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Malalol posted:I'm not sure what animals are still mostly wild caught, most vendors at shows and occasionally pet stores will have the 'cb' label but many do not and the sales people probably give no fks about knowing. Its usually either animals that are difficult to breed but can still be imported (such as the uroplatus genus) or animals that it is just less expensive, in general, to import WC rather than breed (uromastyx).
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Jan 19, 2012 03:01
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To add to your write up on UVA/B, Pardalis, I would also link to this guide: http://exo-terra.com/download/lighting_guides/Exo_Terra_Lighting_Guide_EN.pdf Yes, it has plugs in it for exo-terra lighting products, but it has good information in it about the differences between specific bulbs, a good basic explenation of the differences in light, and explains why some people feel nocturnal herps should have at least some form of lighting. Additionally, petmountain.com usually has the best prices for bulbs, even better than lllreptile. http://www.petmountain.com/category/286/1/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs.html I would also add in a section on calcium with the lighting, as it is tied to it. Essentially, anything that gets dusted food and is diurnal should be fed calcium without vitamin D as they get the vitamin D from the lighting and too much is bad. Nocturnal herps should get the calcium with Vitamin D because they do not get the vitamin D from any lighting you provide. Vitamin D is necessary to process calcium, and if the nocturnal herps do not get any or enough they are going to get metabolic bond disease. nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jan 19, 2012 |
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Jan 19, 2012 13:30
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The Repashy calcium plus is fine. That's the same stuff I use for my rhacs.
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Jan 19, 2012 19:59
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Speaking of obese animals, crested geckos should not have double chins or look like they can barely hang on to a branch like this one does.  Reptiles can definitely get fat and overeat if you let them, or force feed them like some people do.
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Jan 20, 2012 04:10
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RumbleFish posted:What's the general rule of thumb with housing geckos together? I'm assuming that keeping more than one male in the same cage is a bad idea? I'm very interested in leos and cresteds, and while I wouldn't mind just keeping one by itself, I have the space to spare for a group setup (provided it isn't a terrible idea). It depends on the species, what your goals are, the space, and the layout of the vivarium. What is space to spare? You likely need more space than you think you do, but again it depends on the species, how many geckos you are aiming for, etc. There is also an article I posted in the old thread about building a naturalistic vivarium for leopard geckos for a multi-gecko enclosure that you might find useful: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?goto=post&postid=365382019
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Jan 22, 2012 03:04
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Before you put animals together remember you are doing it because you want to, not because it is better for them. Make sure you do it right. they need a large amount of space and ample hiding spots. The key for housing multiple cresteds is size of the animal and size of the tank. You can (not necessarily should) house multiple male or females together. The most important factor in preventing fighting is to monitor weight. The geckos should not be more than 1 or 2 grams apart in weight. If there is a disparity greater than this there will be bullying and you will have an unhappy and unhealthy gecko(s).
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Jan 25, 2012 17:20
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Cultured Snail posted:When I do planted tanks for cresteds I like an inch or so of hydroponic balls on the bottom for drainage, topped with nylon screen, topped with organic soil mixed with a little sphagnum peat (broken down by hand to remove the chunks they might ingest but not be able to pass) and earthworm castings. I'll add in some isopods and redworms to help break down the soil and poop, and some people introduce springtails as well. Do you get your clay hydroponic balls online or locally? If online, do you have a good source? I need to get about 20-25gallons worth and am trying to find somewhere with a decent price for that quantity. I know they are out there but I haven't had time to shop around.
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Jan 27, 2012 15:02
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Yeah, I think I will have to try and source them locally as well :/ They are all going into this 315 gallons worth of gecko space:  building thread is here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3448362
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Jan 27, 2012 15:53
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Yup, those are it. I need 8-10 bags of that size. I know I can get them cheaper than that and in larger bags, just need to look around. edit: something like this would work fine as well, and is probably what I will go with if I don't find something better or less expensive.: http://www.amazon.com/Viastone-Expanded-Clay-Rocks-liter/dp/B001IA8YI6/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1327678687&sr=1-3 nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Jan 27, 2012 |
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Jan 27, 2012 16:36
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Does anyone here had a successful experience with leachies and live plants? This has always been an issue, and the only plants that keep coming back some larger bromolids like aechmea fasciata and pothos (because nothing can kill pothos!  ) I did find some more useful links in my searching this time, like this: http://neherpetoculture.com/geckoplants.htm and this: http://www.geckotime.com/a-primer-for-planted-vivariums/ and I emailed the guy at NERD, as listed at the bottom of that first link, for recommendations on plants for larger geckos. I would still love to hear if you or someone you know has a leachie viv with live plants and the leachie didn't go all  to the place after a few weeks.
