gotta love Craigslist!

[Jetfire]

ok,so I've got an ad on craigslist (for rehoming my last remaining baby gargoyle),and this nice lady calls me up. She was looking to rehome her cresteds (1.1 adults),and she noticed my ad on craigslist. I have a pic of the baby,along with pics of the parent geckos. Well,long story shorter, she thought that "my adult geckos looked happy and healthy",so she decided to just up and give me her geckos,and their setup!
Both geckos are frogbutt harlequins,and the setup is what really amazed me- they came with a ginormous exoterra, the 18Wx18Hx24T model. I had just traded 2 baby gargs for another of that enclosure,and now I've got 2! I have to build a set of shelves to hold them both,as space is @ a premium in my house right now. I've got until April to have it done,because that's when I'm getting my Leachie (weather permitting shipping,of course).
anyways,here's some pics that I just took of them...

 

[acpart]

Nice!

Aliza

 

[Josh2]

Nice score! At least she knew how to find them a good new home!

 

[Jetfire]

I still can't believe my luck sometimes. I was thrilled with trading for the big exoterra in the first place. then the lady emails me,says she has the geckos,plus "their large terrarium from Petsmart".I was expecting a mid-sized exoterra @ best,and was blown away when she opens the back of her SUV. I wasn't planning to really get back into cresties,but evidently fate had other plans.

 

[Tialung]

Can't beat that. What kind of Geckos are in your pictures? They are beautiful.

 

[Jetfire]

they're cresteds.

 

[Josh2]

Really fortuitous. I guess it's good karma for taking such good care of your animals!

 

[Tialung]

they're cresteds.

They are beautiful. As you can see I don't know my geckos but they look more like a gargoyle than a gargoyle gecko does.

 

[Jetfire]

thanks. cresteds and gargoyles are closely related,until a couple months ago they were both in the family Rhacodactylus. They come from the New Caledonia Islands;about 750 miles from Australia,in the middle of the Pacific.The Rhacodactylus family includes a couple other species of gecko that are only found in that island group,including the Chahua gecko and the New Caledonia Giant gecko,or Leachie. the cresteds were reassigned to their own family a little while ago.
Cresteds are called cresteds because of the two rows of spiky crests that run from their heads down their backs. They are born with tails,but mine lost theirs somewhere along the way. If a crested looses it's tail,it can't regrow them,becoming what is commonly called a "frogbutt". They are very calm lizards,they do quite well in group settings,from hatchling to adult.
Gargoyles are called gargoyles mainly because of the bumpy texture the skull gets as the gecko matures. unlike cresteds,gargoyles do regrow their tails. My male gets his eaten roughly once a year or so...gargoyle mating is a rough affair,plus they have a general dislike for each other anyway. my fighting is kept to a minimum with a huge cage, multiple hides and branches,and multiple food dishes. Babies shouldn't be kept together @ all,they're seriously antisocial. fine with people,terrible with each other.

Care for both species is the same;room temps in the 70's,daily mistings,and feed mainly commercial crested gecko diet (Repashy and Pangea being the main brands). They're nocturnal,so unless you have live plants in the cage,there's no need for any lights. They are all generally awesome with handling,but they have a penchant for jumping. they calm down as adults,but still like to jump. the body language is super easy to read,they get all bunched up like a frog right before taking off. Their aim,for the most part,is absolutely TERRIBLE. they hit the floor..a lot. it's best to handle them sitting down. The only exception to their aiming is when they decide to jump on your face. which they will,so try to keep your talking to a minimum when handling them...they don't taste that great.
The first pic is of a crested w/ it's tail,the second shows the bumpy texture of the gargoyle's head

 

[Tialung]

Thank you for explaining the about the geckos. I really like the Crested Geckos. I was planning on getting a frog but I have fallen in love with these guys. They are really cool and love the easy care.