THE CRESTED GECKO "CORRELOPHUS CILIATUS"
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INTRODUCTION
This species of arboreal Gecko was first discovered in 1866 by a French zoologist called "Alphone Guichenot" where it gained its scientific name of "Rhacodactylus Ciliatus" The recent studies of R. Ciliatus has proven that it is Not closely related to the other giant Gecko's, so has been moved to the genus "Correlophus" gaining the new scientific name "Correlophus Ciliatus" After many years of diminishing numbers in the wild and the lack of sightings, the Crested Gecko was thought to be extinct, until 1994 when it was rediscovered on a small island off the SE cost of New Caledonia called the "Isle Of Pines" |
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TEMPERATURE & HEATING
In our own experience we have found that the Crested Gecko thrives in room temperatures that range between "74 - 80 degrees F", we have also found that they can stand night time drop's into the mid to high 60's and still be very active with no loss of appetite or ill effects but we advise to stay at 68 degrees F or above for night time temperature drops.
Any temperatures that exceed 85 degrees F can cause stress which can lead to loss of appetite and weight loss, resulting in the diminishing of the Geckos health and can lead to death, so we advise to keep your gecko's at 80 degrees F or under. We have found our ideal temperatures to be 78 - 80 degrees F but these temperatures are what we have found to work best for Us.
HUMIDITY
Maintaining a constant humidity level for Crestie's is not to big an issue, but we have found that lightly misting the enclosures morning and night will maintain an average humidity level of around 60% between the misting's, highest being around 85 - 90% humidity when misting is taking place and lows of 50% in the times when the enclosure is drying out but most of the time our humidity level fluctuates around 60% and we have had no shedding or hydration problems.
HYDRATION
We provide a water bowl for all our Crestie's even with our baby Crestie's at all times, although we are careful to use shallow milk bottle caps with our baby's to prevent drowning. Too many times have we seen large water bowls (full 0.5oz deli cups) in enclosures for 5 - 8g Gecko's. Adults tend to locate and drink from a bowl with no issue's but again be sure to use adequate sized water bowls. We also mist the enclosure daily and have observed our Gecko's licking the moisture from the sides of the enclosure.
DEHYDRATION
Signs to spotting dehydration in your Gecko's is simple, your Gecko's skin will appear wrinkled and will feel dry to touch, severe cases will also include sunken eyes and sometimes dehydration can also result in a kinked tail. Your Gecko will be very lethargic. Rehydrating your Gecko at this point is crucial.
Here's a few steps to take.
Misting the enclosure and the Gecko directly, Gecko's will naturally lick their eyes to rid any water that's on them.
Place the Gecko in a smaller enclosure with a more easy accessible water bowl.
For more severe cases, placing the Gecko in small critter keeper type tub or faunarium with a very shallow amount of water in the bottom just enough to cover the Gecko's belly and place the Gecko in the tub, this should give the Gecko time to drink and for the skin to re-absorb some moisture, be sure to keep your Gecko under observation while in the tub.
If any of these methods have no effect on your Geckos condition, you must seek veterinary advice.
DIET AND FEEDING
LIVE FOOD: As a breeder and hobbyist we recommend that feeding live food to your Gecko's is a Must.
We have found there to be lots of benefits to having live food as part of your Gecko's diet, for example, faster growth rates, a more active and healthier Gecko, more robust and healthier offspring and a higher egg production along with insects having protein, calcium and essential trace elements theres also the benefit of giving your Gecko's more variety in their diet than just offering MRP
We highly recommend every time live food is offered, that you dust your crickets, roaches' etc. with a calcium supplement and that your feeder insects are "Gut loaded". We use and recommend "Repashy calcium plus and Repashy Bug burger or superload" and we have had fantastic results from these products, but try some different brands and see what works best for you.
We offer Live food once per week, we do this because we have found that our breeder females benefit massively with egg production with a higher amount of live food in there diet.
MEAL REPLACEMENT POWDER "MRP": There are numerous Gecko diets on the market and choosing one that suits you and your Gecko's is simple, "try each one out yourself on your Gecko's" and see how your Gecko's do or do not benefit from each one.
