Just brought my first cresties home(have a couple of questions)

Wind Dancer

Wind Dancer

New member
I just brought my first cresties home and while they're doing great, i do have a few random questions.

-how often should i refill a skinny sub-adults CGD? he'll eat maybe 3/4 teaspoon over night, but i'm not clear on whether i should give him that much every night or every other night.

-how old/big should a crestie be before you start using loose substrate? both of them are on paper towels right now but they baby is in what's going to be my display cage and i'm planning on having peat moss substrate ultimately. s/he's about 2-2 1/2 in long snout to vent(still has it's tail though!). i'm going to *try* to weigh her on when i change the paper towels next.

-which brings me to my next question: how often should i change the paper towels in a 12 x 20 tank that only has one hatchling(? is s/he hatchling size?)?

-what's the best kind of light for night veiwing? i'm thinking those LED aquarium lights, but i'm not sure and i'm also not sure on color....

-is organic potting soil or whatever just as good as the stuff made for herps?
-are rolly-pollies(pill bugs) safe to put in a live terrarium(to stir up the substrate)? i heard someone on another forum talking about using them and they're all over here.....(will s/he eat them?)


that's it(for now). any help would be great! thanks!
 
Scarlet.Escapist

Scarlet.Escapist

New member
Congratz!! :D

Wind Dancer said:
I just brought my first cresties home and while they're doing great, i do have a few random questions.

-how often should i refill a skinny sub-adults CGD? he'll eat maybe 3/4 teaspoon over night, but i'm not clear on whether i should give him that much every night or every other night.

You can keep feeding him the teaspoon. If you can get crickets/roaches...You might want to introduce supplemented+gutloaded crickets/roaches to help him fill out if you feel he's too slender. CGD can be left in the cage for 2 days. Some geckos tend to like it more "ripe" so to say. Or you can feed him everyday. If your feeding schedule has a break in it (a day where you don't feed anything) it can help him work up an appetite for the next meal. Mainly its up to you, but if he's eatting regularly he's going to eventually fill out unless he has parasites.

-how old/big should a crestie be before you start using loose substrate? both of them are on paper towels right now but they baby is in what's going to be my display cage and i'm planning on having peat moss substrate ultimately. s/he's about 2-2 1/2 in long snout to vent(still has it's tail though!). i'm going to *try* to weigh her on when i change the paper towels next.

For loose substrate Imho, I would recommend using loose substrate around the 20-25 mark weight. I know of some breeders who raise hatchlings in naturalistic setups and they do fine. But personally, during the period when they are young, I like to closely monitor them (seeing if they eat, produce regular feces and urates). If the gecko has never been raised on loose substrate such as soil/peat moss, be extra diligent during live feeding periods as there is a higher chance of impactation. You do have the option of "cup/bowl/tub" feeding live prey, to reduce the chances of impactation with the substrate. If you are planning on feeding only CGD, it shouldn't be too much of a problem if the gecko is around 15g or so, because he/she is not hunting there is less chance it would get a mouth full of substrate. But it does occassionally happen, hence why I recommend 20-25g mark.

-which brings me to my next question: how often should i change the paper towels in a 12 x 20 tank that only has one hatchling(? is s/he hatchling size?)?

Ihmo I would say once every week- 2 weeks. It really depends on how dirty it gets.

-what's the best kind of light for night veiwing? i'm thinking those LED aquarium lights, but i'm not sure and i'm also not sure on color....

You can use those LED aquarium lights as long as they're dark blue or red, the other colors seem to bother them. If not those LED lights... you can just buy regular low watt red/blue bulbs from walmart or some hardware store.

-is organic potting soil or whatever just as good as the stuff made for herps? Rolly pollies(pill bugs) safe to put in a live terrarium(to stir up the substrate)? i heard someone on another forum talking about using them and they're all over here.....(will s/he eat them?)

Organic potting soil is fine, just try to find soil without added fertilizers, perilite, vermiculite. Pure potting soil is best. Yup, rolly pollies are fine to add to the terrarium. Some geckos will eat them, some won't. If they do hunt them well, there is the whole impactation thing to consider again.

that's it(for now). any help would be great! thanks!
Click to expand...

Hope that helps:blushing:
ps. Where are the pictures? :p
 
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