Hey guys, like the title says I am new to Crested Geckos. I have a leopard gecko and a bearded dragon and have now fallen for crested geckos. I just have a few questions and also would like you guys to critique my list of supplies to be sure I have everything. Ok, for my list:

-cage (I was looking at a 20 gallon tall, is that sufficient?)
-plants and branches
-shelf-liner for substrate (followed by coconut fiber when it is older)
-food dish
-crested gecko diet (that Trex stuff)
-crickets
-babyfood
-calcium w/ and witho D3
-digital thermometer & hydrometer (i don't think that's how you spell it, the humidity thing)


Ok, now for my questions. Do you know of any reliable online breeders? I'm not looking for a specific morph. Also, is the crested gecko diet a replacement for babyfood and crickets, or just babyfood? I've heard a lot about this stuff but I'm not sure I completely understand it.

Thanks in advance for all of your help,

Anna

Your set up sounds good, dont forget the water dish and a misting bottle, lol. I tried the crested diet stuff with no luck. Mine normally ate crickets and mashed bananas with some baby food. You can try www.kingsnake.com for a breeder.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

I'm somewhat new to crested geckos myself but dito with Marsha.
I myself am looking to get a decent priced female for my male. (maybe a first breeding project)

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http://dragcave.net/user/manhirwen

Ive got some crestie eggs incubating at work and it sounds like you have a great setup, and are well prepared...PM me if interested in the eggs

Hi Anna!

A 20g will do fine for one gecko even when he reaches adulthood.

Enclosure and decoration
If you are buying a baby, I would recommend that you keep it in egg crates + paper towels for the first couple of months. It's easier to monitor their body functions that way and also to keep it pristine clean just by throwing all away and replace with new when poop spots are inexcusable.
Later on, when you become well aware of feeding habits and such, you can go full naturalistic if you want or just spruce up the enclosure with fake plants, branches and such.

If you buy a baby, I would highly recommend the use of a moist hide (or "moister", if you take into account their high humidity level needs) easily accessible at ground level. They shed more often and this will help keeping them hydrated.
A plastic cup with a paper napkin is sufficient. Keep the cup secure to prevent it from rolling and the napkin well soaked at all times. Replace it every day or couple of days just to avoid molds and other nasty stuff.

I highly recommend that you dump the food dish and buy a load of those disposable small paper/plastic cups (like the ones McDonalds use for sauce). Since they eat a lot of watery stuff and since most of it goes bad very quick, that sour smell and taste will not come off the food dish and geckos will "inexplicably" turn down the meal after meal because of it.
I keep mine inside small candle holders like these ones, except mine are colored to avoid confusing them. This way they won't turn the cup and I also use them to feed crickets and other non-glass climber insects.

Buy a medium size shallow dish for water. It will help keeping the humidity high and they can also bathe in it. Keep it shallow all the times specially when dealing with babies.

Due to their high humidity levels, you must keep an eye at all times to the humidity levels in the enclosure, specially if you live in a low humidity place, use heating or have AC in your house. An hygrometer is a handy piece of equipment. You can buy a digital thermometer with hygrometer built in.
This lead us to an important issue: heating!

Heating and lighting
Most people won't need heating for their gecko enclosures, either for geographical or special reasons like acclimatized house/room.
They should be kept at mid 70's during the day with a night drop no lower than low 50's.
Personally I've seen mine do much better after I started heating their enclosures during the day. Why? Simply because they take less time to digest the food and get hungry sooner =) It just speeds their metabolism a bit.
A small heat cable or low wattage Under Tank Heater will do fine (depending of course on room ambient temperature).
Beware that they should always be kept below 85 F! Hight temperatures can kill them!

You should add the following items to your list:
- timer + regular light bulb + lamp for day/night cycles or
- timer + ballast + reptisun 2.0 (or equivalent low UVB output tube) for a little more than that.
(there are also UVB lamps that fit regular light bulb socket screws)
Although they don't need UVB (if proper supplementation is provided), this can also help speed up their metabolism and improve their D3 production/calcium assimilation rates.
Anyway, if you plan to keep live plants later on, you should really consider it because they will need it.

Food and supplements
Geckos are not the best chewers I've seen. Mostly they seem to bite the prey once or twice for better mouth placement and then they swallow it. Keep this in mind when you buy them crickets.
I would also stay away from fatter inverts like meallies, waxies, etc until they are a bit older and only then start including them in the diet every now and then as a treat.

The CGD is a complete diet. If you use it, you don't need anything else. This doesn't mean you shouldn't give them anything else, it only means that it's a balanced and complete meal for your geckos because it can replace all other food, live or not.
Get them to eat it from an early age otherwise you might have problems with stubborn geckos as they get older.

I would keep baby food off their diet and give it as a treat sometimes only. They get hooked on it and refuse to eat anything else. Baby food is mainly sugar so it doesn't provide any real nutrition to them.
I've used it for a couple of recipes that worked very well with my geckos like this one. You can put it in ice cube trays and freeze it for later use.

As for supplements, I've mine on calcium and vitamins. You can choose separate products or a 2-in-1 product like t-rex offers, just remember that it should be the 2:0 Calcium/No Phosphorus.
I don't know what you use for your Bearded Dragon but you can probably use it also for your crestie.
I don't see any reason to recommend a D3 supplement if you take your time to give them a balanced diet, supplement their food with the appropriate doses of Ca and vitamins, and keep an eye in their calcium sacs.

Last but not least, get a heavy duty mister. To avoid wrist strains, don't get one of those squeezing pistol like misters but a "pump it for 2 minutes and mist the entire house" model =)

Uuuuff! =)
Good luck! =)

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

welcome to the wonderfull world of Crested Geckos! good luck! sometimes the diet is easy sometimes its not. one of mine doesnt like apricot among other types of fruit

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1.0 Golden Gecko, 2.o Cresties (super dal/ patternless fire)