Housing Your Crestedes?

[MKHerps]

Ok we have about 10 geckos, ranging in sizes. Up till now we have kept them in terrariums that are 24 inches tall by 18 wide and deep. We keep three females per male, but recently have had problems with aggression between geckos. Now we have either tailess geckos, or tails that have been bit and turning black. We have been seperating until we found the one causing the problem. But i do not have enough cages to keep every gecko seperate, nor the space for such large cages. Not to mention cost of the cages is not cheap. As our eggs hatch we need more space. Can anyone tell me how your geckos are housed? Does anyone use racks, and if so what kind of racks. I breed balls and have multiple racks, but the tubs all seem to small for the geckos. Please help

[DavidG]

Animal plastics made a 66qt rack for this type of thing. I'd get a ton of 20qt tubs and put one gecko per tub for a while. reptile basics has an arboreal rack for around 220 dollars. It's a 3 tub rack. I'd probably just build one and save money sense heating isn't much of a concern.

[mlededee]

I keep hatchlings in the kritter keeper rack that AC Reptiles sells: http://www.acreptiles.com/store/inde...s&product_id=4. In addition I keep stacks of kritter keepers in various sizes as needed for hatchlings and juvies. I keep juvies and subadults in an arboreal rack made by this company: http://www.nsreptiles.com. It is similar to the Reptile Basics rack but holds 4 tubs and can be ordered without heat. I keep adults in enclosures that are similar to these but the sides are acrylic and the back and bottom pvc: http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/i...oduct_id=29808. I like those because they hold in a bit more humidity but unfortunately the company that made them is no longer selling them.

If you need an inexpensive way to house multiple cresteds just use kritter keepers and rubbermaid containers of appropriate sizes with plenty of holes drilled or melted into the sides for ventilation. You can stack these so that they don't take up too much room and can easily upgrade geckos to larger sizes as they grow.

Do make sure not to crowd your geckos as you will have the issues you are experiencing. The most adults I would keep in the size cage you have is probably 3, especially if one of the geckos is a male (or 4 juvie/subadult females). Also, when housing hatchlings, more geckos in one enclosure makes it more likely it is that you will experience tail biting and loss. I like to keep my hatchlings in pairs (with clutchmates together).