New to Cresties - substrate and feeding questions

[Izzy's Mom]

hi everyone... I'm new here and this is my first post. I have been doing some research lately about crested geckos, and I saw a great deal on craigslist for a female crestie with cage and all accessories, so I grabbed it. Izzy is a really tame gecko and lets me hold her and even licks baby food off my finger!

Anyway, she came with an Exo-Terra cube cage (18 inches square). It's set up with driftwood, silk plants and reptile bark as a substrate, but I was thinking of using a bigger tank that I have (a 29G) and making it into a naturalistic vivarium. I bought some live plants and I am trying to decide what type of substrate would be the best - should I be using Eco-Earth, or potting soil, or some type of mix?

Also, I've heard that some people add those roly-poly bugs to their vivariums to help break down waste, etc... Can I do this in a crested gecko tank? Will my crestie eat these bugs, and are they safe (or good) for her?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Scarlet.Escapist]

Hey welcome to the forum! And congrats on the new Crestie! Surely she won't be your last >?

I've also got a few questions to ask, to make future replies more informative .
What kind of diet are you providing?
I'm going to assume she is an adult, but just to be sure...what age or how big (weight wise) is she?

If my calculations aren't wrong for converting to gallons ( lxwxh)/231... an 18x18x18 cube is approx 25g. Which is more than enough if she is small or even an adult... but in the case if she is an adult an extra 4 gallons is nothing , and I'm sure she'd enjoy the extra space.

For the substrate you can use eco-earth, peat moss, soil that does not contain fertilizers/compost or perlite(white stuff). I personally use a mixture of wide piece bark chips, coco-fibre husk, untreated potting soil, and sand. It works well and provides good drainage.

Yes, you can add those bugs to help you "bio-activate" the soil and what not. Sometimes cresties will eat them sometimes they won't. I heard that they can be a good food source. In fact, I have been trying to look for them myself but I can't seem to find them when I want to >.<". Other bugs like springtails also do the work. So does turning the soil once in a while lol.

And you must post pictures of her! >=D

 

[strakey]

You'll have to try it out. first things first make sure the plants are not an issue for the geckos. A screen cage or "repti" type cage allows for a breather breathing for the system as a whole. Those rolly bugs are called woodlice and i think that they don't do what you think they do. Cleaning on a daily basis is the best way. Always make they sure that they have their temp, light, food and moistue requirements. Coconut fibre is the best substrate, no impaction

good luck to ya

andy

 

[zohariels]

Naturalistic terrariums are the way to go, they really held hold in the humidity. Personally I buy compressed bricks of plantation soil/coco fibre, as well as use the roly poly'e. Aside from mixing the dirt every now and then and removing some poo, I dont actually clean out the entire cage.
I think that size would be great for an adult, definitely better then an 18 cube since I'm guessing you're going to be standing it vertically. For cresties I wouldnt use a screen cage, they let too much humidity escape so you would end up havingto cover the sides of it anyway.
For plants there's many to choose from, but my guys do seem to be partial to dracaena and bromeliads, I can almost always find some in one plant or the other. Well congrats on your new cresty and have fun!

 

[Izzy's Mom]

To answer Scarlet's questions - I don't know how much Izzy weighs, but I was told when I adopted her that she is approximately 1.5 years old. I've only had her for about a week, but I have been offering the crested gecko diet, as well as peach baby food mixed with chicken baby food (5:1 ratio) and I dusted it with some calcium/D3 supplement. I also bought some crickets this week which I fed with calcium gut-load gel crystals and fish food for a day before I put them in. I put about 4 crickets in the cage, and it doesn't seem like she ate them all since I saw one the next day eating out of her food dish! How many should I be offering at a time? And if I do put the woodlice in there, will she fill up on them and not want her regular food? I posted a pic of her below.

 

[zohariels]

My guys eat tons of repashy along with crickets, so even if they do eat the pill bugs I dont think it fills them up. Nice pic!

 

[Scarlet.Escapist]

She's purdy!

Imho, I think you should stop feeding the baby food. It isn't as nutritious as you may think. CGD is a complete diet where you don't have to worry nutrition wise or anything. So if you can stick with the CGD . <-- note there is varying opinions on the whole babyfood debate. I've seen quite a few unhappy threads from previous years where some keepers used babyfood as a staple. I guess if its a once in a while treat, its no biggie =P.

She might not be interested in crickets right now. So maybe hold off on them for a week or two and then try them again. You can also try cup/bowl feeding if you aren't too thrilled about crickets wandering the cage.

Other than that, once you have your naturalistic setup done please share some pictures!

 

[MsShlee]

As Scarlet.Escapist said if I were you I would try to stop offering baby food as it is not really a good thing to be feeding your gecko. You dont have to add calcium to cgd and probably shouldnt because cgd has the correct balance of everything your crestie needs. I just scanned over this quickly as I am at work so if you already answered this i apologize, what is your feeding schedule ?

i have never heard of a calcium gutload before , what is it called ?


She is very nice looking by the way

 

[Izzy's Mom]

So far I've been offering the CGD every night - I've heard that you can leave it in there for 2 nights, but it seems to be all dried up by the 2nd night so I've been replacing it, although she doesn't seem to eat it every night. I added a touch of baby food to the CGD powder and then thinned it with water and she likes it a bit better. I'm not adding the calcium powder to the CGD - just to the baby food, and I guess i won't bother feeding baby food unless it's for an occasional treat (it sounds like it's not really a great source of nutrients).
The calcium gutload for the crickets is actually called Cricket Drink - it's green jelly-like crystals. I've been feeding them on that for about a day before I put them in her tank.
Anyway... I just set up her new tank yesterday and put her in it, and I will post separately about that.

 

[MsShlee]

Does that cricket drink stuff contain D3 ?
If not then you should be dusting the crickets with a calcium + D3 supplement

In order to absorb Calcium, she needs Vitamin D3, otherwise it just passes out of the body. No matter how much Calcium you give her, not enough D3 makes it useless.

 

[Izzy's Mom]

Hmm... I looked up the ingredients online and it doesn't say that it has D3 in it.
Cricket Calcium Drink Supplement - 16 oz. | Cricket Food | Reptile Food | Reptile - ThatPetPlace.com
If i dust the crickets and it takes her awhile to catch them, will enough dust still be on them when she finally catches them?

 

[MsShlee]

how many crickets are you putting in ? D3 is very important so she is going to have to get it somehow

maybe feed a few in a separate enclosure to be sure she gets some

 

[Scarlet.Escapist]

Like MsShlee said, D3 is important to aid in calcium absorption. And yes the dust will come off as they run around the cage, or if she takes a while to catch 'em. Its best of course if she eats them right away. Otherwise you can just redust them by catching them.