New Crestie! & Some Questions..

[Sarin]

Well at the CRBE this weekend they were holding a raffle and I ended up winning a baby Crested Gecko. Well I know absolutely nothing about him but common sense comes in handy sometimes. He is currently in a Kritter Keeper with paper towel substrate, fake (washed) plants from the dollar store, and a shallow water dish. I plan on misting his cage once a day. I am currently feeding him dusted meal worms until my order of Crested Gecko Diet comes in. He will still get meals and crickets once or twice a week just as a treat along with his CGD.


Here's his current setup.




Size reference.

Now onto the questions..

1. Judging by the pictures, how old would you estimate him/her to be?
2. What is his/her color/marking identification?
3. How long until he/she reaches full size?
4. I have a 10 gallon that I plan on tilting so it is taller. At what age do you think he/she will be big enough for this tank?
5. As he/she gets older, is it necessary to mist the cage when it comes to him/her drinking? Is still water enough?
6. I found these flower pot bases at the Dollar Store for $0.25 each and thought it would be good for holding food. The inside has a shiny coating, is this safe for him/her to eat from?




I think that's it for now. I am sure I will think of a few more questions later on.

Thanks!

[mainbutter]

1) I'd guess your gecko is an '09 not more than a few months.
2) Good question.. I've never been too clear on flame vs harly vs similar markings
3) You can guess a gecko needs to be about 2 years old to breed. Care sheets and breeding guides go into more detail, and every reptile grows differently, but I like to use 30g as a base for males and 40g as a base for females. "Full sized" is tricky because they will keep growing for quite a while past sexual maturity, I've heard of particularly big cresties breaking 70, possibly 80g.
4) I'd move the gecko to the 10g at 10-15 grams.
5) my geckos drink from their water dishes, I have witnessed every single one doing it. I mist the cages more for humidity/shedding reasons than drinking. This may not be the case with all geckos.
6) They look safe and pretty perfect for food dishes, but I can't tell you for sure that they are safe. I use shallow glazed pottery for food dishes.

An extra note: That water dish looks pretty big for your gecko. I like to give them something the don't have to crawl in to drink from. These dishes are great, they are shallow so you won't drown a young gecko but are wide enough to hold enough water that you don't have to refill them more than once every few days: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/water_dish.php

[mainbutter]

another note: I have never fed my geckos mealworms, and repeating the advice of others, I would advise against it. Crickets are surely better for them than mealworms, I seem to recall something about the mealworm exoskeletons being difficult to digest.

I currently feed a diet consisting completely of CGD, I get the 2-part repashy CGD in rose flavor from pangea reptiles. There is nothing wrong with adding crickets to the diet, it just gives a different balance of nutrition, and helps younger geckos grow more.

Cute gecko btw hope you enjoy it! Congrats on winning him/her

[Sarin]

Thanks for the info. I realize the water dish is quite large that is why I added extra foilage for easier access!

I heard meal worms are not the best thing to give to them but it is only temporary until I recieve my CGD. There is also no tiny crickets around to feed him currently. I'd have to order them which would take longer then my CGD to come into the store.

Thanks for the advice, though! Greatly appreciated.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Thanks for the info. I realize the water dish is quite large that is why I added extra foilage for easier access!

Getting access is not the problem here it is the risk of drowning that is the problem.

I would suggest you to remove your water dish IMMEDIATELY if you do not want to end up with a dead crestie, for a crestie that size use a water bottle cap and put water in it same to provide food (CGD) and when your crestie is big enough move up to something like this http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/i...ry&image_id=60 .

Your gecko will drown if you keep a dish with that much water in it. Your gecko will drown too in the food dish if it is too deep.

Also you can purchase the CGD from most local petstores it comes in bottle with a purple lid, do not feed mealies to such a young crestie, even for adults I would not recommend it.

[RhacHead]

Congrads on your new crested geckos. I think you will quickly find out how awesome(an addicting) a CG can be.First thing I would do is join a more forum geared more toward Geckos.Personally I would recommend http://www.forums.repashy.com/ since it is geared toward Rhacodactylus geckos.There are many friendly and informative people over there that would be willing to answer any and all of your questions.

As for your questions.
1.All geckos grow at diffrent rates.This depends on a few factors such as Temp,diet and genetics but to give you a rough estimate. 3months

2.Pattern and color can develop as a gecko matures.Looking at it right now I would call it a fire/flame but I'm guessing as it ages it will develop more pattern on its sides and limbs and turn out to be a Harliquin

3.Once again this would depend on 3 factors Temp,diet,and genetics.This being said you gecko could easily become mature within 18-24 months.

4.I would say around 8 months

5.I would provide a water dish similar to your food dish for drinking water in addition to regular misting.You want mist enough to provide additional humidity but allow enough time for the enclosure to dry up so you don't promote mold growth.

6.The dish looks fine assuming the glitter is glazed into the pottery.I would however not provide mealworms but crickets or Dubias.People have even had success with phoenix Worms.

Good luck!

[Sarin]

Alright thanks for the info guys. Mealies were the only thing available at such short notice. I ordered the CGD and it won't be here for another week or so. I won't be able to get him any crickets small enough for him until Friday. Is there any thing else I can feed him that's better then Mealies then that's common (are butter worms better?)? I will stop by at the Pet Store tomorrow and see if I can fish out some really tiny crickets from the medium tank. If not I am still open to more suggestions.

Like I said this is on very short notice and I am trying my best to give this guy a good home.

I read that they can drown easily but I didn't realize even that much water was too much. I'll find something else to replace it asap. Would those 2 oz deli cups be small enough?

Really appreciate it, guys.

[Sarin]

I changed his water and will see if I can pick up some CGD at another Pet Store since I really don't feel like waiting for my usual pet store to order me some.. He can sometimes be sidetracked.

I tried to tilt the 10 gallon and I don't feel it's very safe... I don't want it to tip over when I'm not around and hurt him. Would it be alright if I use it regularily and provide a lot of high climbing places? Or is it absolutely necessary to have more then 12" of height?

Any more information would be greatly appreciated... I feel so newbie!

[olstyn]

I changed his water and will see if I can pick up some CGD at another Pet Store since I really don't feel like waiting for my usual pet store to order me some.. He can sometimes be sidetracked.

I tried to tilt the 10 gallon and I don't feel it's very safe... I don't want it to tip over when I'm not around and hurt him. Would it be alright if I use it regularily and provide a lot of high climbing places? Or is it absolutely necessary to have more then 12" of height?

Any more information would be greatly appreciated... I feel so newbie!

You can do OK for a while with the 10 gallon in its normal orientation (I did this for a while with my crestie). After a few months, however, you'll want a larger/taller enclosure. What I found to be a decent interim solution between a basic 10 gallon and the 18x18x24 exo-terra she's in now was a wire mesh topper for her 10 gallon that basically made it into a 20 gallon tall. We strung up fake plants connected into the mesh, and she loved it.

The topper cost about $25 or so as I recall. It was a bit of a hassle come cleaning time, because in order to clean the cage, we basically had to disassemble the whole thing, but otherwise, it was great.