seting up for a crested gecko. any thoughts?

[oneluckydude]

Hello all, I am in the process of introducing a crested gecko into my family and I have been doing tons of research. the set up I'm working on is a converted gun cabinet measuring 4 1/2ft high by 20inch wide and 12inch deep. I'm thinking of using drift wood from the beach ( wich I plan on wiping down with a mild bleach solution) 1 fake ivy plant, green reptile carpet for the floor, a 12" uva uvb floresent bulb and a 25 watt red heat light. I plan on geting a few fake hanging plants and I would like to plant a realy ivy so it can grow up the drift wood.

WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS??? if I have learned anyhting in this life it is that no mater how much research you do you cant beat experience.

So if anybody here see's anything I could add in or should keep out. please let me know. all I want is to have a very happy and some what spoiled little crestie.

thank you very much for your time.

[totheend]

That is quite the crestie mansion you are building!!

How old is the crestie you plan on buying? That cage is overkill for a baby and he or she won't be able to find the food. Babies need smaller spaces. Even for one adult.....you may never find them in there!:Wow:

For a cage that big you could use more plants. More plants=higher humidity. And cage carpet is crap. Because cresties need higher humidity try using something like plantation soil. Aso not sure what material the cage is but it needs to be able to handle the humidity.

Do you have a pic of the cage?

[siz]

That cage is far to big for a baby but would be great for an adult. Cresties are nocturnal so they don't need UV light, also don't use the heat light, their temps are 70-80f, 80f being the MAX, mid 70s are best. The only reason for a UV light would be if you were growing plants.
Put more than one plant in there, they usually hide in them during the day to sleep. They also like thos BioVines, corkbark and fake flowers that they can climb into and sleep. I could probably take a couple pictures of my setups if you'd like.
For baby cresteds, do NOT use ANY substrate, use paper towel. You could use cocofibre or something when they get quite a bit older but paper towel for babies.
What will you be feeding them? A great and simple way is feeding Crested Gecko Diet (CGD). This is a meal replacement powder (MRP) made by Repashy, it also comes in bottles by T-Rex. It comes in two formulas. The first is a one part powder that you mix with water. The second formulas comes in 2 parts, the base (with all the calcium, vitamins, and other good stuff), and the nectar (this is the flavour, there are 10 different flavours.) I like the 2 part because it gives my geckos variety, they seem to enjoy it much more. All you do is mix it up and you can leave it in there for one or two nights.
Although CGD is a complete meal relpacement, it is better IMO to add crickets to the diet. You must make sure they are gutloaded (fed well before feeding - what goes into your feeders goes into your gecko) and dusted with a calcium supplement with added D3.
You need to mist your gecko to keep the humidity up. I find they drink water drops off of leaves more than from a bowl. Humidity should be around 70% but not all the time. Allow the enclosure to dry out between mistings. You'll probably just need to do it twice a day or so. Remember they sleep during the day so make sure to mist them at night when they wake up so they can have a drink!
Those are the basics! Let me know if you need any more info :) Crested gecko care is really easy once you get the hang of it, and cresties are great!!!! I love mine! The entire Rhacadactylus family is awesome :D

[oneluckydude]

before I begin I just want to say that my this browser has no spelling check so please excuse the horible spelling.

thank you both very much for the information. to answer both your q I will start with totheend.

to answer your first Q I'm not quit sure what age I'll end up with. all I know is that I want to start with a female since I dont want to breed and I plan on adding two more down the road. I do have a 30 gal tank in my garage though so if I do have a baby I will keep her in there. as for the plants I would realy like to have some kind of climbing vine that would grow up the drift wood. I also have a dwarf bamboo that I will keep outside untill it grows a bit taller so it can handle my geckos activity (very thick and great for hiding in.) I'm also going to order two or three 20" long fake hanging plants. now to answer your last Q the former gun cabinet is made of wood and though I'm sure the sides will handle the humidity I might have to add somthing to the back since its just one of those prested cardboard backs that come on cheep entertanment centers.


now to answer your Q Siz.

to start off I would love to see some pics of your set up. every time I try google image I get the same old picture.

now as for the food. I was planing on taking advantage of the fact that my son is starting baby food and form what I read crestys like the fruit type. I also thought about geting one of the powder diets you metioned and trying crickets wonce every week to two weeks.

as far as misting advice gos I have to say that your information might have saved me form my first big OOPS! I didnt even think about what time I was going to mist and probably would have done it during ther day. So wonce again thank you for that.

now to ask one more question, would a flying geck do well with a cresty and would 20" be a wide enough teraruim?

[oneluckydude]

:):):):)......

[siz]

Baby food is bad. It's a fairly common misconception. It has nothing in it that is healthy, it is just sugars. Even mixing it with the calcium powder doesn't really improve it. Many, many geckos have develpoed Metabloic Bone Disease from eating baby food, and even baby food and crickets.
Go with the CGD. It's super easy and it's proven to result in healthy happy geckos:) Don't even bother with the baby food.
Don't house them together. I'm not sure on the exact care requirements on a flying gecko but cohabitation is definaltey not the way to go whether their care is similar or not. I'm pretty sure flying geckos don't come from New Caledonia anyway LOL.
I'll take some pics for you today

[oneluckydude]

thank you again for the advice. I dont see why wed site dont update there information on pet care, :no: but than again thats why I started posting here in the first place. as for the flying gecko I got that information from the east bay vivarium yesterday. they told me that even though these little guys are cute they can be highly teritorial with differnt breeds. thats fine with me since it just mean I get to have a socond prodject after this one:yes:. thinking about converting the kind of huch most people use for there good china. I see them at good will all the time. than again I might be geting ahead of myself.:crazy:

[oneluckydude]

Well hello again every one. its been a little while, but I wanted to wait untill I had this mostly put together.


