New (and slightly worried!) Crested Gecko owner!

[Drew1405]

Last Sunday (28th April) I bought a Crested Gecko from my local pet shop (Pets at Home) here in Northern Ireland.

On the day I got him (I'm assuming it's a him!) and put him into the vivarium, I waited for him to come out of the carrier box in his own time and into the vivarium itself. He eventually came out a few hours later and slept on the floor of the vivarium out in the open for another few hours.

When he awoke I tried giving him a wax worm but he didn't want it so I put some CGD in his dish and left it there for him. I never saw him go near it though.

I have tried to replicate the same conditions he was kept in at the pet shop. Same substrate and decor, light and temp/humidity etc. The temp sits at a stable 20c without a heat bulb and the humidity is around 80%, both as suggested by the leaflet from the pet shop.

Eventually I put my hand back in the vivarium to move his dish closer to him. He let me get VERY close to him but as soon as my hand actually touched him he took off across the vivarium and hid behind his hide. He stayed there for ages, hardly moving.

I left it at that and went to bed. During the night I have a very dim blue light that comes on by timer in the vivarium so I can see any activity in the night (the vivarium is view-able from my bed). Whilst I was awake I seen no activity from him at all.

The next morning I discovered he had pooped on top of his hide and then disappeared. I assumed he was in the hide. The wax worm I gave him was still there, untouched. I couldn't tell if he'd touched the CGD either. After many hours I looked in again to see if I could see him. As it turned out he wasn't in his hide but was up in the top of a dense plant where I couldn't see him only for moving the leaves a bit for a better view. He was also very pale at this point but I have read this is normal as it is during the day?

The problem is that he went up into that plant on Sunday night and hasn't come down since and this is Tuesday. I was really worried he had died up there, maybe from stress or something. I checked to see and could see his throat moving (recycling air) which I know they do normally or also when stressed. At least I knew he was alive! But I had to take the worm out as I think it died and the CGD still looks untouched.

I am really worried about him and don't know what to do!

Any suggestions?

 

[Aimless]

first of all, don't panic. new geckos, especially young ones, are often nervous and flighty.

please post a pic of his setup as soon as you can.

I would strongly recommend leaving him entirely alone for at least 5-7 days, to acclimate. don't try to touch him, don't dig around for him. just mist him on schedule and change his food every other day. he needs time to settle in and realize he's safe.

the other advice I can give is not to freak out if you don't see him eat. tiny cresties eat a tiny amount, usually in the middle of the night when they feel safe enough to come out of hiding. do a search in the crestie subforum for "my gecko won't eat" and you'll feel much better

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Drew ~

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited!

Please include a picture of your crestie as well as his habitat. Any idea how old he is? Be super careful not to stress him. That could cause him to drop his tail.

Sleeping on the floor out in the open is not normal. What does he have to climb on? Is he "sticking" to the sides of the tank OK?

Have you tried upping the temperature a little to 25 C?

"NEVER let temperatures go beyond 83°F with crested geckos. If you can’t provide such temperatures all year long, f.e. if your house will be overheated in summer, better choose another species.

They need 12 hours of lighting and heating all year long. During the night, all lighting and heating aggregates are simply turned off, for example through a timer plug. Night temps can safely reach the low 60s/ 16 to 20°C. Day temps should be between 20 and 27°C (68-81°F) with an optimal range of 22-25°C (72 to 77°F)."
quote from Mod Thorrshamri's Crested Gecko Caresheet

Have you tried feeding him crickets?

 

[Drew1405]

Thank you to you both for your advice You have definitely helped ease my mind!

Last night I decided to try not having the blue light lit inside the vivarium. I thought maybe he didn't like that light even though is is very, very dim. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not but at around 1am he came down from the plant he was hiding in, very cautiously. He poked his head out first and watched me looking at him. Then eventually when I looked again later he was at his dish licking the CGD. The first time I have "seen" him eat. Then he watched me for a bit again. At that point I decided to give him a wax worm as he had not eaten the last one I had given him a day or so ago. He got a bit nervous and moved when I put the worm in. Then he just sat and looked at it for ages. By this stage I had gone to bed but this morning the worm is nowhere to be seen so I assume he has eaten it.

He doesn't seem to want to live in his hide though and spends all his time in the plant. Is that normal?

I think him sleeping out in the open on day 1 was just him not being sure where to go and hide in his new home and maybe being too scared to explore.

I do have a heat bulb for the vivarium but without it the temp sits at 20c and rarely moves as my room tends to maintain a consistent temp. I would like to warm it up a few degrees in the vivarium for him but when I use the heat bulb I get temps of 30c (this was tested before the Gecko arrived). This would be far too hot as I believe 28c is the max for a Gecko? I'm not sure what else to try regarding that.

