Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, I've just recently decided to head back into the herp hobby after losing a chameleon earlier this year. The Crested Geckos caught my eye rather quickly as an easy to care for yet attractive species. I've read through three or four care sheets, but I still have a few questions...
I was keeping the cham in a 48"H X 24"W X 24"D aluminum screen cage. I've noticed that a few people use screen cages for their Cresteds, is it possible to reuse the Cham cage for the gecko? Along with the cage, I also have a 18" Reptisun 5.0 light w/ hood and a 75 watt ZooMed basking light.
I'm currently living in southern california, with temperatures exceeding 80*F during most times. Would any of these items, aside from the cage, work for the Crested? And for the cage, would it be too spacious for a pair of Cresteds?

Thanks!
I'll post more questions as a I think of them.

Hi!

Sorry about your chameleon I am fairly new to cresteds too (just got mine back in september). I have read that screened enclosures are just fine for cresteds. as long as you can maintain proper humidity levels. Make sure you clean it out real good too before putting a new animal in it. I'm pretty sure if you just scrub it down with a bleach/water solution and let it air dry, it should be fine.

And they dont need uvb since they are nocturnal, nor would they need an additional heat source if your room temp is at 80. Generally, 72-80 degrees is fine, but dont let it exceed that, anything higher is too warm and will stress the gecko out. so you wouldnt need your light hood or bulbs or anything. Good luck!
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~Melissa~
1.3 Leopard geckos
1.0 Bearded dragon
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.0.1 crested gecko
1.0 Ferret
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 Chinese Praying Mantis

Melissas Menagerie

good advice Melissa!

Thanks for the help, Melissa!

A few more quick questions...
Should I remove the gecko from the enclosure for feeding? From past experiences, crickets can become quite obnoxious once they've established residence in a cage.
I've read that males cannot be housed together. Does that rule still apply in a cage as large as mine? I'm comparing prices on Cresteds and finding that unsexed juves come at a much lower price. Though I am only considering one C at the moment, I'm finding the prospect of three Cresteds very enticing. Is the formula still F/F/M for best results?

Thanks again!

No problem

I take mine out of the cage when I feed him, since the crickets get lost so easily in my setup. It did take him a little while to get used to it, though. When he was teeny when I got him (at 6 weeks) i kept him in a small kritter keeper with paper towel substrate, so it was easy for him to catch and find crickets. I have since then moved him into his permanent 10 gallon, but I still take him out to feed him since I have a lot of moss and hides in it for the crickets to hide, and i want to monitor and make sure he is eating the right amount. He eats just fine now in his seperate container. and then after he eats all the crickets I put some baby food on a spoon and let him lick off as much as he wants, then I put him back.

As for the two males thing, I'm not sure if that would apply for a large enclosure. Just to be safe, i would only keep one male. and if you are looking at getting three, then one male and two females, or just three females, would be the way to go (unless you want to breed of course!).

If you get an unsexed juvi, keep in mind that it takes a while for you to find out just what it is! Ive been told it takes about 7 months (in my post below) , but i was also told about how someone didnt find out for sure until 11 months. and i talked to a breeder at a local shop, and she said she thought one of hers was a female for the longest time, and then just overnight he grew huge bulges.
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~Melissa~
1.3 Leopard geckos (Guido, Oasis, Gypsy, Marli)
1.0 Bearded dragon (Pharoah)
1.0 Hog Island Boa (Michelangelo)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko (Picasso)
1.0 Ferret (da Vinci)
0.1 Chinchilla (Eevie)
1.0 Chinese Praying Mantis (Sid)

Melissas Menagerie

Honestly that doesn't necessarily hold true with cresteds. You can keep multiple males together. The key is to provide plenty of hiding spaces. I even have one enclosure that has up to 6 males and no females and they get along fine. That's not to say that you wouldn't want to keep an eye on them and check. Every animal does have it's own personality. (Shameless plug) for more information check out the new Rhacodactylus book by Phillippe de Vosjoli, Frank Fast and Allen Repashy. This book is probably the most up to date publication regarding captive care of Rhacodactylus.
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Paul Morlock
of CaptiveCreations and
Retial Sales Rep. for Sandfire Dragon Ranch