New crestie to-be owner

[Topaz]

I am getting my first crestie this week and plan on keeping it in a ten gallon on paper towel substrate and move it to a 20 gallon as an adult. I have a question about the cage furniture I need? Whats best?

[newticus]

i use plastic plants, cause they're easy to take out and clean. I also have bamboo sticks and the bendy exo-terra vines. I find the bamboo a little thin for older cresteds, and i only use the exo-terra vine cause i got them for free from work. They are so bloody expensive i would never buy them. You can take stuff from outside as long as it gets baked or boiled to kill off parasites and bugs. I don't know if you have yet, but turn your tank on it's end. This leaves the open top facing you.

[mmichele]

yup i use plastic plants to. i find that exo terra products are the best but as newticus said they are bloody expensive. lol

[little_dragon_]

I think the majority of Crested Gecko owners who use live plants would say pothos are the best plants to keep and maintain. Even with paper towel if you add a couple plants and some corkbard you will have an attractive display. Snake plants are also easy to maintain and provide verticle climbing surfaces. Goodluck!

[HerpAddict]

I second little_dragon_ in that I love using pothos and snake plant. Pothos can be cleaned as easily as plastic plants, you can wipe them down with a damp paper towel, or give them a rinse in the sink. With any tank of mine that has a snake plant in it, the cresteds in it will only sleep on the snake plant, as the like to sleep in the seclusion between two adjacent leaves.

Standing your 10 Gallon on its side is definitely the best way to go, as the more height, the better for these guys!

Goodluck with your new addition-to-be! Post pics if you can get any when he/she arrives!

[Topaz]

ok, so put the tank on its end , what do you use to keep the screen lid on? bungee cords? If I put a pothos plant in and cork bark (I like that idea) do i need a humid hide? I am more familair with leos than cresties! I intend to mist for water and offer the fruit and yogurt smoothie, as well he is currently on GGD which I intend to continue, and use small crickets.
I am hoping my heat of 72degree is good enough?

Thanks so much! I have read some care sheet but nothing really goes into detail about attractive habitats. Does anyone have pictures of theirs?

[little_dragon_]

72 degrees would be okay for a cooling breeding pair. I would suggest a day time temp of 78 for a growing crested. provide a basking spot with a low watt bulb if you can't change the heat in your room. If you have a proper locking lid flip the ten gallon on it's side but if not a 10 gallon standing up right is fine. I don't flip any of mine it's too much of a hassle if you don't have the proper brand of a screen lid. Pothos don't grow very tall, they vine. You might have a problem with the snake plants. Just buy short ones and they will grow in to the top.
I'll post some live set up pics soon. The diet you listed sounds good. remember to dust the crickets with calcium

[little_dragon_]

Here's some enclosure pics. Cresteds love cork bark hollows!!!!


http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/bananaenclosure.jpg

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/enclosure2.jpg

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/babyenclosure.jpg

Baby Enclosure above

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/medium/greyfirehollowweb.jpg

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/medium/doritoNfreckles.jpg

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/medium/redharleybin.jpg

http://www.reptilescanada.com/gallery/data/500/medium/reddalmationbaby.jpg

[Topaz]

wow, those are some great set-ups! I will definatly invest in some plants and cork bark, and I have a spare heat pad, would that work for raising the temp? I have calcium and vit powder on hand for the leos, so thats no problem ;) I couldn't find any puree mango so i bought a real mango, peaches, strawberries, yogurt, banana apple sauce , etc to make the smoothie with and freeze.

[Betty Miskie]

Everything sounds like you are ready for the little one. I don't provide mine an extra source of heat other than room temperature. My heat is basically 72 daytime and down to 66 nighttime. The reason why I don't normally recommend heat is that if you don't know exactly how to provide and maintain, you could do more harm to your crestie as I would believe that they will die from overheating them before leaving them in room temperatures.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Congratulations on your near purchase. You won't be disappointed that you chose a crestie!
Betty

[HerpAddict]

A warning on heat pads with cresties that I have been told is to make sure you have deep substrate if you are using them, as they can super heat or even burn themselves on them if you aren't careful. Cresteds generally don't spend a lot of time on the ground, and as such, I find heat pads not an effective way to heat the air, where they spend more of their time.

Generally extra heat isn't needed for them, the only issue I've ever had is when I had to cring mine to my parent's house last year, and they keep their house at about 64-65F, so it was a little chilly I would say for a constant temperature. In that case I used a simple 40watt incandenscent light bulb in a desk lamp over the cage to give a warmer area that was around 73 during the day (I would turn it off at night).

For now, I would say your best bet is to not put on any extra heat, and just monitor the day/night temps to see if you will need any adjusting.

I could never find mango pulp, and so I always bought fresh mangos, it's no problem! Just make sure they are nice and ripe!

little_dragon_...those are some nice set ups! How big are the rubbermaids you use? I always have a problem with cork bark, as the crickets eat it and make tunnel networks in it and hide from the cresties! I don't know how to avoid this, and especially when the crickets have wings, I find that they sit and chirp in the bark for all eternity!

[Topaz]

lol, Amanda, Crickets are evil like that... I can picture you taking the bark out and shaking like mad trying to dislodge them as they sing...

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will keep a thermometer and just watch the temps for the first few days to see if i need anything extra.

[little_dragon_]

The bins are 72 Quarts , 24x20x16h. The crickets face certain death when entering my Cresteds favourite Hollows. lol Try feeding your guys less crickets to avoid unwanted critters after feeding.