She's home now! My crestie is finally home! (Read here to catch up)

The guy messaged and said I can pick her up earlier than the initial time we planned for.

He was a teenager; few years younger than me most likely. He had three younger siblings, one sister and two brothers, and he wasn't much for talking (the kids were a little more talkative). Then again I'm not either (not in person at least) so it was somewhat awkward.

The younger kids asked what I'd name her, because she didn't have a name. The little sister suggested "Lily" (she appeared to be... Eight I think? Maybe six.). I mentioned the name "Dottie" because she's a Dalmatian morph, and they all went on about how cute the name was. And when we left they all said "bye Dottie!", so... I guess her name's Dottie now.

According to the guy, she's about 8 months old, and is actually very calm. I got to hold her for a bit before putting everything in the truck, and she just chilled in my hands for a couple minutes before slowly climbing up my arm (apparently she likes to climb onto people's shoulders and hide in long hair. She's like a reptile version of Alex!).

The vivarium is only 10 gallons, so it's not that big. I'll get a bigger one in the near future. It looks like he might've tried to do a planted vivarium? There's this clump of wood just kind of attached to the back wall, and there's a tiny pot stuck in it with a live plant. Not sure what the name of the plant is but I remember it because my mom has the same kind among all of her houseplants and from what I remember it is nontoxic. It's just too small to really climb on.

Then there appears appears to be some kind of detached root in there as well (there's a hole in the wooden thing that I think it's supposed to come out of). It doesn't look or feel real though. Paper towels on the bottom for the beddin, which I might switch out with something like peat moss, or some good bedding that can hold humidity.

Not a whole lot, but at the same time it's a bit too crowded to add anything more right now. Next time I go to the pet store, I'll see if there's anything I could possibly add. Advice, Deebee (or anyone else who might know a thing or two)?

Right now she's just chilling in the vivarium. Since the sun's about to go down she's starting to be a little active. Every time I leave the room and come back, she's in a different spot.

Only problem is that the guy forgot to provide any food he might've had for her at first. Also there's a bowl-holder that sticks to the side of the vivarium with magnets... Would be useful if it had the bowls with it. I went back because he's only about 5 minutes away. Said he didn't have bowls, but did give me some extra food; these "super worms" (although they really just look like mealworms to me) and that some powder food that you mix with water.

Then I went to the pet store to find a couple of dishes to put in the holder. There were none that fit (and all of the reptile dishes were only the kinds that sat on the floor of a terrarium). Ended up going to the dollar store and getting condiment cups which work for now (gonna see if I can find any saucers small enough to fit in the hole, so the food and water dishes would be more shallow).

She appears to be pretty calm right now, but I guess it helps that she's used to living in that vivarium already. She knows she's somewhere unfamiliar though. Every time I open the door she looks at me all like: "Do you mind??" I've been refraining from trying to handle her, aside from a few gentle pets. She doesn't try to run away when I do this so that's a good sign.

Got her to eat a worm straight from my hand though! Didn't seem very interested in seconds, however. Perhaps one worm is big enough (or she might eat more tomorrow).

I'll most likely go back to the store to get crickets tomorrow (because genius me didn't think about doing that when I was there looking for a couple of dishes).

Got a couple of ok-quality pictures of her in her vivarium, and one of the vivarium as a whole. It's decent; has a wire mesh area where I can mist the thing to keep humidity up by misting, without having to open the door. Still want something bigger, as well as some stuff that she could climb on or hide in.

Once she's a little more comfortable with me and settled in, I'll get some better pictures of her. She's a really pretty girl.





Hopefully sometime, I can get a picture under better lighting so you could see her spots a bit better. They're really small.

Congratulations! I laughed when you said she was a reptile version of Alex, because Alex doesn't fly much better than a reptile.



If you want some local advice, there are a couple of reptile shops in Tucson. I've been to one of them (Ever Evolving Exotics at 4444 E. Grant), and it's quite small. https://www.facebook.com/Ever-Evolving- ... 038134096/

I haven't been to the other one at 3115 N. First, but it looks like they might be bigger and have more stuff. They're closer to you, too. It's not completely clear what the name is, since they have several different websites showing different names, but it looks like the legal name might be An Exotic Reptile Pet Shop. Here are three websites for them:
http://www.tucsonreptileshop.com/
http://www.tucsonsexoticpetshop.com/
http://www.kenthebugguy.com/

It looks like there might be a third one called Reptile Specialists at 5952 E. Speedway, but there's not much internet info on them.

