Bare with me as I have a lot of questions... I've been thinking about getting a reptile and after surfing around and asking questions I decided to go to a petstore. I live in the Toronto area and so I headed off to SuperPet... I didn't know where else to go. Maybe someone knows of a reputable dealer in my area? I spoke with someone there and told the basicaly what I was looking for... Good for a beginner Doesn't get to big... Max 8-10" Somewhat low maintenance (I just don't see myself running to get crickets every 3 days) So he recommended a Baby Crested Gecko he had there for $139 (is that too much?) He told me the following about them... 1)Didn't need crickets... would eat baby food and fruit. Mentioned that crickets would probably be ignored. If anything it wouldn't eat more than a dozen a month. 2)Didn't need any heat bulbs. 3)Didn't need a water dish. I would just need to spray it and the tank. That all sounded great to me... is it true? My last questions are about what I should do for the flooring and other things inside the tank. What kind of flooring should I get? He recommend what looked like a bag of dirt but was "Terra Coconut Fiber" from Terrascape. Should I have a plant in there? What kind? Should I have a hidding place? One last question... are they active? The one that was there didn't move the whole time I was standing there (10-15mins). I'd like it to be active. Thanks ever so much for you time... Carlos
ok i can answer all those except i dont know ant breeders in your area. anywho, crested geckos r great, i have one. im asuming his color is the normal buckskin and yes 139 is a bit much. And they do need crickets! unless u want to take the time to give him supplements like mad and mix chicken babyfood with his fav flacor of babyfood he wont get the right protein. they usually r very picky eaters and consume only one flavor and brand of babyfood. mine only eats gerber peaches babyfood and wont eat any other brand name! They dont need uv lightning nor do they need a heat lamp as long as your house stays between 74-80 at daytime and 65-75 at night. DO NOT EXCEED 83 degrees F!!! it can stress and kill your gecko. they wont drink from a water dish but u can keep one in there just to raise humidity a bit. they need humidity between 60-85 and a daily misting 1-3 times a day. they will drink off the leaves of plants or side of the glass. a single adult can be kept in a 20 gallon tall enclosure for all his life and a yunger one a 10-15 gallon. u shuld use paper towel wen yung or non adhesive shelf liner. but wen older u can use wood ships bigger than his mouth. and if u use the coconut fiber stuff, take all the stringy hairs out. they choke on these. u can keep fake or real plants in there to make im feel more comfy. real ones will need care and uv but will raise the humidity. and a hidy spot is needed but because they r arboreal it should be high up. just keep a real leafy plant next to the glass and he'll go behing it. the reason he wasnt active for u is cause they r nocturnal. mine wakes up about 8pm and goes to bed at 7am. they r very lovable and dont mind being handled. i give mine a diet of 65%fruit and 35% meat. he eats about 1-2 crix a night and as much babyfood as he will eat. usually a bit less than a tablespoon.yull enjoy him/her a lot. i wuld tell u more but i dont have the time. if u have any other questi0ons pleaze tell me on this thread or u can private message me. i also have tons of sites but ill post those later cause i dont got time. hope this helped, cya!
Thanks very much Jeffreh... I found your email very helpful. I failed to mention that the $139 is Canadian and that's roughly... $109US I'd like to get info on how to buy bulk (500 or so) crickets and then store them someplace and keep them alive... perhaps another tank and feed them vegetables? I really don't know... Thanks once again for your help... I really appreciate the time you took. Carlos
o well 109 is still sorta high, u culd get a nice colored morph for that price. anyway, u could easily house 1,000-1,500 crickets in a 10 gallon aquarium. u can keep them in a basement or garage (if its warm) or in any room. (only if u dont mind the sounds and smell, but if its well ventilated there is no smell) they shuld be between 70-80 degrees and u can feed them chicken mash that u can buy at a tractor supply store or lots of different veggies. they fall in love for escarole and apple or potato. u can buy special cricket water from a pet store or u can lightly mist the veggies so they get a bit of water. they will eat literally anything. fish flakes, cat food and dogfood (dry), chicken mash, oats, fruits, veggies, greens, each other. so they r easiy to keep. just throw in a few old toilet paper rolls, some crumbled paper, and cardboard egg cartons and your fine. u can buy bulk cricket from the following sites pretty cheap. btw, dont ever use reptilefood.com. they accidentaly send brown recluse spiders with their orders. i got one with one of mine. here are some sites ive heard good things about and r resonably priced... http://superwormfarm.com/ http://lllreptile.com/ http://wormman.com/ i hope this helps! u can also buy special foods for crickets that i believe a few of those sites sell. and i your willing to spend the money, u can go here http://www.mulberryfarms.com/index.htm and order hornworms for snacks and silkworms. silkworms need special chow or mulberry leaves to survive, are very expensive but make a good staple diet. but crix are more active and catch the eye of a reptile better.
