Posted by:
PHLdyPayne
at Thu Jun 22 11:06:51 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]
I take it you are planning ot breed them once both are adult? It is best to wait till the female is a good weight (30g is ok, 35g is better, or heavier) anyway. Hopefully the one you did buy is a female so you can get a male later, either has an adult (male adult crested geckos usually are pretty cheap, especially compared to adult females). Since it is difficult to sex baby crested geckos (they tend to be sexable for sure between 6-9 months. Just keep in mind that males can occaisonally be late to 'bloom'.
When making introductions, you should wash the shared cage (assuming any crested was in it before, if neither were in the cage, then it shouldn't need to be washed. A brand new cage or used cage should be washed anyway, to remove left over molding residue, dust etc. Used cages are good to wash to ensure nothing harmful is left behind.) After the cage is clean, dry and setup, introduce the two geckos into the new cage, at opposite ends if possible. Make sure there are double of everything (two hides, two moist hides, two food dishes, two water dishes, etc.) this way it will help competition for any one thing.
Check on them regularly over the next couple weeks to ensure none are loosing weight, have any bite wounds, dropped their tails (though this may just be initial shock and not necessary meaning they are not gettting along, other signs will show that). If none have injuries, both are eating well, etc, then they are good to leave alone on a permanent basis (however, good to separate the male and female for a few months to cool both to give her time to recover from egg laying.
Of course, make sure your new crested gecko (be it female or male, depending on what you have now) is quarenteed for at least a month before introducing it to your other gecko. This ensures the new comer doesn't infect your current pet with anything, be it parasites or something else. Fortunately crested geckos are pretty resilient when it comes to catching diseases so probably won't have to worry about sickness but still good to practice quarentee. It's sad to loose a gecko, worse if you loose your entire collection due to some virus or bacteria. Getting a fecal done by a vet is good to detect internal parasites as well.
If you just want two geckos but dont' want to breed them, then it is a better to house them separate anyway, unless you do wind up with two females. Females do get along together and I would use the same introduction technique as mentioned above for males. Clean the main cage, put the two into the communial cage, observe closely for a few weeks for signs of distress/weight loss, etc in one or the other.
You can't house two mature males together. They will fight over territory and one or both will wind up getting injured, dropping their tails or worse. Good news though, since crested geckos don't need large cages (20 gal tall for a single adult is good) it's easy to have a few cages for your gecks. Besides, giving how cute they are and their great personalities and easy care, who would want to stick with just two? LOL
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RE: cresteds purchased in pairs only? - PHLdyPayne, Thu Jun 22 11:06:51 2006 