I know this has probably been asked hundreds of times but the search isn't working for me right now I am looking at getting a flame crested gecko no bigger than a inch inch and a half maybe for 70bucks would it be ok to put him straight into a 20 gal tall or should I keep him in a smaller tank for the time being and what kind of live plants can I put in there the golden pothos look nice but does any one else have any suggestions I am looking for something with color and some that are semi tall for him to hide in during the day and at least one with larger leaves to hold the water on them anything would work really I am just looking for something to spice up the cage. Oh and would it be fine to use cocofiber thats expanded as a substrate I get it in three packs for my pacman frog so I was wondering if I could use that. Thats all I can think of for now if I have anymore questions ill be sure to come back and bug you guys

He's only 1 1/2 inches long snout to tail? That's extremely small! Hatchlings are usually around 3 inches long when they hatch. I don't know if I would be comfortable buying a hatchling that small. I wouldn't put him in that large of a cage yet, you'll lose him. Best to start off with a 10 gal. Also I would wait until he's at least 4 months old before upgrading him to a larger tank with live plants in the tank. It's usually best for the babies to have paper towels as substrate, and I would use fake plants for foliage until he's bigger.

Pothos and Ficus are good plants, but they wouldn't survive in just cocofiber. You will have to put gravel on the bottom for drainage, then soil that doesn't have any fertilizer in it, and you can mix the cocofiber with that. The soil also has to become bioactive, there's plenty of good topics around here for planted tanks, just do a search. But like I said definitely hold off on that until the little guy is 4 months or older.

Thanks I could be wrong on the sizing when I went in to look at him he was under a bunch of stuff so I really couldn't see I am going to have to ask if they can take him out and I can look at him is there anything that I should be looking for to make sure that he is infact healthy. Also is a screen cage good I am just worried about holding in the humidity so I am trying to get a all glass one.

I received my female when she was 6-8 weeks old. So I would find out how old the little one is. Healthy hatchlings are very alert and very fast. So that's exactly what I would look for when buying one. I actually held off on handling my female until she's the age she is now, 5 months. One because they're very fast, and two because of how fragile they are at that age, they are more prone to drop their tails at that age. I just did the usual health checks (monthly weighing) and cage cleanings. Also they are very good eaters. Mine took a special interest in crickets. She was a cricket killing machine hehe. If possible, I'd definitely see how good of a eater he is. Examine the belly and vent of the gecko. A healthy gecko has pretty good sized, rounded belly, make sure you don't see any ribs (that look like he hasn't been eating). If he has caked or smeared feces around his vent, don't buy him, that's a possibility of a gastro-intestinal disease. Check his tail, there shouldn't be any kinks in his tail, if there is, that can be a sign of calcium deficiency. I would also take a look at his feces. It should be pretty solid, black and have some white on the end (urates) if it's smelly and runny, he most likely has parasites. That can be taken care of by a vet, but if it were me I would make them take care of it before I bought him.

Screen cages are good, they have good ventilation. I upgraded my cresties when they were 5 months to a 18x18x24 Exo Terra screen cage. Humidity isn't a problem really, you should only have to mist them at night up to 90% humidity, and by the next night the cage should have dried out completely. As long as it stays about 60% through the day up until you do the misting, you'll be fine. Although, if you are wanting to try a live planted tank, you would want to go with glass. I would just hold off on live plants until you know everything is kosher with your gecko. It would be a total mess trying to nurse plants and a gecko at the same time.

One more thing, I don't know if you have any other reptiles or anything, but if you buy the little guy make sure you quarantine him for at least 60 days. When feeding your other reptiles, feed him last. Never recycle food, such as crickets from one gecko to another. Also make sure when you handle him, wash your hands before touching or handling another reptile. If he has any disease, you don't want to spread it to the rest of your colony.

Any more questions jut ask

I only have a pacman and I only handle him once a month for his cage cleaning so I shouldn't have any problems there. Ill definitely hold off on the live plants since ill just be sticking him on some wet paper towels for a little while What kind of hides and fake plants should I stick in there and what additional vitamins will he need other than the crested gecko diet and calcium? I read somewhere they need d3 how much do you give them at a time I accidentally oded my first pacman with that stuff it was also a combo of other stuff to though I didn't know what to look for and he had calcium deficiency and I stupidly fallowed petco's care sheet and it didn't say jack about calcium. You said he should be alert and active the past two times I went in and saw him he wasn't moving at all I just figured it was because they are nocturnal if all else fails I can get a normal crested I just saw this flame going for 70 and last one I had found was 150 including the shipping and I really don't have that kind of money at the moment. Thank you for putting up with my newb questions that have been asked countless times and answered I tried using the search before I asked but it was picking up on the words gecko and care and then wasn't working at all for me so I was getting a little aggravated with it all.