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Jan 29, 2012 14:40
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For the leachie curious, Mike Siavrakas of NERD wrote me back about some plants for them. "Sansevieria plants once established will hold a leachianus, but growing them to that point is time consuming, unless you buy them large. Hoya carnosa can stand up to some abuse too, but it needs to be well mounted and again well established before adding the geckos. Another would be Monstera, but those grow to massive proportions. Well established would be about 1 month give or take a week depending on the plant species. Some mosses take 2-3 months to acclimate! Sansevieria would grow roots and steady itself in about a month, though."
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Jan 31, 2012 23:48
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If you just want to keep dart frogs I think either of those are fine. If you want a really nice looking vivarium I think you would be better either building your own or tearing those down and redoing them. Whoever built those only went half way.
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Feb 1, 2012 20:37
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My geckos have taken to staring at me while I am in their space working on building their new home. Its kind of creepy having 10-15 pairs of eyes on you while you do something, following you as you move around. One of them in particular likes to get in these weird sitting positions and just enjoy the show.  
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Feb 3, 2012 14:15
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Craigslist can provide some unintentional humor on occasion. I tried listing some Chahoua hatchlings on there once which didn't go so well. Apparently everyone on craiglist things all geckos are either leopard geckos or cresteds. One of the replies was this:craigslist posted:just got 2 harliquin cresteds for 70 dollars y r urs soooooooooo high? All I could envision after reading that was a bunch of geckos smoking up.
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Feb 6, 2012 15:42
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You can get them both from http://www.neherpetoculture.com as well, though they are out of isopods till March. You actually want to avoid organic soil if you can. I'll be covering substrates, microfauna and such in a post in the gecko condo thread in a week or so once my plants get in and I can take pictures post planting. Springtail care (they eat fungus, you should feed them yeast) http://www.neherpetoculture.com/springtailcare.htm nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Feb 9, 2012 |
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Feb 9, 2012 08:04
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I think you need to slow down a bit. 48 hours ago it seems you didn't have any herps but a (possibly) a green tree frog. Now you have 4 and are picking up a 5th tomorrow and are asking some basic husbandry and housing questions? Are you getting them all off of craigslist? this hobby can really quickly become just collecting animals if you let it, but that isn't good for you or them. Back up a little, manage what you have for a bit and handle them all properly. Wait a couple months so what you have can go through quarantine and you can make sure its healthy. Especially if you are getting them from a place like craigslist. you could be getting animals with health problems that could infect the others you have, as well as neglect the sick ones because you are spread too thin. Do you even have a herp vet that knows what they are doing? Herp care isn't cheap when you need it.
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Feb 19, 2012 10:47
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It's just a little alarming to see someone post questions about basic husbandry after they have animal. That really should be something taken care of before you get the animal, not after. This hobby has a lot of people who get in fast and get over their head and its always the animals that suffer for it. You have to call it when you see it. That said, please do ask questions you have and people will answer them as they can. No one wants to drive you out of the thread or anything, but we have to raise flags.
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Feb 19, 2012 15:02
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Speaking of, would it be normal for a little 4.5g gecko to develop portholes that late? I know patterns change and all, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy. The little flame is slowly getting perfect little white round dots, three each side, in a little line. They are not going to fully settle into their final color scheme until at least the sub-adult stage. A 4.5g crested is still technically a hatchling, even if it is several months old. I am not certain about portholes specifically, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could still come in as the gecko grows. Dalmatian spots certainly can appear as the gecko ages.
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Feb 24, 2012 16:32
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How many crickets do you go through a month? Back when I used crickets I would order 1,000 a month and it was cost effective. Its hard to get amounts smaller than that and have it be worth the cost with shipping and all, however. You could also start a B. Dubia colony, which is what I have been doing the past 5ish years. A lot of people don't like the idea of keeping roaches but really its the best thing ever as far as live food for insectivores go. Low maintenance, no smell or noise, etc.
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Feb 28, 2012 18:24
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OneTwentySix posted:There's a couple of ways to do a cave-kinda tank. You can make an expanding foam style thing like Nesbit's gecko tanks. When it starts to harden, put some lightweight rocks on it; it works really well if you have some sticking out as ledges. I did this with my tank, but I don't really like how the covering of coco-fiber or whatever ends up looking, all patchy. And it's a lot of work. I don't think I have posted since completing the how-to, but the gecko condo thread now has a how-to for the foam type backgrounds (it is on page 2). As OneTwentySix mentioned, there are a lot of ways to do backgrounds for your animals. The foam is my personal favorite because it is light weight, no worry for collapse, quick, and relatively inexpensive. It also looks pretty organic on its own without you having to do much. The downsides is it can be a bit messy when making it, and you need to stay on it when adding the cocofiber because it can get patchy or look screwed up if your timing is off with the application. There is no right way, just pick what you feel comfortable with and think will work best for your application. Better yet, try all the methods you can find online and then try to invent a better one!