YAY! Congratulations How freakin cute is she!? I think her name is really sweet too. She's lovely and she has a tail? Even better!

Right, so some advice! I would definitely upgrade the set up. I'm glad to see you're already planning on it. I recommend an arboreal exo-terra. You can get them from most pet stores but you may find reptile stores will have better prices. That or order one online. If you look at them online and find one you like just look for YouTube videos on it to get a rough idea of size. I would absolutely ditch the substrate right away and get something that will last you, look nice and hold humidity. Peat moss is good as you've said, but coco fibre is also nice! I buy the coco fibre bricks and soak them, it fills the whole bottom of the exo-terras nicely and looks really good. It feels kinda weird when you've soaked it If you go down that route make sure you have a decent sized container to soak it because it doesn't half expand!

If you're planning on doing a planted vivarium right away, ignore this. I would recommend getting some artificial plants and branches once the enclosure is upgraded so they can have plenty of cover. If you can get a magnetic hide that can be placed on the back of the enclosure then that would be awesome. They appreciate the cover and enrichment. It may be harder to find her but that's a good thing in terms of keeping stress to a bare minimum. These are cool hides for cresties
https://www.lllreptile.com/products/125 ... y-hideaway

Cork bark is fairly cheap, versatile and looks good in any set up, that's something to get creative with, you could stand a piece diagonally across the enclosure so there's something easy to climb on. Greenery and vines are usually really inexpensive and will stick to most surfaces

Live bugs are absolutely fine to feed, have you got some calcium powder to dust them with? I would keep a cup of her powder food in there at all times too. Don't worry about a water bowl for now, just a couple of daily mistings will do. If you can't replace the bowls on that one and you want a cool natural looking set up you can get some that look like rocks too. Get a double one so there's always a small pot of water just in case. What brand of food did he give you? Pangea and Repashy are probably the most popular and reputable brands. You can also give some blended/pureed baby food (just fruit ones) and I'm sure they'd gobble those down no problem

Enjoy her, she's lovely!

I've been to one of those two reptile shops. Can't remember which one; I think it was that one with the three names. It's a nice place, whichever one I've been to.

I've seen exo-Terra products and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. Their small vertical terrariums are bigger than the one she's in!
I'm thinking of this one: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=30091
Not only is it big, but it also comes with extra stuff that she didn't come with when I got her.
Although if I can, I'll probably remove that tribal decoration and put something better.
I plan on doing a planted vivarium when I get something bigger. For now I'll probably find some artificial plants, and definitely a magnetic hiding cave.

And I do have calcium powder left over from when I had the anoles. Always thought that'd come in handy someday... It's good I kept it!

The brand of food is actually "all things living". It appears that brand is more known for selling products for rodents and other small animals, but I guess they cover everything. There's not much left so I might go for Pangea or raphasy next.

It's not that I couldn't change the bowls, but moreso that there were no bowls. Upon looking on the Pangea website though, it appears that the feeding cups for the holder are actually just slightly shallower versions of the condiment cups I got. So I think I'm good for now.

I'll need to get some kind of nocturnal lighting thing too. Since the fish tank in here is going to be moved, there's not gonna be anything that could possibly provide some kind of low-light source, so it'd be pretty disorienting for her.

I'll be going to a reptile shop this upcoming week for this stuff.

I think you should post some photos when you buy everything so we can do a before and after. Always makes you feel awesome when you see improvement. She looks great in herself though!

I like that the set up has the day and night LED system, that will help. Is the fish tank brightly lit or?

Never heard of that food! I'm sure they'll eat just about anything that's moist and fruity

My wife just came down (it's well after bed time, but I'm nocturnal) and spotted me looking at the Exo Terra Website...

She didn't ask, I didn't tell. But no, I'm not getting another pet.

They do have great stuff though! If I ever get one (read, if one of my children ever pester mum long enough for one) I'll be going for that brand for sure!

Can't wait to see Dottie in the new set-up!

