Crested Gecko advice

Runner32

New Member
Messages
2
Hi I’m looking for some general advice as we’ve got ourselves in a bit of a pickle with two crested geckos!

My teenage son wanted a lizard so we planed to get a created gecko as I read they were fairly easy starter reptiles. We bought a large tall eco terra tank (45x60x90cm) and I think we’ve set it up fairly well bioactive with appropriate lighting, heat and fogger for humidity (having watched lots of videos). It would make a great living space for an adult crestie, but that is where we ran in to trouble!

We went to the pet shop to get some moss and find out about how to purchase a gecko (not planning to actual get one that day) and some how ended up coming away with two young geckos (I’m guessing about 3 months old). We don’t even know their sex - so that’s probably another issue for the not to distant future (having researched I understand if it’s two females we’ve probably hit lucky, one of each and we may need to add an extra similar sized female and rearrange/add new places for her to go in the tank, but two males and we’re in trouble and need to split them).

But my main issue for now is that I’ve learnt that the tank is too big for young geckos and the substrate is also not ideal. By chance I managed to buy a secondhand 30x30x45 tank and we’ve set it up with a couple of hides, fake plants and kitchen town substrate but we are not sure if and when we are best to move the geckos. I believe the smaller tank will be much better for them but I’ve also read they are better left to settle for about 4 weeks before attempting to handle them and neither my son or I are very confident with picking them up (having never touched a gecko before). It also hard to get to them due to the amount of plants etc in the larger tank. They both seem to be doing okay. Food is being eaten and there is poop appearing, but we can’t be certain that both are eating as we’ve only ever seen one actually at a food bowl (we have two fairly high feeding platforms and also add a third food bowl on the floor near where one often sits). We offer repashy daily and have also added cricket twice (about 5 days apart) as they had been fed these in the shop.

My question is should we try to move them to the smaller tank (and if so how are we best to move them) or are we best giving them a bit longer to settle before handling them as they seem to be doing okay.

sorry for the long post but any advice will be much appreciated.
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,118
Location
Somerville, MA
It's true that ideally they should be in a smaller environment. Here's my suggestion for now: observe them during the day when they are probably asleep (obviously it's hard to tell since they have no eyelids). The goal is to move one into the smaller enclosure. You can either scoop one up in your hand, or, if you're more comfortable with this, take a small container, hold it over the gecko and gently encourage it to go in. Then you can hold your hand over the container and put it into the new enclosure. If only 1 is eating, either you have moved the one that's eating or the one that's not eating, but pretty soon you will have found out. If the one in the smaller enclosure is eating, keep an eye on the other one. If that one isn't eating your choices are either to swap them (i.e. put the one in the smaller container into the bigger one and vice versa) or to get a cheap 10 gallon tank and to try to get the one from the big enclosure into that. Keep them separated until it's clear that they are both female. It may take a number of months to know, but if it's a male, the hemipenal bulges will be very obvious.
I hope that's helpful. The worst case is that one may drop a tail, but this is not uncommon with crested geckos.

Aliza
 

Runner32

New Member
Messages
2
It's true that ideally they should be in a smaller environment. Here's my suggestion for now: observe them during the day when they are probably asleep (obviously it's hard to tell since they have no eyelids). The goal is to move one into the smaller enclosure. You can either scoop one up in your hand, or, if you're more comfortable with this, take a small container, hold it over the gecko and gently encourage it to go in. Then you can hold your hand over the container and put it into the new enclosure. If only 1 is eating, either you have moved the one that's eating or the one that's not eating, but pretty soon you will have found out. If the one in the smaller enclosure is eating, keep an eye on the other one. If that one isn't eating your choices are either to swap them (i.e. put the one in the smaller container into the bigger one and vice versa) or to get a cheap 10 gallon tank and to try to get the one from the big enclosure into that. Keep them separated until it's clear that they are both female. It may take a number of months to know, but if it's a male, the hemipenal bulges will be very obvious.
I hope that's helpful. The worst case is that one may drop a tail, but this is not uncommon with crested geckos.

Aliza
Thanks Aliza, sounds like a good plan. if we separate them and they turn out not to both be male will it be okay to return them both to the bigger tank if one has remained in there? Ie will the returning gecko still be able to find some territory?
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,118
Location
Somerville, MA
I have been combining and recombining my geckos for many years when I was breeding them. In general they have mostly gotten along when introduced. It does happen sometimes that geckos don't get along (I've had 2 cats for 11 years and they just don't get along. Fortunately the house is big enough for both!) in which case they'll have to live separately.

Aliza
 

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