Calcium Problems

Most crested gecko owners should know that calcium is a very important part of a crestie's diet.
Calcium helps with growth, strengthening bones, shedding and egg production. Your crested gecko needs quite a lot of it, especially when younger, pregnant or due a shed.

What are 'calcium sacs' and how do I check them?

'Calcium sacs' are quite literally sacs of calcium. They are white, spherical pouches on the roof of your crestie's mouth that store calcium for when it is needed. If your crested gecko is getting a decent amount of calcium within their diet, their calcium sacs will be full of calcium. They should appear large and an off-white colour. If they appear depleted, your crested gecko might not be getting enough calcium within their diet. However, it could be because of something else. For example, a female crested gecko uses a lot of calcium during egg production to build the egg. If your female is gravid or laying, all or most of the calcium will probably be used up from the sacs.

A healthy crested gecko's calcium sacs - www.pangeareptile.com

To check your crestie's calcium sacs, you just need your gecko to open his mouth. Some cresties will do this just by a simple touch at the corners of their mouth, which will allow you to peer inside. Some however will literally need prizing open! I've heard of a lot of people using credit cards and other thin objects to slip between the crested gecko's 'lips', causing them to open their mouths.

You shouldn't really force your gecko's mouth open unless you really feel the need to check the calcium sacs. This could be if you have suspicions or have noticed signs of a calcium deficiency, or perhaps if you believe your female is pregnant. You don't want to stress your crestie out unnecessarily, as this could lead to other health issues. Always play it safe!

A baby or juvenile probably won't use their calcium sacs as often, and won't have full calcium sacs. This is because they will be constantly using their calcium for growth. Don't panic if your hatchling or juvenile doesn't appear to have calcium sacs!

How can I tell if my crestie has a calcium deficiency?

Calcium deficiency in crested geckos is easily diagnosed by owners. It is very rare in well-fed crested geckos, although it can be life-threatening and crippling.

An early sign of calcium deficiency is a 'squiggly' tail. It could be a full-on squiggle like in the picture below, or just slightly crooked and bent. If you spot either, you should seriously attempt to check your crestie's calcium sacs. If you don't get them calcium quickly, serious health problems could occur.

A crested gecko with calcium deficiency - www.reptileobsession.blogspot.com

Other later, more severe signs of calcium deficiency are: a soft and flexible jaw and a curved spine. This is because calcium is used for the strengthening, growth and repair of bones. Once calcium is removed from the diet, bones cannot grow or repair themselves, and become weak.

In very serious cases, your crested gecko may lose the ability to walk.

What causes calcium deficiency?

This may seem fairly obvious to you: a lack of calcium! But how do you know that you're not giving your crested gecko enough calcium?

For owners who use Crested Gecko Diet (Repashy's or Komodo), the mixture already comes with the correct amount of calcium and multivitamins inside it. This is brilliant news for you, as you have no need to worry about calcium deficiency! However, owners like myself that have to apply calcium to our gecko's foods do have to worry.

It's fairly difficult to go wrong with this: you simply sprinkle your live-food with enough calcium to simply 'dust' them. This means covering them with a light layer of the powder. Imagine snow in the winter that just covers the ground in a light powder - you don't want it six inches deep!

www.vitalimpact.com

The problem generally occurs if you add absolutely no or too much calcium to your food. On the label it states that calcium can not cause overdose, which is correct, but it can cause an immunity. If you feed your crestie too much of a vitamin supplement that has calcium in it, it can prevent calcium absorption and have the opposite affect as stated. Be careful you don't add extra to 'just make sure'! It's probably okay once or twice, but not on a regular basis.

Make sure you always add calcium to whatever food you are giving if it does not already contain it. Check on a packaged food label, and it should state if it contains the correct amount of calcium. If you are giving your gecko a home-made fruit puree, shop-bought fruit puree or live food, you should make sure to always add calcium to the mixture.

What can I do if I spot a calcium deficiency?

