1st Timer

[artbyc]

hey guys and girls im chris from nc...just brought an 1 month old crested for my 11 yr old girl. im teaching her that if you want a reptile, take the effort to learn everything you can about caring for it. we get online everyday to find out info about her lil dinosaur and thats why im here.

perdro lives in 5.5 gallon aquarium with a screen cover; fake rocks and plants (lots) and a long branch, repti-rug carpet cut to size, 50 watt infared above the screen for one side (mostly rock) i run the buld from 10pm - 2 am every night; small feed bowl for supplement and water bowl (room temp spring water) on cool side.

pedro eats supplement and just started feeding 1 small cricket with calcium powder every other day (cant house 500 pinheads right now and cant find any less than 500 to buy at a time)

having trouble keeping humidity up..temp stays between 70-80 (warmer during the day but i use the infared b/c we run the air and temp gets down to 74 at night). looking to do 1st cleaning saturday and add a small tray of sphagnum/peat moss in a hiding rock on ground..
any other advice for humidity or anything i can do to keep the lil guy comfy in his new home?

thanks

C

 

[gecko-mi-gecko]

Great choice of gecko, very hardy and great for young children.

Heres some basic information thats universal for the majority of rhac species:

Housing: Rhacs prefer height over width, so standing your tank on its side will be your best bet. As for the size of the tank, i would recommend upgrading to atleast a 10gallon but 15 be better. Since hes only 1 month old, you wont be needing a 20gallon long yet. But in the future, when hes an adult, 20gallon long on its side is perfect. Decorations should consist of thick fake plants up high, allowing him to hide within the leaves. Wide leaf plants are the way to go. Building vertically and adding horizontal levels towards the top of his enclosure is best.

Substrate: Please use papertowel as substrate. It makes for easy clean up and lets you kno if hes eating or not.

Feeding: i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Rephasy Complete Gecko Diet. It contains all the nutrients that your gecko needs. You can strictly feed CGD without any problems. As for crickets, only feed 2-3 times a week, dusting each time with calcium powder without vitamin D3. DO NOT FEED BABY FOOD

Temp/Humidity: Temperatures preferably between 70-80 during the day,anything over 80 is detrimental to their health. I personally keep my crested's at 75 degrees during the day.Nights can drop to 65 but it is not necessary. Humidity should be in the 80-90% range at night, allowing it to drop down to about 50% during the day time. Allowing humidity to drop is healthy for shedding purposes. Because you use a heatlamp, humidity is really hard to maintain. I would recommend a heavy misting before you go to sleep, 99% humidity. Picking up a good thermo-hydro meter is crucial because your house temperatures are not always your tank temperatures.

 

[artbyc]

thanks for the tips...i did purchase a 12x12x18 (Exo-Terra) enclosure that we want to move our lil dino into after a few weeks.. i found a great video on youtube on specific handling and feeding and housing of crested geckos.

Cleaned the tank for the first time today: made a solution of 10 parts water/1 part bleach and mild dish detergent. Soaked the fake rocks and plants and the tank and let it all air dry.

Our lil dino was a bit stressed i think b/c he was in a big critter cage for about 3 hours while i cleaned and let everything air dry....but it was cool..i chose to day to let my baby girl handle him (about 10 minutes or so) i handled him for a few minutes (he took a nip at my finger...lol) and set him up in his new clean home. I pretty much kept the same setup thinking lil dino would be familiar and it was cool...he went too sleep after a long drink (i mist with spring water only) off the leaves.

Im still not able to maintain humidity in the evening...even if i set the air for a higher temp then we like...During the day when i dont have the air running alot the humidity teeters at around 65% but even after misting i cant maintain it above 50%. any advice??

 

[gecko-mi-gecko]

If you leave out a shallow, really really shallow dish of water everything should b fine. Cresties are very hardy and can take periods of dryness

 

[artbyc]

Feeding Infant Crestie??

My daughters lil dino (1 month old) had his first cricket 2nite. I dropped 3 in the tank dusted with powder. He jumped on one right away. The other 2 crawled around for a while...went back in the tank and hes on the carpet..hes never on the carpet..had him 2 weeks and he hangs on the fake plants at the top... i added a potato slice for the cricks and gave him fresh CGD and spring water.

Ive read some posts here and am wondering should i be feeding him or let him hunt on his own?

btw he is eating regularly he has a special branch for feces...any tips on cleaning...i use water with paper towel