Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfriend wants to get a fairly large reptarium for a crested gecko, but she's interested in purchasing a different species to live with it. What other species live in simlar climates and wouldn't attack the crested? I suggested a gargoyle gecko.

>>My girlfriend wants to get a fairly large reptarium for a crested gecko, but she's interested in purchasing a different species to live with it. What other species live in simlar climates and wouldn't attack the crested? I suggested a gargoyle gecko.

Some people have interbred cresteds with chahoua, so presumably they could coexist in a tank. Usual disincentives apply, generally recommended to keep animals separately, you have been warned, blah blah blah...
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

ehh... its not a great idea. gargs are much more agressive... thats why there arent any crosses of them. the gargs do a great job stressing the cresties out. the chahoua can be put with them, but they dont always react well. many breeders just keep them together to breed. i have fairly large tanks with multiple cresteds. my most diverse has a blonde harley female, a tiger female , a red/orange bicolor male, a red dalmation female, and a partial pin harley female. the colors in that tank at night are amazing. they all do fine together, and are very happy. its never reccomended to put any animal together with another species, due to stress, but ive also heard of i think on this forum, and a local pet store keeping african milipedes on the bottom.

For that matter, even multiple cresteds may not always react well to each other. Each animal has its own personality, and some of them just don't like each other. Obviously same species has a higher chance to work out, but even that's not guaranteed. Generally, one animal per enclosure is the safest - I don't know that i'd want to house my crested even with other cresteds - sometimes she makes lunges at my leopard gecko's tail, and that's through 2 panes of glass between them - we had to put up a "privacy screen" so she wouldn't keep banging her nose into the glass. Sometimes cresties will try to eat anything that moves and is remotely smaller than them. I just don't know that I'd trust her not to eat a cagemate's tail, regardless of species. Like I said in my earlier post in this thread, consider yourself warned.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Agreed - my crested gecko will also lunge at anything small that moves, including falling water droplets and his own tail! He gets this very puzzled look when he ends up with a mouthful of his own tail, and seems surprised that it hurts.

I wouldn't trust him with a cagemate!
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0.1 Amel corn snake - Geislandi
1.0 Okeetee corn snake - Valis
0.1 Snow corn snake - Orlando
1.0 Crested gecko - Lampkin
1.0 Golden gecko - Nosferatu
0.0.2 House gecko babies - Gigan & Jo-Go
1.0 Leopard gecko - Darwin
1.1 Chinese tree dragons - Trapezoid & Trapezium
1.1 cats - Moony and Lucky
7.0 veil tail betta fish
2.0 crowntail betta fish
(I won't subject you to the names of all the bettas.)

Dude don't worry about keeping some spiecies togeather....Philippe De Vosjoli in THE RHAC BOOK states that he keeps pink tongue skink crested gecko African Millappide(spelling) and a chahoua....Don't quoute me but that is what I think it says...I can't find the book to be sure.
But when people say that there animal has it's own personality...I immediatly think that they must be a hippie that got lost in the 70's! LOL OK granted that some animals will not get along, it has nothing to do with not Liking the other animal! That is stupid! sorry but it is dumb! Maybe they are having an issue with domination or something.
Hope this helps,
Luc Cauthorn
Don't take offence!

I don't think my point had to do with aggression... Obviously my crestie isn't trying to dominate his own tail! But some cresties have a stronger feeding response than others, and those are the ones that are likely to go after another crestie's tail. We're just saying that you have to exercise caution based on the feeding response/aggression of the individual animal.

As for observing that animals have different personalities... This is hardly a radical idea. "Personality" merely refers to a stable set of behavioral traits in an individual that are not found to the same degree in every individual of the species. Feeding response, aggression, and willingness to be handled all fall under this category. Stating that your animal has personality isn't necessarily anthropomorphism. For example, when you observe two males determining who is dominant, there are varying degrees of aggression displayed before one hides or submits. This varying level of aggression is a personality trait. It's not personality in the sense we use to describe other humans, but it is personality nonetheless.