We have used almost every Gecko diet on the market from Clark's, Repashy and Komodo to BPZ and Pangea, and the list goes on.
In the end we chose to use the diets which we have available on our website for the simple reason that our Gecko's benefit from these products massively with general health and also with our breeding program and the Gecko's themselves love them.
With these brands our egg production is steady and egg calcification is great, we was so pleased with these brands that we decided that we would stock them and recommend them to our customers.
We offer Gecko diet MRP 3 nights a week with dusted crickets the other 1 nights leaving 3 nights in the week free from feeding.
OBESITY
Your Gecko's weight is very important especially for breeder Gecko's, over weight females have been known to have low egg production and have a lot of the same health problems that are seen in humans.
Visual signs of obesity in your Gecko will be excess skin or folds around the sides of your Gecko between the front and hind legs and excess skin on the neck, and your Gecko will also look bloated.
You may also see a reduction in feces and your Gecko may have trouble passing a stool but this is mainly in severe cases.
If you have a Gecko with any of the above symptoms we recommend reducing their food intake by half, and take any over weight male and female Gecko's out of your breeding program until your Gecko is at a healthy weight.
The same applies even if your Gecko is a pet, an over weight gecko is a unhealthy gecko.
HOUSING AND DECOR
Crested Gecko's are a very arboreal species of Gecko, they will even sleep stuck to the side of the enclosure, sometimes upside down.
Giving them an enclosure with more height than width is more beneficial for them.
For a single adult male or female we use a "45 Gallon Rub"
With RUBS make sure to add more ventilation as they will not get adequate air circulation.
We kit our Rubs out with cork bark branches and perches and plenty of foliage for hiding, giving the Gecko's security and place to get out of sight if they feel they need to.
We don't use substrates as a flooring in our rubs, we use kitchen towl "kitchen roll" as we have so many enclosures to clean and maintain, it is easier and more hygienic and easier to monitor for feces, however in all our female enclosures, even the females that are not breeding, we place a "dig" or "lay" box filled with moist coco brick in there, as female Gecko's may produce eggs even if they have not been introduced to a male.
You can use more decorative substrates like orchid bark, moss, peat moss or sterilized potting soil, using these will help with humidity but be sure to keep a look out for feces as it will be harder to spot.
We use the Pangea ultimate magnet feeding ledge in all our adult Gecko tanks, these are fantastic, easy to clean and a great decor for your Gecko's to eat and drink comfortably
In our own experience we have found that the Crested Gecko thrives in room temperatures that range between "74 - 80 degrees F", we have also found that they can stand night time drop's into the mid to high 60's and still be very active with no loss of appetite or ill effects but we advise to stay at 68 degrees F or above for night time temperature drops.
Any temperatures that exceed 85 degrees F can cause stress which can lead to loss of appetite and weight loss, resulting in the diminishing of the Geckos health and can lead to death, so we advise to keep your gecko's at 80 degrees F or under. We have found our ideal temperatures to be 78 - 80 degrees F but these temperatures are what we have found to work best for Us.
HUMIDITY
Maintaining a constant humidity level for Crestie's is not to big an issue, but we have found that lightly misting the enclosures morning and night will maintain an average humidity level of around 60% between the misting's, highest being around 85 - 90% humidity when misting is taking place and lows of 50% in the times when the enclosure is drying out but most of the time our humidity level fluctuates around 60% and we have had no shedding or hydration problems.
HYDRATION
We provide a water bowl for all our Crestie's even with our baby Crestie's at all times, although we are careful to use shallow milk bottle caps with our baby's to prevent drowning. Too many times have we seen large water bowls (full 0.5oz deli cups) in enclosures for 5 - 8g Gecko's. Adults tend to locate and drink from a bowl with no issue's but again be sure to use adequate sized water bowls. We also mist the enclosure daily and have observed our Gecko's licking the moisture from the sides of the enclosure.
DEHYDRATION
Signs to spotting dehydration in your Gecko's is simple, your Gecko's skin will appear wrinkled and will feel dry to touch, severe cases will also include sunken eyes and sometimes dehydration can also result in a kinked tail. Your Gecko will be very lethargic. Rehydrating your Gecko at this point is crucial.
