new, few Q's

I have been looking into getting a crested gecko for awhile now. Dont worry, I have read care sheets and browsed the forum so I know what Im getting into.

I plan on buying a exo terranium soon. I wanted to get 2 cresties, but buying 2 sexed females is alittle too much right now so I will just get one. So, for one crestie should I buy the 18x18x18 or 18x18x24?

So here is my list of stuff I want to get

exo terranium
compressed coconut fiber substrate
digital thermometer and hydrometer
food dish
hide
vines
Hagen Night-Glo Incandescent Black Heat Lamp
CGD
baby food

I am going to get the cage completly set up a few nights before I actually have a crestie shipped from a breeder so I can make sure the humidity and temp stay good.

Is there anything you see missing on my list? anything I should know?

Thanks!

 

RE: new, few Q

How old is it? If it is still under 5/6 months it should probably be on paper towel until it is that age - then it can go on coco fiber.
You may also want to put a water dish in, they can and will drink from a dish.
Foliage/plants - silk or real is also needed. You can get some with suction cups, or just ones from the craft store.
If the gecko has a choice of CGD or babyfood, it will usually go for the babyfood (sweeeter). So if you are wanting to raise it on CGD, you may want to put it just on CGD until it gets used to the taste.

For one, 18x18x18 will be fine, for two adults you should bump it up tp the next one.

Other than that, it looks like you are doing good

 

I havent bought one yet, so idk how old it is going to be.

I think I might buy the 18x18x24 for one crestie anyways, its only ~$15 more so might as well.

When using real plants, do you put soil in, then plant it and but substrate over the soil for the gecko? I think I might try to use real plants where I can, it should help keep the humidity up some.

 

I would recommend the taller enclosure, regardless of how many you're putting in there... being arboreal, they love to climb, and their instincts say height = safety...

Will it be kept in a cold room?... I ask because you have a heat lamp listed... in most houses, room temperature is fine, and supplemental heating is not required...

 

It stays from 74-76 all day here. I put that lamp because it said good for night veiwing, but I looked at some others and read some more and I will get one that doesnt put off much heat.

update: I just ordered my exo terra x-large terranium! $108 shipped to my door.

 

I have a sheet of RED Plexiglas sitting on the top of the tank, and a low wattage tube raised up off it by an 1", so there isn't much heat, but good RED illumination in the tank...

 

If I plan on feeding CGD then I have to find a breeder that feeds it to them right? I found one I like but they have been feeding it baby food and crickets.

 

You can switch them over to CGD, it is just a little harder. Mixing babyfood in with the CGD, and slowly decreasing the amount of babyfood will give them a chance to get used to the taste. Or you could always do cold turkey, the won't starve themselves. (I would probably do the mixing babyfood in with it).

 

Ok, so mix the CGD with water as you usually would, then mix in the babyfood. You think half and half would be good to start with?

Thanks for your help, everyone here seems to be really nice and extremely helpful.

btw, here is the site I think I am going to order from...
http://www.jsrhacs.com/available1.html
I like the orange/red and the orange/red tiger.
Anybody bought from them?

 

Probably, see if he will eat it that way, and then just work the babyfood out. I have never tried to swich, so it would have to be an experiment. If they are young, you may not be able to tell if he is eating anything (its so little), so if the gecko is on paper towel, just watch for some poo.

Never bought from jsrhacs, - they look like they have some nice cresteds for good prices

 

ok, I've been reading more about the feeding options. Here is what I came up with.

Someone mentioned that mixing CGD and babyfood will not get them enough of the vitamins and what not. So I am going to mix the CGD with the baby food like you suggested to get them on that diet, but since I live really close to a petco I can go pick up a few crix twice a week and dust them with calcium w/ D3. That should be a good balanced diet for my crestie. I dont want to have to keep crix b/c the noise so I will just get about as much as it will eat in a day.

 

brad88rx7, jsrhacs is WONDERFUL! Jen/steph are awesome, and will respond to any questions you have. I actually just received my crestie today from her (weather finally permitted). But i was recommended to her by others that know her personally. I asked her about what she feeds this was her response..

"our guys get crickets, fruit babyfood mixed with t-rex's crested gecko diet or this other mix of food we have, occasionally wax worms and silk worms, too."

My baby arrived very healthy, and is exploring his new cage as we speak! I would highley recommend them! Just give em an email and they will answer any questions you have! I haven't talked to steph, but have talked to Dr.Jen a lot (she's a vet).

The size of crix you would need wouldn't make any noises. So if you wanted to, you could always buy crix in bulk, since they make no noise. I would actually recommend it, because you can control what the crix feed on (i would recommend www.cricketfood.com). If you just buy crix from petco, you have no idea what they have fed on, and could have no nutriotion to your new crestie. I would just order online in bulk, keep them in just a 10gallon tank, or rubbermaid, and get some good food for them! Have any more questions i could answer let me know...

 

Ok, I will order from them for sure! I really want to get the orange/red tiger.

When the crestie becomes an adult and I have to feed bigger crix, will those crix make noise?

I guess I will just continue with the diet they are feeding them then, crix and babyfood mixed with CGD.

 

Well, i mean, just cause there bigger you don't have to feed big crix. You could always feed small crix. They don't start chirping till they become adults anyways. But the smaller crix are actually a little better, because they have a little bit better meat to shell ratio. Where adult crix have a higher meat to shell ratio. They get pretty big before they start chirping.

 

Thats good, no chirping
So if I am going to mix CGD and babyfood how often do I feed crix?

 

I don't know if you have taken a look at this care sheet yet here on RR. But here is a direct link..

http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index...-94-page-1.html

But as a baby, the crestie should be fed both crickets and babyfood everyday or every other day, and as an adult, they will need crickets aroud 3 times a week. And That doesn't have to be crix, it could be silk worms, or roaches etc.

 

Smaller crixs have a higher ca ratio so the smaller the crickets the better.
I have 5 adults, and they biggest they eat are three weeks, so no noise there.

You can feed crickets once or twice a week, even every two weeks if you want since you have the CGD.

The feeding crickets does not have to be every other day. My two juvies eat crickets every week, and are growing like weeds, they just have to eat their baby food more often. It really depends if you can have crickets around every other day.
If you feed the hatchling every other day, it should only be two or three crickets, and adults the same. I feed mine around 10 crix once a week, and the majority are gone by the next morning. As adults, some get lazy, and prefer to eat more fruit then insects. Also, as adults they will only eat 3 times a week, so if you fill them up on crix, then they won't eat the babyfood.

 

Alrighty, she obviously has more experience there so listen to her haha. I was just going off what i've read on caresheets. Thanks for correcting me field..

 

wow, thanks field_hockey_gal, that clears up alot of stuff 8)

I feel 100% ready for a crestie now! The tank will be here friday, then over the weekend I will set it up and make sure I can keep the temp and humidity good. So if all goes well I should be ordering my crestie in a week.

 

And just so you know, you can email jsrhacs if thats where your going to get him from. And let them know which one you want. They may ask for a deposit to hold for you, but if there is a certain one you want, i'm sure they will hold him for you! And then you'll pay for him, and depending on when the weather permits they will ship em off! I actually had to wait almost a full month, because weather wasn't good enough to ship. It was to cold, and nobody wants a frozen crestie! But she picked the right day, packaged great, and i got me a live healthy crestie ;]