If you spot the early signs of calcium deficiency, for example empty calcium sacs and/or a slightly wavy tail, you should at first try to determine the cause of the issue. Is it due to your feeding methods? Have you been feeding fruit to your crestie with no or little calcium? Have you been overdoing it by heaping calcium onto the food? Could your crestie, if female, be gravid or laying? Has your crestie been rejecting food?

When you come to the root of your problem, you should simply try to correct the issue. Recently, I had worried that Rocco might be lacking calcium after he'd been rejecting food for a while. I knew that he was constantly drinking, and loves licking at water from a cupped leaf in the vivarium. So, I experimented a little! I mixed calcium in with the water and held him to the leaf. He lapped it all up, and every single bit of calcium! I continued for a few days until I felt like it was no longer an issue.

www.megaray.co.uk

Try to find ways to give your gecko the calcium that he needs. It could be as simple as adding more calcium to his food!
If you begin to spot any serious signs of calcium deficiency, you should get your gecko seen immediately. Calcium deficiency can be deadly, and you probably need to seriously alter your ways. You should take your crested gecko to a vet, preferably a reptile specialist who will know how to resolve and treat the issue, and get immediate help.

If you have any more questions on calcium, you can contact me in the comments below!

Thank you very much for reading, and I will be posting again soon.

Elly. x

Crested Geckos: The Facts

Crested geckos are considered an exotic pet, although they are beginning to become more and more popular in your average family. It is no longer your typical, eccentric 'reptile people' who buy crested geckos - they can be found all over the place from varied individuals!
But how much do people really know about crested geckos?

I've done a lot of research on the crestie over the past few days, and I'm hoping that you will all learn something from this post. Crested geckos really are wonderful creatures, whether you love them simply because they're adorable, or because you love every little thing about their existence.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_gecko
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2499
http://www.gallerygeckos.com/crestie-care-for-kids.html
http://thereptilereport.com/crested-geckos-in-the-wild/
http://www.acreptiles.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=316
http://www.exoticpetvet.com/breeds/turtle241211.htm
http://jbscresties.com/breeding.html

Rhacodactylus Ciliatus

Location

Crested geckos, formally known as rhacodactylus ciliatus, can be found in the Islands of New Caledonia. The islands are located in the south-west Pacific Ocean, 1,210 kilometers west of Australia.

A map of New Caledonia Islands, belonging to France - www.postcard.pics-sydney.com.au

On the islands, temperatures can range from as low as 50 Fahrenheit at night to as high as 80 Fahrenheit during the day. The average annual temperature of New Caledonia is 23 Celsius (approx 73 Fahrenheit). From November-March, the islands undergo higher humidity levels and temperatures that range from 27-30 Celsius. They experience a drier and cooler period from June-August with temperatures that vary from 20 to 23 Celsius. Due to the tropical climate of the islands, humidity is often high and stays around 80%.

Appearance

Other common names for the Crested Gecko are the New Caledonian Crested Gecko, Guichenot's Giant Gecko or the Eyelash Gecko. The term 'Eyelash Gecko' comes from the crests that can be found on the body of the gecko. The crests run from the base of the gecko's tail, up both sides of their body and over the eyes, forming the so-called 'eyelashes'.

The above image shows the crests along the eyes of the crested gecko - en.wikipedia.org

The appearance of the crested gecko varies according to the individual. A crested gecko's 'morph' can be identified by its colour and pattern, and these can carry various names. For example, the Harlequin, Pinstripe and Flame are popular morphs.

Similarly to different patterns, crested geckos often come in varied colours. The less rare colours are those such as grey, brown, green and yellow. They occasionally come in more vibrant colours such as oranges and reds. Extremely rare morphs come with a greater value, such as the 'moonglow', a white 'glowing' gecko that some believe to be a myth.

Crested geckos' colours can vary slightly according to lighting, humidity levels, temperature and stress levels. When their colour becomes more vibrant due to these factors, this is known as 'firing up'.

They have large bulging eyes and a flat, triangular head. A healthy gecko should be fairly streamlined yet with a slightly rounded belly: ribs should be somewhat visible, but not obvious.