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Feb 29, 2012 15:09
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Shachi, I meant to give you a longer answer last night but got distracted. I have to head to work soon but just wanted to say that cresteds are awesome, but if you really want to try your hand at breeding them I have a few suggestions you figure out before you get into them. This is mostly because for the most part the crested market is saturated, and when breeding anything you need to have a plan on what you will do with offspring. One crested female can have over a dozen offspring in one season, and if you are breeding for specific genetic features you are only going to want to keep a couple of those animals as holdbacks to reach your goal. -Identify a pattern/color/physical feature etc. you want to try and attain. This should ideally be something that has not been successfully achieved yet and that a large group of people are not currently going for. The "hot" pattern now is going to be picked up by everyone and offspring with similar characteristics will be everywhere until the community gets bored with it. -Figure out who will buy your offspring. Do you have a local pet shop that will take them? Do they treat their animals well enough and have a knowledgable staff you are comfortable selling them to? Are you ok with the price per animal they will offer? Do you have a website you can list them on and are you willing to take the time to take quality pictures needed to get people to buy your random 100% red pinstripe dalmation over the over 50 sites with them? -Space. You mention not wanting to keep them in tubs and that is great, but realize a lot of people keep them in tubs because (1) these guys are like herp crack and you want to buy them all and (2) they breed like rabbits and you will soon have more than what you know what to do with. -Time. It adds up, cleaning dishes, feeding 2-3 times a week, cleaning cages, changing paper towel, helping shed... This is fine for a handful, but be ready for lots of geckos to care for if you breed -Food. Are you ok with keeping a B. Dubia colony? If not, are you ok buying and keeping several pounds of rhepashy crested gecko diet? The roaches save time and money, help the geckos grow quickly and are healthy for them (if you feed the roaches well). The rhepashy food for a couple geckos is fine, but you start getting past a handfull and you will be going through 4lb bags of the stuff every couple months. Even faster if you don't feed roaches. I gave up cresteds for several of the above reasons. I still love rhacs and am only working with them, but I choose to focus on less prolific species. I focus mainly on Chahoua, which you are lucky to get 1 clutch per year out of let alone two, and they take at least 2 years for the females to reach breeding age. I have some leachies I may try to breed, but though they have more offspring per-season they take even longer to reach maturity. I have one trio of gargoyles which I plan on breeding this year but I am not expecting to keep any of their offspring. They also seem to be a bit easier to move than most cresteds at the moment. Whatever you want to do, cresteds will be very rewarding. Just make sure you know why you want to get into breeding and make sure you can handle all of the things that come with it. If you want to try your hand and pairing animals to get certain physical genetic outcomes then cresteds are great. If you want to make money or just have baby geckos once in a while then cresteds are terrible.
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Mar 8, 2012 14:23
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Big Centipede posted:Ahh... cresties, gargoyles, chahoua, leopards, fat-tails, and viper geckos are good choices. I am not sure I would put viper geckos on the list of most handleable herps just because of their size. The others are all good candidates. Even leachies cool down once you get them out of their cage, but be prepared to be nipped and hissed at till you get them out of their home.
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Mar 12, 2012 17:49
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Vipers are very hard to find right now. There just aren't many people breeding them, and when they do they seem to offer them for much higher prices than they used to be.
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Mar 13, 2012 00:27
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Crested geckos need very little in the way of dry goods which is so great about them. If you just want basic care guides I would stick to some internet sites, most breeders have a care sheet up on their site. If you want nice pictures and more info on the geckos and their natural habitat then there are two books I would recommend, though neither of them is cheap: Rhacodactylus: Biology, Natural history and husbandry Rhacodactylus Complete Guide to their selection and care For sites I would recommend you check out the rhepashy forums and pangea forums as two good places for general care information. I know you have breeders in the UK because I see them pop up once in a while, but I couldn't name anyone specific. There are a good number of people who work with rhacodactylus in N. Europe and Germany. This isn't exactly close to you, but if you have problems finding things in the UK and it is possible for you to do a little travel you could head to the Hamm show in germany. Its one of the biggest reptile shows in the world and one advantage to it is that a lot of US breeders will sell their animals online and then ship them the Hamm show for their European customers to pick up. I don't know all the specifics, but I think it just works out well for everyone when it comes to import regulations, tarrifs, etc. http://www.terraristikahamm.de/
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Mar 13, 2012 12:33
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Fraction posted:Thanks for the recommendations for sites/forums, I'll definitely check them out. The books are a little out of my price range though! If nothing else you should look at the shows website. It might be a good way to find breeders at least in Europe if not the UK. I could be totally wrong, but I imagine it would be much easier and less expensive to get an animal shipped to from another country in Europe than from the states or Canada.
