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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 23, 2011 18:07:53 GMT -5
next saturday i'm going to my first reptile show ever to get my first cold-blooded critter!
we got a crested gecko at work and i totally fell in love with it. unfortunately, the store i work for doesn't know jack about taking care of them, and treated it just the same as all the other reptiles we carry. as i was selling it to a couple, my one co-worker came up and basically told them everything i said was WRONG [pretty embarrassing, but i'm glad it's going to be well taken care of now] and explained what they truly need [she has 5 o.O]. after learning how simple they are, i have to have one!
i get the basic jist and am very confident in being able to care for it, but can anyone recommend a good reptile forum? or a crested gecko forum.. i will post pictures asap after i get it!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2011 19:24:09 GMT -5
I have a crested too! And snakes and leopard geckos and toads I spend a lot of time on faunaclassifieds.com. There might not be a lot of info specifically about cresteds already there, but typically somebody will answer if you have a question. Pangea has a pretty active cresteds forum... pangeareptile.com
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 23, 2011 19:58:04 GMT -5
awesome thanks! a lot of my google searches led me to pangea. do you like your crestie? we normally have the leopard geckos at work but i couldnt resist the way the crested gecko wrapped his little sticky feet around my finger. i think they're adorable... well, as adorable as something without eyelids and fur can be..
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Post by katt on Apr 23, 2011 22:22:23 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 12:40:58 GMT -5
I do think he's adorable, especially when he comes out to eat. And he's much more personable than the leos, actually. I haven't been handling mine enough to really calm him down, but when I do have him out I'm never afraid of him trying to take a piece out of my hand like the leos do
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Post by katt on Apr 24, 2011 16:14:31 GMT -5
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 24, 2011 17:16:29 GMT -5
ooh thanks, i've been looking at that one too. and keri i agree, the leos at work are little demons. got forbid you try to get them out from under the carpet for cleaning. the shock factor of that little noise is terrible
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 19:59:50 GMT -5
My favorite is pouring water into the leos' dishes... if it splashes on any of them, they arch their tails and scream-hiss bloody murder I've heard that male leos are a little more laid back, which seems to hold true for the ones I know. We have six females in one large enclosure, and I think it's like a sorority in there.
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Post by katt on Apr 24, 2011 20:40:13 GMT -5
My female leo was always very calm and even tempered. And BOY did she LOVE her crickets! lol I love the hunting tail wag they do.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2011 8:33:24 GMT -5
I wonder if it's more of a bonding thing than a male/female thing, and that leos housed alone become more receptive to human attention... while our females have banded together and decided they don't need us. They have their own little social structure and we don't seem to be a part of it!
Their hunting methods are hilarious. Ours get mealworms, and they'll stalk the dish like it's going to get away.
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Post by gnarlysalamander on Apr 25, 2011 20:45:32 GMT -5
UGHHH yes! they scream at me when i go to mist their humid hides and refuse to get out of the way. oh and i've been having a good experience on geckosunlimited i cant wait until saturday! i'm hoping to also find a good deal on an 18x18x24 exo terra. we'll see.
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Post by katt on Apr 26, 2011 15:17:04 GMT -5
No. The exact opposite actually. Reptiles, with only a very few exceptions, are solitary and territorial creatures by nature. In the wild they only come together to mate, then part ways again. Housing them together causes EXTREME stress. They have no real territory to speak of, have to fight for their food, fight for the best basking spot, and then in comes a huge scary monster-hand that to it's prey mind is trying to eat it. The poor things are scared witless, stressed, and defensive. Reptiles need adequate space, and a stress free environment. I they feel stressed (and it's vey easy to stress them - even a minor change in their cage can do it) they can get aggressively defensive, go off of their food and even die. With a proper set up, a secure and stress free environment, and gentle socialization leos (and most reptiles really - but certainly not all lol) Are quite docile pets and can be very social wih their owners.
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Post by katt on Apr 26, 2011 15:19:55 GMT -5
The added stress of people peering at them and poking at them throuh the glass does not help either. pet stores just aren't a good place for any animal to be. Ferrets, reptiles, birds, rodents... Even fish are overcrowded and stressed. But people aren't going to stop buying them from the stores so thu aren't going to stop selling them.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2011 15:57:41 GMT -5
Leopard gecko females are one of those few exceptions to the no-roommates rule That was one of the main reasons we went for them. Of course there are caveats; the geckos have to be of similar size, and the enclosure has to be suitably large and offer multiple hiding spots, basking spots, food and water sources, etc. All of our leos are from the same well-respected breeder who advised us on housing them with full knowledge we wanted a group. We've never really pushed the handling aspect because we never got them as "hands-on" pets... so if they're not properly human-socialized, it's our own fault. They don't run from hands reaching into their enclosure, but they do fuss over being picked up. As far as housing other species together, or multiple species in one enclosure, the answer 99 times out of 100 is definitely an emphatic "don't!" I like both the Exo-Terra and Zoo Med terrariums, and have a few of both. Our ball python lives in one of the 36" long models and I love the space.
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Post by littlewiseowl on Apr 26, 2011 17:43:12 GMT -5
I frequent Redtailboa.net and Ssnakess.com
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