Some basic crested gecko questions.

[hostensteffa]

Hey, I am going to possibly be obtaining one or two cresties this week with a couple of rescue leopards that I am taking in. I'm going to do some research but wanted to ask a couple questions from those of you who have experience:

1. How much different are they to care for than leo's?
2. Are they any more finicky about eating or like leo's, are they freakin garbage disposals? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
3. How finicky are they as far as temp goes?

These are just a couple of basic questions, if you'd like to give evenmore info, feel free i won't complain [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img] Thanks in advance for any advice.
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[C. hortulanus bites]

1. Very as they prefer temps in the 75-80 region, hotter than 80 is bad. They require high humidity too, like above 60% to 90%

2. Don't know, up to individual personality I guess (I don't have any yet). John (Boaguy) never has problems feeding his.

3. Room temperature is best as they don't like temps over 80 degrees.

John feeds crickets one day and fruit baby food another. I'm not sure if they eat other insects, but I'm sure they would. From what I know I believe that they eat 60% or more fruit to 40% insects and drink from water drops kinda like a cham, so a drip system is more important than a water dish. Other than that I've read that cresteds get limp tail syndrome if they don't have vines and branches to utilize their tails.

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[Boaguy]

Actualy Jon,
Room humidity is fine in most places. Do a light misting once a night and you should be fine.
For some odd reason they completely ignore mealworms, crickets are much healthier anyway.
There is a new product by T-rex sandfire superfoods called Crested gecko diet which I hear a lot of great stuff about, I will be ordering some soon it is a complete staple diet for a crested gecko. The lower the tempeture the better in the 70 - 80 degree range, they do not require any heat sources in most homes, In the winter you can supply them with a UTH but thats about as far heat wise as you need to go. Yep Jon is correct that they drink water drops off the sides of the tank and that is where the misting takes importance.

The first few days I had my cresties they did'nt eat and were just settling in as most of my herps have done. Now they feed like little monsters eating crickets right out of my hand.


John
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[I_enjoy_rootbeer]

I thought their diets were mostly high citrus fruits. I know that the T-rex diet comes from some of the authors at REPTILES magazine and it is peach, squash (maybe?) and something else. But it did say they did eat animal protein.

I havent kept them so I'm not saying this is the way to go or anything, I just always thought they were more plant matter lizards.

By the way, the article in REPTILES said they had raised generation of cresties off pure plant matter, but I dunno. Boaguy sounds like he knows what he talking about, I'm probably wrong... [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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[herpkingdom]

The article did say he raised a generation on just a plant/vegetarian diet. But it also states several other diets which include crickets and other feeders.

I am still in the process of doing the research no these little geckos myself, but having read that article in Reptiles magazine, I think these should be easier to deal with than the leopard geckos in some ways and harder in others.

Leos will drink from a bowl of water, while crested need a drip system or a daily misting.
The leo diet is also almost exclusively made up of crickets, mealworms, waxworms, etc., while crested diets are mainly vegetables/fruits with a small percentage of animal matter.

To really get a lot more information, go out and pick up this months edition of Reptiles magazine. The writer of the atrticle is a big time crested breeder who produces many color morphs and variations.

Good Luck

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	Morph A morph is a color or pattern variation that is proven to be genetic. Common morphs include albino, anerythristic, gentically striped, Hypomelanistic, and many others. Morphs also include combinations of simple traits such as "Sunglow" which is Albino and Hypomelanistic. These traits may be recessive traits, co-dominant traits, dominant traits, or created through selective breeding (ie Pastel).

[skadiwolf]

crested geckos can actually survive on a cricket-based diet though they enjoy peach, apricot, apple, and banana baby foods.

the t-rex diet is actually created by Sandfire Dragon Ranch. they released this and several other complete diets including a Bearded Dragon diet that you can actually just sprinkle on plan leaf lettuce.

i spoke with Allen over there and he's a great guy. they were simple finding out different ways of feeding cresteds.

mine love the sandfire diet by t-rex and i highly recommend it. however, i also feed the crickets and they eat those voraciously.

normal humidity is usually okay if your area is fairly humid. i agree, a once a night misting should be more than fine. i keep repti-bark in the bottom of my reptarium to help hold in additional moisture and i have a container with moist sphagham moss since i'm hoping my adults lay eggs.

i also have plastic vines at the top (reptarium should be taller rather than wider, these geckos are arboreal) and they are often completely hidden in them during the day. they love them. at night, they're all over the place including on the bottom.

they will drink from a bowl though you should definitely heavily mist at least once at night. this will allow them to drink from any hanging vines you have. btw, if you don't have vines, they won't be able to really drink droplets from anything.

i would also recommend supplying a bowl of loose calcium powder as they will often take advantage of this just like leopard geckos.

they require no additional heat if your room temp is in the 70's range, no supplemental heating. they are far easier than the leopards in my opinion who i also keep. in a way, their simpler diet is also much easier though i do try to vary my leopards diet as much as possible.

they are GREAT animals and make fabulous pets as they are very gentle and do not bite. they may gape when they are nervous, especially as youngsters and can be very quick. they can also leap about 2ft so be careful when handling. their prehensile tails can break off but will also NOT regenerate, so additional caution is needed there. just don't handle them by the tail as i would recommend for any animal.

good luck with them, they are awesome animals! my favorite geckos. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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	Arboreal Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.<br> In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or bushes.

[skadiwolf]

btw, you can find Allen's complete unedited article on Crested Geckos at his website at the following link:

http://www.sandfiredragonranch.com/r...20Article.html
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