New Here with a couple questions

[little_dragon_]

Hello,
I have had 2 cresties since july 6th...both were about 2months when I bought them. I have them housed in a 25 gallon tank. 30X12X17H...I use coco substrate for the bottom. My plants include Potho's, Joesphs Coat, An Umbrella Tree, A silk Palm and and an unknown plant I have in the middle. It has a thick bark trunk. With a set of leaves sticking out either side, it's tropical. Might be a cane plant. I use some of those EXO Terra Vines...they like to climb on them. I want to buy 2 more. I am hoping that I will end up with a male and a female. I think my buckskin one will turn out to be female, it eats baby food unlike the other fire morph.
The are about 6 inches long, still small looking though. They Eat about 6 half Inch Crickets a night. And The One will eat baby food once or twice a week. What happens if they both turn out to be males in a couple of months? I known that I will have to seperate them but would they attack each other, instantly? They have a lot space and they always hang out together. I will be buying two subadult females probably at the sept reptile show. I will house them in a 20 gallon 24x12x17. Does anyone use screen cages? I want to purchase some but I haven't found a Canadian Manufacture. The American Companies have a lot of nice ones but they are to expensive to ship and with the exchange. Thanks

[Youkai]

Do not spend extra money on subadult females. Anything under 10 months old is a gamble at best, as many males develop late. I've had 9 and 10 month old 'girls' suddenly turn into boys.

I raise all of my young cresteds separately to avoid the problems you may be adressing in the future. If they are both males, they might not fight right away, but that is also quite a gamble. Also, if they are of opposite sex, the female may wind up breeding too young, which could be quite harmful.
Your best course of action would be to seperate them as soon as you can.

I tried screen cages, and found that, at least in my area, I was unable to keep the humidity at a proper level for them.
I believe many Canadian pet stores sell Reptariums. They are all screen, and seem to be well made. But again, I found humidity to be an issue.

[little_dragon_]

If I divided my 25 gallon into 2 with a peice of plexy glass, would an area of 15x13x17h be enough space for a growing cresties?
I could remove the glass after I determine their sex

[CDN-Cresties]

That sounds okay, I used coconut subsrate before but one day i saw my cresty choking on it after he lunged at a cricket, I highly recommend that you switch to paper towel, thats just my opinion :D Good Luck!!!

-Steve-

[HeatherRose]

I saw some really nice screen cages at Petsmart the other day :)

They're nice and high, but a bit pricey in my opinion. The smaller one was probably about the size of a 20-gal on it's side, at about 50$.

I used the coconut substrate and moss and it often got in my cresties mouth when she caught a cricket, and it'd just be hanging there for a while :P I'm sure it's not a huge problem, they don't get paper towel substrate in the wild after all....

I switched to Repticarpet, it's easier to clean too :)

Math hates me, but If you divide a 25 gal in half, you've got over 10 gal for each crestie, which is fine....

1.2 can live happily in a 20 gallon tank, but I wouldn't suggest putting 2 males together ...:)

[CDN-Cresties]

I used the coconut substrate and moss and it often got in my cresties mouth when she caught a cricket, and it'd just be hanging there for a while :P I'm sure it's not a huge problem, they don't get paper towel substrate in the wild after all....

This is true, they dont have paper towel in the wild, snakes also dont have fresh killed or frozen/thawed rodents neither. But we use these methods because they are safe.

I have read post on cresties dying because they have choked to death on substrate. This is why i try to encourage people to use paper towel because it is much safer. If you do insist on using coconut substrate or somthing similar, use the bowl feeding method, this will elimate the risk of you cresty choking. Sorry to get all preachy but i dont want to have any of these amazing creatures to die because of such a reason. :D
Thanks

-Steve

[Aaron_S]

Originally posted by crestie
This is true, they dont have paper towel in the wild, snakes also dont have fresh killed or frozen/thawed rodents neither.
-Steve

I do think your analogy lacks a bit. Snakes would eat a dead rodent if they came across it in the wild. Well that is if the dead prey item was still identifiable to the snake as potential food.

Another analogy would me....it's true they don't use paper towel but then again where will they find a jar of baby food in the wild and be able to open it?

[CDN-Cresties]

My analogy was to display the dangers involved in feeding a capitive snake a live rodent and compare it to the risks of a crestie choking on substrate. :D
Thanks

-Steve-

[little_dragon_]

I had a boa for 5 years always feed her live prey...she never encountered a problem once. My cresties at first were getting cocobark in their mouths, they'd spit it out. Now they are excellent hunters and pick off the crickets without touching the substrate.

[CDN-Cresties]

I had a boa for 5 years always feed her live prey...she never encountered a problem once

Wow, what would you do if the rodent bit your boa? Why do you run the risk of injury to your snake?

I made the swicth because i personally saw my cresty choking on it, and im not willing to risk the life of my cresties.

Thanks
-Steve-

[little_dragon_]

I'm not sure, It was raised on live prey so I just kept it that way. I feed it dead rats a couple times but it wasn't as interested.
Plus my snake had a lot of space for its size. It easily ambushed its prey without any problems. Plus it gave her something natural to do.

I understand why you switched over I like the natural looking cage, if I see any real big problems with the coco I will switch over.

[CDN-Cresties]

Rodents usually bite when they are being coiled. A friend of mine fed live prey to his burmese, and it almost cost his burmese an eye. Its your boa and its totally up to you but seriously consider the way you offer food. :D
Thanks

-Steve-

[little_dragon_]

I no longer have my Boa, I had to sell her because I was going away to school. She was my first snake, If I get another someday perhaps I'll feed it dead prey.

[Aaron_S]

I don't know how you fed your dead rats to your boa little dragon. But the best way to get it to feed would be kill the prey item then using tongs of course dangle the prey in front of it or on the ground moving it so it looked alive. That way your snake would think it's alive.

Crestie,in the wild a baby crested would most likely spit out a piece of substrate if it was big. If it was rather small like a little bit of dirt then it would most likely swallow it and I don't think it would have a problem digesting a small bit.

[CDN-Cresties]

Im wasnt talking about digesting it, i saw my cresty CHOKE on it and I have read other posts of cresties dying because of choking on substrate.
Thanks

-Steve-

[alan]

I use paper towels as substrate for my cresties because they are cheaper and easier to care for. Maintaining a naturalistic looking cage may be important but safety should be a concern too. I am sure many of us have swallowed fish bones before and are okay after that, but I heard stories where people suffer injuries or even die from that. The chance may not be great, but it can still happen.
However, I think as long as your cresties have learnt how to aim at food properly, it should do fine with the coconut substrate. :D

[D Healey]

I to would agree that if you have baby cresteds to use paper towel to prevent choking from occuring however i personaly dont i use coco substrate as i find it keeps good humidity and my crested like to bury themselfs under it.TO each there own i suppose.Thanks Doug