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Mar 13, 2012 20:48
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Looks great, Shaci! Just be sure to have a hide in there, I know you were looking to get cork tube or two. Glad I could help, just wish I could have done more with your questions on the cresteds but it has just been too long since I have paid much attention to their current market.
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Mar 23, 2012 20:59
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Cultured Snail posted:[Bugburger] works fine but gets expensive if you're rearing an entire B. dubia colony like I am. Stuff is gone in minutes. Would work fine for smaller numbers of bugs though. I have anecdotal evidence that people like it for feeding breeding colonies of microfauna, specifically the larger isopods most of you know as potato or pill bugs. For larger insects (in physical size or quantity) it could definitely get pricey.
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Mar 29, 2012 18:11
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My geckos are participating in an academic study at a local vet school and they gave me a bunch of the xrays they took of them. I know I found them fascinating, and figured some of you would like to see just what geckos look like on the inside as well!  Gravid Chahoua   Male Chahoua   Female gargoyle   Female Leachie   Male gargoyle with regenerated tail On the gravid chahoua you can see how she is pulling calcium from her bones due to how dark the middle of them are with only a thin bright white wall. She should be laying those eggs very soon. nesbit37 fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Mar 31, 2012 |
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Mar 31, 2012 12:47
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Cultured Snail posted:Yeah, those are some really nice shots, thanks for sharing. I like the difference between the non-regen tail garg and the regenerated tail. Lots of waving going on in that female chewie's tail though, hope she is OK! She'll be OK. They get like that every time they mobilize for eggs. It seems to be harder on them than many other geckos because they put so much calcium into the shells. Next year I am going to see if she will take a season off for me.
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Mar 31, 2012 16:19
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As long as you are upfront about the eyes and make sure the person knows what they are getting I don't see an ethical conflict.
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Apr 2, 2012 14:23
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rear end Crackers! posted:My crestie died today Sorry to hear that, it always sucks. As recomended, take the body to a vet for a necropsy if you can. How old was the gecko? Did you notice any behavior changes? More lethargic? distended belly? Sunken eyes? Extra dry? Was it passing feces? It can be really quick with herps sometimes and there isn't much you can do. If they get a bacterial infection they can go into sepsis and be gone really quickly.
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Apr 11, 2012 13:10
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I don't know what happened, she's been eating fine and even shed last week. I feel terrible about it. I just bought her new vines to climb on too.
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Geckos love drama. They crave it and are always looking to gossip about what is going on. When bored they fabricate their own.
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May 10, 2012 03:56
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^^^^^Coco fiber on its own does not have enough nutrients to sustain plants long term.Malalol posted:Alright, whats a good substrate for growing plants in a terrarium that isnt super expensive and specialized? I'm not going hardcore into difficult plants but I'd like to give simple ones a shot. I know you don't want anything specialized, but you are going to have to either make a mix or possibly compromise the health of your animals. There is more details on that in this post: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3448362&pagenumber=2#post400661376 If you just go with something like coco fiber or another neutral substrate the plants will generally not last very long. If you go with organic soil (mixed with coco fiber or otherwise) you risk contaminating your animals with unwanted microbes and other fauna. That soil is usually mixed with manure, and I know one guy that used organic soil and then had dozens of millipedes popping up in his vivarium after their eggs in the soil started hatching. If you don't want to pay for a good vivarium mix you can make it yourself, but it might take a little leg work. It depends on how good the hydroponic stores in your area are with their inventory. For lights, any old light will do if you just want something for the plants. For color reasons it is generally a good idea to go with a florescent day lamp, which also is in the 55000 to 65000 range that plants seem to like best. That said, you can go with a different light if you like. You don't need to worry about getting a bulb that emits UVA or UVB for the plants.
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May 10, 2012 12:12
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I'm under the impression that it doesnt have a lot of fertilizer though.
