Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As a first time owner, I have a question on typical growth rates for these geckos.
My four approx. four month old cresteds (from AC Reptiles) all weigh between 5.9g and 3.5g. I have purchased a digital scale and plan to weigh them weekly to chart their progress. The one that weighs 3.5g has stayed there the last two weeks. Weigh-in is in a few more days . A few questions - should I be concerned if the one that is 3.5g hasn't gained a few tenths still? Are these weights about right for four month olds? Anyone else keep track of their geckos weights as they mature? They all seem to eat well and I haven't seen any signs of sexual development yet. Thoughts?
Gadgetbob

Bob, we have a gecko named "UC" that is almost a year old and a healthy 10g. Why did this gecko grow so slow? No idea, it just did. Now others that we received at the same time are already breeding (35g+), and we have the spectrum in between. There's little to no reliable correlation between weight and age in captive Cresteds.

"They all seem to eat well and I haven't seen any signs of sexual development yet."

That won't occur reliably until they reach a weight of close to 20g. Some males will be visually sexable as early as 12-14gms, but you can't count on a female until at least the 16-20g mark. You can guess sooner with varying accuracy, depending on who's doing the guessing and what method is used (i.e. using an 8X Loop looking for perianal pores).
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-Randy May
www.neoscales.com
Email Me

As Randy stated, there is a big curve in growth rates...some definitely grow slower than others.

What are you feeding the geckos and how often? If it's something they weren't used to, they may have taken a while to adjust.

-Anthony

>>As a first time owner, I have a question on typical growth rates for these geckos.
>>My four approx. four month old cresteds (from AC Reptiles) all weigh between 5.9g and 3.5g. I have purchased a digital scale and plan to weigh them weekly to chart their progress. The one that weighs 3.5g has stayed there the last two weeks. Weigh-in is in a few more days . A few questions - should I be concerned if the one that is 3.5g hasn't gained a few tenths still? Are these weights about right for four month olds? Anyone else keep track of their geckos weights as they mature? They all seem to eat well and I haven't seen any signs of sexual development yet. Thoughts?
>>Gadgetbob
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

i've been tracking egg weights so far, but im pretty new to crested eggs so i havent been able to track the weights of any of my growing cresties YET....but in about 2 months i should have 4 eggs ready to hatch so ill be able to tell how much they weigh in the egg, right out of the egg, and as they grow to adults. right off the bat i can tell you different females lay different sized eggs, but of the 3 clutches ive worked with so far, both eggs start off within 0.1 gram of one another. first pair of eggs i worked with started at 1.7 grams, hatched at 3.4 and 3.5 grams a piece (in the egg). of my two recent clutches, one pair was laid at 2.3 grams a piece, the other at 1.9 grams. cant wait to see how they turn out, pretty neat when you start plotting out their growth in excel.

Do you house them singly or in groups?? The only time I see dramatic differences in growth rates is when I house them in groups.Then there is always a dominant one that out grows the rest. ?????

I am housing them all together until they get older. As far as their diet - I am feeding them CGD almost daily (they never finish it) with crickets thrown in once a week. I catch them eating nightly so I don't think the food is a problem. Just wondered why there is such a disparity in their growth. I will be doing another weigh-in tomorrow. As long as they all are gaining weight, I won't worry so much about their differences in growth rate.

If it was me, and it has been in the past I would split them up.Odds are the growth rates will even out and they will keep their tails intact. Kritter Keepers are cheap. Good luck

Well I did the weigh in last night. See below for weights, the smallest (D) lost a tenth so it was taken out of the main cage and put into a kritter keeper. Now it will have it's own food supply and it will be getting some crickets tonight. Once it starts to gain weight I might put it back in with the other three. I would prefer not to have to maintain multiple cages at this point. I know as they get older they will need to be separated but wanted to wait at least a few months more. They probably go through growth spurts and I am overreacting (wouldn't even have this information to act on if I hadn't bought a scale).

Bob

FYI - weights taken over the last three weeks are:

A 4.6 5.2 5.4 6.0
B 3.9 4.3 4.7 5.0
C 3.6 3.9 3.9 4.4
D 2.9 3.1 3.5 3.4 (Separated from others for now)
All should be about 4 months old this month but suspect the C & D animals are a few weeks younger than A & B. (Received them all simultaneously)