I think I want a crestie... some advice please.

[snakedude56]

I've been going gecko crazy lately and have been looking at cresties and leopards. I have a leopard and some room for a crestie(not in the same enclosure of course!). I read on the caresheet on this site that cresties do best in temps between the 60's and the high 70's low 80's. My room is kept between 75-80 degrees farenheit. Would this mean that I do not need any supplemental heat for a crestie? Thanks for reading this, any advice from more experienced keepers would be greatly appreciated.

[Kristy]

Nope no supplemental heat unless it drops below 65 in your house. The temps should stay below about 82 also, it stresses them out when it gets to high.

I just got my first crestie almost 4 weeks ago, they are so fun to keep.

[mlededee]

yup, with those temps your main concern will be that it not get too hot in the summer. shorts amounts of time at temps up to 82 are okay, but mist extra to cool things down and keep your gecko hydrated.

anything in particular you have questions about besides the temps? just asking because you asked for any advise--tell me what you want advise on and i'll do my best.

[snakedude56]

well, there are no local breeders around me and my mom refuses to let me use her credit card to purchase things online I'm almost stuck with dealing with pet stores. The one that I get my feeder mice is excellant but they don't order cresties for some reason, something about them getting out due to their jumpieness as babies. Petsmart on the other hand does. They have a crestie in right now for 69.99$ and it appears healthy by appearance. It is not very big and they are telling me they have had it for almost a year. About how big on average are they at one year? Also, can I use the same supplements for a crestie as I use for me leo? I use Rep Cal calcium with the Rep Cal Herptivite and I shake the crickets in with that right before I feed them to Gex(my leo). Can I use the same stuff for a crestie? Sorry that was kinda long but I want get all the knowledge I can before I make a purchase. thanks!

[mlededee]

you can and should use the same supplements for a crested that you are using for your leo. you can also feed t-rex crested gecko diet which you should be able to purchase at petsmart (about $4-5 for a bottle). you just mix it with water and put it in a small dish for the crested to eat.

at a year old cresteds are almost full grown. at a year and a half they are definitely full grown. a year old crested should be somewhere in the 30-40 gram range and somewhere in the 4-5 inch long range (not including the tail). check out this thread for crested size/age reference: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=26873.

[snakedude56]

Yea the crested they had there only looked about 4-6 months old compared to the pictures you posted. They may have been exaggerating a bit because that particular store hasn't been open that long. Would the T-rex crested gecko diet completely give them all their dietary needs or will I still need to feed with crickets? Thank you for all your advice you've been quite helpful.

[mlededee]

the crested gecko diet is a complete diet and does not need to be supplemented with anything else. that said, cresteds do love insects, especially crickets. so, if you are feeding your leo crickets anyhow, share some with your crested and he will love you for it.

[snakedude56]

Thanks for the advice, it'll be a week or two before I get one because I want to get the cage set up and ready to go for it. I'll post some pics sometime in the future.

[mlededee]

sounds good. definitely post pics when you get your new little one!

[ddale]

I've kept and bred crested geckos for about six years and they are definitely one of my favorite geckos. You can keep the animals very healthy on a diet of the prepared diet, but I find that some of the best fun is to watch these guys hunt the crickets. I keep breeding groups of 1.3 or 1.4 in large screened enclosured with fake vines and real branches and love to see their acrobatics as they dart across the cage for a cricket or roach. For the fruit portion of their diet, I feed them various baby foods (fruit medley, mango, papaya, peach, etc) supplemented with Reptical and Herpevite, and spirulina algae powder (from GNC). Have had lots of success and many, many crestie eggs!