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Malalol posted:But yea I can't actually find any GIS images of a grey crestie that matches this guy so I'm wondering if it'll colorchange as it gets older. They came in super tiny but its been about 2 months and its quite a lot bigger now. Or its just in shed, I'll see in a few days and probably be disappointed. Also interesting is how much variation there is in their snoutlengths. Dont know if a stubby face or long face is considered "better" I wouldn't fully trust the colors of any crested hatchlings. They change too much as they grow and almost all look really red until they hit at least the juvenile stage. Some features, like dalmation spots, continue to develop through sub-adult hood. As just mentioned, pretty adults tend to make pretty geckos so you can go that route. For a color guide, the morph guide on the rhepashy forums has a good listing of colors as well. I believe there is one on Pangea forums as well. One of the breeder websites, I believe it is Katie's Cresteds, used to have a good example of all kinds of colors and morphs as well. I can drag up links if you can't find what you need. It is kind of hard to separate morphs from colors in a guide format just because people like to show how they play off of each other. There are certain colors, like green and blue, that just don't exist in the crested color palate.
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May 30, 2012 13:25
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Fyi if you have a good exotics vet they are most likely going to give you a prescription for calcionate syrup and recommend a lightweight 2.0 UV bulb for the gecko so it can absorb some rays (and vitamin D) in the early morning/dusk when they normally come out in the wild. The syrup is super cheap. the last time I needed to get some for a laying female it was $0.37. I bring this up because I was talking to my vet about calcium absorption and she feels strongly that even nocturnal herps don't metabolize Vitamin D well from their food. She cited this below study that their skin has instead evolved to be more sensitive to Vitamin D absorption from the sun to compensate for their decreased exposure time: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...j5ndywF9LET__1w
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Jun 23, 2012 14:33
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Cowslips Warren posted:The heating is what attracts me in the first place, but I'm just leery about having poo poo like this delivered (a few reptile people we know have had their collections stolen) and I'm in a constant state of debate about it. Having a rack system would be great for all the sand boas, the hognoses, but on the other hand, I wouldn't really get to see the snakes that much more. Racks are great, especially if you are not worried about display. They do make management a lot easier. IMO there are 3 reasons to build over buy 1. Cost - Gecko condo is essentially a display "rack" that cost me 1/4 the price to build than it would have to buy it. This might not be as important in a $200-$300 rack system but I certainly factored it in when looking at $3,000-$5,000 displays. 2. You just love to build stuff. 3. You want something that isn't commercially available. Either size, features or aesthetically. For basic collection management this probably is not an issue.
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Jul 25, 2012 16:40
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Cless Alvein posted:So I'm the market for either a Crested or Garg Gecko. Either would be fine since I like both. I was planning on flipping a 10gal tank on its side for probably a year before I moved him to a bigger tank,but while searching around for a place to buy a Gecko from I came across http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/complete-crested-gecko-terrarium-set-up.html . Is that deal good as good as it seems or is there something I am missing that I should be a bit more leary off. Cuz ~$160 for an entire setup seems amazing seeing as the cheapest Gecko they have would set me back ~$120 and other sites it would probably be around ~$100 For buying new stuff it isn't terrible, but for the dry goods you can get that stuff for much less on craigslist if you are not in a hurry. I picked up 2 of those same tanks for $50 total a year back from someone who didn't want to keep geckos anymore. You don't need the repticarpet, water conditioner or thermometer. The cage furniture stuff is fine, but you can go and use whatever you like for that. As for the free gecko, it depends what you want. If you don't care what the crested looks like and you just want one as a pet then it will be fine. If you want some choice in the matter or are looking for something specific then you should look elsewhere. You also may be able to get one from a local breeder for $20 or so. I don't know your time frame, but I have some gargoyle eggs incubating, though I am not certain what I will be doing with the hatchlings. Depends how many make it out. I know at least one other person was breeding gargs in the thread, was it Mushroom Spore?
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Jul 28, 2012 16:43
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Leachies are much more look but don't touch, though. I like mine in general, but I enjoy the smaller rhacs, particularly chahoua, much more. To each their own.
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Jul 31, 2012 14:09
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Apparently Chahoua are no longer Rhacodactylus. Phylogeny  Revision of the giant geckos of New Caledonia (Reptilia: Diplodactylidae: Rhacodactylus)
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Aug 1, 2012 16:31
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Those little Agricole are neat. I would like to branch into them and Viper geckos, but of course that is in conflict with trying to restrain collection growth. Sometimes its a good thing when a species is more than you want to pay or hard to find. I just know some day i will run into them at a show for a reasonable rate and that will be all she wrote.
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Aug 1, 2012 20:43
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