Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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hi Severa,
They are still alive and pretty active (not really sure what is normal for them)but they move from place to place in their enclosure and they lift their heads to look at me when i put their food in. They are moist and warm @ 75 degrees. I've never seen my adult cresteds shed so i'm not sure i'm going to see these babies shed. Because of that i've been putting mixed fruit baby food in just in case they get hungry. There was a "hole" in the food this morning, not sure if they steped in it or ate it. Today i took a toothpick and smeared just a tiny bit on their mouths. They both licked it up. I figured this gives them a taste of what their food is. I have 1/4 inch crickets on order and they should arrive in a week. Thank you for asking about them. It is exciting even tho i might not be doing everything perfectly i very much would like them to make it.

Glad to hear that everything is going well! Not many do it perfectly their first time regardless of how much they read and prepare.
There is alot of controversy about feeding cresties alot of baby food. Do a little bit of research on it so you are aware of possible long term effects. I would deffinately start them off as early as possible on CGD/MRP. By the time I figured out what diet I wanted to concentrate them on, they were so spoiled on baby food mixed with CGD that it was hard to get them on CGD by itself. I am only giving you this tip because you have a clean slate with these 2 and more to come. Plus it is a good selling point should you want to sell them.
Your 1/4 inch crickets will grow quickly on you which is OK because you have bigger cresties to feed. You may want to go even smaller on the next batch of crickets if these grow too quickly. I vary the diets with the hatchlings and another live prey I feed are fruit flies. Some pet stores carry them in cultures and you can get a good many out of the cultures. The flies are pretty slow and stupid but they entice the babies. Some people don't like fooling with the flies because the cresties outgrow them quickly. I like to vary a diet as much as possible plus I like having them on the flies until they get the knack for catching the faster crickets. To each their own.
Please keep us posted and take some pics. Eye candy has been so far and few on this board lately.
Best of Luck!

Severa

thank you for all the good advice! I only started them on baby food because it's sweet and i didn't want to risk them not eating. But heck if they will take the CGD i'll gladly give it to them. Didn't even think of fruit flies. I buy them all the time to feed to my red back salamander and my eastern spotted newts (all about the size of my baby cresteds). So i will definately give those a try. I also have worms and mini mealworms (also eaten by my amphipians) would these be good as treats? I totally agree that a varied diet is best. Sometimes it's just hard to know what is good and bad for them.

Many people opt to not feed them mealies. There are stories going around that mealies eat through intestinal tracts of young lizards/geckos. I have never had it happen to any neonate of mine, crestie or not. I however choose not to feed the mealies to babies as the chiton (I guess thats how it is spelled...its the hard exo of the mealie)is harder to digest. I do offer mealies once a month or so to my adults and they are always gutloaded with baby carrots (actual carrots, not baby food). I have known for people to feed phoenix worms to cresties. I've never tried them because they are pricey and they wig me out....don't ask. I don't give wax worms until they are juvies and I offer those sparingly as they are too fatty and should be considered as a treat. Funny enough, I only have a couple cresties that actually show interest in them.
When you say worm, do you mean earthworms too? I ask because I know many amphibians that eat them. I wouldn't do earthworms or the small red wigglers or the Georgia jumpers (yes....Ga has a worm believe it or not)to cresteds. To me, the main nutrition of the earthworm is from the head to the segment which is nearly 1/3 of the worm. The rest of it back is intestines filled with dirt. I really wouldn't fool with the earthworms. Someone out there may feel otherwise but it is a personal preference.
The babies though, I feed crickets, fruit flies, CGD, and I also mix them my own cocktail.
Many folks advise only the use of CGD and crickets and don't vary. Do what you believe to be best.
Whoa, Eastern spotted newts? I live in Ga and used to catch them in North and central Ga growing up. I once found a shallow cove and there must have been 30 of them and they were all in amplexus. It was funny because the females would paddle to the top of the water while piggy backing a male for a gulp of air. Then they would sink to the shallows. I never see them anymore though. I haven't seen a wild one in close to 12 years. I am sure I won't come across any in the near future from the drought we had, though so far this year we are getting alot of rain. Maybe I will get the kayaks in the water soon! Pretty cool though that the ESN are in the pet trade. They would make beautiful specimens.

Severa

a hatchling crested gecko will readily accept CGD, they won't starve themselves! and they will love it. mine didn't go for the fruit flies, my bf has dart frogs and we tried some. seemed too small to be noticed but obviously some will eat them, as well as the small phoenix worms. though you have to buy a whole container of worms at a time, so if you're just starting out, it's probably better just to get about 5 crickets per gecko per week at the local pet store and gutload/dust them. the worms end up costing about the same as crickets unless you order them in bulk. i second the "don't feed them mealworms." give them fresh CGD every other day.
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4.1 snakes, 4.6.1 crested geckos, 0.1 gargoyle gecko, 0.0.2 red-eyed tree frogs, 2.0 devon rex cats, 1.0 betta, 0.1 sun conure, 1.0 lovebird