the fake ivy is mounted to a corner shelf I installed, the other two fake plants are hanging from a piece of drift wood I cut down and gos about 3ft up the side. there's going to be a real fern growing in a pot I caulked into a hole in the the floor and the lighting is a 2.0 uvb bulb and a red 40watt bulb for night time. I will be drilling two 3inch holes in the side for ventilation later. the floor will be covered with a organic composed<-- (no its not poop, its ceder.) and will be about two inches deep. the gun cabinet is w20"Xh4 1/2' X d12" any thoughts are appreciated!!


http://i643.photobucket.com/albums/uu157/oneluckydude26/0713091833.jpg

[siz]

Cedar is toxic. Don't use it. A good substrate is EcoEarth coconut husk, or if you are growing plants, a good thing to use is a mix of soil, peat moss, and sand. Make sure there are no fertilizers or toxins in there. If you aren't hellbent on aesthetics, paper towel makes my life soooo much easier!\
Something to consider is putting more perches in there, especially horizontal ones. This can help prevent the development of FTS (floppy tail syndrome). This doesn't really affect the geckos much, they get a floppy tail lol but it only really affects breeding females mif their pelvis warps..I can explain FTS a bit more to you if you'd like but it's not really a bug deal. But yes, more perches lol. It's knid of hard for me to see the pic.
I promised you I would post my setups and I will do that now.

edit...except my camera is dead!

[oneluckydude]

So I took another look at the compost and thank goodness its not ceder after all. the brand is ceder grove composed. its an organic recycled mix for the garden. the website is cgcompost.com, I'm gonna check it out right now and see if I can get an actual list of ingredients.

EDIT.....

so I looked at the website and here is what I found.

Pacific Northwest recycled brush, branches, leaves, grass clippings, produce trimmings, and small amount of wood waste.


Nutrient Value:
Guaranteed Minimum Analysis: Compost, 1.10-0.40-1.10



Total Nitrogen (N)...................................1.10%
1.10% Water Insoluble Organic Nitrogen*
Available Phosphate (P2O5).................0.40%
Soluble Potash (K20).............................1.10%
Calcium (Ca)...........................................0.5 8%

Derived from: Pure Compost. No additives
*1.10% Slowly available nitrogen derived from compost.

now just a reminder, I'm still very new at this and this kind of information is not easy to find. so I would like to thank you all for being very helpful and patience with me on this journey.

that being said please let me know if any of the above information raise any red flags.

on a side note. would those repto-vines be good for adding more perches, and how many more do you think I should add? I know the picture isnt the best, but I can tell you theirs about three perches coming off the driftwood. I really don't want to treat anymore wood. that was a huge pain!

thank you all again for the great advice.

[siz]

That mulch sounds fine I think, Im not 100% sure if it's ok but like I said I think it's fine. The only thing you should be aware of is if there are any larger pieces (I saw you said branches and stuff were in it) if your gecko eats any it could become impacted.
Those repti-vines are awesome. My geckos love love them. I am also on GU and I saw youe post there, and for some reason I could see the pic better. Your enclosure looks really good. Maybe put some perches nearer the top. I find the geckos alos love bamboo, if you can get your hands on some, you can cut it to lenght and use it for perches. I do this in my enclosures.

[siz]

here are some pics of my enclosures. The first two are in a converted wardrobe.
You want to have about equal hiding space to 'empty' space - room to jump, hunt etc. I use paper towel substrate and fake plants. The first two are in a converted wardrobe and are each big enough for a pair. LOL now I have nowhere to put my clothes but I have plenty of room for geckos!
I'm going to point out some of the key things I have going on just to give you an idea, although yours already looks pretty good.

http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq220/siz_05/camera084.jpg
This is my favourite one. Bamboo perch, lots of paper towel hides, corkbark to hide behind, vines, some thick foliage but plenty of room for hunting. This little guy loooves to sleep in the flowers, it's cute.

http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq220/siz_05/camera085.jpg
Lots of foliage, bamboo perch, hide on the ground, paper towel hides high in the enclosure. A few branches thick enough for her to sit on comfortably. I plan on putting a potted plant in there for her.

http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq220/siz_05/camera086.jpg
I find the geckos LOOVE paper towel rolls. They don't look too slick, but if you are low on hiding places, put them behind plants and such where they can't be seen. There is a big one behind the flowers here, plus there is a hide on the ground. This guy always hangs out in his rolls.

http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq220/siz_05/camera087.jpg
This is my chahoua's tank but I thought I'd throw him in too. He is currently missing one of his plants in this pic but you get the jist. Lots of corkbark, he loves the vines, and the paper towel roolls. I really find all my geckos use them and they make great horizontal resting spots. here is a hlaf log on the ground for him to hide if he feels like hanging out down there.

[oneluckydude]

Thank you so much for the pictures! this is really going to help me figure out were to put the perches. I'm also rethinking the live fern since that would cover up the rest of the bottom space. by the way. how far can these little guys fall? like I said this thing is 4 1/2 feet high on the inside and I dont want my gecko to get hurt if my perch is to high.

[siz]

They are fairly hardy. I doubt he would simply fall for no reason...and if he does, his stickyfeet always catch him hahah. Half the time they jump without looking where they are going and catch themselves at the last minute lol. It probably wont be a huge problem with the fern covering the bottom, Im sure your gecko would like hiding in there but it will be a huge pain to clean poop out of it, and you would need to make a ledge to put his CGD on.

[rpmurphey]

If you are using soil one easy way to combate the cleanup problem is to seed your tank with woodlouse(rolly pollies) and springtails or any other debris eating bugs. I use this in my frog tanks.

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp142/1981rpmurphey/firstvivwithsuperblues.jpg

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp142/1981rpmurphey/CIMG0898.jpg