The paper towel doesn't need to be wet all the time, only when you spray it at night really. Like I said it all needs to dry out before the next night when you mist him again.

As for hides they usually don't use them, but for babies they're good to have. I've found my Crested and Garg in their hide from time to time. Just a little cave hide would do or you could make your own hide. If it's clear, just be sure to cover it with something, perhaps fake plants that way when it's in its hide it is hidden and feels secure. They will like any fake plant you give them. I use a variety of the 6 foot long vines and the Ficus and Pothos fake plants. The reason I say they don't use their hides often, is because most of the time you will find the little guy sleeping in his fake plants.

Here's an idea of what the tank should look like. Here's Harley's Cage.

As you can see he has tons of plants to keep him occupied, that's an older pic as I put more plants in the corner. He doesn't really have a favorite sleeping spot either, I find him in all of them lol. It's good to give them lots of plants cause you don't want them sleeping directly on the side of the cage, most of them love to sleep upside down, and that causes them to develop floppy tail syndrome.

As far as vitamins and calcium go, that's the beauty about CGD. As long as the little one is eating it that's all the calcium and vitamins he will need. If you choose to feed it crickets as well, it wouldn't hurt to dust them with a little calcium, but it's not really needed since they get it all from CGD.

They are usually only alert at night so that's normal. You can tell if they are asleep if their eyes are dented in. What I meant about being active, is holding him. Next time you go back ask to hold him, if he runs and jumps all over you then you got yourself an active little gecko As they get older they slow down, almost as if they are thinking their steps through of exactly where they want to jump, unlike little ones they just jump and hope for the best lol.

I got Evie my 5 month old female from www.reptiledepot.com They actually have a sale going on that you can get a baby crested for $29.99, and trust me they are far from normal coloring. All together with shipping it was about $50-$60 (including the price of the gecko).
Evie, coming out of the package,

Evie a couple months ago,

Evie last night,


Those pics really don't do her justice.

Trust me we rather answer questions to help people get on the right track before getting the gecko, rather than people who listen to pet stores and put their pets down the wrong track, then we have to try to help them nurse them back to life. Your new gecko will appreciate all the research you've done! It's really no problem at all, that's what we are here for! Welcome to the Forums by the way! Also anymore questions don't hesitate to ask. Definitely post pics of your little one once you bring him home!

Those are really awesome pics of your geckos I love the coloring on Evie. I went in today and asked to look at him and checked to make sure that he was healthy he is about three and a half inches if that and is really fast and jumpy almost lost him off my hand but I knew enough to keep the other one out there so he didn't hit the floor hopefully I will be getting him tomorrow and picking up the cage and all I plan to just feed him the crickets that are way to small for my pacman so he wont feel so left out. Thank you for taking the time to help me out I will be sure to post pics and come back with anymore questions I have got to reorganize my shelves now to fit the tanks again Thank you for the help

Thanks, she definitely is interesting. She's a Reverse Pin Tiger.

That's great to hear about the little guy. He's probably 6-8 weeks old would be my guess. I always feed my cresties CGD 3 nights a week and crickets 2 nights a week. Also, don't let the pet store talk you into buying UVB bulbs or heat lamps, they're really not necessary. All you need is your gecko, cgd, foliage, cage, thermometer and a humidity gauge. You could get a 25w red light just in case the temp drops, but I doubt your temp is dropping below 65 this time of the year. It's good to keep them in the 72-82 degree range. Make sure the temp never goes over 82 degrees.

Also another good tip, when you're feeding the little guy crickets, you can put them in a glass jar. Then your gecko can climb down and pick them off with ease, not to mention you won't have loose crickets all over your tank feeding on your gecko while he's asleep. That's also a great way to monitor how many crickets he's eating.

Your welcome, and like I said it's no problem really, I'm glad I was here to help. I look forward to seeing pics of your little guy!