As for humidity it remains around the 80% mark. Even if I don't mist for a whole day it doesn't drop which I assume is because I use orchid bark as substrate which retains moisture and helps the humidity. Though I believe 80% if fine for a Crested Gecko anyway. I just don't want to over humidify the vivarium but need to keep spraying so he has something to drink as I have read they prefer licking water from the leaves instead of a dish.

I will post a pic of his setup as soon as I can. As for a pic of him... that could be tricky! lol!

 

[MdngtRain]

Mine all prefer foliage to any hide. They are an arboreal gecko, so they are more likely to be up high and in the leaves. If you are worried about the heat (and to help cycle the humidity a bit in the tank), raise the light a few centimeters off his tank and see how that works out. 80% humidity can cause a mold problem without enough air circulation and drying time. ideally, to keep mold from appearing, you want the daytime humidity to drop to about 50% before you mist again at night. I have experimented with water bowls for my guys, and they just end up pooping in it, they much prefer licking water drops off surfaces. Also, I would keep wax worm feedings as only an occasional treat - they are high in fat and can cause obesity.
I was going to ask about a pic, but read the last ine of your last post... nm.
Sometimes pet stores don't have the best advice, though yours may be one of the few exceptions.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Drew ~

You are welcome! Did you see the crestie temperature recommendations in post #3? Have you found Mod Thorrshamri's caresheet: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...ciliatus/66758-crested-geckos-care-sheet.html Lots of great info, please read.

Interesting observations...good letting your crestie lead the way.

You have not mentioned yet how old your crestie is. If he is less than 1 year old, I would not keep him on orchid bark due to the chance of ingestion/impaction. Some people keep their crestie youngsters on paper towels. It is important to have a humidity drop and not to keep a constant 80% 24/7. Potted plants also assist in maintaining humidity.

Good that he found the food dish. You might wish to try a second food dish located higher up in the tank?

Similar to MdngtRain's advice above about waxworms: They are not a good feeder at all due to the exceptionally high fat content. Cresties love crickets! Suggest adding those to his diet. Yum, yum :drool:. Maybe he would like hornworms? (Know one is NOT supposed to give cresties butterworms.)

Another way to manage the heat is with a lower wattage heat bulb and a thermostat. The power outage from that bulb can be quite safely tweaked. (Hydrofarm MTPRTC from Amazon a good thermostat - about $35. Has a digital readout with a small metal probe.) Thermostats are a good way to provide consistent heat for your gecko.

My mature male crestie loves to hide in his fat bamboo tube and rest on his bamboo perch high in the tank.

 

[Drew1405]

It's been 3 weeks now since I got my Crestie. I still have no idea of the age or sex of it though as I just can't seem to get near it on the rare occasions that I even see it! In the 3 weeks since I got him, I think I have actually seen him out and about the viv about 3 or 4 times. Other times I can maybe catch a little glimpse of him behind the leaves of the tree he likes to sleep in. Aside from that though he literally spends all his time in that tree! Is this normal?

I'm aware that he probably gets up and about while I am asleep but rarely do I ever see him up before I go to bed... and I don't usually be asleep until about 2am.

I don't think there are any problems other than that though. I still can't tell if he eats the CGD as I only ever saw him at the dish once back when I first got him, but he has taken a couple of wax worms off me in those 3 weeks. He gets one a week. The first two times he kinda turned his nose up at them but the third time I offered one in to him on a plastic spoon and he was on it in a flash! Devoured it!

I have just bought calci-worms for him yesterday but haven't seen him out yet since to offer him one so I just leave the CGD in his dish in case he is hungry.

I have managed to get the heat to stay at a stable 25c most of the time and I have a very low wattage heat bulb on hand for colder days and a very low wattage night heat bulb on hand for very cold nights. Humidity still stays quite high although I have noticed some days it will drop to around 50% and other days it stays up at 80%.

 

[Aimless]

well, ideally you will have a humidity gradient through a 24-hour period. it should be quite high at one point and quite low at the other.

if you want him to eat the CGD, reduce the frequency or amount of worms. also, make sure the CGD is in a place that isn't too exposed, so he can eat and feel safe. and yes, he's probably all over the cage once all the lights are off and the house is quiet.

can you post a picture of your setup?

 

[Drew1405]

I have a pic here of my set up https://www.dropbox.com/s/rikpwepaxme4r1u/20130509_210449.jpg

It's hard to see the scale in this shot at the top panel of wood is quite large and the plants you see in either corner extend up further towards the roof of the viv to give extra height for the Gecko to climb.

If you look very closely you can see my Cresties tail poking out from the plant in the very left corner! lol!