hello!
i am soon to be the proud owner of a new baby cresty. already seen the rainforest habitat set up for 12x12x18 (in a near by pet store for £55!!!! beats everywehere elses £89! they're not getting any more in so want rid of theirs yippeee) then going to get the 5%uv bulbs (as i want live plants) and the moonlight bulb so we can see him come out at night. also getting a heat pad as we're not sure how warm it'll be in the room so just in case its cold we'll have something as back up (mainly for winter though). getting a digital thermometer too.
i do however have a few questions.
i just read the "omfg emergency" thread about a gecko eating the subtrate (substrate/subtrate? ) and would like to know whats the best subtrate to start out with whilst he/she is a baby.
im assuming impaction is where something gets stuck in their digestive system (ie too big). but once he's bigger what could i use that would be safe? i wouldn't want to be using kitchen towels forever...
also what live plants are safe? i want fake and live ones but dont want something that might be poisenous.
i would defo appreciate some advice! thanks very much

Hiya,

Sounds like you're getting everything you need, don't forget a thermostate though for the heat mat. A heatmat could make it too hot and Cresties really don't do well in temps over 82. (82 is absolute maximum really.) Ideal temps would be 72 to 78 in the day time. Temps can drop to mis 60's at night.

The best substrate for a youngster without doubt is kitchen towel. There is no chance of them ingesting any of this and its cheap and easy to replace. If you were to use a earth like substrate such as Eco-earth when they are young, there is a chance they could accidentely eat some when hunting live food as their coorination is not as good as an adults.

Once they are good at hunting and I would say at least 20 grams in weight then you could chance to a substrate such as Eco-earth. Just make sure it is packed down quite firmly and you shouldn't have any problems.

There is a thread on here somewhere about what live plants are safe. I will try to find a link to it for you. Amy seems to be our live plants expert as she has previous experience with them.

Here we go, should have some useful information on this thread about live plants:

live-plants-t39.html?hilit=live%20plants

thanks!

No problemo

what sort of soil whould i plant them with in the terra? want a natural look to the viv (minus kitchen roll!!!)

hi, yeah that was me who got into a bit of trouble with substrate, i'll say this to you...do not use anything but kitchen roll, its really not worth risking the geckos health, you'll be truely shocked and worried if you see it in your geckos mouth as i did, you feel helpless, as they are so small, and its hard to get it out there mouths. I wanted a natural look, i might have some pics posted on this site of how my tank was at first, it looked nice if i must say so myself , but after that incident i was not risking it again, my crested gecko pair are 14g and 16g, and an accident happened. Its really not worth the risk, luckily i was there when it happened, so again i advise you to NOT use natural substrate, unless however..you dont feed them live food in the vivarium, feed them live food in a faunarium? or a plastic container of some sought, then they shouldnt have any reason to attack the earth. Note: btw im not telling you what to do, i just dont want you to make a mistake like i did, i'm sure u'd agree with me when i say "geckos health is more important than what it walks on" in the crested geckos case anyways, but hey its your call, goodluck with what ever you choose :D

i think i'm going to start off with kitchen roll for the first 18 months or so with him/her then maybe try something natural but not woodchip or anything and pack it right down.
thanks for the advice. but yeah anyone know what type of soil i should use for live plants?

To be honest I'd probably say don't use live plants with a baby just in case they injest the soil. Maybe wait till he/she gets to about 6 months or so before you introduce the live plants? I don't know whether a baby would eat the soil or whether it'd do them any harm if they did, but better safe than sorry, my little guy likes to attempt to eat anything and everything.

Once you do get live plants then I'd recommend going to a local garden centre and getting some natural organic soil that hasn't been anywhere near any chemicals (including added soil nutrients) or insectasides. If your crestie does taste the soil by accident you don't want it injesting anything like that.

Also, you can use some big stones or pebbles (obviously big enough so there's no way your crestie could injest them) and put them on top of the soil in the plant pots. They'll cover most of it and reduce the risk even further of your crestie injesting any soil.

Amy

Thats some good advice there Amy