Crested gecko and vacation?

[BastianUSA]

Hi.

I am thinking about getting a crestie sometime,but my main concern is the time me and my wife are out of the house.
We have a cat sitter for that time but i don't think i get her to feed the crestie,she is even afraid to mist the snakes.
So how did you solve this problem?

[mlededee]

I have successfully left my cresteds for 5-6 days while out of town. It's pretty simple really, you just have to plan ahead a little.

What I do is feed them every day the week before I leave so they are good and full. CGD every day and crickets and/or phoenix worms (my insects of choice) every 3 days or so. You will notice by the end of the week that they are not eating as much as normal--this is good.

Then on the day I leave I put in fresh CGD and water (water dishes must not be so large that the gecko can get into it or so deep that the gecko could drown in it--i.e. a large but shallow dish is fine, or a deeper but not wide enough for the gecko to get into is fine). Then mist well--moreso than usual but not soaking wet--you just want the humidity to last longer than normal.

As soon as you get home toss all the old food and water and feed and water them. Uneaten food will get moldy in that time, but it isn't a big deal as they eat rotting food in the wild so a little icky CGD in the cage for a day or two won't hurt them.