And of course, with some animals, like chimps or dogs, it can be quite appropriate to describe them using SOME human states of mind. Generally not so for lizards...
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0.1 Amel corn snake - Geislandi
1.0 Okeetee corn snake - Valis
0.1 Snow corn snake - Orlando
1.0 Crested gecko - Lampkin
1.0 Golden gecko - Nosferatu
0.0.2 House gecko babies - Gigan & Jo-Go
1.0 Leopard gecko - Darwin
1.1 Chinese tree dragons - Trapezoid & Trapezium
1.1 cats - Moony and Lucky
7.0 veil tail betta fish
2.0 crowntail betta fish
(I won't subject you to the names of all the bettas.)

the thing is cresteds can be left year round together. i have two without tails. the rest all still have their tails, they do not fight unless there are two males present. i have four enclosures with multiple geckos, what are the odds that the two females and one male in each enclosure would all get along in all four cases? ive had females get pissed off sure, but thats stress from mating. i also saw today the milipede with the cresteds. it does work, but thats because a crested cant fit down a 6 to 8 inch milipede, and the milipede isnt carnivorious. as for the crested going after the leo, its something its never seen before, my tegu is like that. it feels threatened by its neighbor, my female childrens python. it looks small enough to eat, why not? you should attempt feeding more often if its that agressive. mine are fed in the same tank, cgd every two days, and wax worms every three days.

Haha, still laughing at the comment about eating its own tail. I'm glad my gecko hasn't "discovered" her tail that way... yet...

Just to add in on the "personality" discussion. I wanted a crested because a friend's crested was the most laid back creature on the plant. Totally fine hanging out for hours on your arm while you did something else... Instead I got a gecko with ADD. I sometimes think her head is going to fall off for all the snapping toward moving objects she does! She's a great gecko... but, well, kinda like Launchpad McQuack, I'm probably losing my audience here- Let's just say she's so distracted, she'll even get distracted in mid flight, miss her target and get saved by her tail... usually with a surprised look only matched by my own that she hasn't knocked herself out... again, YET.

I agree with many of the posters, crested are slightly more aggressive to one another than say a leo, and even two females have a greater potential for harassment. Gargs are not a good idea at all, they're even more aggressive. Perhaps if you were able to get two cresteds at a young age, assumed female and raised them together you'd have the least problems.

I have to ask about the waxworms - isn't that unhealthy? Everything I've ever read states waxworms only for rare treats or treating underweights. Excess waxworms seem to be bad for gecko "output" as well... all the fat. How are your geckos, age and weight? I'm curious as I've heard no one claim to a long term diet of waxworms. Ironically our crested won't take anything in worm form, but we've got a sick leo in that's moving up from waxes to crickets and waxes so that is an excellent sign, but we're still knee deep in bulk waxworms! Thanks in advance.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

>>I have to ask about the waxworms - isn't that unhealthy? Everything I've ever read states waxworms only for rare treats or treating underweights. Excess waxworms seem to be bad for gecko "output" as well... all the fat.

you are correct, 3 times a week is way too much...even once a week is too much, it's like giving them cheeseburgers and fries loaded with grease. if they are regularly eating CGD, you should only be giving them a few live insects once a week, and the majority of those should be crickets, roaches or phoenix worms, and occasional waxworms.
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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

Kinda off topic but on the insect diet. Once a week I give one of my leachies f/t fuzzy mice. We were feeding my gf's baby corn snake and we had an extra pinky mouse that she wouldn't eat. I was curious so I put it in with my crestie and he chowed it down like he hadn't eaten in weeks. (fyi he cleaned his bowel out from the night before) Now that this has happened I'm curious if this is at all on their diet in the wild or if it would be healthy for them to have once or twice a month? I know my leachie LOVES them. Thanks!

Widj

1.0 Leachie Isle E
0.1 GT Leachie Type B
0.1 Blood Red Corn
0.1 Liccorice Stick Black Rat Snake
0.1 Ball Puthon
1.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Baby Red Tail
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0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat Snake
0.1 Blood Red Corn Snake
0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Red Tail Boa Constricter
1.0 Crested Gecko

actually the wax worms are underrated, and it was my mistake, its usually butter worms, which are like a shot of pure calcium. i do feed wax worms now though, to keep my females nice and fat. i dont want my females to get all malnourished after laying their eggs and all.ive fed my cresteds all types of worms except silk, meal, golliath, and super worms with great effects. as for age and size, all of my females with tails are 8 to 9 except one younger, which is 7, not breeding, and a tailess female which is about 4.5 s/v. my males are 9.2(largest in my collection) 8.5,8.2 and my tailess male is 5 inches s/v. the rest are sitting out this season, they breed in the fall.