First Crestie Questions

[frankykeno]

Okay little Sprocket seems to be doing okay....just a couple of questions though.

He's got lots to vines, a tree, etc. to climb on at different angles. He does seem to find a spot he likes though and spend hours in one position (at least from what I've seen last evening and so far today). Is he napping? Is he scared to move or is this just normal Crestie behaviour?

As far as I can tell he hasn't touched his gecko diet. How long before I should worry about that? Should I try to spoonfeed a bit to him (I seem to remember Emily mentioning something about doing that but can't find the thread now).

Just to check that I've got his feeding schedule down right.

1) I was planning on offering the crested gecko diet meal replacement daily. Should I offer it at night or in the morning or does it matter?

2) He gets misted through the day and also has a tiny bowl of water if he wants that as well.

3) I got the live worms for him that I will offer Monday, Wednesday and Friday and dust them with the recommended vitamins.

4) Should I offer natural fruit (no sugar added) baby food as well? How often? Should I also mix vitamin powder in that?

Okay and really dumb question but I can't find the answer anywhere online. What does their defecations/urinations look like? Sprocket's currently on papertowels. I seem to remember someone talking about them picking a toileting corner but I can't remember if that was leopard gecko's or cresties.

Sorry for the tons of questions. I thought I'd done some decent research but this little critter is to alien to me I'm a very nervous first time crestie mom LOL.

[Schlyne]

Leo's tend to pick a tolieting corner, cresties will go anywhere.

How often were you planning on offering the baby food?

I always offered the MRD at night, but that had more to do with my schedule and the time I am walking around changing water and the like for everybody.

[Glaedr]

1. I offer mine at night because they are nocturnal and probably wont eat during the day.

2. Sounds good!

3.Cresties won't always eat worms because they don't move as much as crickets, however, my crestie, Tigger, prefers worms, so there are exceptions.

4.Baby food is fine to give to them but most people feed it as treats rather than a staple diet. You can add the vitamin powder to that, but if he has it on his crickets, he'll be fine.

Their defications and urinations have a small dark brown sausage shaped bit on top with some white urates underneath. They're really small on baby cresties, and sometimes hard to see if it's in the leaves.


Oops, forgot your first question. Cresties spend lots of time in their leaves. You can tell if he's napping because his eyes will appear a little sunken in and his eyelashes will droop.

Glad your asking questions - it shows you care!!! Hope this very long post helps!!!

[recycling goddess]

my cresties LOVE their silkworms!!! they also love their crickets and honestly, i dont' know if they eat their babyfood with the crestie powder added in but i offer it regardless.

and yup... they hang around and don't move unless they are on the hunt for food!

[recycling goddess]

oh my goodness... i didn't notice it was you jo! congrats on your crestie... it's about time you came over to the crestie side LOL

[mlededee]

He's got lots to vines, a tree, etc. to climb on at different angles. He does seem to find a spot he likes though and spend hours in one position (at least from what I've seen last evening and so far today). Is he napping? Is he scared to move or is this just normal Crestie behaviour?

he's just napping or resting. gotta take a break from the leaping around sometimes.

As far as I can tell he hasn't touched his gecko diet. How long before I should worry about that? Should I try to spoonfeed a bit to him (I seem to remember Emily mentioning something about doing that but can't find the thread now).

it is quite common for cresteds not to eat at first while they are adjusting and settling into their new environment. i usually don't even offer food until they have been in their new enclosure for 3-4 days. give him at least a week before you start to worry about him not eating and after that you can try dabbing some food on his nose and letting him lick it out of a spoon if you want to.

1) I was planning on offering the crested gecko diet meal replacement daily. Should I offer it at night or in the morning or does it matter?

i offer it at night since they are generally sleeping during the day. you can leave it in the enclosure for up to 48 hours or until it starts to mold. you can observe how much sprocket eats and mix up enough to last for 2 nights at a time.

2) He gets misted through the day and also has a tiny bowl of water if he wants that as well.

perfect

3) I got the live worms for him that I will offer Monday, Wednesday and Friday and dust them with the recommended vitamins.

what kind of worms? mealworms aren't really a good choice for cresteds because their chitinous shells are too hard for them to digest, therefore cresteds don't get much nutritional value out of them. if you have to feed mealies you can cut off their heads or prick them multiple times with a pin so that the nutrional goodness gets out when they are being digested. wax worms are really high and fat and should only be offered as a treat. on the other hand, silk worms and phoenix worms are both great sources of nutrition.

4) Should I offer natural fruit (no sugar added) baby food as well? How often? Should I also mix vitamin powder in that?

if you feed the t-rex diet there is no need to feed any other kind of mix. baby food should really only be offered as a treat, once per week or less. if you feed it too often they won't eat their cgd, but instead will hold out for the baby food, which doesn't contain all the vitamins and nutrients that they need.

Okay and really dumb question but I can't find the answer anywhere online. What does their defecations/urinations look like? Sprocket's currently on papertowels. I seem to remember someone talking about them picking a toileting corner but I can't remember if that was leopard gecko's or cresties.

it looks kind of like a really small bird dropping. black with a little white bit of urates on the end. cresteds go whenever and where ever they please, unlike leos, which will use a certain spot, making it super easy to clean their cages.

[rabernet]

Emily, I see that Petco also sells what they call a superworm. Would that be better than a mealworm? Also, where do most of you get your silkworms from?

[mlededee]

no, superworms are basically big mealworms and it seems like their shell is even tougher. they also can bite your gecko in the tongue or inside of the mouth which can cause injury. i don't even feed them to my leos anymore, i just use lots and lots of mealworms for them. my vet once told me about a chameleon that got its tongue bitten by a superworm--that resulted in some bad things.

right now i just feed cgd and crickets, so i'm afraid i can't help you with where to get silk worms. you may be able to pick some up in daytona and breed them yourself if you are interested.

[frankykeno]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I'm starting to feel far more comfortable with the little fellow. He's found the hidey hole in his tree (like a little cave inside) and has been napping in there on and off all day. His enclosure is nice and stable other than I have to move it during a few hours in the afternoon as the sun comes through the window and pops his temps up too much. I'll be rigging up some sort of window shade tomorrow to deal with that problem. Other than that his temps and humidity are within the correct ranges.

Gosh but these little boogers are cute!

Oh last question is about handling. How much is okay and how much is too much for these precious cuties. As much as I just enjoy watching him bop around I'd like to occasionally handle him but don't want to overdo it especially when he's just a little one right now.

Btw Mike and I both held some baby Bearded Dragons at the show. Oh but they are sweet things. One of them is definitely in our future at some point.

[Glaedr]

I handle mine as and when, they don't seem to mind. I just let them walk across my hands and don't really 'grab' them. I know when to put them back because they get jumpy, and this is usually after about 10 minutes.
Hope this helps.