Crested Questions

Greetings All!!


So, I am thinking if trying to branch out past Ball Pythons and to expand into other herp species. Fellow user Anya recently got a crested gecko, and they look pretty cool. I am currently investigating the needed equipment for one, and would like y'all's input on it.

I imagine I will need a thermometer/hygrometer Accurite combo, but based on want I've read I don't need a heat pad??

what other supplies would I need for a crested?? Plants, water bowls, humidifiers, etc?? I've read the FAQ on them, but (no offense to JLC) I like hearing from many people, not just one care sheet.

Are crickets (or Dubais) necessary?? Or will they do OK on just their Gecko food??

Finally, I have a 10-gallon aquarium that I had housed my Ball Python in for about a month; can I use that as an enclosure if I tip it vertically, or does it have to be an actual vertical tank??

Oh, and how much do they usually cost??

Thank you for your help; feel free to address any questions I should be asking that aren't listed too.

Mephi

Cresties are normally pretty darn cheap, unless you're looking for a morph. Even a morph will run you only a couple hundred. Normal unsexed babies are about $20.
I've never used a heating pad, but my reptile room is kept at a constant 78 degrees farenheit. I do not provide a heat gradient for them (I've had around 6 total, currently only have 1) and kept them this way for several years. I've even kept them at room temp (72 degrees) with no issues.
The 10 gallon should be perfectly fine sitting normal, there is enough height, it's just that the floor space will probably not get used very often.
I always provide a water bowl but they rarely drink from it. They prefer drinking the water droplets left from spraying their cage (which I do 1-2 times daily, always before night time because that's when they become active).
They need a fairly high humidity, I'd say at least 60%. You don't want everything soggy all the time though.
I've done several different feeding methods. I'd fed strictly crickets, strictly dubia, strictly CGD, and every combo. They will be perfectly fine living off CGD, but I like to provide live prey because they love the hunt. It is not necessary though.
Provide plants, I have used fake and live. They like to be hidden and they like their cage clustered.

They're very low maintenance. Awesome little guys!

Cresties actually do better at lower temps and do not need a heat pad unless it gets below like 60 in your house. Room temperature 70-75 is good. I mist mine heavily at night and let the humidity drop yo around 50-60% during the day. They mostly drink from licking water droplets but offer a water bowl too. Repashy CGD is perfect and comes in several flavors. Crickets can be offered once a week or so dusted to give some extra calcium but are not needed daily. My enclosures are taller plastic tubs from The Container Store for bigger geckos. I cut out one side and replaced it with screen for ventilation and easy misting :). Replace cgd every other night is the usual practice, as some like it better the second day. I haven't been into these critters a long time, but I have two females, one hatchling and 6 more eggs incubating.

You have a new nickname! Mephi! :P

Looking at CG prices at the show I went to (last month? May? June? Can't remember) in our area they went for about 20 (for a teeny tiny normal/cheap morph newborn) to 600 (For a gorgeous breeding size expensive female morph)

I've had my crestie for about 30 hours now so I can't offer a whole lot of advice, but I thought I would let you know that I paid $40 for mine. I saw them anywhere from $30-$200 at the show yesterday

Crested are great starter geckos.

Very easy to care for, 68-78 degrees is really ideal, if the temps are comfortable for you they will be for your gecko, they do not need for supplemental heat or light. Temps in the 80's will stress them and can lead to death.

As far as humidity goes misting twice a day is all it takes to provide proper humidity.

They can eat bugs however it is not a requirement, they do fine with only CGD (aka crested gecko diet, a powder that you mix with water), this means if you do not want to deal with bugs you do not have to. However if you do want to offer bugs crickets and dubias are a great choice (I prefer dubias since they have a better meat/shell ratio, are resilient and do not stink like crickets do). Cresties will grow faster if they eat CDG (fresh CGD provided every other day and Bugs provided at least once a week)

They do well in tanks as well as in tubs, a small critter keeper for an hatchling will work fine as a temporary solution until they are big enough to be housed in their permanent home so will a 10 gallon tank (need to be used vertically). Plants I recommend plastic so they can be cleaned. Substrate I prefer paper towel it is absorbent, holds humidity and can be easily changed when soiled.

Personally I am using tubs (much easier with multiple animals) and I found the perfect ones too that have a front opening cutting down on time when doing maintenance.

