# New crested gecko - possible impaction risk from coco fibre... or maybe not?



## Ben7ani (Oct 22, 2011)

Hello, I'm new to these specific forums.. just to let you all know ive been keeping reptiles for about 5 years and i've seen the collection slowly creep up :whistling2:.... Ive currently got 2x crested geckos called Ginger and Lynx (2-3 months old), 1x male panther chameleon called Charlie (coming up to 2 years old), 2x red eyed tree frogs with no names..(1 years old). I have previously kept giant madagascan day geckos and a royal python and also have looked after a friends crested geckos for 3 months whilst he was away. 

Brings me on to my question....

The crested geckos which I mentioned above I bought today from a wicked bloke I know in a reptile store... they are so fun to watch, I bought one flame and one AWESOME harlequin... £60 for the flame and £80 for the harlequin... 

They have both been placed in their own 45x45x60cm exo terra planted tank, with plenty of climbing space etc. 

I was dusting up some crickets this evening and chucked a load in probably 30 ish (to take into consideration the fact some will hide)... I was wathcing them under a 40W red zoo med heat bulb placed about 30-35 cm above the mesh... and BOTH geckos were hunting them straight away and i saw them eat at least 4-5 crickets each, which I'm really please about considering i bought them today. 

Anyway... one of them, when he caught his/her first cricket managed to take a small mouthful of coco husk fibre (the hard brick which you soak in water)... he wriggled about for a bit.. and then was fine... within 1 min he was back hunting and caught another 3-4. Does coco husk fibre pose an impaction risk?.. or will he just poo it out? He seemed to be ok considering he went back to hunting.. 

I have a custom made expanding foam and aquarium safe silicone (with the coco fibre stuck to it)... and he was hunting on the top and thats where he got a small mouthful. I have sinced rubed off the lose soil as i didnt realise any was up there so it shouldnt pose a problem again. I have leaf litter on top of the coco husk at the bottom. 

Thanks in advance.

Ben


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## Ben7ani (Oct 22, 2011)

I was going to post a photo but you cant add attachments.. bit annoying :-(


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## MissCat (Mar 9, 2009)

Ben7ani said:


> I was going to post a photo but you cant add attachments.. bit annoying :-(


Upload a pic to flickr or photobucket and post it that way.


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## Crested Tink (May 29, 2011)

Cresties of that age I would keep on kitchen towel.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i`d use kitchenroll too at that age.

have you also got cgd in the viv for them to eat? jst asking as you`ve put a lot of crickets in there and it would give them something the eat other than your hatchlings.........


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## Jazzy B Bunny (Jun 21, 2007)

Cresties up until 15g I use kitchen roll. I also try and feed my livefood in a tub of some kind (inside the encloure) so its easier for them to find the bugs 

ETA: 30 crickets is way too much.


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## LuLu (Aug 13, 2011)

*Hey, I post in here quite a lot even though I'm still relatively new too. I know you've stated you've been keeping reptiles for 5 years, so I don't want to sound patronizing, and I will apologise now if anyone ever takes any of my posts that way as thats not what is intended. I recently lost 2 cresties due to impaction of their substrate, and it was coco-fibre/eco earth stuff. I lost another last night, also impaction, caused by a cricket that had eaten something dodgy and affected the crestie. My first 2 that passed, one passed very quickly, within 24hours, after swallowing some substrate that was stuck to its feet (it was mid-shed). The second, it turned out after a PM had become impacted with the same substrate at the same time (these two lived together), but it lived 5 days longer, and then sadly passed. I got a PM done and it turned out they both became impacted, and the one that survived longer actually had the bigger blockage in its system. After the first had passed the other one that was in beside was placed on Kitchen Towel, therefore there was no chance of it becoming impacted. This little one, had been very lively immediately after swallowing the substrate as it doesnt affect all of them that quickly. The first one, obviously was affected rather fast, as it passed within 24hours, but out of the two, it was also the smaller and younger crestie by a couple of weeks. The second was bounding and leaping around like a loon as it usually did, and then passed 5 days later. *

