Creastie tips

[COOCOpUcHoo]

I always wondered why people sell tailless animals. Did they intentionally take it off, are they defects, is it the ones hurt by accident?

[Lija]

I always wondered why people sell tailless animals. Did they intentionally take it off, are they defects, is it the ones hurt by accident?

there is absolutely nothing wrong with tailless gecko, in a wild none of them have tails and in fact some with tails develop issues like floppy tail syndrome(FTS) in captivity.

it is natural process for all geckos to drop their tails when somebody is trying to catch it ( or gecko thinks this way), it is always better to loose tails then ones life sometimes they drop their tail with no apparent reason, however i personally think it is very much related to the amount of stress a gecko experiences, such as keeping geckos in groups, especially babies, in small tanks with not enough foliage. most geckos are able to regrow tails, but not crested geckos.
sometimes when FTS is becoming an issue people might opt out to help a gecko to drop its tail, it is still a debatable topic and idea is going around that genetics might play certain role in developing FTS and none of the breeders, that i know of, won't risk and use such a gecko for breeding.

congrats on getting a crestie, it looks a bit skinny though from that angle, what is his age/weight?

feel free to ask questions, there are quite a bit of us who know cresties too

[Truffs1178]

What do you mean by no wild cresteds have tails?

[Lija]

they drop them real soon after hatching, try to live in a real world

[Truffs1178]

Why do they do that? It seems pointless to just drop their tail for no reason if it may come in handy later. Also what do you mean by try to live in a real world?

[Lija]

Also what do you mean by try to live in a real world?

in a big real world full of scary noises, shadows, movements and predators, where everyone wants to eat you. A lot of them are being eaten by somebody either way. that world is nothing like nice quiet little tanks where food is coming like a clock, lots of hiding places and nobody would ever dream of eating you with the exception of my cats probably.... and leachie.... and frogs, and skink probably too... gosh... at least they have no clue about it lol

[Helios]

Hi Monza,

I keep a Crested, and while I don't have years of experience yet I think I can give you some pointers. Oh but first: In terms of the tail quesitons: Like Lija's saying, they just are prone to dropping their tails easily like many lizards. They happen to be one species that doesn't regenerate a shed tail. In the wild most specimens observed are without tails due to the state of their habit--like Lija said haha.

As far as food/frust: Do you have Rephashy Crested Gecko Diet available in the UK? In the past I know people have said it's hard to come by, not sure if that's still the case. That is considered the staple diet for cresteds as it meets their calcium/phosphorous needs. If you want to feed fruit, Papya rates as being the healthiest... I searched and found one of the lists I'd mentioned before editing this: From what I've read, it's not recommended you stick only to fruit. When you offer it, if you puree it that tends to be better than whole--unless it's over ripe.Crested Gecko Fruits High in Calcium | moonvalleyreptiles.com that is a pretty good breakdown as far as fruit goes. Honestly I'd stick with the papya and figs instead of going beyond that.
You can feed crickets. If you do, make sure to dust them every other feeding or so and don't rely on them as the staple diet. I haven't had to deal with any poor sheds. If you humidity stays between 50% and 60% in the day and 70% to 80% at night you shouldn't have any trouble with that.