Meet Moab!

[OpalAndZayde]

Hey everyone! I recently took in a Crested Gecko male. I need help figuring out his morph, age, and if his set up is okay.

he is on Pangea Papaya food


also, my bearded dragon, Felix, saw him from the other side of the room, and figured it was a female beardie... heh and then his beard went black, and on with the head bobbing XD

 

[CooperDragon]

He is cool looking! I don't think I've seen one that color before.

 

[Claudiusx]

I've never really been a fan of geckos but he looks really cool actually! I like him

I know a few other members here own geckos so hopefully they will answer your questions.

-Brandon

 

[HippieLizards]

Hello,

I've got to say that he is absolutely gorgeous!! :love10:

So I'm thinking his Morph is called a 'Moonglow' morph I believe? It looks most like a moonglow so I'm guessing that. Although taking a closer look at his eyes he might even be an albino, it's hard to tell, but either way he is absolutely beautiful.

He looks like he's around 1-1.5 Years old to maybe even 2 years old or so to me.

But I do notice some problems with your setup unfortunately.
Here's the main problems:

•It's WAY too bare bones. Geckos (cresties especially) Love dense foliage with a lot of places to hide in to really feel safe and secure.

Also If their tank doesn't have enough climbing things and foliage in it they can develop a condition called floppy tail syndrome, which is when a gecko doesn't have enough things to climb in their tank so they result to climbing on the walls and sitting there upside down, in which (if they have tails) their tails and tail joints (and I think hips as well) weaken a bunch, so their tails will just flop over their heads and it is quite painful for them.

So I'd say get as many like fake plants and foliage as you can find, clean them off, and then put them in the tank and style and decorate it to how you please.

•Crested geckos don't really need lights. - And it can actually hurt their eyes as well if left on for too long, Cresties are nocturnal, Meaning they're most active at later times typically when the sun is down. And so therefore their eyes are more built to see in lower light levels. They do just fine on the lights in the room that his tank is in.

In the entire year and a half I've had my crestie she got really stressed when I had actual overhead lights on her tank, But she does great with just the outside light that sort of shines in, because in where crested geckos originated from the foliage was very dense and not much direct sun shined in much.

•The tank is a good size for the most part, but it is probably actually too big for him because of how small he is still. And also Crested geckos need Vertical tanks rather than horizontal tanks. Because cresties are tree dwellers and rarely come down to the ground, they almost always thrive much more when living in a vertical tank.

So I'd recommend downsizing it a bit actually and maybe getting like a exoterra vertical tank like maybe the 12x12x18" or even the 18x18x22". But honestly in my opinion the size of tank you've got currently is just not suitable for a Crested Gecko I'm afraid.

•What is that odd sand-like thing on the floor? What type of loose substrate is that?

So those are the main issues I could tell from with the setup. So my advice change the tank to a vertical one that's a bit smaller, Add much more foliage, and get rid of the overhead lights.

This is an example of what Crested gecko tanks should look more like:
View media item 60740It's not the best photo, but it still shows it rather well. That was an old photo of my old setup, I changed it up a bit and took out a few plants and such earlier this week.

But now, How is your husbandry?
Like what do you feed him?
Do you feed him insects? If you do what kind?
How often do you mist/spray the tank?
What do you give him for water?
How often do you clean the tank?

Sorry for the long post lol, but good luck on your Crestie!!!
Gizmo, My crestie says hi
View media item 60918View media item 61039

 

[HippieLizards]

Also, I just took a closer look at his photos and he seems rather skinny and dehydrated, so I'd definitely spray/mist the tank more often, make sure he gets hydrated, And then start giving him more bugs more often as well with his Pangea food.

But it also looks like his eye is damaged, almost as if it was punctured or something at some point? They also look very sunken in as well, so I'd keep a close eye on that eye and his hydration.

 

[OpalAndZayde]

Thanks for responding! Yes, so heres the story.

He came in a 12x12x18 Exo terra, the whole top was melted and sunken in, with little wires sticking down through the roof, they where pretty sharp, so I imagine thats how his eye was cut/punctured.

they had old dried out food on a spoon for him, and 2 plants. He was extremely skittish.

I moved him into his new tank, and there wasn't enough coconut husk for the whole bottom, so I used some spare reptile carpet. : :roll:

I went to the pet store the next day, bought a new plant, more bedding, 2 little ceramic food dishes.

I will post an update picture as soon as I can.

anyway, one dish I use for his Pangea, and the other I used for insects, which I normally just give some pill bugs.

I know he eats, since I feed him at night, I woke up, and I could see little tongue trails :lol:

He has a little water dish, I see him dipping his head in drinking every once in a while haha

I mist him twice a day, and see him licking the tanks walls, and himself

I'd really hate to have to move him back into his old tank, as he looks so huge in it, compared to this tank.. like, the tank is 2x the lenght of him wide and long, and only 2 1/2 tall. he has like no room to move around.

He is very handable now, and he is active at night. His little 65 watt bulb burnt out, so I just put an old 35watt fish tank light above him, since without it his tank would probably be around 65F. Anyway, it is a red light, I don't know if it will hurt his eyes, although he seems more active with it, rather than the other one, that was a white light. He likes to hide in an old plant from his old tank. Although he is quite the explorer, and acrobat hehe. I think he looked a bit on the skinny side to, and I do think it improved a bit, since when I got him. I got him 2 weeks ago. The scab thing on his eye has disappeared, but his eye looks a bit dry still, But he licks it, and looks a it better now.



