Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

Last Novemeber, I bout 2 female Cresteds from LLL at the San Jose Show and they were still babies. I mean REALLY small. Anyway, I've always housed them together. first in sterilite tubs and now they're in a well planted 24x24x36 screen cage. I feed them a combination of crickets, silkworms, wax worms on occasion, babyfood w/ CGD, and just recently fresh fruit purees (mango, apricots, pears, bananas and peaches). They're really really spoiled!

I've raised them the same and gave them the same amount of care and they were roughly the same size when I got them, yet one of them weighs about 38g (Mia) and the runt (Kiddo) is 3/4 Mia's size and only about 25g. Kiddo doesn't at all look thin, she looks normal, just small. She also eats really well. They get along really well.

What could account for this? Genetics or what? Is there anyway to get her bigger, at least get her weight up? I guess i can forget breeding her. It's a shame, too, because her colors are amazing. Are there any diets you guys use to beef up your cresties?

I visited LLL in Oceanside while on a trip to LA with my girlfriend and bought another beautiful, but tail-less female and a nice big male. I plan on housing the three girls together after the quarantine period. The new girl is the biggest of the three, but not that much bigger than Mia. Should I be worried about kiddo being bullied by the new one? What precautions should I take?

And my final question is how old do you consider Cresties full grown?

Thanks for the help and I apologize for the length of the post.

Jon

Some crested will take longer to grow than others and then all of a sudden they will shoot up in weight and size really fast.
(ex: I had one female stay at 15grams for like 6 months then she shot up to like 38 grams in less than 2 months.)

I would not house that big of a crested with that little of a crested even if they appear to be doing fine. (things can backfire very fast)

Hope this helped a little
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm

It seems the standard that has been set by many of the more experienced breeders is roughly 35 grams for an adult/breeding size female, and about 25-28 grams for a male. males get larger but are able to safely breed younger. i would not put the small female in with the male untill she is 35 grams. this will help prevent any nutrition defecencies.

hope this helped.

Andrew Ellis

yeah, I wasn't planning on breeding her anymore. Just wondering what can be done to improve her size and if there's a problem with putting the new slightly bigger one in there.

Also, the biggest female is missing a tail but is clearly larger, what's the percentage of body weight the tail takes up?

n/p
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Derek Dunlop
DDReptiles
http://www.freewebs.com/ddreptiles/index.htm

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=766458,766600
You're in the ball park, anyway.
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Terri
5:10:7 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Randi(y), Squeak, Bling, SqueakII, and 3 as-yet-unnamed beauties from Randy May (maybe Stripe, Redhead and Speckles).