Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok.. i am thinking of getting a pair or trio of crested geckos and had a couple of questions...

ive read about the basic care but i want to know more about habitat design.. want to setup a naturalistic tank for a couple..

first question: can they live with other herps or amphibians.. i know there is a lot of controversy concerning mixed species tanks... so this might be an immediate no... but i wanted to put them in a large tank with some treefrogs... obviously they would be large enough that no one would eat anyone else.. maybe gold bell treefrogs.. i think they are from the same area..

2. would they do ok in a setup that included a large body of water.. as in a third to half of the tank, shallow water, maybe two inches deep.. i was thinking that might help keep the humidity up and i like the way those riverside tanks look... i dont want drowned geckos though..

3. basically what i had planned was a 30 or 40 gallon high, with a generous water section that slopes up to a land area with lots of driftwood and strong plants, pothos, philondendrums (sp?) etc.. i want to try to recreate the natural habitat as much as possible but i havent found a lot of information regarding flora and fauna .. any suggestions or reccomendations?
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

first question: can they live with other herps or amphibians.. i know there is a lot of controversy concerning mixed species tanks... so this might be an immediate no... but i wanted to put them in a large tank with some treefrogs... obviously they would be large enough that no one would eat anyone else.. maybe gold bell treefrogs.. i think they are from the same area..

I personally would never mix species....but thats just me.

2. would they do ok in a setup that included a large body of water.. as in a third to half of the tank, shallow water, maybe two inches deep.. i was thinking that might help keep the humidity up and i like the way those riverside tanks look... i dont want drowned geckos though..

If you put river rocks in so the cresteds couldn't drown that would be fine. However constant high humidity can cause lots of mold growth and is not necessarily the best for cresteds. If the ventilation is good i don't think it would pose that much of a problem.

3. basically what i had planned was a 30 or 40 gallon high, with a generous water section that slopes up to a land area with lots of driftwood and strong plants, pothos, philondendrums (sp?) etc.. i want to try to recreate the natural habitat as much as possible but i havent found a lot of information regarding flora and fauna .. any suggestions or reccomendations?

I don't think you should do the sloping thing. IMO it looks really fake and ugly. I'd try to create a stream or something that flows into a "pond". For plants try blackjungle.com
-----
0.1 Leopard gecko's
0.0.1 Ball Python's
0.1 blood python's
0.1.1 Crested Geckos

It is possible to setup a vivarium with mixed species, but you really have to know the animals you are going to mix together. Each animal has to be throughoutly researched, know their habits, what sort of activity they each have etc. Having each species eating different types of foods (ie all insects for one, vegetation for another etc) so food competition is minimal to non existant. There are alot of factors to consider.

There has been some good articules about mixed species vivariums in the last couple of Reptile Magazines, deffinitely recommend getting ahold of the magazine and read the articles ('living Vivarium' is the colomn heading if I recall correctly). I also beleive the Rhac book had some tips about mixing species in with crested geckos.
-----
PHLdyPayne

in most of my other tanks (mostly treefrogs) i have either pools of water or larger areas worked in with driftwood or rock formations.. .. i steal a lot of ideas from other peoples tanks.. the only reason i was considering the sloping (i think its ugly too) is in case they did end up in the water.. so they would have an easy way out.. the large river rock is a good idea.. and maybe more shallow than i had originally planned .. about an inch deep or so.. the ones i am considering purchasing are at the pet store i work at.. all adults.. so an inch shouldnt be enough for them to drown in.. as far as mixing species.. the only ones i want to have in there are ones from the same area.. havent found much information on amphibians from new caledonia.. the closest i can get are australian treefrogs.. there would be food competition though.. ill save that thought for after i have the cresties established...thanks for the input... any other suggestions are welcome! would love to see pictures of peoples setups for these guys... any links ?
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.