Any ways to make cresties eat more?

My crestie Woody sleeps on the ground in a bark cave, he climbs all over at night. I sometims add organic honey to his food, he loves it.

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Sleeping on bottom is fine, unusual but fine, every crestie is different. I was worried crestie-lover 's gecko was struggling to climb.

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I will be sure to keep you updated.

He has actually been in the bioactive enclosure since September 21 (his birthday) :smiling_face: I don’t use a heat mat since it only warms the dirt up, which plant roots don’t like. He always just sleeps in the same plant, maybe 3 inches off the ground.

For heat I use a cermaic heat emitter, keeps the cage just right, 72F-76F. With humidity, the whole bottom is covered in moss which helps a ton with humidity. But, it does get to about 35% humidity during the day. It’s almost always 50%, and about 80% at night.

So I guess is there a way to make the humidity a little higher during the day? I do mist at night.
Thank you all for your help!

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I use heat mats on the side of my enclosure as useless at the bottom.

So humidity ideally needs raising. It shouldn’t get as low as that. May be due to the heat Lamp?

I have covered half of the vents at the top with kitchen foil in order to keep the humidity in. Maybe heavier sprays might help?

I spray most of my enclosures until about 90% humidity is reached

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Once I added heat it definitely became more dry. I will definitely add paper or foil to the top. Thanks for the advice!

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You can also use Saran Wrap or even a hand towel.

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Just make sure there is still ventilation!

I used kitchen foil as it was convenient and not flammable

*Edit

I forgot to add. I crushed up insects & put them in the cgd for those geckos that weren’t eating insects

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Ok, my cage is well ventilated… not a bad idea to crush insects.

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It really helps. I purchased a gecko and she would not eat insects but loved CGD. I tried EVERYTHING & nothing worked.

So to make sure she got all her nutrients, I crushed insects. It’s not fun but after about 1yr, she took her first insect and although she is still picky with her insects, she does eat them now.

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Oh, I’ll definitely have to try that. Received the Banana cream pie food, and bee pollen yesterday! I gave him some of his new food, and he ate about double as much :joy: Makes me feel so happy :grinning:

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That’s really good. I don’t have the bee pollen but I buy reptile supplies which has it in. I’m considering getting some though.

Hopefully your crestie will continue to eat more :crossed_fingers:

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May help to have the mat stuck to the side/back of the terrarium. Or just use a low wattage CHE. I know people don’t like them cuz the surface gets hot but they don’t dry things out as bad as lamps, and if a thermostat maybe with a humidifier is used, temps and humidity both can be dialed in.

I bought a humidifier for like 50-75 bucks that can be set to a specific RH (and can use warm and cool mist, may be important may not be depending) and put it in my room that has all my snakes. It really helps cuz if the ambient RH in the room is lower than 35% (which in the winter is generous) it dries out enclosures in my experience very quickly. But it’s also why I use tubs for my babies over larger enclosures/terrariums now, so I can dial in temps and humidity and other micro-habitat parameters.

I don’t currently keep Cresties or other NC species but do keep gecko’s and snakes, and living in the Midwest have had issues with humidity and temps etc. Mats do help prevent drying out, mist systems are an option and help provide drinking triggers but a regular humidifier can help too, but temps sound more like the issue here. I keep my animal room upper 70s even in winter for similar reasons.

I wish you luck! He’s a super cutie :slight_smile:

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Most don’t even heat cresties unless room temp is constantly below 65 degrees f. I’ve never used heat for my 2 cresties, but the reptile room is between 72-78 at all times. All my snakes and tarantulas are in there.

It seems like they are small until they are not, if that makes sense. I did feed both gecko diet and crickets until they got a little size. I would think if he is eating regularly and looks a little chunky, he should be fine.

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Where did you get the bee pollen? I want to try that…

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I have been on the fence about whether to or not to provide heat. There seems to be a lot of mixed opinions about this, from what I have read. No matter where his heat mat is, Mim is right there. The room temps average between 70 and 72 degrees F. He eats very well and a is a nice size for his age so I suppose I am doing right by him……

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Your temps seem okay. I require heat for mine as I’m UK and temps get low often. But I found radiator for the room with heat mats best. My heat mats r on the side of enclosures that r bioactive as they have a background also.

Bee pollen (in UK) is sold online in some reptile shops. It’s not that popular though as needs using in proportion as can be addictive. I would be wary about buying non reptile bee pollen unless u compare the ingredients.

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OMG yes! It’s like they have a sudden growth spurt lol however op crestie is incredibly small when most cresties r fully grown at that age

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Ok thank you! I will only look for reptile bee pollen. So you think then that I don’t need to use a heat mat for Mim? :thinking:

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Since I wanted the bee pollen fast, and couldn’t go to the store, I got it from Amazon.

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I’ll definitely be careful not to get him addicted. Btw, how much bee pollen should I mix in?

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