# Lizards > General Geckos >  Crested Gecko, help please!

## SRMD

Right, thinking of getting a crested gecko, and this is the setup i can get for £210:

45x45x60 Terrarium
Grapevine
Large ficus silk plant
Medium abutillon silk plant
Liquid crystal thermometer
Rainforest substrate 10l
Glow light reflector medium
5.0 13w compact lamp repti glo
Medium feeding dish
Small water dish
Combination padlock
crested gecko hatchling!
so I was woundering, is this everything needed? with the 5.0 13w compant lamp repti glo, does this produce heat or not? do i need a heat lamp?

also does this need to be on 24/7?

Thank you

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## tttaylorrr

hi friend! i'm fairly new to cresties myself, but i've had mine for about 5 months now! he's 2.5 years old.  :Smile: 

that's going to be a very big enclosure for such a lil guy. you might want to consider a 12x12 in. otherwise your new lil one might have trouble finding food!

paper towel works really well for cresties as they might try to eat substrates. i'd recommend paper towel, plus it makes clean up a breeze.

the size of your food/water dish is important. you say small and medium, but that's relative. my guy feeds out of 0.5 oz cups and those are actually too big for him. a big food dish means you're going to waste a lot of food, and your crestie might step in it and make a mess lol. start out with a bottle caps instead.

depending on where you live will depend on whether you need a heat lamp or not. cresties do not do well with temps anywhere near 80° F. i do no use a lamp; i live in the midwest and my crestie enclosure is on the northeast side of the house, which never gets above 75° F in the summer. i might need a lamp come winter, but we'll see.

one critical piece of equipment i don't see listed: a mist/spray bottle! crestie enclosures should be well misted every day or every other day. cresties are also known to prefer to drink water droplets off of plants and the glass, so it's important to spray regularly!

i hope all this helped!

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## pretends2bnormal

I went a bit different direction than tttaylor, but I'm not any more experienced.  I've had mine for about 4 months, and he (can't tell yet ofc) is now around 5 months old. He's pretty small for his age as far as I can tell since he refuses insects (recently I've gotten him to eat 1 or 2 small crickets a month). 

I started him in a critter keeper for a while with hand misting while I got an auto mister (set up for the crestie and my husband's giant day gecko) for a bioactive planted 18"×18"×24" exo terra.  I moved him in after a month or so when I was sure he was eating and pooping normally and didnt have any issues.  

Even as a baby I've seen no issue with him finding his food in such a large tank (although I always replace it late evening when he is active and it smells strongest and positioned his food by one of his most frequented vines to make sure he can get to it easily)

This is an old tank picture, since I don't have a recent one that has a full view.  The plants have filled in a lot and we swapped his food to the right side. Don't mind the humidity, it had just misted and spiked up.


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(Why do all my pictures flip on their side?? They show normal in the previews....)

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## tttaylorrr

> I went a bit different direction than tttaylor, but I'm not any more experienced.  I've had mine for about 4 months, and he (can't tell yet ofc) is now around 5 months old. He's pretty small for his age as far as I can tell since he refuses insects (recently I've gotten him to eat 1 or 2 small crickets a month). 
> 
> I started him in a critter keeper for a while with hand misting while I got an auto mister (set up for the crestie and my husband's giant day gecko) for a bioactive planted 18"×18"×24" exo terra.  I moved him in after a month or so when I was sure he was eating and pooping normally and didnt have any issues.  
> 
> Even as a baby I've seen no issue with him finding his food in such a large tank (although I always replace it late evening when he is active and it smells strongest and positioned his food by one of his most frequented vines to make sure he can get to it easily)
> 
> This is an old tank picture, since I don't have a recent one that has a full view.  The plants have filled in a lot and we swapped his food to the right side. Don't mind the humidity, it had just misted and spiked up.
> 
> 
> (Why do all my pictures flip on their side?? They show normal in the previews....)


your enclosure is beautiful.  :Smile:  what's that thing on the side? the bowl-looking thing that's sticking out? is that like a hide? i like it!

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## Stewart_Reptiles

Stay away from lights that emit heat, natural light is enough if the gecko is submited to temp above 26 it will stress and die

You can't put an hatchling in the size enclosure you mentioned it will be too big (that size it for an adult), hatchlings often have trouble finding their food in large enclosure and of course a non feeding gecko also means death, for an hatchling you want something like a small critter keeper roughly 38 X 22 X 22

The ideal water and food dish will be elevated and using the equivalent of a bottle cap for food and water if you provide water, some gecko will use the water dish but most will drink water drops from the size of the enclosure.

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## pretends2bnormal

> your enclosure is beautiful.  what's that thing on the side? the bowl-looking thing that's sticking out? is that like a hide? i like it!


Thanks!  It is a hide.  I found someone who makes 3D printed stuff for geckos and bought it there.  I bought the adult one and dont recall there being a juvenile one like I see now.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/5779548...&more_colors=1

Though it is far too big to be useful for my guy with how small he is, so he never used it. I took it out until he gets a bit more size (and I work out how to keep the suction cups from coming off every week or so... maybe just hot glue them in place. The hide can be removed from the suction cups)

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