return to main index

  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
 
click here for Rodent Pro
Mice, Rats, Rabbits, Chicks, Quail
Available Now at RodentPro.com!
Locate a business by name: click to list your business
search the classifieds. buy an account
events by zip code list an event
Search the forums             Search in:
News & Events: Herp Photo of the Day: False Coral Snake . . . . . . . . . .  Herp Photo of the Day: Bearded Dragon . . . . . . . . . .  Greater Cincinnati Herp Society Meeting - Apr 02, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Apr 04, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Southwestern Herp Society Meeting - Apr 06, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Hamburg Reptile Show - Apr. 13, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  St. Louis Herpetological Society - Apr 14, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  San Diego Herp Society Meeting - Apr 16, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Suncoast Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Colorado Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Chicago Herpetological Society Meeting - Apr 21, 2024 . . . . . . . . . . 
Join USARK - Fight for your rights!
full banner - advertise here .50¢/1000 views
click here for Rodent Pro
pool banner - $50 year

RE: This May be Normal But IDK.

[ Login ] [ User Prefs ] [ Search Forums ] [ Back to Main Page ] [ Back to Crested Geckos ] [ Reply To This Message ]
[ Register to Post ]

Posted by: PHLdyPayne at Tue May 25 14:33:30 2010  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]  
   

Definitely keep quarantine in mind when you buy new animals. Maybe 90% of the time nothing happens but it is very heartbreaking to bring in what you thought was a healthy animal only to have it sicken and die, and the rest of your animals catching the same disease. This is very try for some species that can carry untreatable ailments, like IBD which affects many boids (ie boas and pythons), adenovirus which affects bearded dragons and other lizards and that fungus that wrecks havoc with amphibians, especially frogs...crypto something or other.

For the most part, its to avoid infestations of parasites, internal and external. To my knowledge, crested geckos are very hardy and don't seem to have any external parasites that i have read about. Nor do they seem to suffer much from internal parasites...but always good to practice quarantine with all new animals. I recommend at least 3 months, to ensure a healthy fecal (ideally once per month) and to ensure any incubating diseases that may take awhile to show symptoms, have a chance to appear. A vet check during that time is recommended.

I do admit that i don't always bring any new animals I get to see a vet for a checkup...mostly due to funds..but I do my best to ensure quarentine measures are taken. For snakes I spray the cage I intend to put any new animals in with Provent a Mite, to take care of any mites that the animal may already have, or picked up during the usual passing through hands at a reptile show. One mite infected animal handled by one person, can easily result in mites getting on that person's hands and clothes, then spreading onto other animals unintentionally. For a mite infestation, all it takes is a pregnant female mite to lay a bunch of eggs, then two months later, you suddenly have mites on your snake..and no clue how that could be, since no new animals came in in that time nor did you see mites on the snake prior to their sudden appearance...Hence I spray cages first, put in new snakes, keep them separate from my current collection and hopefully after three months, they are still healthy and can be moved in with my other animals.

As a final note, now that you built a larger cage you wish to keep both your crested geckos in, make sure there is plenty of climbing spaces and visual barriers (ie live or fake plants, or both, with broad leaves). Use two feeding stations as well, this way if they want to avoid each other they can. Fortunately for the most part Crested geckos do get along. Just make sure the female doesn't get roughed up by the male's attempt at mating (they do bite the scruff of the neck or sometimes the fleshy 'crest' around the eyes.) if you see blood or lacerations, may be a good idea to separate for a few weeks, give the female time to heal up. I also recommend leaving in a shallow dish, like the lid of a baby food jar or small deli cup and put in calcium powder. This will let the female lap up additional calcium to prevent calcium crash when shelling eggs.

Crested geckos can crash fast, after shelling their eggs, if they are low in calcium, it can affect them fast and not even be noticed in time to help. Thus keeping calcium powder in the cage, allows the female to replenish her stores as needed. Change the powder when it runs low or if it gets soiled.
-----
PHLdyPayne


   

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]


>> Next Message:  RE: This May be Normal But IDK. - octoberashes, Wed May 26 00:42:35 2010

<< Previous Message:  RE: This May be Normal But IDK. - octoberashes, Tue May 25 05:20:36 2010