When fully grown, a crested gecko should reach approximately 7-9 inches from nose to tail tip, although hatchlings and juveniles are much smaller.

Discovery

Crested geckos were originally thought to be extinct, but were found later on the Isle of Pines in 1994. Before that, crested geckos were only known from sketches, and had last been seen in the 1800's. It was not expected that the crested gecko would become such a popular pet, and now it is one of the 5 most popular reptiles kept as a pet around the world.

Body structure

A crested gecko's body is well-adapted for its environment.

Cresties spend a lot of their time climbing or otherwise vertical. To help them with climbing, they have 'sticky pads' on the bottoms of their feet and the tip of the tail known as 'lamellae'. The lamellae are described as hair-like structures that allow them to cling to smooth surfaces.

Lamellae on a crested gecko's foot - realityismyreligion.me

In the wild, the majority of crested geckos are found without tails. Tail-dropping is a defensive mechanism used to distract predators by the majority of lizards and geckos. Unfortunately, a crested gecko's tail does not grow back. Although perhaps less attractive, a crested gecko without a tail is not under any disadvantage in comparison to those with.

A crested gecko without a tail - www.pangeareptile.com

Your crestie might lose their tail in any situation of stress, or perhaps if the tail is pinched, grabbed or pulled in any way. Sometimes crested geckos lose their tails during mating, due to the fact that a male crestie will bite the female during copulation.

A crested gecko does not have eyelids. To keep the moisture in the eyes, a crestie will use their large tongue to frequently lick the surface of the eye. 

Behaviour

Those who have crested geckos will know that they spend the majority of daytime hours hiding. In the wild, crested geckos will hide away in trees and leaves in hope to not be spotted by predators. A vivarium should be equipped with plenty of hiding places, such as fake plants, leaves and branches.

Due to the webbing on their digits, streamlined body and lamellae, a crested gecko is particularly good at jumping. They can jump a reasonable distance, and appear to glide through the air.

An image over time of a crestie jumping - www.rhac-shack.co.uk

They are considered nocturnal, although a lot of crested geckos that are kept in captivity will come out during the day, even if a lot of their daytime is spent sleeping.

They do most of their hunting during night hours, particularly hunting insects such as crickets, roaches, worms and locusts. A crested gecko's motivation to hunt is provoked by movement, and the more active the prey the better. They are, however, considered omnivore due to the fact they occasionally feed on fruit.

Breeding and Reproduction

Crested geckos reproduce through the process of copulation. During the process, a male will seize the female's crests in the mouth. Often, after mating, a female's crests may appear to be missing. She may even have bite marks on her body.

Crested geckos during copulation - www.jbscresties.com

After copulation, you may see something pink that hangs from the male's vent. This is nothing for you to worry about: this is just the hemipene. Don't worry - he will lick the hemipene until it goes back into his vent.

www.pangeareptile.com

A female will lay a clutch of eggs every 30 days or so. There are 2 eggs in every clutch, although the first time or so your female may only lay one egg, or the eggs might be infertile. Infertile eggs can be distinguished due to their yellow colouring, in stead of the normal white colouring.

The female, after being gravid (pretty much pregnant with eggs!) for approximately 30 days, will bury into some form of soft substrate. If you do not have substrate in the bottom of your vivarium, you might want to consider supplying some form of nesting box. This way, the eggs can also be removed easily for incubation. The female will partially, or even fully, bury her body into the soil to lay her eggs. You should not be alarmed if you see her buried into the soil: she will be able to breathe fine. Try not to disturb her whilst laying, or you could interrupt the process.

A crestie laying her eggs in a nesting box - www.pangeareptile.com

Eggs should be removed for incubation. There is no need to supply heat to the eggs during incubation: the general rule is the cooler the better. Eggs can be kept at room temperature during incubation and kept in the same position in the substrate. There is no need to turn the eggs, as eggs would naturally be buried in the same position. High temperatures and movement of the eggs may disrupt the development of the crested gecko inside the egg.

