Hello I'm new to the forum and geckos in general.

[Astral Wench]

I attended the Seattle Metro Reptile Expo yesterday and came home with two tiny crested geckos. I attended with a friend who is very much into reptiles and bugs and he helped me get a basic set up going. Since I'm new to gecko ownership in general and I don't want to be a pest with ten thousand newbie questions I did ask him if he recommended a forum that might be able to help me as well. I hope to include some pictures at some point but I was excited to just announce my presence and get any helpful tips you can think of.

Just a little about myself: I am in my mid twenties, I have graduated from the University of Montana with a B.S. in Microbiology. I currently work in a vet clinic and hope to get an application to vet school going in the next year or so. I have plenty of experience with farm animals and cats and dogs and rats and guinea pigs and freshwater fish. Currently I own two cats, a Betta, and now two crested geckos.

A little about my set up: I have a Lizard Lounge 16 e series which I just measured, 10.5"Wx20"Lx16"D. I got it for a pretty decent deal at the expo, which I'm pretty proud about. I have three varying sizes of cork bark placed vertically in the tank with a paper towel floor. I have a shallow water dish and I picked up a few nice little food dishes at Petco. I purchased some Repashy and some Pangea Fruit Mix as food and within the next couple days my friend who I attended the expo with is going to bring me some of his dubia(sp?) roaches larvae so they can have some fresh bugs to munch on. So far I have been keeping the mix of the Pangea Fruit Mix in with them but the breeder I bought them from says that they love snacks of yogurt and fruit pieces which I have the means to do but I'm not sure if greek yogurt or just regular yogurt or light yogurt would be better or what kinds of fruits. The breeder said mushy fruits and no seeds, such as strawberries and raspberries, but that was all he mentioned. I would love any helpful tips about feeding that I can get. I want my newfound babies to be as happy as possible.

A little about my crested geckos: Right now they are small and unsexed. I have placed them together in the tank and I will continue to observe their behavior at the first moment of noticed aggression I promised my friend that I would separate them. One has lighter sides and right now is kind of a muddy orange color and I've taken to calling him Bender since my boyfriend named the other one that has darker sides and is definitely a more vibrant almost orange color Fry and I wanted to keep the Futurama theme going.

 

[frankenspud]

Congrats on your new geckos! I would suggest some fake plants in the terrarium to make the little guys feel more secure. I'm afraid I can't answer your question about the yogurt as I never used with my cesties - as for fruit try banana(mash it up with a fork until it's..well..mashed)mango puree and peach puree. Good luck!

 

[mikew1234]

I do not think dairy is a common food item in any gecko's diet. I would skip that all together. Feed crickets, wax worms, butter worms, and roach nymphs. Adult roaches will be too hard. Insects every 5-7 days, and gecko diet every other day. Do not mix it with baby food, as some, but none here will suggest. Fruit suggestions would be no citrus, and stay away from the seeded fruits unless you plan on removing the seeds (skinning strawberries etc). Any other soft fruit can be given in moderation, but sometimes is not readily accepted. Papaya, Mango, Figs are all good choices. It is argued that bananas are a little too high in potassium for reptiles, but can definitely be given as a treat once in a while.

 

[Astral Wench]

Thanks so much for your help and suggestions frankenspud and mike.

I was wondering how to make an addition of plants to my set up. I've heard that juveniles can sometimes consume floor substrate and it can be pretty bad for them. I have some house plants that are already potted and I could add them directly into the terrarium but I'm worried about them going after the potting soil. What would you suggest? Is there a way to pot them that would be better for the geckos?

 

[mikew1234]

I use a mix of coco fiber, wood shavings, and moss in almost all of my enclosures, including juvies. If you feel unsure, go with paper towels. The most common things to be eaten by geckos, and frogs for that matter, are the small white foam balls used to help aerate the soil in retail potting soils. As for good plants, pothos are a common favorite for beginner and advanced vivarium keepers alike. Bromelaids are also very nice, but a little more fragile. You can also always go with the fake plants at a craft store, or pet store if you choose to use paper towel for now.

