UPDATED 14/7/10
Crested Geckos are a new project for Hissnhers from summer 2010
As cresties can only be sexed from about 4-6m onwards, we have bought in a number of beautiful morphs/colours from which we hope to select 3/4 males and a ratio of females
This means that we may have a 'surplus' of males and/or females which we will then be offering for sale. Therefore, if you feel you may be interested in any of these, please contact us via snakes@hissnhers.co.uk and I can let you know as soon we know which - if any - we will be able to sell
As female geckos have to be about 14m old - and 35g+ - before breeding can take place, we would hope to have 1st clutches in 2011. Unlike snakes, they usually only lay 2 eggs per clutch but can continue to lay for a number of months during the same season
Our family:
Arrow Blondie Buck Flame Harley
red blonde buckskin flame extreme harlequin 
Quin Foxy Light Harl Naboo Stripe
harlequin red light harlequin yellow brindle 100% pinstripe 
Tiggy Spot Pumpkin Orion Freckles
orange tiger red dalmation halloween harlequin yellow flame pale dalmation
CRESTED GECKO CARE INFORMATION
Please also google for more information - this is not exclusive!!!
HOUSING
Cresties can be housed singly, as a breeding pair or as a breeding colony ie 1 male to 3-5 females. Unless you're going to breed on a big commercial scale, Exo Terra vivariums are generally considered to be the best option for housing these cute creatures. Different sizes are availabel - depending on size & number of animals - but, as usual, especially when they're full grown, the bigger the better. As babies/juveniles, plastic faunariums are fine but make sure there's height for them to climb about. Move it/them into bigger vivs as they grow - especially if you've more than one as you don't want potentially sexually active boys and girls together before the female is about 14m old and 35g+ in weight - see below
TEMPERATURE
Cresties are pretty hardy animals and can survive at room temperature - as long as your room is about 75-80 as a norm. Night time temps can drop to about 60 without much stress but, if it's constantly outside of these then you will need to think about a heat source - a low watt lamp or heat mat at one side will usually suffice.
HUMIDITY
To help shedding - especially with babies - it's important for the viv to be reasonably humid - at least 50%. This can usually be achieved with mist-spraying the leaves each evening and this doubles up as a water source as they will lick droplets off the glass and/or leaves. However, don't over-spray - leave it to dry out before respraying
DECORATION
Most people opt for a naturalistic option - branches/silk plants etc - in order to mimic their natural surroundings. They're arboreal by nature so it's important to have branches etc to climb and places to hide/sleep
SUBSTRATE
Babies/juveniles - kitchen roll is best. This is so they don't ingest anything else whilst trying to catch their food. Larger/adult cresties can have something like ECO EARTH which won't need cleaning out as any excreted matter will degrade and the earth just need stirring up from time to time
FOOD & WATER
As with humans, the 1st few months are very important for growth/development and 2/3 small crickets each night (dusted with calcium powder) will be relished. In addition, a commercial preparation of Crested Gecko Diet (CGD) can be mixed up (GGD powder + water) and a small amount put into a milk bottle-type top. This can be left in the viv for 2/3 days before renewing it and many people wean their cresties off live food so that they're ONLY feeding CGD. CGD can also be mixed with fresh fruit puree - anything but NOT citrus fruit - mango/papaya/pear/melon mixes etc A little bottle top with fresh water needs to be left in too
cricket/locust size
It's a general rule of thumb to feed food that's no larger than the width of the cresties head and/or length from eyes to mouth
HANDLING
After you've let your new friend settle in for a couple of weeks - to minimse stress - you can start handling. Just a few minutes a day at first and then build up as you go. Be warned - LITTLE CRESTEIS JUMP!!! Gently put your hand in the viv and put a finger under your crestie - with a bit of luck it'll crawl onto you. Gently close your hand around it to lift it out and then sit down somewhere so that, if it jumps off you, it's not quite so far to the floor!! Some cresties are naturally more laid back than others and will simply start crawling over your hands/arm etc. Others will be a bit more skittish and it's sometimes best to try putting 1 hand in front of the other and encourage it to crawl from one to the other - rather than leaping onto your chest or the floor etc!!
SEXING
If you're keeping more than 1 together, it is very important to distinguish males and females as soon as possible in order to remove the possibility males fighting over potential mates. From as early as 4-6 months, with the aide of a magnifying glass/jewellers loupe, you can spot the early signs of male development - some pores in the region just anterior to the vent will develop darker spots in their centres. A little later on (usually between about 5-9 months) males will develop a fairly prominent hemipenal bulge at the top of the tail - under where these darker spots appeared.
Females can be kept together as a group until they're big enough to have their male introduced to the colony.
There are differing opinions on keeping males together. It would appear that, as long as they've not been in contact with a female, males can also be housed together but, if 1 or more have been with a female, then fights are likely to break out and it's more generally accepted that they need to be housed either individually or as the only male in a breeding colony
BREEDING
Females usually only lay 2 eggs at a time but can continue to lay these throughout the season - 6/7 times. Hatching is similar to snakes - put in vermiculate and keep at a warm temp either in an incubator or, as many people have, simply on a shelf in your room.
There is plenty more on the care, sexing and breeding of cresties on the web - written by people FAR more experientced than me -
so, if you're interested in keeping these lovely reptiles,
please do your homework!!
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