He's Nacho Gecko

| Reptiblr | Brought Nacho home 15/09/18 at 9 weeks | Harlequin morph |  | Elliot, 16, UK, male, new owner, my non-reptile blog is orphanerdualscar! | This is my blog tracking daily life with my crested gecko, send an ask if you have any questions or advice!

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My favourite little guy!!!

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Put in an order for some eco earth! I’m less than halfway through the bag of orchid bark and I had planned to switch over substrate anyway as I didn’t actually realise orchid bark wasn’t a great substrate for a gecko until recently, despite my research.

I do have some concerns about potential impaction, but as long as I monitor Nacho and avoid using insects frequently (+ provide a good water dish to soak in if necessary), hopefully it’ll work just fine!

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First deep clean happened yesterday! I didn’t have anything better than a thoroughly cleaned out washing-up bowl to put him into while I was cleaning out his tank good n proper on the floor, but he was so well behaved and I kept a proper eye on him to make sure he stayed there in his leaves.

I also handled him for the FIRST time as a result of this!! I took him out of the tank carefully and gently once all furniture had been removed, and he allowed me to handwalk him for about 30 seconds before I placed him in the bucket. I definitely didn’t handle him for that long when putting him back in, and just picked him up and let him hop right back in.

I didn’t want to handle him more than that because I realised he was in shed, but this let me get a good look at him to make sure it was all well and healthy. Hopefully this’ll prove a good experience for future handling and trust, as he didn’t drop his tail, attempt to bite, or fling himself off my hand until the very end into his tank.

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A collection of photos of Nacho! I REALLY love the middle left one, it shows his colours BEAUTIFULLY!

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This is the general setup for Nacho’s tank!

He’s in a 30 x 30 x 45cm (12 x 12 x 18 inch) Exo Terra tank that has a thermometer, hygrometer, Exo Terra compact top + 25W daytime heat lamp. He also has two dishes attached to the side of the tank (only one atm with water in it), and I put food in a cleaned bottle cap since he’s still small.

I feed him Pangea fruit mix with soldier fly larvae (plan to try Repashy after this) alongside occasional small locusts no bigger than the length between his eyes. Both his drinking and misting water come from a bottle of still water, which is refreshed daily and misted twice daily.

Within the tank decoration-wise are:

•Two long fake plants either side of the tank

•A big wooden perch

•Orchid bark substrate (I also plan to switch it to eco earth at some point in the near future)

•A fake log + plant hide (supposed to be for an aquarium but it fits nicely and he loves it)

•A real plant towards the back in a fake wood plant pot

Other than that, my daily routine is to turn his light on when I wake up in the mornings, mist it down nicely after checking the hygrometer and thermometer, replace food and water, look to see if there are any obvious poops, then leave him be for the day until it begins to get to evenin, where I mist his enclosure down again and turn off his light. Sometimes I will include small, gut-loaded and calcium-dusted locusts into his daily meal which he seems to go right for. Every weekend I do a brief clean of his enclosure by taking everything out and cleaning it, replacing substrate, and making sure he’s happy and healthy. When cleaning the interior of his tank, I spray it with Vivclean and thoroughly rinse!

I have yet to begin proper handling with Nacho as he’s still young and flighty, but I’m getting him used to my presence and hands which seems to be helping.

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First ever photo I took of Nacho the crested gecko! We brought him home on the 15th of September 2018 at 8-9 weeks old. He’s a harlequin morph as far as I’m aware, and as of today he’s about the length of my middle finger from head to tail!

I planned to get a crested gecko for most of this year and first obtained his Exo Terra tank as a birthday present back in March, with lengthy planning and researching care before getting him in September, and since I’m a new owner (my dad previously owned a bearded dragon but of course that is a different reptile to a crestie) I’m very VERY anxious about making sure he’s happy and healthy.

If anyone notices anything bad that I havent, or has any proper advice to give at any point, don’t hesitate to tell me! I’m going off a plethora of info from books, the internet, and the (researched) pet store owner who breeds crested geckos himself (but didn’t breed this particular fella), so if I do anything wrong that I haven’t realised, I highly appreciate knowing.

Greetings from Nacho!