The cooler the eggs are kept, the longer they take to hatch. This is most likely beneficial to the development of the gecko. Incubation should usually last around 65-120 days before hatching.

www.theurbanboa.com

The two eggs should hatch within the same day, often within an hour of each other if kept under the same conditions. There shouldn't be any need to assist the hatchling with hatching.

When the eggs are hatched, you should place the hatchlings into a smaller enclosure. Keeping them in a larger vivarium can be stressful and make it very difficult for them to hunt for food. You can try keeping your hatchlings in a critter keeper: small, plastic containers used to store crickets and other live food. So long as your container of choice is equipped with hiding places, climbing material and possibly substrate, you should be okay.

Captivity

Crested geckos are one of the top 5 most popular reptiles kept as pets in the Europe and the United States since their rediscovery in 1994.

When kept in captivity, cresties are kept in fairly large glass enclosures called vivariums/terrariums. Vivariums are equipped with fake plants, climbing equipment, branches, substrate and leaves.

www.captivebred.co.uk

In captivity, temperatures are kept at approx. room temperature through the use of thermometers. In cooler climates such as the UK, heat mats and/or bulbs should be purchased to prevent the vivarium from becoming too cold.

Humidity levels can also be monitored through the use of a hygrometer, and kept high through the use of a mistifier. These can be as simple as a water spray bottle to spray the vivarium heavily each evening, or an electric mistifier that sprays the cage automatically. Water features in the vivarium can also be useful to maintain its humidity.

In captivity, crested geckos are fed from various sources. Live food can be bought from the majority of pet and reptile stores, in the form of crickets, locusts, roaches and worms. The most popular choices are black crickets and meal worms. These should be dusted with calcium and/or multivitamins, and should come gut-loaded.

A crested gecko consuming a black cricket - www.reptileexpert.org

Another very popular feeding choice is Crested Gecko Diet. Crested Gecko Diet, commonly known as CGD, is a powder-like substance mixed with water to form a paste. The powder contains crushed insects, fruits, calcium and vitamins, and supplies cresties with everything that they need to maintain their health. It's particularly good for those who are squeamish about insects, or can't be fussed with adding Calci-Dust and multivitamin supplements. Crested Gecko Diet comes in two main brands: Repashy and Komodo.

A juvenile eating Crested Gecko Diet - www.ddreptiles.net

The final feeding option often causes controversy between reptile owners - fruit. It is debatable about the nutritional value of fruit for a crested gecko. Should we feed our cresties fruit puree/baby food, and does it really contain anything that they need?

It can certainly be said that fruit doesn't contain anything harmful for your gecko, and it is a natural food source in the wild. So long as it is fed alongside some other form of staple food, e.g. CGD or crickets, fruit is a tasty treat for your crestie that they will surely enjoy.

Hopefully this has given you a bit more of an insight into the crested gecko.

If there's any other sections you'd like me to add or anything else you'd like to know, you can leave a comment below and I should be able to do some research and help you out.

This post took a lot of researching and a lot of time and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the crested gecko in such an in-depth way.

I will be posting again soon, but I have recently returned from hospital and I start college tomorrow.

Rocco and Savannah are doing well, and there isn't much to tell about them as of yet.

I will update you if anything comes up.

Thank you ever so much for reading!
Feedback is appreciated.

Elly. x

A brand new home! (With challenges...)

I got my GCSE results on Thursday.
For those of you that want to know, I did really well and I'm very pleased! I got a lot of A*s, and some As and Bs here and there.

I explained in a previous post that it is a tradition in our family to have a certain allocated amount of money for each grade received by the student, in hope to motivate them to work harder to get the higher grades. I was very lucky to receive a lot of money for my good grades.
There's not really a lot I want or need for myself, and I'm very grateful for all the wonderful things I have; I'm a very lucky girl! The only thing I really wanted or needed was a new vivarium.

After seeing my geckos, my next-door-neighbour Simon had fallen in love with them and recently popped out himself to get his own crestie. He got his from the same place as Savannah, and he looks an awful lot like her. He's even one of the ones we looked at whilst we were at the store.
We admired his vivarium, which measured 18" by 18" by 24". It was beautiful and large with a gorgeous background and lovely spacious floor, which we need for egg laying. We liked how there was a lot more room for equipment.