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a...estieTub-1.jpg

As far as housing goes 2 females can be housed together if they are the same size however when young they may compete for food, which means one can get bullied and not grow as fast as the other which is why I recommend to house animals when full grown or close to full grown.

Males should not be housed together.

You can have a male and female together however I recommend to separate them to give the female a break, and of course they should only be housed together when both optimal weight for breeding.

Here are some good sources http://www.acreptiles.com/main/index...=53&Itemid=316 , http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/c...-sheet-en.html

As far as pricing it can go from $50 to $1000, it depends on the mutation and quality of the animal, there are some very high end cresties out there..

Thanks guys; tons of info here :)

There won't be any structural problems turning a regular 10 gallon tank on end??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

Thanks guys; tons of info here :)

There won't be any structural problems turning a regular 10 gallon tank on end??

---

Nope. Not unless you plan on putting a weight on the top after you do...can't make any promises then.

@Anya

you may have sent me some (just can't find them lol) but can you post pics of your tank for your Crestie (did he get a name yet??)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

@Anya

you may have sent me some (just can't find them lol) but can you post pics of your tank for your Crestie (did he get a name yet??)

---

Here ya go:

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/...psf91e7442.jpg

It has plans to be a planted Viv, but right now it's just the bare basics. He loooves the fake vines.

Any thoughts on how densely it should be planted??

I'm going to plant it pretty densely, primarily various species of bromeliads. I plan on DIY'ing a sculpted background that I can hide planters in, and do lots of air plants here and there. (Which are also bromeliads) It's a 45/50 gallon tall, and I'm going to do a little crestie colony. (females, maybe a male the appears every once in awhile.) I also plan on having a fogger and a "Clean up Crew" of giant Millipedes, spring tails, and Isopods, the goal to be making it (mostly) self sustaining. It's gonna be SO SWEET.

Hehe.

A very good general Viv tutorial/general info:

http://www.blackjungleterrariumsuppl...101_ep_50.html

My tub got the boot??? :( Jk, that looks like it will be sweet! You have some BIG plans!

I have one female full pinstripe crestie. Shes great and a lot of fun to watch. I just moved her from a large kritter keeper to a 10 gallon. I mist day and night and provide no heat since my house is always around 74 degrees. I feed CGD every other day (they like it best the say after i noticed) and dubia roaches as a treat. I put untreated bamboo sticks in to climb and lots of plants for them. Good luck and post pictures when you get him/her!

I will :)

Do you know what kinds of plants they have growing where they normally live?? That way I can try an emulate the look in the choices of take plants...

and our house tends to be around 80-85 in the summer; thats too hot for them?? We go on extended vacations during the summer, and usually leave the AC off...

Also, where can I find reliable pics of the different morph types?? I didn't know there were different morphs of these guys too...


(There was something else I wanted to ask...can't remember now XD)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

I will :)

Do you know what kinds of plants they have growing where they normally live?? That way I can try an emulate the look in the choices of take plants...

and our house tends to be around 80-85 in the summer; thats too hot for them?? We go on extended vacations during the summer, and usually leave the AC off...

Also, where can I find reliable pics of the different morph types?? I didn't know there were different morphs of these guys too...


(There was something else I wanted to ask...can't remember now XD)

---

Over 85 degrees is usually the temperature where they can get stressed and die. I would try to keep them in a cooler room if possible in the low 80s high 70s the most to be safe. I use pothos for now. I do not know much about plants but I am researching to make my crestie a very natural looking tank. They come from the island New Caledonia near Australia which is a cool climate usually around 60-80 degrees year round. Im not sure what plants are native their just make sure they are not toxic to reptiles since cresties lick water off plants.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by brobertson

My tub got the boot??? :( Jk, that looks like it will be sweet! You have some BIG plans!

---

lol, your tub has been re-purposed and modified to be a small rat tub. It's still put to good use. ;)

Hey there!
I myself decided that after the boy and I get our apartment, I'm getting myself a crestie as a moving in present / living room decoration ;) I'll be building my first-ever vivarium for him/her. I was watching some YouTube stuff and think you might be interested in this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27pkh0m-oCY

I thought it was a great watch, with little information bubbles popping up. They apparently have a verbal tutorial to talk you through it, but I've yet to look.
To answer your previous question, they apparently like it VERY densely planted.