Also, at night, he seems to get a bright moonglow, but during the day, he is more of a green/moonglow Bi-color or something.

He is a very fun boy!

 

[HippieLizards]

Thanks for responding! Yes, so heres the story.

He came in a 12x12x18 Exo terra, the whole top was melted and sunken in, with little wires sticking down through the roof, they where pretty sharp, so I imagine thats how his eye was cut/punctured.

they had old dried out food on a spoon for him, and 2 plants. He was extremely skittish.

I moved him into his new tank, and there wasn't enough coconut husk for the whole bottom, so I used some spare reptile carpet. : :roll:

I went to the pet store the next day, bought a new plant, more bedding, 2 little ceramic food dishes.

I will post an update picture as soon as I can.

anyway, one dish I use for his Pangea, and the other I used for insects, which I normally just give some pill bugs.

I know he eats, since I feed him at night, I woke up, and I could see little tongue trails :lol:

He has a little water dish, I see him dipping his head in drinking every once in a while haha

I mist him twice a day, and see him licking the tanks walls, and himself

I'd really hate to have to move him back into his old tank, as he looks so huge in it, compared to this tank.. like, the tank is 2x the lenght of him wide and long, and only 2 1/2 tall. he has like no room to move around.

He is very handable now, and he is active at night. His little 65 watt bulb burnt out, so I just put an old 35watt fish tank light above him, since without it his tank would probably be around 65F. Anyway, it is a red light, I don't know if it will hurt his eyes, although he seems more active with it, rather than the other one, that was a white light. He likes to hide in an old plant from his old tank. Although he is quite the explorer, and acrobat hehe. I think he looked a bit on the skinny side to, and I do think it improved a bit, since when I got him. I got him 2 weeks ago. The scab thing on his eye has disappeared, but his eye looks a bit dry still, But he licks it, and looks a it better now.



Also, at night, he seems to get a bright moonglow, but during the day, he is more of a green/moonglow Bi-color or something.

He is a very fun boy!

Hello again,

Ok yeah if that's the case with his old tank then definitely do NOT put him back in it. The wires probably are what caused his eye problem, So I'd say in the meantime he should be ok in the tank, and maybe If you wanted to you could flip it on its side so he'll have a huge vertical tank.

I did that with Gizmo and her 10gal for a while until I was able to buy a 12x12x18 and it worked pretty well. View media item 60681(the lid was only taken off for the photo fyi)

Ok, That sounds good, but I'd recommend not feeding him pill bugs because I'm not sure how safe it is to feed him those, And I'm also not sure how nutritious they are, I'd recommend feeding him small crickets and dubia roaches.

Ok, that sounds alright, I'd recommend maybe upping the mist to three times a day, I would do once in the morning once in the midday and once at night. Because cresties Love a more humid environment and if it was rather dry most of the time it wouldn't be good for them.

For the lights however I would just get rid of the lights completely, especially the red bulb. It messes up with their nocturnal patterns too much and can hurt his eyes even more especially since he already had the eye problem from the start, which is good that the scab is gone too.

65F is a bit too cold, I'd recommend trying to keep it more around like 70F to 75F. In their natural habitat it is more warm and humid, And they thrive best at around those temps. If you're struggling getting to that temperature I'd recommend getting a good heat mat like the ultratherm type I believe their called, but if you get a heat mat you MUST buy a thermostat for it so it won't overheat your Gecko.

Also, This channel/playlist has a lot of really good crested gecko care info, I learned a lot in my first few months of owning Gizmo from it and it has helped me a ton so it might help you as well.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS9BN8VEnxX_5sKfFLIHAW8kmfgW2T3hO

Good luck on Moab!

 

[OpalAndZayde]

So, I got up and made some modifications on his tank:

How does it look? And for more coverage, what plant did you use in your photo? I'm going to try and get a heat mat also.

Here are some cute pics:

 

[HippieLizards]

So, I got up and made some modifications on his tank:

How does it look? And for more coverage, what plant did you use in your photo? I'm going to try and get a heat mat also.

Here are some cute pics:

Looks pretty good for now.

Actually I did some research and heat mats aren't ALWAYS the best but if you do get one you just buy a thermostat to go with it so it doesn't overheat your Gecko.

The plant I used to use in my tank which was the only live plant I had was a Golden Pothos I bought from lowes, They're really easy to care for and they grow quickly, I just never managed to have much luck with it. But A golden pothos would fit in nicely with the tank.

Also aww, He's looking good!
View media item 60448

 

[OpalAndZayde]

Wow! he is adorable

I was thinking of putting the heat mat on the top of the tank (since it's glass).

I am going to get a Golden Pothos as soon as I can.

I ran out of food for Moab, and I can only get it on Amazon, which would take time, and its rather expensive.. I was thinking of using a recipe for my own food?

I think its Strawberry, Kiwi, and Banana, with unsweetened coconut yogurt, some honey, and bee pollen, freeze it, and thaw a bit to feed when needed. Here are some other combo's

Papaya, Banana, Mango, Strawberry,

Guava, Strawberry, Banana,

Guava, Mango, Strawberry