Excitedly, we dashed out to the store to grab ourselves one of the vivariums. They had 2 in stock and on offer, with ultraviolet heat bulbs.
We picked up lots of pretty things to put in the cage. We got 4 plants, a large jungle vine, a piece of cork bark, 2 beautiful branches and a drinking bowl. It looks like a little forest in there, and it's gorgeous.

After we set it all up (outside, to avoid any mess!), we carried the vivarium into my bedroom and exchanged it for the old one. We popped the geckos inside and left them to explore for a while.
They settled in straight away and they loved the space and area to climb. For some reason, they found it a lot easier to climb the glass in this vivarium.

I'm so super-duper pleased with their new home, and it's so beautiful.

Here's some pictures and videos of Rocco and Savannah.
There's a few challenges in some of the pictures. If you figure it out, give me a comment!
I hope you enjoy them. x

These videos show Rocco and Savannah eating their favourite things yesterday.

Rocco's joint favourite things are blueberry puree and meal worms. Unfortunately we had no blueberry puree, so we settled for worms!

The first video shows Savannah enjoying her favourite food: Crested Gecko Diet! You'll see what I mean about the way she bites.

 

When we went to the store to get the vivarium, there was this little big guy trying to escape from his house! He was so clever, using his little feet. So cute.

Rocco and Savannah won't drink from the water bowl, but the big leaves in the new vivarium get covered in water droplets. He must have been thirsty, and lapped them up like a hot puppy. 

Haha, look at his blurred little tongue. So cute. 

He's so beautiful, and I love the new leaves! They're gorgeous, too! 

My auntie holding Rocco! 

And again. :-) 

Rocco and Savannah on the new jungle vine. So cute, they love to be close. 

A distant view of the new vivarium. It's bigger than my bedside table / chest of drawers! 

Inside the vivarium. Isn't it so gorgeous? It's like a real jungle. 

Challenge One: FIND ROCCO.

Rocco perched on the vine. 

 Another view of the vivarium. It's just so beautiful. It's a lovely addition to my bedroom.

 I know this isn't really relevant, but look! My doggy enjoying the sun!

Challenge Two: WHERE'S SAVANNAH? 

Ah, so exciting!!! Rocco can stick to the glass now!!! 

Here he is again, stuck to the glass and being cute. 

Savannah joined him. They're so cute, aren't they? 

You can see how big she's gotten here. She's really caught up with him.

Here's Rocco and Savannah drinking water from the glass! Sorry about the cut-out bit at the end, it's because it got really slippy and they started to fall, haha!

Hope you enjoyed it.

I'll post again really soon - an advisory post this time!

Thank you for reading.

Elly. x

A very messy dinner time.

Those of you who follow my posts and check up on them regularly will know that Rocco and Savannah have done very well recently, and I am very proud of them.

Rocco has overcome his fear of live food, and helped himself to 6 meal worms the other night. He is looking a lot fatter for it and has shed since.
Savannah eats absolutely anything. She was the first to eat the meal worms and she will take big chunks out of food. She is not fussy at all.

Since I am so proud of my little dumplings, and they've even been polishing up some meal worms I've left in the vivarium, I decided I'd give them a little treat.

I don't have a blender or a food processor, but I had been determined for a while to start making my own fruit purees for my geckos. Rocco especially loves his fruit, and I love to see him lapping it up with a big dopey expression on his face. It makes me happy to know my geckos are happy, but it makes me even happier to know that they are healthy and getting what they need.

How I Did It

I found some gorgeous organic strawberries in my fridge. I washed them off and found a couple of ripe ones, and grabbed myself a chopping board.
I cut up the strawberries into small little sections to make it easier for myself to mush, and grabbed a cheese grater! I read online that if you don't have a blender or a food processor, a wire mesh sieve makes a grate fruit musher. I couldn't find a sieve like this, so I settled for a cheese grater in stead.
As much as I could, I mushed up the fruit with one side of the cheese grater. I poured the juice and the 'mush' into an egg cup, and stirred it and crushed it further with a teaspoon.
After that, I added a large amount of calcium and small amount of multivitamin supplement and stirred it all in together.