Well hes home and in his new terrarium as of about 5 minutes ago I hot him some of the trex crested gecko diet for now and I plan to order a bigger bag of it later on cant remember the site that sells it at the moment but i have it in my favorites. We picked him up and my dad made a comment about him being a Tropical gecko and then they told us oh no hes a desert gecko we haven't misted him in the time that hes been here I was going what your jokeing they handed me a book on crested geckos and it said that he is a tropical gecko so they haven't read it at all apparently I am glad that I got him out of there before it was to late. Ill post up some pictures as soon as I can figure out how to work the dam thing lol.

EDIT: Here is a picture of the little guy before going into his tank I am going to get more latter but I want to give him time to relax and chill out he loves his vines in there he was in a small cage that wasn't arboreal like i said they thought he was from the desert so heres what I got for now ill upload more latter on

Very cute little guy. Glad you did rescue him, just another example of how illiterate pet store people can be. He's definitely tiny. Looks to be about the size of Evie when I got her so I would guess 6-8 weeks. When you take pics, you should take a pic of him beside a penny for size comparison.

I find my cresties actually like the T-rex crested diet more. They are all made by Repashy, so it doesn't matter which you use. Since you only have one crestie and he's a baby, when buying the Repashy MRP make sure you only buy 1/4lb bag first, seeing that it expires quicker. I made the mistake of buying the 1lb base and 1/2lb nectars last month and they expire in June, there's no way my geckos are going to eat all that in that short amount of time.

I got pics of him next to a penny i have to resize it and upload it later im really tired right now. He took a good 5foot dive off my sholder when I was changing his cage today I feel so bad he looks fine and all I stuck him in the container I took him home in and he looked fine im going to check him again tommarow hes still acting normal and he ate a cricket right after so I dont think anything is wrong any one had anything like this happen to theres im sure there have been other times seeing how much they like to jump and all.

Yeah he should be fine, I've had mine leap and miss and hit the floor. They're ready to climb and do it again afterwards. Look forward to seeing new pics.

Heres the pic of him next to a penny the quality isn't the best I cant figure out how to post pics from different serves so this is the best I can do until I figure it out I don't know if you can see it in the pic but the tip of his tail is a little flat I have been dusting the crickets with calcium so any ways here are the pics

he is tiny! The tips of their tails are meant to be flat, it's called a prehensile tail. It's meant to grip, as you notice at the tip where it's flat it is sticky like his toes.

Ok makes sense since I noticed him using it to hang on to the vine and my thumb I went in for crickets today and they have another one there it looks like a sub adult and they said its a female and its a Dalmatian to so looks like I may be clearing some things out of the back room for another tank to qt in lol this hobby is to addicting Ill just convince my brother to get it since he loves Dalmatians that way I don't end up broke from these guys

Ahh yes you've fallen into the known disease called Rhacaddictalitis! You can't stop at one! hehe. I realize you said another cage, but just as a precaution in case it crosses your mind, don't house them together. Seeing as there will be a huge difference in size, and they must be quarantined. Also don't recycle crickets, and always remember to wash your hands before handling the other one. When they reach sexual maturity you can house them together if you'd like. Although if one's a male and the other female, I guarantee they will breed. Females will do fine together, never house males together. Let us know what you decide. Hopefully you can spread the Rhacaddictalitis to your brother.

Ya I had to seperate crickets which I should have had done to start because I read somewhere on the interweb here frogs can have parasites that may kill your gecko so the gecko has his own cricket container and the frog his. Ill probably pick up more geckos and frogs and such once I get a real job right now im kind of doing odd jobs all around we live in a real small town and im picky about where I want to work I probably should go looking around more tommarow

Yeah definitely don't recycle them. Glad nothing happened to them. If you feel bad about the ones your geckos/frogs didn't eat, just set them free outside or something lol. You can keep all your crickets together, as long as you don't recycle them, by putting them back in the cricket container. See crickets have a tendency to eat your geckos feces, now if your gecko has parasites and you feed that cricket to another gecko or frog it's likely to give the gecko the same parasites, and might very well kill the frog and vice versa. I have 2 cricket containers, but they're not to separate gecko's food, it's to separate crickets according to size.

Well heres a little update on him hes doing gr8 settled in more and not so skittish he knows when he gets to come out he gets a small cricket so hes happy Tried to feed him baby food off my finger tonight after feeding him some crickets bad idea he took my finger for a cricket and bit it lol I was sticking them in the food so i guess he smelled it and thought it was a cricket didn't hurt just felt like a pinch but his confused expression was funny hes found that the top of the fake wall in his exo terra he can fit on so he spends alot of his time up there chilling out ill try to get some pics later Im glad i decided to pick him up after all hes a cutie.