Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First a little history of my past experiences with reptiles. I've been keeping reptiles on and off for the past 10 years and have been quite successful. I first started out with a trio of anole's, kept in an elaborate vivaria. I graduated to keeping a pair of veild chameleons, an amieva and then to a breeding trio of WC Jackson chameleons (had one clutch) from tanzania. I haven't kept any animals for about 2 years now but got the itch after seeing a really nice crested at a local pet shop. I did some research and began putting together a nice vivarium for what will eventually become a breeding treo.

I picked up a nice sized exo-terra terrerium, these are very very nice enclosures, Much nicer then anything I had 5-10 years ago and so much cheaper. The dimensions are 18"x18"x26", I layed the terrerium using two bricks of that expanding coconut fibre substrate from zoomed, I've used the stuff before for my amieva. I then potted the terrerium with a small ficus, some pothos and another plant I only know as snakes tongue (can someone confirm this?). I've also added some climbing vines for my crested to chill out on. Heating and lighting is taken care of by a 50 watt zoo med daytime bulb and the terrerium is placed by a window where he receives indirect sunlight during the day. During the evening a red light provides heat and some light until it's lights out at the house around midnight until 7am. Humidity right now is around 60%, mostly from the moist substrate but I am contemplating adding a small "pond" or water fogger later on. I am also using a manual mister to provide it with water once daily. Today is its first day in its new habitat and it ate a finger full of peach baby food off my finger as well as a couple crickets, it's also drinking really well, more then my chams used to. It's coloring is quite nice, almost a light orange/red, with faint striping between his crest lines. I'm planning on adding 2 more cresteds to this setup once this one is old enough to sex. I'm also looking for a breeder within Canada or who will ship to Canada that breeds red and dalmation cresteds, otherwise I'll just have to shop around the local shops. I'll have pictures of the gecko and it's home later tonight for all to enjoy.

Let me know what you think!

- Brandon

good luck with your new buddy.
cresties are awsome looking geckos, its hard to see one and not want it. so i understand your need to get back into reptiles again.

aaron

Some pictures:

more of my crested

Exploring the leaves in its vivarium, not showing it's color as much as when it was bought.

Side shot of the vivarium, I was mistaken in my first post actual dimensions are 18"x18"x24".

Front view of the vivarium. I really like the doors on these exoterra tanks.

This is the "unkown" plant. I've seen it in a lot of setups and I've used it before with my anoles and amieva without incident.

Finally the last picture. I tried to get some better shots of its coloring but it's still not showing color as well as it was.

Hey Brandon,
The "Snakes Tongue" you have in your enclosure is commonly called "Snake Plant", or "Mother-in-Laws Tongue". They are low light plants that tolerate dry soils. Even my mother-in-law can't kill them!

Thanks! I was close on the name then! I haven't used this plant for about 9 years since they are pretty useless for chameleons, so I'm pretty shocked I was that close with the name.

gonna have to get a few more cresteds to fill it up

Deffinitely! I'm going to wait until this one is old enough to sex then purchase 2 more as a breeding project. If it goes smoothly then I may purchse another trio so that I can breed animals with the most desireable traits. I have 2 other enclosures that aren't being used so why not?!