new crested geck owner many questions

[cy246]

1. I currently have 2 juvenile geckos and i got them about 2 days ago. I was just wondering what feeding cycle everyone is doing. Yesterday night I dropped about 4 crickets in, and when i woke up this morning there was no sign of them, so I am guessing that my geckos ate them . And I always leave a dish of CGD on the side, but it looks like they haven't made a dent in it -__- should I be worried?

2. For my substrate it came with Coconut bark, should I change the substrate to paper towel or anything else?

3. As for my enclosure I do not have much stuff for them to climb yet. Would getting branches off a tree outside be safe? Do i have put them in the oven to kill any germs etc?

4. When should i feed them the dusted calcium crickets, also how many times do you feed them crickets.

5. How many times should i be misting? I currently mist at noon and at night around 8:00 I also have a dish of water for them.

Here is a pic of my enclosure:

 

[AllGeckos]

1. I currently have 2 juvenile geckos and i got them about 2 days ago. I was just wondering what feeding cycle everyone is doing. Yesterday night I dropped about 4 crickets in, and when i woke up this morning there was no sign of them, so I am guessing that my geckos ate them . And I always leave a dish of CGD on the side, but it looks like they haven't made a dent in it -__- should I be worried?
No it can take sometime before they start to eat it, but they will.
2. For my substrate it came with Coconut bark, should I change the substrate to paper towel or anything else?
Personally I do not like the paper towels as holding humidity is hard with out mold. Your coco bark looks fine but you might consider changing it anyways if you don't know how old it is.
3. As for my enclosure I do not have much stuff for them to climb yet. Would getting branches off a tree outside be safe? Do i have put them in the oven to kill any germs etc?
Yes it is safe to use from outside but like you said must be sterile and a oven is a great way to go about it
4. When should i feed them the dusted calcium crickets, also how many times do you feed them crickets.
Juvies I feed nightly dusting a couple times a week. Juvies will eat cricket a lot more often than adults.
5. How many times should i be misting? I currently mist at noon and at night around 8:00 I also have a dish of water for them.
Well that depends on your humidity. My humidity here in Missouri is usually pretty high therefore I only mist once nightly to provide water.
When I lived in Arizona I misted 3-5 times a night/day just to stay up
Here is a pic of my enclosure:

Your tank doesn't look half bad, but like you said more climbing would be nice. In the far right corner is that CGD? If so seems like a lot I use gatorade caps and fill em up. My two young adults will finish that in a night.

I am by no means a Crested gecko expert so please continue to ask questions and there is plenty of reading that can be done on this forum.

Don't forget about the search function either plenty of good info around.
Looking over your tank again looks pretty good on the bottom end you can add some bend a branch to aid in climbing.

Also you said you dropped in 4 crickets I would add more make sure they are the right size for your geckos (must be smaller than geckos head size)
I would also watch the geckos after you drop in the crickets if they leave any behind I would do your best to remove them as they will eat toes.

If you are seeing gecko poo around they are eating!

I hope this helps you out please feel free to re ask anything I was not clear on or any new questions. Hopefully other member will jump in and offer up more advice!

Ok now my question where are some pics of the geckos? =]
Best of luck to you!

Edit: I have a cork slab like yours thats leaning up front. I put mine in the back flat against the back glass the slight curve gives them a nice place to hide and sleep.

 

[cy246]

Thanks for the advice, and yes that it CGD, i should cut down the amount i put in? How many crickets would you suggest i put in?

My geckos are behind the plants that's why they are not in the picture

 

[AllGeckos]

Well It depends how big they are really I let them eat a lot. I would say one alone depending on size can easily eat 5+. Now that mine are older I feed them a LOT less crickets than I did. I offer them cgd with a cap per gecko and change those out every other night I don't offer crickets.

It seems a trend that younger ones do not eat as much cgd as they will as adults. It is still good to offer it to them they will start to eat just a little you might be able to see some foot prints. You can also try to offer it to them on your finger tip or a q-tip if you prefer. None of mine have ever refused it from there. Tap their nose with it and they will lick it up!

Edit: Oh yeah, You can leave the cgd in the cage for a few days depending on mold. They sometimes seem to like it to age a little.

 

[cy246]

just got home and i see foot print in my cgd what branches should i get for my geckos any tree branch is fine?

 

[kiwigecko]

I use oak branches from the tree in my yard (although you probably can use any type of branch) because the small limbs have relatively smooth bark which makes cleaning off the gecko poopies really easy and it looks natural in the cage. I tried using grape vines but their bark peels and its extremely hard to clean which sucks since it looks beautiful in a natural/semi-natural setup. We have a medium-sized yard with a large wooded area so I can usually find a variety of branches quite easily.

To disinfect I scrub the branches with soap and water, then put em' in the oven or boil them in a pot of water if they are small enough.

 

[cy246]

ahh ok thanks, im going to go tree branch hunting tonight, my geckos are in need of places to climb.

 

[darkridder]

You cant just go outside and pick sticks up and put them in your cage. Remember anything from outside will have parasites on it and you dont want to introduce that to your gecko. You will need to sanitise them. If they are not super barky or flaky you can bake them at a low temp for 30-45 min. You can also boil them if they are small enough, or you can even freeze them, although the first two methods are more of a sure fire way to sanatize the branches.

 

[cy246]

I'm going to be washing them with soap and water than baking them in the oven before i put them in.

Also When i looked at my geckos this morning i notices one of my ggeckos upside down is it normal for his tail to be like this:

 

[AllGeckos]

Upside down in a normal sleeping position the tail is not IME.
The gecko looks really dark...Are you sure its not another rach? Are you temps in the dank ok?

 

[cy246]

What is IME? My temp is at 74 Farenheight

 

[darkridder]

if you look at the tail you can tell it is a crestie. If every now and again sleeping like that is fine. But realize if your gecko is sleeping like that on a regular basis you dont have enough decor in your tank. When decorating you want to try and cover all 4 walls with plants to ensure your gecko doesnt sleep this way as this position if slept in too often can lead to floppy tail syndrom

 

[cy246]

here is my new and improved enclosure

 

[darkridder]

doesnt look bad but I would try to get a few more fake plants on there, when building a cage you want to try and make almost all of the sides of the tank covered with plants bcause more then likely this is where they will sleep durring the day, if they dont like their options yor gecko may sleep upside down under one of the plants which long term can cause fts

 

[AllGeckos]

So how are they doing? =]