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Posted by STARMOM on October 13, 2002 at 19:23:38:
In Reply to: FOR SUE: posted by Raymond Moreno on October 13, 2002 at 16:15:09:
Dear Raymond;
Thanks for responding;
Yes I'm obviously new to the crested gecko's, and reptiles as a whole ive only had them for around four months...but I LOVE my critters! Im faciniated by them, amazed and entertained by them....
Im still on a learning curve....
On the subject of humidity......hummmmmmmmmmmmm.......what I try to do because I work and have kids im chasing etc.....is when I mist, I do it heavily, because I know that with the paper towel substrate (since Abby is a baby still) and the human heating pad on low, that I can keep a temp in the 75-80 degree range on the warm side and blast out the humidity but it will only last so many hours then it goes back to like 60-70 by the time I get home or check on it and then I mist again........I dont keep a steady 90%, would be impossible.......I have a screen top on a 10 gallon tank (will get a much bigger tank in the future for Abby and a mate someday). I thought that when you mist you should shoot for the sides of the tank and foliage so that they can "lick" /"drink" the water, my praying mantids do that too!
I see that "sticky" uses the moist hide as much as "Abby" does at least she is not the only cresty that hasnt figured that out yet!
Abby also hides her head in the leaves and hangs the rest of her body out........she is soooooooooooo tiny, and easily hides in the leaves of the tree that I made for her, the thing that usually clues me in to where she is, is her tail, she is light brown with the white markings on her tail, so I see the tail hanging down somewhere out of the tree and follow it up to a "butt" hanging out, but Ive noticed lately that she positions herself so that she can "peer out" of her leaves and "watch us" while she is awake (of course sometimes it hard to tell if they are awake or asleep, "the no eyelid thing") My geckos get natural sunlite through the window.
The thing that is so confusing is that lots of people and on care sheets say that they dont need much as far as additional heat, where I live in NY in the spring and summer I can count on 75-80 without anything but now that its fall and currently 59 degrees outside and them being cold blooded I have to have something to bring that up so i use the human heating pad, I have an additional 30watt incandescent black heat lamp bulb for when it will get very chilly .
I do see Abby hang out on the bottom hunting crix sometimes or just "staring" at something........or another......
Thanks for setting me straight on the humidity thing..
Take Care and say Hi to sticky from Abby!
Sue
:Hey Sue,
:as you well know, I'm still a newbie to all this cresty stuff. But from the little that I have seenn from "Sticky," he thinks he's a BEARDED DRAGON or something.
:I say that because he will not hide-out much from the Reptisun 5.0, or the Chromalux incandescent lights. He actually likes to bask in the mild heat. (He's a "die-hard" Californian now). Ha ha.
:I also designed and built a "moist area" for him to use...but saw that the humidity in his enclosure was fine if kept between 65% and 80% humidity - with 80% humidity being the super-heaviest. (Any more than that, and the window starts to fog-up pretty heavy). And if it gets to around 85% to 90% humidity, I'll open-up the top of the cage a bit more to let the moisture out, hence dropping the humidty levels. (At 90% humidity, the water starts forming into droplets, and starts to run down the glass, which is a "no-no").
:Anyways, about the "moist area"...he doesn't use it, which is pretty funny.
:You see, he'll hide his head in between a few leaves while leaving the rest of his body exposed to the lights. I guess he thinks that if he can't see me, I can't see him. (Funny, huh)? So all you see is his butt sticking-out, with his head covered by foliage. What a dork!! (Ha ha).
:At first I thought that he was UN-intentially doing this (being young and all, and not knowing how to PROPERLY thermo-regulate himself). But I realized that he actually prefers this method of thermo-regulation, and does it intentionally. (I know this for for a fact, because when he does get too hot, he'll go to the bottom of the cage (where it's cooler), and kick-back in some serious shade.
:As for the shedding...if you're keeping the humidity that high, I wouldn't even worry about it. (Cuz that's REALLY, REALLY, high humidity).
:Myself, I keep his cage temperature at a constant 80 to 84 degrees, and mist-down his cage three to four times a day. (And give the night-time misting an exceptionally good soaking). And since I am sure that he is receiving the proper amount of moisture, I do not worry about his shedding AT ALL.(Although as a good "gecko-daddy," I'll keep a look-out for any stuck or un-shed patches of skin - which I've yet to find).
:Hope this helped. (Although it may be incorrect, it's what's working for this "newby daddy").
:And in closing, use bottled or filtered water, as this is also what they will be drinking from.
:Tschuss. (German for, "See you later").
:In Christ: Raymond
::use theirs?
::She abby just weird? any ideas for me? Im concerned about her shedding. I do mist her home twice a day and try to keep the humidity up in the 80-90% range........
::could use some ideas....
::thanks
::sue
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