Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Question 1: Why was my gecko digging in his calcium dish?

He woke me up last night doing it, I thought it was rather strange. Anyone have any experience with theirs doing this? Seems to be new behavior for him..does he want new calcium?

Question 2: Where can I get an enclosure to house 3 crested geckos?

Am I going to have to purchase one online? I was thinking something along the lines of 18x18x30-36 if possible, but that was just a guess. I've been searching at all the pet shops around my area, but they have nothing. Is 18x18x30 a big enough size for 1 male and 2 females? Any input would be great, thanks!

Check crested gecko forum for post
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http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html

Yes, there is a crested gecko forum... that being said, I would suggest some more reading before getting your enclosure. Crested do not have a reputation for getting along very well in groups, not like leos. It would be best to keep everyone separate. Secondly, as I learned personally, crested are a lot more work to care for than about 10 leos at least. They require much more intense cleaning and much more taming than a leo. Once again, I would start with one and then choose to breed later. And as is said in the crested forum, the crested market is pretty flooded anyways why would anyone want to add to the problem.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Sleepygecko,
I'm not so sure we know that Andrew will be keeping the crested geckos as pets or to breed them. You have great points though that he should spend some time on the web learning more about this great animal.
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http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html

Please read the original post again...

To quote: "Is 18x18x30 a big enough size for 1 male and 2 females?"

If he's not buying them with the intent to breed, he'll be breeding them in a hurry that way if they don't kill each other first.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I'm sorry you think my husbandry skills are lacking, that my aim is to breed, or even kill the animals I house. The point is not that I should be doing more research online, as this forum is research online for any information that one cannot readily find. Unfortunately, all the websites I have seen give the MINIMUM housing requirements for said animals, and i'd rather have them in housing that adequately suits their space needs. The reason I ask about the tank for 3 geckos, is because that's what the guys at PreHistoric Pets said would be a good size. It was never my intention to even have 3 animals, it was just a question. The only animals I have bred/have intention of breeding are corn snakes and leopard geckos, the 2nd of which I will be waiting until next year for, so my females are of size. Hopefully in the future one can ask questions without getting their tails bitten off, so to speak.

Well for the first question all I can say is that Leos will be Leos. Mine spend time each night digging at some corner of their cage. They probably thought it just looked like a nice place to dig.

For the second question, I keep mine in 1:1 groups in 16 x 24 x 12 high sterilite containers. I may go to 1:2 groups later but no higher than that in cages this size. A lot of other keepers like the the 18 x 18 x 24 high Exo Terra terrariums for 1:1 and 1:2 groups. They look nice and seem to work fine too.

Thanks Gar, that's what I was looking at during class today. I'm diggin' the raised front doors.

Are you also experienced with live plants in enclosures? Since the water doesn't drain out of these enclosures, does it create mold on the bottom of the substrate, and is the mold poisonous? It just seems very wet, and I was planning on planting some stuff.

Terrariums (without animals) often make use of layers of gravel, sand , and soil (bottom to top respectively) to allow the soil to remain relatively damp without becoming saturated.

I guess the idea is to allow the soil to remain well drained even in a high humidity situation. Plant roots will grow down into the gravel and will take up the water without being drowned out.

I imagine something similar might be used in vivariums with live animals. I've heard of folks putting a soil/bark mix on top of a nylon mesh that was placed over gravel. The mesh allows drainage but keeps the soil/bark mix from getting into the gravel where it would cause maintenance problems. Having some way for plant roots to get down in the gravel to use up that water in the bottom would be good but maybe not as practical with the mesh situation. Probably just put your plants in a pot in the vivarium case. That way if you have to remove anything the maintenance is lower.

Yeah that's looking possible. I'm probably going to get one of those nice Exo Terra 18x18x24 glass guys with the doors on front. It's got what looks like an inch or two lip, so the moisture thing might not be a huge problem I guess. We'll see, i'l probably leave the terrarium for 3 or 4 weeks just to make sure it's doing okay before adding any animals. My only worry is the screen top, but I guess it can't be all bad. I could always put a piece of glass on top if it were losing too much humidity.

Yeah, they're pretty nice. Picked up the 18x18x24 exo-terra myself about 2 weeks ago. The front lip is a good 6 inches or so tall. Plenty of room. As you pointed out, you can lose a lot of humidity through the top screen. I connected up a tropicaire humidifier (air pump runs bubbles air through a container of water then routes the moistened air into the tank via tubing). I've blocked off much of the screen up top to boost humidity up a bit.

I also mist the tank thoroughly twice a day, which raises the humidity up from around 50% to 75% for a few hours or so.

I do plan to put some plants in my exo-terra as they will help to raise humidity themselves.

>> My only worry is the screen top, but I guess it can't be all bad. I could always put >> a piece of glass on top if it were losing too much humidity.

Please tell me you don't intend to cover the entire top. That's really not necessary, unless you'd like to suffocate them. Misting daily keeps the humidity at accpetable levels in my crested enclosure, and it has a top *half* that is screen mesh. It's a 10 gallon with a screen mesh topper that basically makes it a 17 or 18 gallon. Depending on your local humidity, you might have to mist twice a day, but you should never cut off ventilation for the lizards.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

I had read some websites where they had a piece of glass on top covering a half of the mesh. Is that too much?

The humidifier I mentioned does have the advantage of introducing new humidified air all the time, but only when there's power to the pump. I leave about 1/3 of the top screen uncovered in case there's a power outage.

I'd imagine that a lack of air circulation could also cause heat buildup.

I am using 20 High aquariums with screen tops. Misting in the evening provides the cresteds with drinking water By the morning most of the water has evaporated but there are still some traces. The enclosure should not remain moist all the time. It should dry out throuout the day. Too much moisture promotes bacteria, insects, etc.

I tried to allow one of the tank to stay moist a little longer by replacing the screen with an acrylic top with a dozen or so pea sized holes and it never dried out completely and caused some problems with maintenance.

Try the screen top first. You can always add a peices of glass/plexiglass as needed.
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http://wkern.msspro.com/supremegecko.html

Thanks man.

Now, on to plants. I was looking at a few books online..are there any I should purchase? Are the plant types the same as they would be for dart frogs?