Cage mate question

[Kellyr]

I have 2 cresteds, one is def. a female and the other is looking female so far.. I bought a terrarium enclosure to put them both in and as I am thinking about my new project I thought of this question... what are the chances of them losing their tails when put together?? They are about the same size (maybe 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch difference in length) and both still have their pretty tails.. I know the food dish may be an issue so I have about 3 to put in so they dont fight (not that if they notice the same one at the same time they will look around for another dish..lol)
I would think the chances of losing their tails when breeding with a male would be a bit higher (but we arent exactly there just yet) If you have a tail story to tell about putting cage mates together it would help me..

 

[Valley Reptiles]

They usually loose tails while hunting for crickets. If you're only feeding cgd then it shouldnt be a problem.

When they start breeding you will loose some tails, and some will have bite marks on them.

 

[Kellyr]

they never ate CGD they eat insects only... I hope they do okay.. now I am worried they just went in about 4 hours ago. I do have a small dish with (about 3 inches) with small crickets inside..

 

[Valley Reptiles]

With just insects they usually become overweight as adults.
They will eat the cgd, it may just not be enough for you to notice.

 

[Kellyr]

I used a small cup (its actually a cricket keeper tube cap) and tried to wean them for four weeks, even cut back on insects big time so they would take to it and it seemed like it was never touched. The cup was no larger than a water bottle cap and I monitered constantly :main_robin: I guess there is no harm in trying again in a lil bit. I am just so happy that they are eating in their new environment. They are getting along just fine (so far) and at night I can hear them jumping onto thier branches and they even vocalize now- they didnt when kept alone. I am surprised they sound more like frogs! Its cute but not when I want to sleep..lol.

 

[Valley Reptiles]

Were you offering other food items when trying to switch them over? If you were then they were probably going for the other food and holding off of the cgd when offered.
To get the stubborn ones to start taking cgd you have to get them hungry enough to eventually start eating it, usually 3-4 weeks of nothing but cgd. After they start eating it you will notice more and more gone each time.

 

[Kellyr]

That is exactly what I did and the result of that was a bad bad case of MBD in one. I took her to the vet b/c after week three she wouldnt eat anything, not even insects when offered. She was shaking and barely moving (it seemed to happen pretty fast) but she is much better now after some TLC and Neocalglucon, stubborn isnt the word! The vet said it was because she was young (about 4 months old) so I am going to wait a bit before going solo with the CGD. They are about 6 months now.. Thank you for all of your help.

 

[Valley Reptiles]

That is exactly what I did and the result of that was a bad bad case of MBD in one. I took her to the vet b/c after week three she wouldnt eat anything, not even insects when offered. She was shaking and barely moving (it seemed to happen pretty fast) but she is much better now after some TLC and Neocalglucon, stubborn isnt the word! The vet said it was because she was young (about 4 months old) so I am going to wait a bit before going solo with the CGD. They are about 6 months now.. Thank you for all of your help.

I doubt the mbd came up from only offering the cgd, it was probaby from the diet offered before and the gecko was not getting enough calcium.

I've done that with 100s of geckos for the past 8 years and it works every time. most of the bigger breeders do it that way too because it's the most effective way Cresteds eat fruit and Cgd has fruit flavors so they will eat it when they are hungry enough.

When I first started I got most of my geckos from P e t c o when they were feeding baby food instead of cgd and never lost one when feeding only cgd, even the babies did great.

 

[Kellyr]

You are too funny, can you take a wild guess where I got my two cresteds from? I do not have the fruit flavored CGD its a little expensive. I only have the T-Rex brand of CGD, which to be honest looks and smells yucky I wouldnt touch it either. I have looked at Repashy also but they have base and other stuff you have to add in?? I am not exactly sure what I would need and if you could tell me what kind of (what flavor) your crested eat the most of?? As for baby food mine love banana (although when I mash up a slightly over ripe banana they will not eat it)

 

[Valley Reptiles]

You are too funny, can you take a wild guess where I got my two cresteds from? I do not have the fruit flavored CGD its a little expensive. I only have the T-Rex brand of CGD, which to be honest looks and smells yucky I wouldnt touch it either. I have looked at Repashy also but they have base and other stuff you have to add in?? I am not exactly sure what I would need and if you could tell me what kind of (what flavor) your crested eat the most of?? As for baby food mine love banana (although when I mash up a slightly over ripe banana they will not eat it)

Maybe the same place I did? Most of the stores offer cgd now. The T-rex and repashy are the same thing just a different label, but if it doent smell like fruit you probably have the older kind. They added fruit flavor to the newer batches and it made a big difference. It was banana but I think they added rose flavor to the newest. The repashy does have the base and flavors to add but they also sell the regular cgd. I tried the base with flavors but mine ate it all the same.
The repashy Complete gecko diet is ready to use without adding the fruit flavors. A 1/4 LB bag is about $12 shipped, that's what I have always used.
http://www.pangeareptile.com/products.htm#superfoods

 

[Kellyr]

You are right!! Good guess..lol. I will check it out, $12 is not bad at all especially if shipping is included. Where I was looking it was more expensive but they had 1 lb and 4 lb sizes offered. Thank you

 

[Valley Reptiles]

You are right!! Good guess..lol. I will check it out, $12 is not bad at all especially if shipping is included. Where I was looking it was more expensive but they had 1 lb and 4 lb sizes offered. Thank you

Pangea is a mostly crested forum so they offer a lot more stuff for them than most. They have a whole page of just rhacodactylus supplies.

 

[Kellyr]

I just bought the 1/2 lb. size, it said there is a new texture to it so maybe they will like this one better. It came to about $15 including shipping so it was a pretty good deal. Right now I will wait a little to make sure their weights are okay before I take away their buggies. The smaller one of the two- you can see her ribs at certain positions, not all the time she does have a little belly.. I just want their weights to be maybe around 30 grams each before I try it again.. that whole MBD thing was no joke I seriously thought she had no chance it was terrible.. never again!! We will see sometime soon.. hopefully they take to it. Thanks for all the advice and the site too! :main_yes: