The reptile show where I was not going to buy anything...

[Fallupinreverse]

I ended up coming home with a crested gecko. He's absolutely adorable and I just couldn't pass him up. I named him Liet (Pronounced Lee-et, cool points for whoever can name where that name is from) and will get some pictures soon. I didn't want to take pictures today because the reptile show was a little over an hour away and I do not want to stress him any more than necessary.

He's a juvie, and I've got him set up in an 8 gallon tall tank for now. Definitely seems to be an appropriate size for him. I'm a little concerned as to the amount of plants I have for him, however. I've got two of the Exo Terra jungle plants that stick onto the cage, both Croton (I'm assuming that's a type of plant? lol) one small and one medium. It doesn't take up nearly enough of the cage for my liking, and I'm a little afraid that it's not thick enough for him to hide and feel secure in. Should I be concerned about this? I know most reptiles require a nice secure hiding place, so I would imagine cresteds would as well. I'm planning on going out tomorrow and picking up at least one more good plant for him.

Also I'd like to go ahead and ask for any further newbie crested advice that you may have for me. I've got a fat tail gecko, a king snake, and a ball python, so I'm not a complete novice to reptiles, but I am not afraid to say that I am new to these geckos, and I want to make sure that Liet is as happy as possible!

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[DarthGekko]

Dune?

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Of course! By far one of the best sci-fi series ever. 100 cool points for you

 

[Thromgar]

Awesome name. One of my favorite novels of all time.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Thanks! But as much as I love Dune and the name of my gecko, can we get back to talking about his enclosure please?

 

[Chewbecca]

You can put as much as you want in the tank.
If you bought the suction cup/hangy vine/plant things at the pet store, chances are, it's safe for your crestie.

You can also buy branches or sticks or some suction cup bamboo (my cresties, chewie, and garg LOVE their bamboo), and put those in his cage as well.
Or even cork bark.

Do you have food for him?
We need pictures.
I have no idea how many inches tall an 8 gallon tank is.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

I'm not so much concerned about how safe the plants are so much as if they will provide enough cover for my gecko to FEEL safe.

I do have food for him. I bought some MRP powder and also have some crickets that I have for my fat tail gecko that I will be feeding him occasionally.

The 8 gallon tall is about the height of a 10 gallon, just not as long.

I'll try and take some pictures, though I've only got my camera phone lol.

 

[Chewbecca]

If you buy some bamboo, cork bark, or various other branch-type deals or vines, at a pet store, place them in between the leaves in slants (or better yet, look for some with suction cups), then your little guy will have MORE than enough hiding spots.
I have my little cresties in with bamboo, leafy vine thingies that I got from Michael's and rigged up myself, in Kritter Keepers, and they are perfectly content.

 

[Chewbecca]

Also, I meant pictures of your crestie.
Sorry, I couldn't care less about your enclosure for him. When you keep most of your baby cresties in KKs, all you do is get enclosure envy when someone posts pics of something else.:main_laugh:

Heh, as soon as mine get bigger, we're building our own enclosures.
I keep my little ones in KKs (and then once they're eating and pooping consistently for me, and make it past quarantine, they get temporarily caged in a taller, clear sterilite container) until they get bigger.
But, all of mine are still babies.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Alright so I took a few pics. It's a camera phone so the pics aren't the greatest, but you'll get the general idea.

Here's the enclosure:

That's a paper towel roll that I cut off and put in the middle of the tank horizontally to give him something to climb on in the middle of the tank. It's a temporary thing that I had laying around.

Oh and btw I'm using Fluker's Terrarium Moss as bedding.

Here he is in his plants:

I think these plants have leaves that are way too small for him. I really didn't look at them closely enough when I bought them . Might have to get whole new plants.

Here he is in my hand, to give a better close-up of him:

It's not a very good picture, because as I said I'm using a camera phone. I also did not want to keep him out too long and try and reposition him in crazy ways to get a good picture.


I'm almost certainly going to hit up the pet store tomorrow and find some better stuff for his enclosure. Not very happy with it at this point.

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Lol yeah, I almost got a baby crestie, but I just couldn't stand the idea of keeping them in a KK. I really don't like KKs, they bother me a lot for some reason, at least when it comes to housing my pets in them!

 

[DarthGekko]

No Sandworms in there so I'd say he'll be okay

 

[acpart]

I have a hide that I put on the bottom of my crestie's enclosure so he has a place to feel completely safe. He uses it frequently and sometimes also wraps himself in the leaves of his plants. I have a planted tank, but I got one of those bendy vines and use it as a place for the plants to climb up. Right now Spencer is sitting on top of his hide looking out at the living room like he owns the place.

ALiza

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Good idea Aliza. I put a hide in there for him, it also was good to push up the leaves on one side of the enclosure to give him some more space.

I just tried to give him some food via a q-tip (as I've seen people try and do on here before) and he didn't take to it. But I put some in a water bottle cap and hopefully he'll eat some out of there before too long.

 

[Chewbecca]

i don't remember what the vine leaf thing was called that I bought for my first crestie's enclosure.

Chances are, your crestie is going to spend most of his time on that leafy vine.
I would find some more things that are vertical.
You can use a paper towel roll (but you'll probably change it often because it'll get wet when you mist the cage), but stand it up.

If you have a saw, you can always buy natural bamboo at a craft store (make sure it's natural, and not the dyed stuff) and cut it up at lengths you'd need.
I cut mine at lengths I need, and I simply slant it in there for mine to climb on.

Good luck!

 

[Fallupinreverse]

So I went to the pet store today and bought a vine and a big thing of Pothos vine/leaf thing. I put them both in there and the cage looks pretty sweet. Very jungle-like lol. I think I may need to trim down the pothos eventually, it takes up a whole lot of the cage, but for now I know he will definitely feel secure and be able to hide lol. Should I be worried about too much clutter in his cage?

He seems to be spending most of his time in the hide that I put in there, but we'll see how he likes his new vine/leaves. I don't think I need to be worried about a gecko in a new environment wanting to hide, right?

 

[Fallupinreverse]

Also I wanted to ask about feeding. I tried to feed him last night by placing some of the RHP on a q-tip and placing it in front of his face, even dabbing a bit on his nose to get his interest up, and he didn't take to it. I then put a juice bottle lid in the cage with the RHP in it for him to eat at his leisure. It's hard to tell if he ate just a little bit or not at all. At what point should I start worrying about him eating?