Most of the advice given is good so I'll just add this in... Some powdered gecko diets are not complete and DO require the addition of dusted bugs. It depends on what diet you're using but it's pretty well known that adding bugs periodically does help with the growth of geckos. Also, I would NOT recommend baby food. It's sugary and addictive and cresties will hold out for it and skip the nutritional stuff. If you want to give a treat, bugs (I wouldn't recommend mealworms as some cresties have a hard time digesting them), Pangea Fruit Mix (which is what I use for my geckos) or real fruit mashed up are good alternatives. Hope this helps.

Here is our caresheet that we provide all of our customers who purchase our crested geckos. It pretty much covers every question I have ever seen in any forum about crested care.

http://www.thelizardhorde.com/caresh...tedgeckos.html

+1 to everything previously said. Make sure your Gecko keeps fat calcium sacs. Metabolic Bone Disease is pretty much the only health issue they are susceptible to. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/15/3ejy2a3y.jpg
should look like two fat white pearls at roof of their mouth. Sorry for the grainy cell shot.

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using Tapatalk 2

Do they let you "manhandle" them pretty easily, or is it a struggle??

Depends on the animal's individual personality. We have a female that will sit and hang out all day and a female that runs up the walls. We have a male that hangs out, a male that runs up the walls, and another male that is the most pissy/bitey animal we own.

So if the calcium sacs go down, I would need to supplement??

So long as your not breeding, I wouldnt worry about calcium sacs at all if your feeding CGD. Even when breeding, most females when fed CGD only will not need additional supplementation. We do have one girl that doesn't like her CGD too much so we toss her a dubia caked in Repashy Calcium Plus and she is good to go.

Yah... Idk it only takes a second to check. I always supplement Ca even tho I feed CGD primarily. Especially to the little ones growing in addition to the females. Better safe than sorry. Noticed some of the juveniles I was raising didn't have very full stores who were on CGD sans additional Ca. But I don't do UV so that might be a contributing factor.

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using Tapatalk 2

I don't think they need UV, do they??

nope. Some people use it on them tho.

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using Tapatalk 2

So, how does one handle a Crestie?? Where do you pick it up from, how do you hold it, how do you get it off your hand (I know geckos stick to you) and how often should you handle them??

Always be aware of what you look like to an animal. Empathize with them and realize that you are the size of a skyscraper to most.

I approach all animals from the bottom and I crouch to their level if possible/safe.

For cresteds I recommend making a V with your fingers and slowly sliding that under their chin. They will usually hop on your hand. Then you simply hand walk them like you would the snakes.

At first I'd recommend a max of 5min every other day but within two months or so you can handle them for 15min or so everyday.

My personal preference is to be as hands off as possible with any animal that it is safe to do that with. For example, the retic I just purchased needs to learn that I am not food through repeated handling. However everything else is only handled to clean cages.

I slide my hand up to Pineapple's legs, and he steps up like a parrot. :D If he's hanging onto a plant or something, I just detatch him as gently as possible. I try not to hold him too much, because they are a little delicate, but he's by far my favorite animal to hold. I love his little feet, and his bumpy/soft skin, and rubbing his wittle head...okay, I'm done. :P

Hi there,

I recently got into cresties too. They are really fun to handle! And so cute.

If you're still curious about a planted tank, here's a pic of my viv. Planted tanks are so awesome. Mine doesn't even smell like anything. I have a few plastic tubs though, those things smell!
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8a6f2eb4.jpg

From what breeders have told me, it's okay to keep juvies (5-10 grams) in 6-7 quart shoe boxes. I moved my fastest growing crestie into her 12x12x18 Zoomed when she hit 15 grams. She's floating around 23g now :)

Anyways, you can feed CGD diet exclusively if you like. But I personally believe its great for them to get some variety. I do CGD changed every other day and gut loaded dusted dubias once or twice a week. I've tried Big Fat Gecko Diet but none of these little buggers touch it. I've heard Pangea Fruit Smoothie is very popular as well but I think that must be supplemented with gutloaded bugs.

As for morphs... well I'm not sure if they are true morphs but there are certainly some characteristics in cresties that are important to note:
- Flame
- Harlequin
- Pinstripe
- Phantom/reverse (?) Pinstripe
- Brindle
- Tiger
- Dalmatian/Super Dalmatian
Theres a great guide on PangeaReptile forums. I would link it if possible but my phone is not cooperating.


Everyone else has posted some great advice so I can't add too much to this. Just hope you find a great little friend!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Always love seeing your viv. What light are you using?