Acouple questions...

[MrTantalizin]

Hi. I am currently working on getting some crested gecko's. I have acouple questions and I would appreciate responses from a bunch of different people so I can see what everyone else does.

OK, from all my research I am left with acouple questions unanswered.

1: Please tell me about your feeding schedule as well as what you feed and dusting/vitamins etc.
2: What flourescent bulb/fixture do you use and why?

Well now that I am actually posting Im partially drawing a blank, so I will eventually wind up asking more ask it comes to me.
Feel free to ask me questions.

Also, I am looking for some breeders with CG's so I can check out their inventory. I will be breeding further down the line so at the moment I am interested in 1 male adolescent from 1 breeder and 2 female adolescents from another.
Anyway, Thank you in advance for your responses/help.
^_^

 

[darkridder]

I feed CGD every other day. I rarely offer crickets, im in the process of growing a roach colony which should be good to go next breeding season. Extram vit and min is not needed if offered CGD UNLESS you are offering crickets more then once a week. If you do CGD and crickets once a week it isnt needed. But that second offering you will want to offer a calcium dust on the crickets.

Only geckos to get lights are my breeder females, they get Repti-glo 5.0 bulbs. I feel the little extra boost for my egg laying females does them some good and I often find them sleeping under them durring the breeding season, then in the off season they spend less and less time under the UV

I think before you get into breeding you have to ask yourself a few questions, and really look over things. Alot of people breed these guys and it is getting harder and harder to sell them. Not all local areas have a calling for them, I have a few breeders who rely on only online sales as local sales are hardly anything since they ar enot that popular in their area. And if you are only doing local, think of how many babies you may not sell. 2 females you will get somewhere around 10-18 babies your first season. Do you have room for them all if they dont sell? If they dont sell what will you do? Do you have the option to sell to trusted pet stores? Are you willing to ship? Do you have the means to afford a large vet bill if for some reason your colony of geckos gets sick? There are alot of things that goes with breeding other then putting a male and female together. Do you have good quality animals worth breeding? Yes even boring brown geckos are cute but realize most people want a unique looking crestie. By the best you can get, and if the best you can get is lower end stock, wait to breed until you can afford higher end. Look for things other then color like head shape, crests, the contrast and defination of the morph. Color plays alot but take a red crested gecko, yeah you got a good deal on it but it has horrible crests. Takes away from what the species should be reping.

There really is nothing wrong with wanting to breed, but I cant stress enough, try buying a few babies first and see how you do with those. Buy babies with outstanding qualities as sexable juvies can run you alot for really good qualities. Buying from 2 breeders doesnt really make a difference so long as your geckos are unrelated and the source is good. I would rather buy 3 outstanding geckos from one breeder, then buy from different sources I feel indifferent about.

I am not trying to talk you out of it, just trying to forwarn you. Here is a link from Pangea, this was just from a few of us breeders on there, think of how many people did not participate from our forum, or who do not belong. This is how many geckos you will be competing against in the selling market http://www.pangeareptile.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31793&highlight=females+breeding

 

[Kristi23]

I put fresh cgd in the cages every other day (so they have it in there 24/7) and feed roaches once a week. My roaches are very lightly dusted with repashy calcium plus. I do not use any lights at all, just window light.

I agree with starting with one or two and see how it goes. If things are good, then you can look into breeding them in the future.

 

[MrTantalizin]

ok awesome 1st thank you Dark for the "heads up" and the info.
Here is/was my plan...
I bought a 18x18x36 screen cage, a 20inch fluorescent fixture, Zoo Med Repti Sun 2.0 UVB Bulb, a large ficus, alot of vines (artificial ofcourse ^_^), a digital thermometer/hygrometer.
I plan on getting 3 adolescent crested geckos. 2 female 1 male. I'd love to get em from the same breeder but I want to be 100% certain they're not related.
I am well aware of the supply:demand ratio. I plan on keeping alot of my babies for my own collection and selling acouple here and there but I am not looking to make a career breeding geckos. lol
I plan on purchasing a Mistking ultimate package once needed. Im sure yall know of what I speak. Also I will be getting a "LLLReptile Pro MR-148 Incubator". It looks awesome and considering I live in New York and the temperature fluctuations here.
Oh and by the way MY BED ROOM IS DEDICATED TO THESE LIL GUYS ONCE THEYRE HERE so space for babies isnt a problem. ILL MAKE SPACE!
Also may I add, my uncle and I are currently working on breeder his panther chameleon's and we are getting 3 more quad's soon. (That project is still in the happening. Ill create a post about that another time and post pics.) He knows quite a few chameleon breeder's that may be interested. So I dont think getting stuck with babies is a problem.