Savannah Banana

I find it more important to feed Savannah right now, as she is little for her age.

She's growing SO well since we've had her, and I'm already noticing great differences in her weight and her size. Her ribs are less visible and she has very healthy calcium sacs, now.

Savannah has never been any trouble with feeding. She was very hungry on her first feed, and she likes anything we give her. So far she has adored the CGD, eaten many meal worms and lapped up every flavour of baby food we've put her way.

My general thoughts were that, even though Rocco loves his fruit more than anything else, Savannah would get along better with the strawberry puree. It wasn't super smooth due to my lack of equipment, and Savannah is great at taking large bites out of food.

I don't know what it is with my geckos and climbing on their food, I really don't.

Not only did this feeding session with Savannah lead to some very mucky little feet, but Mama managed to get strawberry mush all over her jeans, too! How delightful.

The only issue I have when manually feeding Savannah is that she prefers things to be au naturale. She likes to hunt for her food, and prefers live food. She's not so keen on being hand-fed, which tends to appeal more to Rocco.

I would say Savannah is definitely the independent one of the two.

I did get her to take some hearty bites out of it that I sadly didn't catch.

All in all she did pretty good, but got herself VERY mucky.

Rocco Banocco

Rocco didn't do as good as I was expecting.

I noticed that 2 meal worms had disappeared from the bowl that I refilled early this afternoon, so that might be down to Rocco. He was looking a little tubby, now I mention it...

All Rocco really wanted to do was jump, and it was difficult for me to get any pictures or videos because I had to try and catch him and scoop him up without getting mush all over myself and my carpet.

I got him to take a few licks here and there, but really he was pretty useless. I was expecting my little fruit bat to do much better!

The second picture is meant to show Rocco licking up the strawberries, but it actually shows a blur of my hand trying to catch him as he jumped away. The third picture shows the result of that.

After I caught him, he did a nice poo in my hand. Great.

I sharply put him back after that.

Now, as you can see, that was rather eventful... And messy!

I don't think I'll be mushing up some fruit anytime soon.

I think we'll stick to meal worms for now.

Well, what can I say. You never know unless you try! You try to do a nice thing... And you get mushed and pooed on!

Elly. x

Plans for Breeding

Crested geckos do not become sexually mature until about a year old, although there are many cases of it happening much earlier.
Rocco and Savannah are in the same enclosure, and so if they were to mature early they would be getting up to their shenanigans right away.
If it were to happen early, I need to make sure that there are plans in place for whatever might happen, and I need to know what I'm doing.

Preparing for Eggs

When female cresties lay their eggs in the wild, they will bury them into the soil or the earth and leave them in the same position until they are hatched. It could have a negative impact on the growing gecko's development if the egg is moved around too much.

We purchased some Eco Earth super early and filled it reasonably deep in our geckos' enclosure. It's a soft, soil-like material made up of shredded coconut fibres. Some come in a block for you to break up, but mine came in a ready shredded 8.8 litre bag. It can be used moist or dry in the enclosure, and I thought it would be a natural material for them which would be easy for Savannah to bury into.

Some people don't fill their enclosure with substrate in case hunting cresties consume it by accident. However, due to Rocco and Savannah's lack of hunting skills, the substrate shouldn't be a problem in this sense. If you do have concerns about your gecko consuming the substrate, you may want to read up on nesting boxes, as these can be effective for egg-laying too.

 This picture shows the substrate on the floor of my vivarium. There's lots of room around the enclosure for Savannah to lay her eggs and bury them.

This is a front view of the substrate through the vivarium glass. You can see how deep it is. We filled it about 2/3 of the way up to the front doors.

For the next few months, we will keep checking the substrate carefully for eggs about once a week. When they are definitely sexually mature, we will make sure we do this more often.

Preparing for Hatchlings

Until we find any eggs, and until we know Rocco and Savannah are sexually mature, this isn't something we have to worry greatly about.