Well it's supposed to be fruit flavored, but it smells like those powdered protein shakes that you mix with either water or milk. She eats it though, which is good.

Apparently her favorite place to hang out is on the little screen vent where I can mist without opening the door. Makes it rather inconvenient, trying to mist around her, but she's not keen on moving.
It's only at night too, which is when I have to mist the vivarium.

The aquarium light isn't that bright, but it's bright enough to simulate a bit of a "
moonlight effect. Without it though the room is nearly pitch black.
I wonder if a regular night light would be good enough for the same effect. Given there's a bird in the room too now, it would be a god idea to get something when the time comes for the aquarium to move.

I took her out yesterday but she did not seem very appreciative. Perhaps I should wait a little longer (or do it in the evening around the time she starts to get active).
Did get some pictures though, so you could see her pattern a little more!




I was sure not to let her on the bedsheets because sometimes I let my dog lay in my bed, and he has a tendency to lick fabric. So instead she was on my lap.

Put another super worm in there; she didn't want to eat it at the time so I just left it in there. It managed to dig through the tree bark attached to the wall of the vivarium and hide... Oops. Hopefully it comes back out and she gobbles it up before it dies in there or turns into a beetle. She still ate the powder mix that day though so I'm not too concerned about her not readily taking a bug right away (could've still been full from the last one).

It's interesting watching her climb around. Her feet are kinda sticky, which allows her to climb (they live in trees in the wild so...). She's much quieter about it then the birds are too.

I'll be sure to take pictures in the new setup too. Although plans to get that really soon have been compromised since I just spent about 70 dollars at the bird show. I will as soon as I am able too though. Possibly a couple weeks from now.
I found another one that's smaller then that first setup I linked to and doesn't come with all the extras, but it's still a good size and also cheaper. Plus I like how much more natural it looks While I do plan on a planted vivarium, the artificial plants would be a good substitute if I can't get any good plants for it right away.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B5AU4Y/re ... B00E4C7CHY
I'd definitely buy the day/night lighting separately too, I think it would be pretty convenient.

Also Deebee, do you think it would be a good idea to mix calcium powder in with the powder food if in the case she doesn't want to eat a live bug? I wonder if that would give her the calcium she needs.
Or would the powder stuff already have enough calcium? Given that it's supposed sto be nutritionally complete for them, I would suspect that to be the case.

And yes Bob, exo-terra is a pretty reputable brand for reptile products. I usually get their stuff when it comes to supplies.

So glad I don't have to deal with insects. I'm not afraid of them, but it was more inconvenient for me personally to feed when I had alligator lizards. I didn't know that they turned into beetles back then. I opened the container and just... beetles. Honestly kind of freaked me out because I wasn't expecting it. I'll stick to the carnivores.

I wouldn't know how to look after one

Would you mean herbivores? Given that insects are still animals, then I believe lizards that eat insects are still considered carnivores.

Unless if you mean bigger carnivores that eat rats or mice.

But there are certain worms where you'd have to refrigerate them in order to keep them from turning into beetles. I think waxworms happen to be one of those. Mealworms too maybe? Though the superworm container says to keep them in 70-80 degree temperature (aka room temp).
It's definitely a wild ride to find developing chrysali (chrysalises?) in the container. Especially when they're not fully formed and still move when touched.
Or find out that a worm you thought was eaten turned into a beetle in the terrarium. Even more alarming to find out it's been partially eaten, yet it's still alive.

Okay I'll stop grossing people out now.
Perhaps this is why I prefer crickets. They may jump but at least they don't turn into a freaking beetle!

@Jan
It's definitely different from birds I'll tell you that. For one thing, they don't fly.
Cresties are actually pretty simple, if you don't mind feeding something insects. But even then, the powder food you can get for them provides the nutrients, and they've been known to thrive without eating insects.


Upon even closer observation it appears that I'm going to need to get a new vivarium sooner or later. It looks like there's mold on the tree bark. Lest if there's a way to scrape mold off of wood or at least kill the stuff, it would probably be good to get a new vivarium for the sake of her safety. I heard springtales will eat away at the mold too; but if I plan on upgrading her enclosure then it would be easier to just replace the thing in the first place.