For my leo I use paper towels but for my other geckos I use a mix of bio active friendly substrates……
So there’s this place in Columbia sc,called The Creature Room and my husband and I love that place! They’ve got all kinds of reptiles and frogs and tarantulas! I’m not sure if they still have their turtles or not BUT we often go to them for advice or to like double check with them because they’re their own buisness their not like petsmart/co,they know what their talking about,so I found online that if your gecko keeps eating their subs you can switch to just leaf litter for a crestie I mean she just keeps eating it and then she doesn’t understand why we’re pawing at her mouth to get it out 
so if just the leaf litter is a better option for her we’re probably gonna do that but I wanted to get some extra advice
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I have a couple of suggestions but I am going to tag @armiyana to answer your concerns because she is way more qualified than me to advise you. I would probably have to be corrected anyway 
so we will just take the short cut!
That place in SC sounds interesting btw! 
I wish I could say I have more knowledge on cresties than the basic stuff… but I appreciate the tag regardless, Thankies Caron!
Coco fiber is pretty good stuff! It’s one that you can use for both geckos if you want. The leos just like it drier and the cresteds like it a bit more damp for the humidity. It can still get some fuzz on it if the crestie food drips into it or if the poop is sitting in too damp coco, but it’s pretty easy to spot clean when needed.
My leos hate the taste of it, so I don’t have to worry about them gulping it down like you might have to worry about with sand. Sometimes a gecko who gets the right vitamins still just feels like eating sand like pixie stix. It’s already pretty fine and it usually passes through a leo just fine as a fiber supplement of sorts to the bugs if they do accidently eat some.
Cresteds I would worry about a little more since they’re naturally smaller, but usually you keep the feeding cups higher up and away from the substrate. A little lick shouldn’t bother them, but if they do for some reason decide to take a gulp or they’re on the ground with it stuck around the mouth it’s not an impaction issue, it can be a more serous problem and would need to see a vet. Most cresties don’t like to hang out on the ground unless they saw a cricket or bug to chase, so there’s usually already something up if they’re hanging out down there. It could be something as simple as needing more humidity, maybe the wrong temps or something like stress or a URI.
Magnolia leaves are still fine to use for either as long as they were sterilized. Most reptile stores are good about selling ones that have already been boiled and dried again. You can look online for more info on it if you have a friend with a magnolia tree and wanted to pick a few leaves.
Oak is a bit less common but should still be fine to use as long as it’s been treated.
Edit: gonna tag @indiflare @ghoulishcresties and @autumngeckos for some backup ideas on cresties.
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Oh wow, I got tagged, lol.
I have been using coco fiber for my cresties ever since I got em, and it seems to be completely fine. The only geckos that I don’t use it for are my hatchlings. They’re pretty careful about when they eat, since they mostly only lick up food, however, if you want to be really safe, you can find feeders on etsy that attach to the wall.
Leaf litter seems like an okay idea, it’s not one I’ve ever used, but as long as it doesn’t break (Which I don’t foresee a crestie being able to do) you should have no problems with it. Would probably look pretty neat as well.
Some other people can chime in, but that’s just what I’ve found from my own experiences.
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@rmccuen93 Just to let you know, @lumpy Riley, has magnolia leaves if he’s not too busy with his new fiancé! 
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He’s had Dart for almost as long as I’ve had Sunny,and dart is always behind her plants on the glass she doesn’t come down to the floor area until it’s dinner time, this was most likely my fault actually I just realized the reason she’s been on the ground is cause that’s where her food bowl is we couldn’t find any of the good food and water dish sets that attach to the glass off gecktopia at the time so I cleaned out Sunny’s old greens dish and we’ve been using that I forgot all about the fact that cresties eat kinda suspended up in the air on a tree or something 
- Jesus fix it lmao- so I did order her a gallon magnolias and a gallon of oak leaf litter from Josh’s frogs foam it was the cheapest delivery option - so what I was gonna do is leave the paper towel down as the base and then cover it with the leaf litter that way when she gets down under the leaves cause she likes to do that sometimes in one specific spot - we’ve had so much go on that I forgot all about the dart shopping list yall 
I’m a terrible mom! Ok so she has a day light but I need to get her another uvb it still works but I feel it’s time for a new one and heat emitter for night time her old one blew can I use the one that literally just emits heat or do I need the one that’s like got a purple hue to it when the emitters turned on? I’m really funky when it comes to lights cause reptiles can see all these arrays of colors that we just can’t and I don’t wanna hurt her
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Coco fiber is a bit controversial, some swear by it, some don’t recommend it, mainly due to the slight risk of impaction. Coco fiber expands quite a bit when it goes from dry to wet, so it could case problems if ingested dry, as it might expand in the stomach. Lots of people use it without issue though.
Personally i don’t use it, since i don’t think it’s worth the risk, even if it’s tiny. But also because i did use it for a while before i knew of the risk, and I felt that it dried unevenly, and was incredibly dusty, so i just didn’t really like it overall.
Personally i recommend unfertilised sphagnum peat moss, or unfertilised top soil.
