Thinking about a crested

[Andy_G]

I'm been seriously thinking about getting a crestie, but I have a few questions about them first.

I know their diet consists of mostly crickets and baby food, but what about that new crested gecko diet? Is it ok all alone by itself? Does it meet the needs of the gecko?

Is there anything that I can feed instead of crickets? I don't like the smell/noise of them and don't really have a place to put them year round that would prevent me and my parents from hearing them.

How are they for handling? Do babies try to scoot or jump off of you?

I know (or think) that they need no supplimental heating, but do they need a UV bulb or do they get everything they need from their diet?

How much will one cost? I plan on buying from a breeder, I don't care too much about colour and gender and would prefer a baby.

[HeatherRose]

YOu can try the crested diet.....I had the pleasure of accidentally eating some on the weekend. *shakes fist* it's nasty, if *I* was a crested gecko, I wouldn't eat it.

You can try other bugs, like mealies or silkworms...mine didn't take to silkworms but loves mealies :)

Cresteds are usually good for handling, but can jump pretty far, so pay attention :)

I don't really want to touch the uv bulb topic, I've had problems with it and everyone gave me a different answer.

For a hatchling, I think you could expect somewhere from 65-100$, depending on the colours...

[Andy_G]

Thanks a lot Heather! Are mealies as nutritious as crickets?

[geckoguy157]

well crickets are probably the best bug you can feed a reptile mealworms are very fatty and should not be kept on a stedy diet of them but as a treat ocasionaly they are good or to fatten up females who have just laid

[ButterBall]

I've heard some good things about the Crested Diet, but even Allen Repashy (the creator of it) has said that Rhacs don't grow as big or fast as they would on a mainly live insect diet. I feed mine live insects (crickets, roaches, waxworms, mealworms) 5 days a week and fruit-flavored baby food 2 times a week.

[Emily-Fisher]

Many people like the crestie diet and many don't. I feed my crestie crickets and apricot babyfood because he likes this the most but he will also eat silkworms, waxworms and newly molted (white) mealworms. He only has a fluorescent light for heating and is fine although supplemented heating isn't a bad idea. I bought my orange brindle flame crestie for $90 because since I work for the petstore where I bought him at, I get to buy all the animals on wholesale but from breeders,a normal crestie is usually around $50 and a designer is usually $150+ my crestie is held everyday and taken out for excercise since I ams till waiting for jack to finish building his proper sized enclosure and I can tell you something...cresties are excellent for handling although they like to run up your arms and stuff :) They are really amazing geckos...my second favorite kind of herp :) I say that you should totally go for one!

[jaymo]

andy,

you can try mixing 2 bottle of fruit baby food with one of the chicken and then supplement that diet with as many insects as you can. However, cresties that aren;t mature must be fed almost exclusively insects. Since it is summer I just go outside on a dog walk and catch a variety of insects for the night (make sure there are no pesticides first). That way you can give them a great variety and you don't have to keep any bugs in the house. You can also keep crickets outside for the summer if you like.

cheers
jay

[ButterBall]

Jay, once again you are polluting the forum with bull crap. You should NEVER feed your animas wild insects not only due to the potential risk of pesticides, but alos because of the naturally occuring micro-fauna in and on these insects. Cresteds are not designed to eat our native bugs and it is risk and unecessary. If you are too cheap to buy insects or don't want to keep them, DON'T GET ANIMALS THAT EAT INSECTS. Its as simple as that.

[jaymo]

I've been doing it for almost 20 years, you need to get a life loser, also I work as a frickin PARASITOLOGIST so I think I know what vectors are able to infect geckos and trust me since there are NO canadian geckos there are no gecko parasites hiding in our insects you dumb-***

get a life and an education

[DragnDrop]

Originally posted by ButterBall
Jay, once again you are polluting the forum with bull crap. You should NEVER feed your animas wild insects not only due to the potential risk of pesticides, but alos because of the naturally occuring micro-fauna in and on these insects. Cresteds are not designed to eat our native bugs and it is risk and unecessary. If you are too cheap to buy insects or don't want to keep them, DON'T GET ANIMALS THAT EAT INSECTS. Its as simple as that.


Gryllus pennsylvanicus, the (native) northern field cricket, and Acheta domesticus, the (introduced) European house cricket, are the most abundant crickets in the eastern United States and Canada and are especially common around and often inside houses. Acheta is reared commercially for pet food and fishing bait. I don't see any supplier anywhere in North America or Europe selling native New Caledonian Cricket species. Following your logic, does this mean we can't feed the available crickets to our crested geckos, or other herps since we can't supply the ones they've evolved to eat?

I understand what you're saying about wild caught insects. There are however, probably millions of good, competent herpers who do catch wild bugs in safe places in the countryside around their towns. It's discussed at length on forums, and there are dozens of websites out there with instructions for building traps and nets to catch the right insects. Dart frog breeders (as an example) go to great lengths to catch wild food for their frogs. Considering the lack of cleanliness in some cricket breeding facilities, it might be safer to use wild bugs than risk feeding pinworm laden crickets, grain mite covered mealworms and salmonella infested feeders from those businesses.

Anyone who feeds wild bugs should be careful to get regular fecals done, and carry through with treatment if needed. But don't jump onto Jay's back for mentioning wild caught insects. They're as safe as many 'captive bred' and in some cases probably much safer.

There are parasites, bacteria and other germs and cooties that can 'jump' to non-native host species. West Nile Virus comes to mind as an example. Our herps aren't safe from native cooties just because they both evolved in different parts of the world. But with caution, wild caught insects can be beneficial. Just think of how many times you've heard or read of captive bred and raised herps who were fed only captive bred insects and still ended up infested with internal parasites.

If you're not comfortable using wild insects, by all means don't use them. If you aren't 100% sure the wild insects are safe to use, free of insecticide and herbicide residue, don't use them. But the fear of parasite load is not too valid, since captive bugs can carry the same loads.

[jaymo]

brilliant!
I mean there are a million and one ways to skin a herp, but c'mon are you telling me you sterilize your cresties cage and food minute by minute? You take a risk eating fish you caught in a lake, you take a risk letting your dog off-leash in a park ... and yes you take risks giving any herp any feeder. By this token why not jump down the throats of people putting live plants with their cresties. Moist soil harbors just as many or many more micro-organisms than a cricket, not to mention mold and fungus. Same thing for wood branches. I've cooked branches from outside in the oven to sterilize them, only to see little insects hatching from deep within months later.
Butterball the more you slam me the more I think you have no idea how to raise a reptile, someone should really conficate yours but right now i'd settle for your keyboard.

here's to healthy herpin'
jay

[jaymo]

did I mention I study parasites as MY JOB???? why would I intentionally try and kill my own pets? I think through my 4 years of studing herps at Uni and then working with parasites at a Uni makes me overqualified to decide what is safe for my pets.
I hope your crestie loves living in a plastic box with paper towels and monotonous crickets, to me that sounds like living in a mental house.

[alan]

what's the differences between a designer and a normal crestie? I know the meaning of the terms but what's the differences between the two? Which colour/patterns is a normal crestie and which ones are not?

[Andy_G]

I have decided to get a pair of cresties, most likely in the end of the summer. I will plan on mixing vitamin powder in with baby food and also feeding them crickets. I coaxed both of my parents to let me keep crickets again by handling a couple banana phase cresties in front of them. I liked handling them a lot and look forward to getting them.

[sara]

That sounds great. :)
Post some pics for us when you get them.