Crested Gecko Handling Age

[ThyTempest]

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I just got our first crested gecko from Shadi11 yesterday. We were looking around at a bunch of caresheets just to see the different perspectives on what is required in the enclosure, how often to feed etc. We have the enclosure and everything else figured out pretty well, but we are wanting some other opinions on when it is okay to handle a crestie. Some caresheets say dont handle for the first 2-3 weeks after they hatch, some say wait until they are 2-3 months, and some even say to wait as long as 6 months to a year, or until they are at least 4 inches long.

Our little cresty was born Sep. 20th, and her name is Rusty...but, until she is old enough, we wont really know that she is a she. Shadi said the eggs were all incubated to be female, so we expect that.

(I tried to get some pics, but they are not turning out)

[mlededee]

I usually wait until they are at least 4 weeks old to do much of any handling, but at that point it is pretty limited. Once they are about 8 weeks old they are a bit more hardy, should be well established eaters and are more ready for handling. 10 minutes per day is about the maximum at this point as they are still quite jumpy, but with regular handling most will calm down and grow into easily handled adults.

FYI, cresteds are not temperature sex dependent--their sex cannot be controlled by the temperature they are incubated at.

[ThyTempest]

Hmm..didnt know about the egg temp not controlling gender, thanks. Well either way, doesnt matter to much to us at this point, we probably wont get anymore until we can sex this one, but we have fallen for the cresteds.

Thanks for the handling tips. I think we will try not to handle her for a few more weeks before we start to try and tame her down. Want to make sure she is eating after her travel day. She seems to be the same, we bought her enclosure so she wasnt handled much for the sale.

[mainbutter]

It has not been proven that incubating the eggs at a certain temperature affects the sex of the hatchlings.. In fact I would say the evidence shows otherwise, because people get mixed sexes at the same temperatures.

[shadi11]

I usually wait until they are at least 4 weeks old to do much of any handling, but at that point it is pretty limited. Once they are about 8 weeks old they are a bit more hardy, should be well established eaters and are more ready for handling. 10 minutes per day is about the maximum at this point as they are still quite jumpy, but with regular handling most will calm down and grow into easily handled adults.

FYI, cresteds are not temperature sex dependent--their sex cannot be controlled by the temperature they are incubated at.

I would have to agree as well with the handling. Glad you are happy with the gecko so far though.
I didnt think I said they were temp sexed. Maybe Mike did.. But about 70% of what has come out of the egg has come to be female. It could be luck. I am not sure. But the odds have been there so far. That seems to be the case is its good odds. but I am just interested to see if it keeps happening that way.

[ThyTempest]

Ahhhh...guess I misunderstood when you said it should be female. We are very happy, and interested in more. When it is able to be sexed I will let you know for your records.

[shadi11]

Ahhhh...guess I misunderstood when you said it should be female. We are very happy, and interested in more. When it is able to be sexed I will let you know for your records.

That would be great. Sorry it wasnt explained better. I think it was Mike who was handling the temperature thing. I dont usually mention it. I will get you some pics of the other babies later on.

Laura