Beginner (not yet owner) here...

[Ocean]

So a couple weeks ago I was in a pet store buying a dog sweater for my SIL's dog and the lady at the cash register had a little lizard crawling on her shirt. I asked what it was, and ever since I've been reading up on crested geckos, lol.

I was glad to find this forum in my searches today. Forums have always proved useful with my previous pets, and back when I was a betta collector (had 40+ fish at one point, no time or space for them all now) I was hugely active in them. I love how the internet has made these little communities possible, and I'll definitely be poking around this one more.

Anyways, I just have a couple questions for now (I'm sure I'll have many more - it will be at least a few months before I'm ready to actually buy a crestie).

First, can anyone recommend a comprehensive book or website for new crestie owners? There's so much information out there that I don't really know where to start. If I can find a good guide to the basics, then I can continue my research from there.

I'm also looking for a guide to creating a more or less self-maintaining planted habitat. I know I'll still have to mist it and clean the glass and do some maintenance on the plants, which is fine, but the less maintenance the tank itself needs, the better. I've noticed a few people around here talking about not having to clean their tank for years because it's planted and has worms and such to help keep it clean, and that's the kind of thing I'm hoping to get set up.

 

[Ty's Cresties]

This is one of the most knowledgeable places on the internet to gain information (many of the users on this website have years of experience with reptiles). Having live plants in you habitat looks very nice but it also becomes a pain after a while. I use to keep live plants in my terrariums but found it got mouldy and was not as safe because it could also cause impaction to the gecko. It may not look as natural but crested geckos are just as happy and healthier with paper towel for substrate and plastic plants for cover.

 

[darkridder]

I would highly recommend Pangea Reptile, they have a great website and a forum which is geared towards crested geckos.

Natural setups do work, I have 3 of them myself, however none of them house crested geckos. It works fine for adult geckos but babies and juvies need to be housed on paper towels for risk of impaction. You still run that risk with adults as they honestly are bad hunters and often miss. This will result in a mouth full of soil.

A way to keep live plants in the tank if youre worried about them trying to dig in the pots soil is to use large stones to cover the soil layer of the pot. Using ones around the size of a quarter to 50 cent piece is a safe size. The bonus to using live plants is that they produce more humidity. And with weekly cleaning mold shouldnt be an issue.

The safest and best way as Ty said is paper towels and plastic plants. Paper towels can dry out pretty quickly but they are the safest substrate to go with, if they miss a cricket they get a mouth full of paper towel instead, to which thy rarely are able to rip off and swallow. Plastic plants make cleaning easier, you can easily pull them out and bleach them, which is nice since cresteds do enjoy pooping all over their plants. It also makes monitoring their eating habits easier, which is most important with newly acquired geckos, feces=eating.

 

[Kylerbassman]

I agree with darkridder. Pangea is a great crested gecko forum. I'm actually looking to get one in the next few weeks. I registered on Pangea a few months back to get info and read up on housing/husbandry info. It's a very active forum and a lot of good/useful info.

As was said, baby crested's should be housed using paper towels because of impaction risk, however, as they get older, planted Vivs are doable. Make sure you read up on plants and methods of planted Vivs as it can be detrimental if you are using unsafe plants and or have issues with mold. Much of this can be prevented with proper setup. Just register and soak it all in. Good luck