I am simply interested in feeding habits/strategies from other CG owners and espcially breeders.
But it sounds like CGD 5-6 days and 1-2 days crickets is a good and safe route. ALTHO DARKRIDDER I have a quick question. If I feed CGD 5 days and Crickets 2 days, you say I should dust the 2nd helping of crickets???

 

[darkridder]

Well I wouldnt plan on putting them all together right away. I personally dont keep my males and females together because often even in cool temps, the males will attempt to breed the females and she does require a cooling period. But also you have to look at sizes. Sexable geckos, esp sexable females are 14g-18g. Males can breed at 30g, females at 35g. You dont want to introduce to them at any smaller weight. And its even better for the female to be larger then 35g. You will oftne notice if its a virgins first time breeding and she just hit the 35g mark. After the season is over many times she will gain more weight and keep it on, meaning she wasnt done growing when she was bred. So if you are finding your girls are 35g lets say i March durring early breeding season, give her another month or two and see if she gains more weight, that way she is less likely to have issues.

Yes you should dust your crickets if you do decide to feed them more then once a week, this also goes with dubias. You do not have to do it if you ar eonly offering it once, but there isnt an issue if you do. And I personally offer a little extra calcium once a week to egg laying females, just to be sure they are getting enough.

Any particular reason for a screen cage? I know your getting a mister system, but there are alot of nice cages out there that wouldnt require you to spend the money on the mister system as it is fine for these guys to dry out a bit durring the day. Normally you give a light misting in the day, get them up to about 80% humidity, then by the afternoon it should call to around 40-50%. Then at night give a more heavy misting which should keep you good until the morning misting.

 

[Valley Reptiles]

Also I will be getting a "LLLReptile Pro MR-148 Incubator". It looks awesome and considering I live in New York and the temperature fluctuations here.

What's the temps in the room?
Fluctuation will not hurt Crested eggs if the temps are not too hot or cold. Mine changes 10 to 12 degrees every night going from mid to high 70 down to high 60s.

 

[MrTantalizin]

Ok, I decided to go with the screen cage for acouple reasons. 1st is the chameleons are doing awesome in the screen cages and I figured screen might be better for arboreal species. Also I wanted to maximize airflow. I know keeping the humidity higher will be alittle more difficult. Also screen cages are more "customizable" IMO.
So your saying that if i get (for example) 3 20gram CG's (2f and 1m) I shouldnt house them together in the screen cage (although Its pretty large and will have many adequeate hiding spots)? I dont want unplanned premature breeding, definately not!
I have a 10gallon glass tank, should i be housing my females in their until everyone is ready to breed?

My room fluctuates from about 74-64ish now in winter. But my concern is summers here get hot and sometimes exceed 90degrees. That incubator not only heats but cools and is 100% digital. As I said, I live in New York so I want to do it right the first time as opposed to chancing it with my babies.

(P.S. You guys are awesome keep asking questions)
VALLEY REPTILES, how and what and how often do you feed your CG's?

 

[Valley Reptiles]

I keep food in all the time. I mix it and leave it in for 2-3 days, until it start to mold or dries out then I change it.

 

[darkridder]

I personally would keep the male in the 10 gallon and grow the girls up in the larger enclosure. IMO a 10 gallon is a bit small for 2 20g geckos. But yes I wouldnt advice keeping them all together. Males mature faster then females and he is fully capable of breeding at 20g, not in his best interest to be breeding that young, even males can have complications like retracting their hemipenes or they prolapsing after the deed. And at 20g females are far to small for egg laying.

 

[sunshinegeckofarm]

yes i would keep them all seperate in proper sized cages. what size i don't know, i have some of my own i need to rehouse into bigger just need the money to get different housing. But keep them all seperate even the girls, it will be better for them for now to be on their own so they can grow better and no one bullies each other. Also i feed my young juvies CGD every other day and my older juvies and adults every 2 days CGD, I am not feeding crickets or insects at the moment but will be feeding insects to breeding females next year, I just haven't had the space and money for crickets and i have roaches but haven't tried roaches on them. Good luck with your geckos