Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I'm a bit uneducated with Cresteds and would like some info to help me on my way. I am by no means new to herps, I'm a dart frog keeper, but my girlfriend wants something she can handle and well you don't really want to play with the frogs.

1) Alot of the pictures and animals I've seen appear to be missing their tail. I know with other gecko species this pretty common, but I'm not seeing the "regen tail, or dropped tail" notes I see with other geckos. Have these animals dropped their tails or have they just not developed them yet?

2) I'm going to guess by their popularity that these guys are ok with handling, yes? I asked her how often and long she'd like to handle her gecko, and she said 15 minutes daily. Is this an unreasonable ammount/frequency of time?

3) If we decied we'd like to get cresteds we're looking at a maximum of two. From what I've gathered a 20H or 25g tank would be a good size. Is this correct? I'm more than comfortable meeting the temp/humidity requirements but would like a good idea on what size a nice enclosure would be. Also, how hard are these guys on plants? If I make a tank it's going to be on par with my frog tanks:

That's it for now. Thanks for any help I get.

Mike

If you keep dart frogs, then crested will be a walk in the park for you.

1) Crested geckos do not regenerate their tails when they fall off unlike alot of other geckos. In fact in the wild more cresteds are found without their tail then with. The reason for this (I believe but dont know for sure) is that it would be very dificult to regenerate a prehensile tail like the cresteds have. The tails don't easily come off and rarely if ever come off during handling.

2) Cresteds are handleable for about 15-20 minutes. After that they can get a little agitated (as any reptile would). They will readily lick babyfood off of your fingers. Also with more handling, the more confortable your geckos will become.

3)A 20/25 gallon will be fine for two adult cresteds. For plants, you will need sturdy plants (ficus, pothos, bromeliad, etc.) that these guys can climb on. They are usually not very shy and will make good display animals. They will want to curl up in the leaves to sleep. At night a low wattage red bulb will make for great viewing. Philippe de Vosjoli Crested Gecko book is a good resource for setting up Crested displays.

Thanks
Ryan
Link

thats a beautiful frog tank!
you definately should get some cresteds and should take lots of pictures of the tank you set up for them, maybe even with some notes on how you did it... im very interested in habitat design your tank looks very nice.. anyway layter