 

[Astral Wench]

I hate fake plants, so I doubt I will go that route. They always look so, fake. :sad:

I have some plants I think would do well, I just need to root some new offshoots since my parent plants are in regular potting soil. Paper towels are acceptable but I usually just use a small to medium sized glass jar with some water in it. If I did that would that cause problems to the geckos? What I mean, I guess, is would they accidentally jump in it and not be smart enough to climp up the plant out of the water?

 

[mikew1234]

I would keep a very close eye if you choose to keep a plant in water with your gecko. It is relatively easy to set up a nice vivarium though, and many substrates sold for reptiles are actually good plant media with the addition of a few things. Also, as long as potting soil is organic, pesticide fungacide etc free, and does not have any of the foam balls used for aeration, it can be used in reptile enclosures.

 

[Astral Wench]

So just an update. Currently I am rooting my plants in water in my window sill, not with my geckos. I am hoping that by the time they are ready to be transplanted my geckos will be big enough to enjoy a more natural substrate in their enclosure. And at that time I will use organic soil for my plants.

My friend showed me how to feed my geckos the roach nymphs with some large forceps so I know they are eating now. They had a couple dubia nymphs last night, each smothered in a nice Repashy "gravy" to, hopefully, help them get a taste for it. I had been a bit worried since I hadn't really seen much evidence to support the fact that they were eating. I know they had been drinking since they seemed eager to lick their enclosure whenever I misted it with filtered water, but I had not seen them eating.

 

[Astral Wench]

So I finally had the time to take some pictures. The first gecko you see is Fry. He is more of a lighter color and he doesn't have the lighter patterns over his ribs. The first view is the ventral view because he is clinging to the side of his tank. I only got one good pic of him in my hand because he is a runner and I don't want to stress him out too much.

The second is my favorite of the two. He sits in my hand quite lovely, and he is the one I've dubbed Bender. I wish I could take a good picture of it, he has a little black mustache between his nostrils. He was the one who caught my eye first and he is just a beast.

 

[Emmasarah]

They're cute!
You really need some fake foliage in that tank until your plants grow in. It's far too sparce for them to feel secure. These guys love lots of hiding places. Look up some crested gecko enclosures to get an idea of what it should look like.
Love the cork bark though!

 

[aquamentus_11]

yep, you really should either suffer through some temporary fake plants or go out and buy some bigger ones. for guys that small, it really is recommended to have a small set up with a ton of foliage: that critter keeper on the side would actually be perfect for one, but if the nice one you have now is working then even better.

also, are you using any heat? i know room temp is what everyone tells you, but little guys (and big guys) really seem to appreciate a basking spot in the high 70's to 80F. it'll help them fight sickness, process their food and stimulate their appetites. just a suggestion. cute little buggers.

 

[Astral Wench]

So I've redecorated slightly. I've made a large humid hide out of a tub that originally served to contain three pounds of sour cream. My friend donated some sphagnum moss to the endeavor and showed me how to make it damp to make a good humid hide. They have both been spending most of their daylight hours in the moss. I've noticed that sometimes I will peer down and see just a tail or head poking out of the moss, so I have a good feeling that they are enjoying it. They still come out at night and roam their tank, and they enjoy the nightly misting. I placed one piece of the cork next to the hide to act like a ramp that they can climb and they still have their other pieces to climb as well.

As for feeding. In addition to using large forceps to feed the some bugs and globs of mashed mango and banana I have been religiously giving them their CGD that I've mixed up in a little yorker bottle that I obtained from my work. For the first week I couldn't tell if they were eating or not, so after my friend showed me how to entice them to eat off of the forceps and how you can drip a little food on their nose to make them lick it off, I decided that I like the confirmation that they are eating. I make sure they are getting just a little bit of something every night, doesn't have to be a lot, I just don't want their blood sugar to get super low.

 

[aquamentus_11]

it's hard to tell when they're this small whether they're eating any of the CGD or not because they eat such a small amount. if you really want to know, try making a smaller batch one night so that only a very thin layer of CGD covers the bottom of the container. of course, since there are two of them, it'll be hard to tell if both are eating it.

 

[Astral Wench]

Oh, I am still leaving food out for them. I just want to know that they are eating something regularly. And little Bender will sit right on my hand and just eat and eat. Fry on the other hand I have to place him on the table and very carefully feed him or he just focuses on running away. But they both are eating and so that makes me feel better.