Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am fairly new to cresteds. I have 2 perfect juvies. I have raised and bred leos for about 8 years have never lost a tail on any of the hundreds I have had. I see cresteds with dropped tails all the time. Do they drop them so easy? Is it from stress or fighting or poor husbandry? One more question how often do they shed? Mine were shedding when I got them a month or so ago and have not since. Thanks in advance.

In my experience, a relatively low number of Crested Geckos autotomize (or drop) their tails in captivity. However, in the wild, it's said that they almost never have a tail by the time they reach adulthood.

Geckos autotomize their tails as a defense mechanism when they are trying to flee from a predator (or in captivity, a perceived predator...their owner). Aside from possibly poor handling technique, husbandry has nothing to do with it. Fighting amongst cage-mates can also be a cause, but not usually.

As for shedding, Cresteds eat the shed skin immediately. With all the Cresteds I have, I've only seen one shedding a few times. Having said that, I really don't know how often they shed.

>>I am fairly new to cresteds. I have 2 perfect juvies. I have raised and bred leos for about 8 years have never lost a tail on any of the hundreds I have had. I see cresteds with dropped tails all the time. Do they drop them so easy? Is it from stress or fighting or poor husbandry? One more question how often do they shed? Mine were shedding when I got them a month or so ago and have not since. Thanks in advance.
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

etet354

I'm unsure in how we should be handling our crested. Like from getting it out of its cage, how to handle when we do have it out, etc. My crested is around 3 months old so i want to make sure im doing everything right so far.

I handle mine daily for a minute or two. I put my finger down by them and they usually crawl up onto it. I am really gentle with mine as that they are very small. The reason I asked about the tails is because I bought my 2 from a local wholesaler. He had like 10 of them. A couple days after I got mine he took the rest to a show, the next day like six of them lost their tails!!! The biggest problem I have with mine is getting them back into their tank. They just don't want to get off my hand,lol. I was scared that mine would loose their tails to because of something that happened before I got them but it has been a month and they are doing great. Their litter mates must have been really scared from the trip and all that at the show. Anthony C. can probally answer your question better he is in my oppinion a good authority on these creatures Good luck.
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"Why is it we treat the earth as if we have a spare in the trunk"

Basically, you don't want to grab or "pick up" a young gecko. You want to coax the animal to walk onto your hand and then employ the method that some call the "hand to hand" walk. Basically, in order to keep it from jumping to the floor, you place your free hand in front of the animal, so that it has somewhere to jump. When it jumps to that hand, you move your other (now free) hand in front of the gecko...and repeat this until the animal calms down.

For older, calmer animals, it's not such an issue to pick them up, but the "hand to hand" walk is still useful.

If you don't already have it, you should take a look at the new Rhac book (which explains the "hand to hand" walk) and also read Allen Repashy's Crested Gecko article. There are links to both on my website (link below)

-Anthony
Click here to go to the Crested Gecko page on my site

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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

well, for one thing, they never grow back there tails. so, i guess they all just lose there tails at some different times and so many do. blablablablablablablablabalallabbalblablabla