*Having had this happen 3 times to me now, with baby cresties, I strongly advise they be kept on Kitchen Towel for a loooooong time until rather grown on. It truly is horrible having any animal die, I know, but knowing that your crestie is impacted and that there is nothing you can do for it, truly is heart-breaking. I would hate for you to experience this, and really would recommend putting them on the KT. Obviously, you are their owner, and it is your choice at the end of the day, but I know how gutted I was when I lost my little ones. Its still a rather raw subject for me too, as I only buried the 3rd this morning.  *

*Hopefully everyones posts have been of use to you  x*


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## Ben7ani (Oct 22, 2011)

Hey all thanks for the reply, they are pretty much as i had guessed they would be anyway. 

I have decided to use the bowl technique for now and placed the crickets in 2 bowls, one dug into the substrate and 1 on a platform higher in the vivarium. 

Yes i have crested gecko diet (CGD) mixed with baby food in the vivarium for the time being to make sure it encourages the juvenile cresties to taking CGD and i will gradually reduce the concetration of baby food until it is CGD and water only. The aim for when they are fully grown is CGD with water 3-4 times a week, crickets/locusts (dusted with calcium or D3 depending on whats required) 2-3 times a week and mashed up soft fruits puree / baby food with CGD once a week as a treat. 

My friend has kept cresties on coco husk substrate successfully for a long time and now breeds them. He keeps juviniles in crickets keepers with no substrate to start with and at 2-3 months moves them into a 30-30-45cm exo terra with coco husk substrate and decor etc. Also the store I got them from (very good reputation) keeps them with coco husk / eco earth as do all the other shops I have seen them in. I guess it's rare for impaction to be an issue, for it to happen to you three times is really, really unfortunate. Sorry for your loss :-(

I will keep the coco husk in for the time being as it is a live tank (with a few exo terra hanging plants) so would be a pain to remove coco husk, hydro leca balls, live plants and leaf litter not to mention the spring tails!! So as I have stated I am using the bowl technique so the geckos can happily get in but the crickets cant get out. The concentration of crickets in these bowls wont be excessive so that it freaks the geckos out when hunting!...

Thanks for your replys.

Ben


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

feeding from bowls will minimise the risk of them eating any coco fibre

probly a good idea to used pureed fruit with your cgd rather than babyfood from the start. 
you can also add a tiny dab of honey if you wanted, manuka is best if you have deep pocketes, lol.


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## Samsloc (Jun 19, 2011)

Sorry to hijack but is reptile carpet ok? Our new gargoyle is one that and he's tiny


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## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

I use reptile carpet in all mine, but so far not tried it with hatchlings. Easy to clean. Downside is it doesn't retain moisture like thicker substrates.


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## bloodsyre (Jan 29, 2012)

pigglywiggly said:


> you can also add a tiny dab of honey if you wanted, manuka is best if you have deep pocketes, lol.


I eat Manuka Honey myself for health reasons, and have shopped around A LOT!! .. the cheapest I've found is £4.99 for a jar (I think it's around 400gram? - I've recently run out, so can't check :blush .. it was in my local Aldi, and it's the 10+ stuff - so it's pretty good... and lasts ages, as I only have a teaspoon a day  :2thumb:

it's been there for ages, so i'm hoping its a keeper!! I dont fancy going back to paying £15+ a jar in Holland and Barrett!!! :whip:


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## SwampyK (Jan 28, 2012)

i had a Madagascan day gecko on coco fibre that ingested the stuff, it wasn't just little mouthfuls with crickets he used to eat bunches of the stuff for no reason, he was a shy one anyway so i didn't notice until i began to get worried and monitor the feces. My advice would be watch them closely, i don't know if cresties have the same problem but i would get them off the substrate, at least until they're bigger


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

over the years (13 years of looking after various reptiles) ive had cresties gargs and a few others full to the brim on co co fiber. I think i just have stupid reptiles! lol.

I ended up removing it after two geckos were just pooing out co co fiber -- they didnt even have live food in their tanks!!!


