Crested gecko advice for an interested gecko keeper!

[FrazzleRock]

Hi there,

My 7 year old is very keen to have a pet gecko. I have found someone who is looking to rehome their one.

I just wondered about feeding him. We have been told that he eats bananas and live crickets, and that the crickets eat bits of carrot?
Also, he needs to be hand fed as he is lazy and likely to starve to death than feed himself!

Are they relatively easy to look after? Is there anything else we should know? I gather their tank must be kept at a particular temp?

I just wondered if there is anything that we should know before going ahead?

Wow all feeding advice is all wrong! How old is the gecko?
They don't need bugs or fresh fruit they're optional, however they do need a special gecko diet called repashy or Pangea (£10 a month lasts a month or two) , without this they can get really sick something called metabolic bone disease(look it up if you're not sure and then you know what to look for with your gecko)

They need a minimum size viv of 30x30cm base and 45cm tall.They need a humidity of 60-80% so need the viv sprayed at least 2/3 times a day and they should have a cocofibre substrate with orchid bark on top, it'll keep the moisture up and only needs changing every 6-8 weeks at most. They needs lots of foliage on the walls and vines and hiding spaces to keep them occupied. You'll also need a heat mat to keep the temp between 22-28.
I also have cats, a hamster and fish and my crestie is by far the easiest to look after!

Hi Froglou!

Thank you so much for your post. Your photos are great and your crestie looks wonderful! We went ahead and picked our new gecko up last night. He is very lovely. We were given a large bag of gecko bark and he came with his tank which meets the requirements you mentioned above. We were also given a little pot of gecko food which you mix with water to turn into a gel? I don't remember the name of it.

He has plenty of hiding spaces and foliage and tree trunks to climb. We were told to spray the vivarium as you suggested and a heat mat is incorporated into the vivarium. We had it on during the night so he didn't get cold but have turned it off this morning as we were told it doesn't need to be on all the time. Correct me if that is wrong! I'm now starting to worry he'll get cold today while we're all at work.

He is a lovely little thing. His previous owner said they got him from a pet shop where he was clearly not treated very well. He had lost his tail and had a few scratches. They felt sorry for him and brought him home and had him for five years.

We have a cat too, she's not shown any interest yet, but we have told her she has a new brother

Aww good! Yeahs it's like a fruit powder that mixes into a paste? Just make sure it's a complete diet like repashy or Pangea as they can get sick without it, although if he's five I'm assuming it's got to be the right stuff of he'd have started to show signs of MBD by now.

The cocofibre is more important than the bark if you don't have that, cocofibre is coconut fibres soaked in water which swell up and goes kind of like soil,because it's soaked in water it keeps the humidity higher,it's not urgent but if you don't have it just get some for next time, the bark then goes on top.

Unless you're house is always above 21, even when you're out, then don't worry as the viv will always be slightly warmer. If you don't leave the heating on in the winter when you're out at work then leave the heat mat on; summer is when you don't need the mat on, mines usually off between late may and end of September. It's doesn't use a lot of electricity so isn't expensive to keep on.ideally get a digital thermometer so you have a rough idea that it's a good temp.

Tail wise they drop it if they get scarred or if they're fairly nervous mines got caught in the viv door at the pet stop before I got her, which is why she's a drop tail.

Let me know if you have any more questions :)

It's Komodo Complete Diet

Yeah it's a complete diet they don't enjoy it too much which is why they said he doesn't eat much,so when it runs out change it to either repashy which you can get in most pet stores or Pangea from gecko diet online, they're all around the same price:)

Thanks froglou for all of your help! Yuo are a wealth of gecko knowledge!

We tried to give him some of the above food last night but, like you say, he's not that keen! I'm going to order some Pangea and grab him some crickets this weekend.