Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so last thursday, while im putting my son to sleep, i turn off the gecko light as usual and what do i see... a baby!
while taking out the new baby i find another.
they are both in a kritter cage (about 3 gal i think) with egg crate, shallow water dish and CGD.
i never thought my adults were interested in each other let alone mated...

2 days ago on a whim i bought some tiny crickets, large than pinhead size but not my much, and thought i would offer them to the geckos just incase becaus ei wasnt seeing them eat teh CGD or teh fruit flies i offered.
they ate all 10!

im not offering insects too early am i?
(the org. reason for teh post)

oh and while writing this post i just found another baby

about how many come in a clutch?
i cant find any eggs but i do have some deep hallow logs i cant see in..im guessing mom laid in there.

its pretty cool considering i havent done anythign but care for my cresties like i should an dthe babies are hatching without incubation or any extra care.

thanks for teh input and reading my story

well, if you have a mature male and female housed together in good conditions...they will breed and lay eggs. As eggs dont' need to be incubated in an incubator, as long as they don't dry out or get too cold or hot, they can incubate in normal room condition or the temperatures the adults are kept in. 70-85F.

Each female will lay typically two eggs every 3-4 weeks which will hatch in about 55-65 days I or there about.

Things to watch for..is making sure the female doesn't calcium crash...always a good idea to leave powdered calcium (phosphorous free) in a shadow dish in the cage. They will lick the powder if they feel a need to.

For babies, small Kritter keepers are fine..though crickets will escape form those easily. What I used to rear babies was a simple small Pasta Storage container I bought at the Dollarama. Paper towel on the bottom, one fake plant. Usually kept one or two babies in these containers. They are about 10" tall, 7" long and 4" wide. I just drill a few holes along the top for ventilation. To feed and water the babies, misted lightly each day, let a pop bottle cap filled with water and another with about 1/8th to 1/4 teaspoon of crested gecko diet. I rarely to never feed crickets. The geckos thrive quite well on the diet alone.
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PHLdyPayne

85 is way too hot for incubation. even 82 is. optimal is 68 to 78, no higher, you can bring it down to 65 and hatch em though. as far as your feeding goes. feed them whatever theyll accept
best of luck with the babies

I didn't mean to imply using the highest end of the range for incubation..eggs will do just fine in 68-78F and hatch. Adults will live find in those ranges too.

TO be clear, It is good to keep the adults under 80F though a few brief exposures of 85F is fine, as long as the cage has cool areas to escape that heat. Personally I use no additional heat with my crested geckos or eggs, just the room temperature of my apartment..which tends to remain around 75F year around.
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PHLdyPayne

im sorry i misunderstood you, i thought you were incubating eggs at 85. ive lost eggs at 78, so i was thrown off.

NP it happens. I should have been more precise.
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PHLdyPayne

I think it's important to point out that now you need to be conscious of your female gecko having a "rest period." This can be done by separation from the male or a cooling of the temperature. Separation from the male does not always work since some cresteds can retain sperm and she will keep laying fertile eggs. The more effective way is to cool them to (someone correct me if I'm wrong) the mid-60's range for a few months a year. This is so she has time to recoup and not lay eggs for a while, and can restore her calcium sacs. Wouldn't want your gecko laying to death (don't laugh, it's happened).

and we now have 4 babies!!

i am going to sperate the babies ibto groups of two per critter keeper.

i offer fresh CGD every day, but i was not seeingthem eat so i thought i would try some baby insects too just incase.

i plan to seperate the mom but i will add a seperate dish of cal/minerals just incase.

another question for all....where do you put your dish of CGD? i have mine sitting in a glass dish propped between branches...but i am never sure how much they are eating or sometimes if at all..which is why i got into the habbit of offering insects too. i always see them catch 1 or 2 when i put em in and that reasures me..

but i have wondered if i need to move teh CGD to teh ground or somewhere else....thoughts?

i put it on the ground, ive always used clear ash trays, on the bottom of the tank. some geckos like crickets more, while others like the cgd more. if they dont eat it water based, you can use fruit baby food to better the chances of them eating it.

I've always put it on the ground too, and I spread it around the bottom of the bowl so if any licks are taken it's easy to see.

On the note of insects, if they fill themselves up on insects all the time of course they won't be eating the CGD. I would encourage you to stop offering insects until they eat the CGD or dust the insects with CGD a couple times so they get used to the taste of it, then feed just CGD until they eat it. Another trick to get them to eat it is mixing in some baby food, but this should not become normal. The baby food just dilutes the nutrients and adds sugars, and is alright to get them to eat it, but should then be phased out over time.

i house my babies separate and feed them CGD in beer bottle caps that sit right on the ground. I have never seen them eat or the amount in the bottle cap go down. I figured they are eating because they haven't died. My babies range in age from 3 to 5 months and today i offered all of them some baby mealworms and they ate them. If they are eating insects then let them have them imo. Good luck.

The problem with feeding only insects is that Crested geckos are not insectivorous, they eat other things too. In feeding insects all the time they fill up on insects (simple reason, because they move) and don't eat the CGD, which is also an important part of the diet.