W
WftRight
Guest
I'm very new to crested gecko hatchlings, and my first four hatchlings this year died. I had them in round, plastic candy containers that were drilled with holes for ventilation. I was told by some people that these containers would be fine for hatchlings. Here's a picture of the basic setup.
These containers are about seven inches diameter at the top and about six inches tall. I used paper towels for substrate and fake plastic plants for cover. I put each crestie in an individual container.
Typically, I've used slightly oversized cages for all of my animals, but I decided to use these because they were available and because someone had said that a little crestie might have trouble finding food in a big cage. When all of my hatchlings died, I wondered whether these cages weren't the problem.
I didn't think that I had any more good eggs. I could see one more in a container, but I thought it was a slug. I kept meaning to throw away the container, the substrate, and the bad egg. Much to my shock and pleasure, I came into the computer room one night to find the egg shriveled and two crestie hatchlings in the cage.
I've decided to put them in a large Kritter Keeper. Maintaining humidity is going to be harder, but I think that more ventilation will be worth the extra fight for moisture. I'm using paper towel substrate again. I bought a fake plastic flower garland at Big Lots and cut off about a third of the garland to use as cover and climbing toy. I wad the garland into a ball, and it fills about half the cage. When they climb inside this stuff, they are well hidden. I've also added a hide that becomes a humid hide as the paper towels become moist. The hide is just a disposable microwave veggie tray with the end cut off. The ceiling collects a great deal of condensation, so the humidity in the hide must be high. The rest of the cage is wet when I spray twice a day but dries out at other times.
Here are a couple of pictures. The first is an overview showing the stuff in the cage. (In the first shot, the plastic container around the Kritter Keeper is a big tub that I use as secondary containment when I take the Kritter Keeper outside. Cresties are really too quick for me, and I use secondary containment because I can't keep them in the Kritter Keeper.) The second is just a snapshot of these guys looking at me. They had never done that before tonight, and I just shot quickly with a little point-n-shoot. The snapshot gives another view of the cage. The wire is for a thermostat on another cage. Their cage doesn't have heat and stays about 75°F in this room.
For those of you with experience raising little cresties, what do you think of this setup? Is keeping them together okay? If folks think this setup is good enough, I may get another Kritter Keeper and separate them.
I tried feeding the first ones primarily with pinhead and week-old crickets. I tried a little CGD plain and a little CGD mixed in baby food. To be honest, I hated dealing with the crickets, and with these guys, I halfway decided that I was just going to try to raise them on CGD. They won't eat every night, but at least one of them eats a bit of CGD every three or four days.
Thanks,
Bill
These containers are about seven inches diameter at the top and about six inches tall. I used paper towels for substrate and fake plastic plants for cover. I put each crestie in an individual container.
Typically, I've used slightly oversized cages for all of my animals, but I decided to use these because they were available and because someone had said that a little crestie might have trouble finding food in a big cage. When all of my hatchlings died, I wondered whether these cages weren't the problem.
I didn't think that I had any more good eggs. I could see one more in a container, but I thought it was a slug. I kept meaning to throw away the container, the substrate, and the bad egg. Much to my shock and pleasure, I came into the computer room one night to find the egg shriveled and two crestie hatchlings in the cage.
I've decided to put them in a large Kritter Keeper. Maintaining humidity is going to be harder, but I think that more ventilation will be worth the extra fight for moisture. I'm using paper towel substrate again. I bought a fake plastic flower garland at Big Lots and cut off about a third of the garland to use as cover and climbing toy. I wad the garland into a ball, and it fills about half the cage. When they climb inside this stuff, they are well hidden. I've also added a hide that becomes a humid hide as the paper towels become moist. The hide is just a disposable microwave veggie tray with the end cut off. The ceiling collects a great deal of condensation, so the humidity in the hide must be high. The rest of the cage is wet when I spray twice a day but dries out at other times.
Here are a couple of pictures. The first is an overview showing the stuff in the cage. (In the first shot, the plastic container around the Kritter Keeper is a big tub that I use as secondary containment when I take the Kritter Keeper outside. Cresties are really too quick for me, and I use secondary containment because I can't keep them in the Kritter Keeper.) The second is just a snapshot of these guys looking at me. They had never done that before tonight, and I just shot quickly with a little point-n-shoot. The snapshot gives another view of the cage. The wire is for a thermostat on another cage. Their cage doesn't have heat and stays about 75°F in this room.
For those of you with experience raising little cresties, what do you think of this setup? Is keeping them together okay? If folks think this setup is good enough, I may get another Kritter Keeper and separate them.
I tried feeding the first ones primarily with pinhead and week-old crickets. I tried a little CGD plain and a little CGD mixed in baby food. To be honest, I hated dealing with the crickets, and with these guys, I halfway decided that I was just going to try to raise them on CGD. They won't eat every night, but at least one of them eats a bit of CGD every three or four days.
Thanks,
Bill
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