Crested Set-Up Shopping List!

[JamminJonah]

I'm new to this whole crested experience, not only am I helping my friend out with some but I myself was thinking of getting some. I know they need humidity and ventilation I would like to keep up to three in the same cage if possible I just don't know what to shop for or buy or what kind of cages to look at that could retain humidity and be well ventilated any advice would be great! Also for feeding how do you deal with crickets when you do give them to the cresties - I know crickets can stress them out so do you just do the MRP and fruits and/or veggies? I am really on square one here and I want an attractive set-up that can house up to three cresties thanks for any input!

[JamminJonah]

I should also mention that humidity will be an issue - it's 70 degrees out and I'm having trouble with BP humidity chicago and Nashville are not the most humid of places, plus the dudes I live with love the A/C

I housed my Crested in a tall rubbermaid. It worked perfectly.....and since Cresteds are nocturnal you won't be seeing them alot anyway. I hate crickets so I raised Lobster Roaches for a while.....my gecko loved them, lol. Once they are about 6-8 months old you can switch them fully over to the Crested Gecko Diet mixed with non-acidic fruit-flavored baby food (50/50 mix). IMO its best to keep them seperate unless you are breeding them so as to keep stress and competition to a minimum.

[JamminJonah]

gotcha. Dang. I was hoping I could put a few together.

Well, you could and some people do, but IMO its better to house them seperately.

[Wizill]

you should speak with marla on this issue, she has a wonderful crested family.

[Marla]

You can definitely house them together if they are about the same size and you provide enough room for them. It's also best if they are all females or one male and two females, but even if you have two same-size males together the worst that's likely to happen is that both lose their tails and that's the way wild adults are anyway. Do NOT house significantly differently sized geckos together as you will likely end up with one very fat one and one miserable tailless one or never-again-seen one. They are somewhat social animals and will hang out together and are frequently found close together in the wild, but they need good hiding spots for security.

As far as housing, it's best if you can figure out about what size the geckos are going to be before you get them and size housing appropriately. Three baby cresties can live happily in a small vertically oriented Rubbermaid or 10-gallon tank on end, or two in a large critter keeper. Housing should be fairly simple and small for the little ones so it's easy for them to find their food. For subadults to adults, any container equivalent to a 29-gallon tall tank should work as a minimum size for two or three cresties. Height is more important than floorspace for cresties, and they need decent ventilation but that can be provided in a Rubbermaid for ease of humidity maintenance (they don't require high humidity all the time anyway -- misting 1-4x a day depending on housing and ambient humidity should be fine). Obviously it's best if you can get them at the same time and place or quarantine them, but cresties don't usually have health or parasite problems (except related to insufficient or too much calcium) and you'll probably be okay if you don't quarantine.

For substrate, paper towel or newspaper is great for little ones, especially if you'll be feeding live prey. You can also use coconut husk bedding, peat moss, or clean soil without additives, but with little ones should give them prey in a tall bowl so that they don't get a mouthful of dirt they can't get out like Scooby did. Once they're bigger you can skip the bowl if you want to.

David's right that babies and juvies need a higher-protein diet than subadults and adults, but there are a few good options for handling that. First, gargoyle gecko diet (from TRex, the same company that produces crested gecko diet) is higher in protein than the cg diet and *can* be their only food. Allen Repashy feeds all his cresties only the crested gecko diet their entire lives and they seem to do fine on it. However, hunting prey is natural for them and good stimulation, so I like to give mine that opportunity. I don't like crickets, but that doesn't matter anymore since I got my Kricket Keeper. It's great! I just pull out the tube, tap the crickets I want into the bag with calcium & herptavite, put the tube back in the Keeper, and do the Shake 'n' Bake thing, then give the crickets to the happy geckos. Philippe de Vosjoli and Frank Fast suggest gecko diet twice a week and crickets once a week or gecko diet once a week and crickets twice a week. I tend to go more like gecko diet twice a week, crickets once a week, mealworms once a week. I mix the gecko diet with water and fruit babyfood -- peaches, banana, or apricot.

Minimal shopping list:
*1 Rubbermaid, appropriately sized for geckos
*1 jar calcium with D3 and 1 jar herp vitamins without vitamin D3 OR 1 jar plain calcium and 1 jar herp vitamins with D3
*1 roll paper towels
*1 plastic spray bottle for misting
*1 bottle gargoyle or crested gecko diet
*jar lid to feed gecko diet in
*1-3 geckos
*eggcrate, cardboard pieces, baked sticks, or whatever else you can find to make hides and climbing surfaces

Recommended shopping list:
*1 large critter keeper for when you're cleaning out their cage
*1 suitable-sized Rubbermaid
*1 piece of galvanized steel or plastic craft mesh to replace part of the Rubbermaid lid for better ventilation and easier misting
*1 jar calcium with D3 and 1 jar herp vitamins without vitamin D3 OR 1 jar plain calcium and 1 jar herp vitamins with D3
*1 plastic spray bottle for misting
*1 bottle gargoyle or crested gecko diet
*1-2 jars fruit babyfood
*1 Kricket Keeper
*100 crickets (2 or 3 week size for baby geckos), I usually get mine from herpfood.com
*cricket water OR Cricket H2O with Calcium
*peat moss or non-additive potting soil
*tall ceramic bowl from the dollar store to hold crickets or gecko diet in enclosure
*jar lid or similar-sized dish for standing water source, which some will use and some will not
*pothos (NOT golden, just regular), english ivy, or other hardy non-toxic plant that does well in low-light conditions
*baked sticks or dollar-store bamboo stakes for climbing surfaces
*any kind of ground-level hide; mine have plastic half-eggs from the dollar store at Easter time with entryways melted into one end with a soldering iron (makes a great humid hide)
*1 Rhacodactylus book by de Vosjoli, Fast, and Repashy
*1-3 crested geckos

:WHEW: I think that about covers it!

Great post, Marla!

[Marla]

Thanks, David! I'm sure a shopping list like that would have been useful to me when I was first getting mine, and now I can just point to it instead of typing it again.

[Wizill]

if only i had someone explain everything that well when i was a newbie. i think this thread is about wrapped up after that book...