question about my first crestie

[TimC]

Okay, I recently got a small crested gecko from petsmart and have some concerns about him.  Nacho is small, perhaps for or five inches from snout to tail.  He is living in the medium exo-terra tropical terrarium (18"x18"x24").  His home is misted a few times a day and the humidity ranges from 50% to 70%.  After his tank was set up he was given a day to settle in and then he was given a bowl of water and a seperate bowl with rapashy (sp?) mixed as per the bottle.  However, there never seems to be any gecko diet missing when the bowl is checked.  Is his home too large for him?  Is he not eating anything?  Being concerned, we got him some small crix which he greedily gobbled up.  I have had him perhaps a week and a half now and he has eaten 6 small crix, but doesnt seem to eat his gecko food (unless he eats so little i cant notice what he ate).  What can I do to make sure he is eating his rapashy?! i have read everywhere that is the best for him and so i want him to eat that.  should i mix some with some baby food and try that?  petsmart said they feed their geckos baby food and gut loaded crix.  i dont mind feeding crix, but want Nacho to get his nutritional needs.  should i just keep feeding gecko diet and assume he is eating it?  Would really appreciate any advice/recommendations! 
Thanks,
TimC and Nacho

[bad-one]

That cage is a bit larger than I'd use for a small fella like that,  perhaps move him to a smaller kritter keeper type container until he/she is feeding.

If they fed him  baby food he will probably be hesitant to eat the CGD (baby food is like candy to crested geckos). The best way to deal with this is tough love. Don't give him anymore crickets, just keep offering him a bowl of the CGD and occasionally dab a bit of the stuff on his lips so he gets a taste for it. Keep that up until you start finding poop in there and see food disappearing. A healthy gecko won't starve itself.

Once he is feeding consistently you can go back to offering crickets 2-3 times a week as long as Nacho eats the diet as well.

Goodluck with your little one! They are very fun geckos to keep. Pictures are always welcome... :p

[TimC]

Just as an update, last night before bed Nacho went for a hand walk and when he was placed back in his home (near his food bowl) he walked over to it and sat on the edge for a few minutes.  I watched in suspense to see if was going to climb away or examine the contents of the bowl.  finally he moved and looked to see what was in the bowl.  It was then i saw his/her little Nacho tongue zipping in and out as he lapped up the CGD!  I am going to keep up only the CGD for a week to make sure Nacho has a taste for it and then drop in a couple crix as a treat.  Thank you bad-one for your suggestion and I will try and get some pix of Nacho up soon as I am wondering what morph/pattern he has (maybe he is too young to tell?).

Oh, I was also wondering how communal/solitary cresties are.  Should I get a second, similar sized crestie friend for Nacho or do they prefer to be alone.  Would love some thoughts/opinions on this is people know!  Thanks again.

[architeuthis]

Most reptiles prefer to be alone, and for now, I think most people here would tell you to keep Nacho by himself, his stress level will be lower that way. As adults, cresteds can be kept communally as long as they aren't males. Males should always be solitary unless you are trying to breed, in which case you can (temporarily) house them with a group of females. Females can be kept together in a big enough cage, but have to be monitored to make sure bullying over food isn't happening. I weigh my animals every few weeks to make sure no one is losing weight and about to take a nosedive. Many times reptiles will not show symptoms of a problem until its too late, but weight is a pretty good indicator of health.

[bad-one]

Congrats on Nacho eating! Sometimes they can be fussy about CGD, I had a couple young ones that wouldn't eat for a week after having crickets because they hoped to get more. So for now I'm not offering crickets until they are very well established on food.

We can tell you what the morph is now, so post pics!

I will second that they get nothing from companionship. There is nothing wrong with communally housing young ones and females, you just run the risk one animals getting nips (particularily tail nips) and bullied animals eventually being starved/stressed to death if not caught in time.

[Spyral]

Don't house males together, but if you end up with a female, you can house her with another female of the same size. Also, you need to be prepared to quarantine the second one in another enclosure for at least 30 days before introducing them. Never put geckos together without a quarantine period!

[kitten]

I always worried too much about pairing mine together for anything other than breeding after I realized I had a bully in my first two females being housed together. It might be better to stick to one til you have room for an extra cage rather than risk the bullying, just in case! I've never really noticed a positive attribute to housing 2 geckos together (unless they're breeding!), so there might not be anything to gain from the company...that's just from my own experience/opinion, though!

Even with breeding pairs, I don't house them together year-round. I tend to separate them for two to three months after the female lays an egg, just to give her a bit of a break (and him too, most of my females aren't always fond or overwhelmingly tolerant of my boys!).

[inkling13]

It does depend on the individuals.  I bought a pair of females last year that came to me housed together and I tried separating them after a month because there was a 10g difference in their weight and I thought I noticed some nips on the smaller one.  However, after a few weeks of separation they were actually both losing weight so I put them back together and they started gaining weight again.  So they are happiest together and thats how they'll stay.  On the other side of things I tried introducing them to Una, a solitary female, and Una immediately grabbed one by the tail and wouldn't let go so she will stay solitary.  So if you want to give co-habitation a try its worth a shot but you better have a second cage on hand in case they don't play nice with each other.