Here's a few steps to take.
Misting the enclosure and the Gecko directly, Gecko's will naturally lick their eyes to rid any water that's on them.
Place the Gecko in a smaller enclosure with a more easy accessible water bowl.
For more severe cases, placing the Gecko in small critter keeper type tub or faunarium with a very shallow amount of water in the bottom just enough to cover the Gecko's belly and place the Gecko in the tub, this should give the Gecko time to drink and for the skin to re-absorb some moisture, be sure to keep your Gecko under observation while in the tub.
If any of these methods have no effect on your Geckos condition, you must seek veterinary advice.
DIET AND FEEDING
LIVE FOOD: As a breeder and hobbyist we recommend that feeding live food to your Gecko's is a Must.
We have found there to be lots of benefits to having live food as part of your Gecko's diet, for example, faster growth rates, a more active and healthier Gecko, more robust and healthier offspring and a higher egg production along with insects having protein, calcium and essential trace elements theres also the benefit of giving your Gecko's more variety in their diet than just offering MRP
We highly recommend every time live food is offered, that you dust your crickets, roaches' etc. with a calcium supplement and that your feeder insects are "Gut loaded". We use and recommend "Repashy calcium plus and Repashy Bug burger or superload" and we have had fantastic results from these products, but try some different brands and see what works best for you.
We offer Live food once per week, we do this because we have found that our breeder females benefit massively with egg production with a higher amount of live food in there diet.
MEAL REPLACEMENT POWDER "MRP": There are numerous Gecko diets on the market and choosing one that suits you and your Gecko's is simple, "try each one out yourself on your Gecko's" and see how your Gecko's do or do not benefit from each one.
We have used almost every Gecko diet on the market from Clark's, Repashy and Komodo to BPZ and Pangea, and the list goes on.
In the end we chose to use the diets which we have available on our website for the simple reason that our Gecko's benefit from these products massively with general health and also with our breeding program and the Gecko's themselves love them.
With these brands our egg production is steady and egg calcification is great, we was so pleased with these brands that we decided that we would stock them and recommend them to our customers.
We offer Gecko diet MRP 3 nights a week with dusted crickets the other 1 nights leaving 3 nights in the week free from feeding.
OBESITY
Your Gecko's weight is very important especially for breeder Gecko's, over weight females have been known to have low egg production and have a lot of the same health problems that are seen in humans.
Visual signs of obesity in your Gecko will be excess skin or folds around the sides of your Gecko between the front and hind legs and excess skin on the neck, and your Gecko will also look bloated.
You may also see a reduction in feces and your Gecko may have trouble passing a stool but this is mainly in severe cases.
If you have a Gecko with any of the above symptoms we recommend reducing their food intake by half, and take any over weight male and female Gecko's out of your breeding program until your Gecko is at a healthy weight.
The same applies even if your Gecko is a pet, an over weight gecko is a unhealthy gecko.
HOUSING AND DECOR
Crested Gecko's are a very arboreal species of Gecko, they will even sleep stuck to the side of the enclosure, sometimes upside down.
Giving them an enclosure with more height than width is more beneficial for them.
For a single adult male or female we use a "45 Gallon Rub"
With RUBS make sure to add more ventilation as they will not get adequate air circulation.
We kit our Rubs out with cork bark branches and perches and plenty of foliage for hiding, giving the Gecko's security and place to get out of sight if they feel they need to.
We don't use substrates as a flooring in our rubs, we use kitchen towl "kitchen roll" as we have so many enclosures to clean and maintain, it is easier and more hygienic and easier to monitor for feces, however in all our female enclosures, even the females that are not breeding, we place a "dig" or "lay" box filled with moist coco brick in there, as female Gecko's may produce eggs even if they have not been introduced to a male.
You can use more decorative substrates like orchid bark, moss, peat moss or sterilized potting soil, using these will help with humidity but be sure to keep a look out for feces as it will be harder to spot.