Crested geckos generally don’t need any additional lighting, and if done wrong heating/lighting can actually cause more harm than good. If you wanna provide heating, their hot spot can’t get much above 30c/86f, and there has to be spots in the tank where the temperature is in the mid to low 20s celsius/70s fahrenheit, so they can get away from the heat. So it’s important to always keep the lamp on a thermostat (not to be confused with a thermometer). As for UVB they don’t need it as such since all the vitamin D they need is in their diet, but it’s beneficial if done correctly. The UV index should be no higher than 1.5 in their basking spot, which can be achived by using the Arcadia Shadedweller 2.4% model which is specifically made for crested geckos and similar animals. Be sure to check up on the specific distances needed, if you want to provide UVB
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Oh no I think I’ve been doing it wrong for dart ….ok I’m going to try not to panic ok…so uhm ….right now she is on paper towels which I know isn’t like great because she needs the humidity her leaf litter comes in tomorrow she loooooves to eat her subs I mean full on face in the dirt,so right now we’re using a thrive tropical uvb I think it’s like 5% or something it’s a low one it was 16$ but she needed uvb pay day is the 10th that’s just 2 days away so I can get her the Arcadia arboreal uvb that the lady from LeopardGeckoTalk on YouTube recommends
We have coco fiber but I don’t wanna use it we also have Scott’s topsoil which has everything you listed in it and it has 0.00% fertilizer can we use that with the leaf litter instead? It’s what I’ll be using for nugget my Leo I was told it was ok for him also because it has no fertilizer and it has the Pete moss and sphagnum moss in it ….so the uvb for dart isn’t placed inside it’s on top of the screen of the lid it’s a coil 
but it’s just to give her some type of uvb till Friday - as for husbandry paper towels till we can figure out how to manage her subs cause she eats it the leaf litter has worked great for that tho I added 2 nice pieces of mopani lastnihght and a cork round so that way she doesn’t have to rely on climbing glass she has actual things to climb on (she had things but they were small and didn’t do what the new decor allows her to do) and I also added a nice fat long fake succulent or type of cactus under one so inc see she fell she had something to catch her since no subs at the moment ,I actually didn’t know she needed a basking I was told by a vet she didn’t require one since she’s arboreal ….now I feel kinda dumb lol we just really wanna get this right Sunny’s set up is good nuggets set up is good it’s just darts that were working on sprucing up eventually we’re going fully bioactive so we’ll need that Arcadia led grow bar for the plants too ……can you do me a favor? Would you be willing to make me a list of must haves for cresties? Like if we’re gonna do lights what lights and stuff (we only use Arcadia tho we kinda like swear by Arcadia) but if there’s a different specified brand then that’s of course different I just wanna be able to make sure we get her everything and don’t miss anything I’m also ordering her 2 coconut hides one that hangs and one that’s for the ground and I’m getting nugget the same one for the ground too lol but if you could make me that list and send it to me it email it to me or post it here it would be so appreciated because I’m panicking she’s not showing signs of anything that we can see but we want to avoid it we love our babies it’s just taken us some time we’ve tried so many things
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Coils generally aren’t that great because they tend to have a pretty high UVI right underneath bulb, but the UVI falls very quickly as you get further from the bulb, as opposed to a tube, where the UVI fall more gradually. Depending on how close the gecko can get to the bulb, a 5% might be too strong. I would personally just remove it, since like i mentioned they don’t actually need it, so she won’t suffer by not having it for a few days.
If it’s safe to use with your leo it should also be safe for your crestie.
Are you sure she’s eating the CUC, and not just digging to lay eggs? But leaf litter should help if she is in fact eating them, as it gives the CUC places to hide.
She doesn’t need any basking spots, heating or UVB, given the temperature doesn’t get below 74f too frequently, and that you are feeding a decent brand of CGD as her main diet. Providing both UVB and heating can definitely be a good addition if you want to go above and beyond, but most cresties do just fine without it.
As for for the plants, simple LED lights will do.
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I tell ya what,this community has been way more helpful than any Facebook group has been,I’ve been so upset and freaking out thinking I’ve failed as a mom so it’s actually really nice to have some reassurance 
I would personally like to get her a basking and the arboreal Arcadia kit,I mean sunny and nugget both have basking and uvb she needs to be able to tell day from night and I would just feel so bad not having those things for her but I wanna make sure that it’s the right basking bulb and I have no idea which Arcadia bulb to even get for her
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There’s a group on Facebook called Reptile Lighting which is really awesome when it comes to heating, UV, and lighting in general, I would definitely recommend asking in there as they can help you with your specific setup! There’s also plenty of examples of other people’s setups if you’re like me and like visual guides.
I don’t use UVB myself, so i can only recommend the bulb Ive already mentioned, if im not mistaken if it’s situated above the mesh, then the ideal basking spot would be 10-15cm (4-6inches i think) underneath the lamp. There are other options though, the important part is that the distance is correct.
As for heating, most use a nano-halogen in a small dome lamp, attached to a thermostat. The thermostat probe should be on the inside of the tank near the basking spot (like attached to the glass with a suction cup, or something), and should be set to a temperature that makes the basking-spot surface around 85-86 at most. It should be turned off at night.
You are a breath of fresh air my lady! And a superstar mom taking such great care of your scaly kids! And yes there are a lot of caring people here who are glad to help you with all your questions!
So glad you are here! Come back often!!!
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HEEEEEEEEELP! does anybody in the Greenville sc area or close by areas have a vertical 18x18x24 tank front opening ? I’ve been waiting and wishing for the person to reply to me on messenger with an address to go and get this tank and they haven’t even ……I have 50$ I know
It isn’t much but dart needs this tank ……we can come get it like right
Now