Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got a crested about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I read so many different things on what they need, so I would like you guys to tell me what has worked for you.
First of all he is 8 grams but I dont know his age. Can anybody guess?
I was using bed-a-beast but I always found it stuck to him and thought that might be bad so I am using reptile carpet with some moss. He is a biege/tan color, some times in the evening he gets darker, like a light brown. what do you think he will be as an adult? the same or different? Does he need vitamins/ supplements If so what kind and how often? Calcium or calcium with vitamin D? I am feeding him fruit babyfood mixed with chicken babyfood.Is that good? I also read that you shouldnt handle him under 4 months, that it can be stressful. Is that true. Since I am not sure of his age I have been handling him everyday. I read somewhere that you can calm them down and get them used to handling by hand feeding them so that is what I have been doing. he has calmed down alot and i can handle him with no problems. I feed him every night from a spoon while I hold him. I have tried to put the babyfood in his cage but he doesnt touch it, Have I started a bad habit by feeding him this way. UV light? Does you guys use it? Everything says they dont need it but I thought reptiles needed UVB and UBA to absorb calcium or Vitamin D? I will appreciate all the help you can give me. Please let me know if I am doing anything wrong, I wont be offended. Thanks

i'm going to try to keep it short, but answer everything, if you need more detail let me know, but this is my short break from some homework
-it is hard to tell the age, as diet, temp. humidity, and stress all play factors. if well cared for i would put it at 3-6 months
- use bed-a-beast, or eco earth in my opinion, it is easier to scoop poop rather than clean repticarpet or throw out paper towels and remove all of the cage furniture, plus it boosts humidity and in doing so enhances coloring
-hard to say, depends on the parents and the only really good possibility is to turn orange or red.
- with the diet you are giving it your gecko needs vitamin D3 added in with a high quality calcium source, i use many different types of calcium, all with d3
- i would highly suggest getting rid of all baby food, and feeding your gecko t-rex's Crested Gecko Diet ( CGD) this is everything you will ever need, and no crickets or babyfood or anything else is necessary, and you will not have to supplement your gecko, check reptile shops or online for it, all you do is mix it 1:2 diet to water. mix the smallest amount possible to feed your gecko to cut down on waste. feed d3 calcium dusted gut loaded crickets if you want to
-handling small cresteds can be stressful, and they are fragile, so just be careful with it. you will not kill your gecko holding it for 5 minutes a day, and they will calm down dramtically as they age.
-you are not hurting anything by hand feeding it, it is your pet. most do not do so due to time restraints, or having too many geckos
-uv light is not at all neccesary, they are nocturnal, and rarely come into contact with the sun rays in the wild seeing as they are usually sleeping during this time of day. ( d3 is required for calcium absorption however)
good luck with it and asking questions is only going to help your animal ( read a few caresheets online as well)

that's some great advice. the only thing i can think to add that you should *definitely* know is to never handle your gecko by the tail. geckos can drop their tail as a self-defense mechanism. while this is not often life-threatening, it will cause your gecko additional stress and it may fear handling.

i would also suggest weaning your crested off its reliance on hand-feeding. while it is certainly 'cute' i don't know if it is a good habit for your gecko to learn. it really should be able to move back and forth with no stress. i would really suggest not hand-feeding it again until it feeds from a 'dish' at least once, maybe even twice. you'll see little dimples in the baby food after they eat.

one more thing, you can also mix the calcium powder/CGD into the baby food in small amounts to give the additional nutrition.

I agree completely that you lose the baby food. The T-Rex (Sandfire) complete meal powder is the complete balanced diet. Do not add calcium to the diet as a conversation I had once with Allen Repashy convinced me that the diet has plenty already, and too much calcium is as bad (or worse) than not enough. Only use calcium to dust crickets, if you choose to feed them to your gecko. Personally I DO feed crickets about once per week so I keep my hatchlings and juvies on paper towel because I'm afraid the geckos will get a mouthful of bed-a-beast with their cricket and choke. (Of course then I saw that occasionally the geckos tear off a bit of paper towel with their cricket and eat that along with it. I was pretty upset when I saw it, but so far eeveryone seems OK.) Good luck and have fun. And watch out, cresties are very addicting!
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Terri
9:14:12 crested geckos: Bear, Goldfish, Kermit, Brimstone, WildSpatter-Spots-to-Spare, White Lips, Pouncer, Studley, Randy, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Toni, Beauty, Shine, Harley, Lady, LemonDrop, AllVees, Stunner, Squeak (RIP), Bling, Squeaker, Stripe, Redhead, Speckles, Harrys, Penny, BonusBebe, RedHot, Puzzle and Snickers.