We use the Pangea ultimate magnet feeding ledge in all our adult Gecko tanks, these are fantastic, easy to clean and a great decor for your Gecko's to eat and drink comfortably
HOUSING HATCHLINGS AND SUB ADULTS
With hatchlings up to 3 grams we use cricket tubs with a half cut cardboard egg cup with a small plant and kitchen roll as a substrate with a shallow milk bottle cap for water and MRP.
This has been very effective at getting the baby's established as any food that is offered is easy to locate or catch.
Once they reach 3 grams we the move them up into a medium Exo Terra Faunarium with plants, hides and flexi vines for climbing on, again with kitchen roll as a substrate and a shallow milk bottle cap for water and MRP.
We feel like this is enough space for the baby to grow out until it is ready to be moved into a RUB
With hatchlings up to 3 grams we use cricket tubs with a half cut cardboard egg cup with a small plant and kitchen roll as a substrate with a shallow milk bottle cap for water and MRP.
This has been very effective at getting the baby's established as any food that is offered is easy to locate or catch.
Once they reach 3 grams we the move them up into a medium Exo Terra Faunarium with plants, hides and flexi vines for climbing on, again with kitchen roll as a substrate and a shallow milk bottle cap for water and MRP.
We feel like this is enough space for the baby to grow out until it is ready to be moved into a RUB
HANDLING
Most of the time Crested Gecko's are very calm and easy to handle, that being said, Cresties do have a tendancy
to do the "Leap Of Faith."
This is when the Gecko jumps from your hands without warning, so be careful to keep your Gecko's insight when being handled.
Make sure you are in a safe place when you are handling your Gecko's, so if they do decide to jump, they dont have a hard surface to hit or a long way to fall. For example, do not let your Gecko's climb on your shoulder or out of sight while you are stood at the top of your staircase or in your kitchen.
We advise that you be seated when handling your Gecko's and keep handling to short periods, as long handling sessions can cause stress.
When handling babys make sure you keep an open hand and let them walk from palm to palm, closing your hand around them can over heat your Gecko and can be fatal, again keep handling to a minimum.
TAIL DROPPING
Tail dropping or Tail loss is when a Crested Gecko will drop its tail if it is stressed, startled or feels threatened. This process is called "Autotomy" which is a defense mechanism to distrsct potential predators while the Gecko retreats to a safe place.
If this accurs the tail will flip around erratically and will do so for a few minutes.
Be sure to keep any enclosures especialy clean if a Gecko has dropped it's tail, as the area where the tail used to be will be open and will be prone to infection if the enclosure is dirty.
Dont try to clean the open area, it should heal in due time, but do keep an eye on it to make sure no signs of infection occur's.
If the surounding area where the tail used to be starts to look red and inflamed or there is any signs of puss or yellow discharge seek veterinary advise immediately.
Most of the time Crested Gecko's are very calm and easy to handle, that being said, Cresties do have a tendancy
to do the "Leap Of Faith."
This is when the Gecko jumps from your hands without warning, so be careful to keep your Gecko's insight when being handled.
Make sure you are in a safe place when you are handling your Gecko's, so if they do decide to jump, they dont have a hard surface to hit or a long way to fall. For example, do not let your Gecko's climb on your shoulder or out of sight while you are stood at the top of your staircase or in your kitchen.
We advise that you be seated when handling your Gecko's and keep handling to short periods, as long handling sessions can cause stress.
When handling babys make sure you keep an open hand and let them walk from palm to palm, closing your hand around them can over heat your Gecko and can be fatal, again keep handling to a minimum.
TAIL DROPPING
Tail dropping or Tail loss is when a Crested Gecko will drop its tail if it is stressed, startled or feels threatened. This process is called "Autotomy" which is a defense mechanism to distrsct potential predators while the Gecko retreats to a safe place.
If this accurs the tail will flip around erratically and will do so for a few minutes.
Be sure to keep any enclosures especialy clean if a Gecko has dropped it's tail, as the area where the tail used to be will be open and will be prone to infection if the enclosure is dirty.
Dont try to clean the open area, it should heal in due time, but do keep an eye on it to make sure no signs of infection occur's.
If the surounding area where the tail used to be starts to look red and inflamed or there is any signs of puss or yellow discharge seek veterinary advise immediately.