Hey, I'm looking into getting my first cresty for christmas.

I need to know what size viv i will need for 2? (the max height has to be 30/ 36")

My house never goes below 65 (fahrenheit), i was told to get an extra infared lamp...Do i need it? Will it need a thermostat or should a just get a thermonitor?

how often do i need to feed them Ca and D3?

Any other advice would be much appreshiateed!

Thanks

Turner

[Olivine]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

The minimum viv size I'd use for two cresties is 45cm x 45cm x 60cm, though, to be perfectly honest, I prefer to house mine individually (two males should never be housed together as they will fight. Even though two females can usually be housed together, there's no guarantee that it will be successful: even two females might need to be separated due to fighting. Housing a male: female pair together can also lead to problems, as the stress of continual mating can have a detrimental affect on the health of the female). Given that many cresties are sold as unsexed hatchlings / juveniles, it's often best to house them separately until you can be sure what sex they are. Also, make sure that, when you do introduce two cresties to each other, they are the same size / weight (if one is noticeably larger than the other, then bullying / fighting is more likely to occur).

In terms of temperature, cresties should be kept within the range 20C - 26C (70F - 80F) during the day (a nightime dip in temperature is OK): if the average room temperature in your house lies within this range, then additional heating shouldn't be necessary. However, if it's below 20C, then I'd definitely provide an additional heat source, which could be either a small heat mat or a bulb placed outside the viv. However, given that cresties can suffer from severe heat stress (and even death) at temperatures above about 29C (84F), then I'd strongly advise that the heat source be controlled by a thermostat (either a simple mat stat for a heat mat or a dimmer stat for a light bulb).

With regard to supplements, I find it easier to feed all my Rhacs crested gecko diet (CGD), as this already has calcium and D3 added to it. They also get live food (crickets / locusts / roaches), which is dusted with pure Ca.

If you're looking for good care sheets on cresties, then I'd definitely recommend those on the Rhac Shack and Treasure Crest websites: both contain excellent advice.