On the other hand, I think it is important for us to know exactly how to care for the hatchlings and how their needs differ from the needs of an adult gecko.

We have a critter keeper, and I have been told that this can make a great home for hatchlings in their first month or so of life. An enclosure that is too large can make hatchlings feel intimidated and they will struggle to find their food. I want my hatchlings to be able to hunt, as I believe this is a healthier and more natural option for them.

We are keeping the critter keeper aside at the moment for the hatchlings, and we are going to use paper towels in the bottom of it. It is quite small, but we will be sure to fill it with some sort of vine for them to climb in.

At Christmas time, something that I've asked for is an explorarium. I know that explorariums are often hung outside when it is warm, and that's the main aim for them, but I'm thinking that the older hatchlings would find the explorarium a decent enclosure until we find them a home.

Here's an image I found online of a hatchling enclosure made from a cricket keeper. This is the kind of thing that I had in mind for the young hatchlings.

Selling my Crested Gecko Hatchlings

I already know of a few people who would like a hatchling or two, and I'm giving friends and family a 25% discount.

I know that crested geckos can be a lot more difficult to sell than perhaps puppies, kittens or bunnies, but I have several plans in place.

I'm going to be using the blog to advertise my hatchlings. I know that the blog is still young and I've yet to receive more views and everything, but it will be a good way to advertise them.

I'm going to let people pre-order them as soon as they want to. If you know what Savannah and Rocco look like and how tame they are etc., you will know that any hatchling of theirs will be gorgeous with a lovely temperament. I will want people to be able to come and pick them up, as it will be difficult and not very cost-effective for me to travel. The earlier people order the hatchlings, the more likely they will be able to have one, the sooner they will be able to have one and the less expensive they will  be.

I know that I'm going to be aiming for about £40 a hatchling, which was the price of Rocco and £10 under the price of Savannah. The prices could vary depending on what the hatchlings are like and my situation at the time. If anyone is already interested, you can email me on:

roccothegecko@gmail.com

elly_crook@icloud.com

pianoprincess33@gmail.com

Here are some pictures of Rocco and Savannah's markings to give you an idea on how the hatchlings may turn out.

Rocco (left) is my male. He is a 'flame'. This is him fired up when he is brown and orange, and fired down he is yellow and green. Savannah (right) is my female, and she is a harlequin. She is fired up here, and she is a brighter and lighter yellow and gold normally.

As well as advertising on the blog, I'm going to be using pets4homes, preloved and gumtree. I know a lot of people successfully sell their geckos on these websites, and I feel that my hatchlings are going to have a lot to offer compared to a lot of the other sellers'! ;-)

I'm willing to keep the hatchlings for as long as I need until they are homed :-) I will love and care for them if nobody else can.

Problems

I'm fully aware of some things that may go wrong when breeding crested geckos.

I've mentioned a couple of times before about small gravid females unable to lay their eggs, therefore the eggs fusing inside their womb. I've made sure very early I've provided lots of space and substrate in hope that Savannah can lay her eggs successfully, and I am feeding her up and providing lots of calcium and vitamins in order to make sure she grows successfully.

I'm looking out for loss of appetite and lethargic behaviour from the both of them, which could indicate stresses of breeding. This is most commonly caused by a larger and older male wanting to breed, whilst the smaller and younger female does not. Rocco and Savannah are the same age, but Rocco has been fed much better and therefore is much larger. This is something I have to keep an eye on from Savannah, but at the moment she is perfectly active and healthy, growing day by day and eating brilliantly.

The last thing I'm looking out for is Savannah becoming gravid. I don't want to miss any signs of this, because I want to start planning as soon as I'm aware of approaching hatchlings!

So that's about it for my breeding plans :-)

Other than all of that, I'm just trying to create a comfortable environment with zero competition so that my geckos get on as best as possible! They seem to be doing just fine.

I'll finish of with a couple of pictures of the pair of them this morning. They show Savannah following Rocco up the vine. So cute!

(For those interested in hatchlings, it will also show you Savannah 'fired-down'!)

Enjoy!

Elly. x