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## Sweetcorn (Aug 2, 2008)

bloodsyre said:


> I eat Manuka Honey myself for health reasons, and have shopped around A LOT!! .. the cheapest I've found is £4.99 for a jar (I think it's around 400gram? - I've recently run out, so can't check :blush .. it was in my local Aldi, and it's the 10+ stuff - so it's pretty good... and lasts ages, as I only have a teaspoon a day  :2thumb:
> 
> it's been there for ages, so i'm hoping its a keeper!! I dont fancy going back to paying £15+ a jar in Holland and Barrett!!! :whip:


Just bear in mind that despite the manuka honey saying active ?+, without the UMF stamp and serial number this honey will not have been tested so is basically like buying normal honey.


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## bloodsyre (Jan 29, 2012)

Normal honey would have little benefit for what I use Manuka for (I used to get New Zealand Manuka with bee venom by Nectar ease, and, it's just my opinion, but I personally think that was better for Me.. But at £25 a jar, I can't afford it all 

I only mentioned the 10+ bit, as that's what most people's knowledge of Manuka is limited too ...

But yeah, like you said, you need to check for the stampage, or that its from n.z bee farms otherwise, you might aswell be buying *normal* honey ....


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## bloodsyre (Jan 29, 2012)

.. Ooooh cheeky, just seen on MoneySavingExpers Forums, that supposedly it doesn't have the stamp (I've run out, so obviously can't check my own) 

Hmm, maybe it was the placebo effect after all  ... Although like I said, I think the Nectar Ease brand was better for me (the small amount of bee venom 'supposedly' help with osteoporosis and arthritis ....)who knows, I'm on that much medication, it could aswell be them that's helping! Hehe ah well, at least I like honey!

Anyway, I digress... Aldi - no stamp! Bad Aldi :bash: soooo, what do you think the benefits of using Manuka over normal honey are for the lil crestie? 

X


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## Marti3P (Sep 5, 2010)

I've got some from Asda, just checked there website to see what the price it is as I've had it for a while, it's £7.18 for 340g and it's 10+.

Though I can't see a UMF Stamp.

Phil




bloodsyre said:


> .. Ooooh cheeky, just seen on MoneySavingExpers Forums, that supposedly it doesn't have the stamp (I've run out, so obviously can't check my own)
> 
> Hmm, maybe it was the placebo effect after all  ... Although like I said, I think the Nectar Ease brand was better for me (the small amount of bee venom 'supposedly' help with osteoporosis and arthritis ....)who knows, I'm on that much medication, it could aswell be them that's helping! Hehe ah well, at least I like honey!
> 
> ...


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## Sweetcorn (Aug 2, 2008)

There is more detailed into on this site:

What is UMF?

Basically the higher the + the stronger the antibacterial properties are. For my geckos I use +15 and I always check that it has the UMF stamp. 

It's important to have the testing as two plants next to each other can produce different ratings and the same plant can change from year to year.


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## Oxide (Dec 31, 2011)

I have coco husk for my 16 gram 6 month old cresty but i dont feed anything that can run about.

Mine are all in glass pots,i have seen people feed roaches in large container and have one of there vines come down straight into it so when crestys jumps down he wont pick up anything else,not sure if you can do this with more active live feed.

I would avoid the bay food also,best bet is repashy/clarks


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## bloodsyre (Jan 29, 2012)

Sweetcorn said:


> There is more detailed into on this site:
> 
> What is UMF?
> 
> ...


So do the properties of Manuka that apply to me, apply to geckos aswell then? I realise this may sound silly but if I don't ask, I'll never know! 

Oh, and thanks for the heads up about the UMF stamp, I'll be sourcing my honey more carefully now :notworthy:


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## Sweetcorn (Aug 2, 2008)

bloodsyre said:


> So do the properties of Manuka that apply to me, apply to geckos aswell then? I realise this may sound silly but if I don't ask, I'll never know!
> 
> Oh, and thanks for the heads up about the UMF stamp, I'll be sourcing my honey more carefully now :notworthy:


I apply it to both. I don't give at every feed....maybe once or twice a month for the Rhacs and the L. williamsi get a little every week as they love it.

I thought I would mention the UMF because not everyone is aware of it. Glad you now know what you're buying


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