave stains behind!

Other than that when we'd try to hold him, he'd have nasty poop all over the place. LOL

One of ours is pretty much GUARANTEED to poop on you when you handle her. The other one doesn't poop as often, but also isn't handled as often. We tend to favor the one without a tail, because she has an adorable butt

As far as an enclosure, we use these at work: http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...AvailInUS%2FNo (minus the crazy background). It's taller than it is wide to allow for climbing space...is this sort of thing a good choice?

How hard is it to regulate the temperature in the enclosure? At work we have a warm room that stays at 83F and the cold room stays at 75F. The cresties go in the cold room. My room at home varies a LOT but usually ranges from 60-80F. In the winter it may drop to as low as 47F. Is it better to keep my room cooler and put more heat sources on the enclosure, or to keep my room warmer and use less heat sources?

[*blackrose]

Originally Posted by Saeleofu

The geckos at work get this sort of thing on Wednesdays. I've taken to hand-feeding it because they love it that way (otherwise they won't touch it) and their tongues are adorable On Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays they get crickets, or waxworms if we run out of crickets. I made them mashed carrot for enrichment on Sunday this week and they ate a bit but weren't impressed with it.



That sounds like the same thing we use at the zoo - it's coconut fiber, and comes in a brick. You soak it in water and it turns to a powdery, soil-like substrate that retains moisture pretty well. And unlike actual soil, you can get it all over you and it just brushed off, it doesn't leave stains behind!




One of ours is pretty much GUARANTEED to poop on you when you handle her. The other one doesn't poop as often, but also isn't handled as often. We tend to favor the one without a tail, because she has an adorable butt

As far as an enclosure, we use these at work: http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...AvailInUS%2FNo (minus the crazy background). It's taller than it is wide to allow for climbing space...is this sort of thing a good choice?

How hard is it to regulate the temperature in the enclosure? At work we have a warm room that stays at 83F and the cold room stays at 75F. The cresties go in the cold room. My room at home varies a LOT but usually ranges from 60-80F. In the winter it may drop to as low as 47F. Is it better to keep my room cooler and put more heat sources on the enclosure, or to keep my room warmer and use less heat sources?

Yup, the Exoterras are a very good choice. Our Crestie came with the 29 gallon, or else that would probably be what we would have gone with.

And we never really had a huge issue keeping the cage at the correct temperature (but then again, we had central heating and the room temp always stayed around 70*). The humidity level became much more of a problem in the winter, but it was doable. I'd imagine that just keeping the area around the enclosure warm would be just as fine as keeping the entire room warm, but I am in no way a gecko expert.

And as for other gecko options, I always thought Gargoyle Geckos were really cool looking.

[Locke]

I have a crestie! He's the most low maintenance pet I've ever had. I've set his tank up to be a self-sustaining system, so I don't even have to clean it really...unless he poops on the glass/plants, or the water spots get really bad.

I only feed Crested Gecko Diet, mostly because I'm scared of him contracting parasites from crickets.

He's not fond of being handled, so I just let him be and I enjoy watching him leap around his tank and sleep in funky positions.

Cresties are great intro reptiles. I highly recommend them! The most important thing is keeping the temp right and getting a good humidity cycle going. You want to keep temps around 66-75 and I like to have my peak humidity at night, so I mist him before I go to bed, which brings his environment up to about 80% humidity, and then I let him dry out overnight/during the day. I feed every 2-3 days depending on if his food dries up or not.

I find pangeareptile.com is a decent forum for information, although I'm a bit weirded out by how many members get totally sucked in to acquiring tons of animals in a short period of time, and how easily people sell/trade geckos they've had for years. It just doesn't make sense to me. Any pet I ever get will stay with me until it passes away.

But ya! Get one!

[Julee]

www.pangeareptile.com

Best site, ever. I actually met my boyfriend on there when we were much younger.

[AllieMackie]

Oh MAN I love cresties. I miss mine like crazy and will have another someday. So easy to care for, and pretty easy/fun to handle if they're handles gently from juvies. Mine loved to hand-climb. Also, they change colours. That's always an awesome thing.

They're usually pretty well-lived, though their actual lifespans are still being determined. Mine passed at 2ish years old from whoknowswhat.

Mostly echoing what other have said: Exo-terras are awesome. You need the tall one with at least an 18x18 base for an adult, juvies do fine in a 12x12 base tall enclosure. There are so many ways to do up their habitat. I did a live growth viv that did very well, but later switched to artficial for convenience. Diet is easy: The powdered CGD is all they need, but I suggest periodic crickets for variety and for hunting. I never did waxworms, but some do as treats.

Also Blackrose, the pic you posted is of a leachie I'm pretty sure, not a garg! Leachies are a rhacodactylus gecko as well, but they grow quite a bit larger.

Geckoforums.net are generally quite helpful. They focus on leos but have an active rhac section of the forum as well!

And because threads are useless without photos and I'm feeling nostalgic...

Enclosure, plants were all live except that top one. The pothos grew all around the tank within a few months.


I love this pic. It shows the cool teethlike ridge along their jaw for gripping insects. And her forked tongue, little dragon.


Eating her CGD.


And some of her colour variations...

This was her most "common" colour.


Feeling green.


Completely grey. This happened pretty rarely.


Another one of the grey.


When she was most active, she would fire up to a bold brownish-maroon.


I highly recommend cresties. Get one! Between a leo and a crestie, I'd suggest crestie all the way.

[Saeleofu]

Also, they change colours. That's always an awesome thing.

I LOVE this about them. Second only to their amazing feets Our male especially likes to change colors. I gave him a brownie mix box last week and he turned dark chocolaty brown, matched the brownie picture exactly

I'm going to check out those forums. I'd like to get into reptile forums a bit anyway. We have a fairly large variety of reptiles in our collection at work, and who knows if I may end up in a herp position later on. In my department we have hognose snakes, sand boas, milksnakes, leopard geckos, blue tongue skin, bearded dragons, prehensile tailed skink, carpet python, ball python and crested geckos. For amphibians we have a cane toaf, a horned frog, tomato frogs, an iberian ribbed newt, and tiger salamanders. And then we have a cockatiel, roaches, scorpions, a tarantula, a chincilla, a soft-fur rat, rabbits, a hedgehog, and a prairie dog. The reptiles far outnumber the others, clearly lol.

[*blackrose]

Originally Posted by AllieMackie

Also Blackrose, the pic you posted is of a leachie I'm pretty sure, not a garg! Leachies are a rhacodactylus gecko as well, but they grow quite a bit larger.

D*mn Google. LOL

[Locke]

No, that's definitely a garg.