A follow-on from Ed Clark's BOI thread...

I was following the Ed Clark BOI thread about crested geckos, and noticed in the Kingsnake screen capture someone posted, he stated "Not fired up in pics". What does it mean for a crested to be "fired up".

Thanks!

Gabe

When warm and comfortable, not stressed, they will colour up and look different than when they are stressed. Sometimes like two different animals.

I was going to relate the habit of animals changing colors/patterns in reaction to their environment, but was unsure wether cresties did it because they were upset or comfortable. Thanks for clarifying that.

I don't know if it all depends on stress with cresties. Often during the day they are lighter. If you have ever seen a crestie sleeping half under a leaf half of it's body can be somewhat fired up where the other half is pale. They seem to fire up more at night which may also be for breeding purposes. I'm just not sure it's anyone one thing that gets them fired up, I guess I always thought of it as the mood they are in and in a sense the personality of the crestie. So sum it up and then stop rambling to fire up means that their color intensifies, why they fire up I think is a multitude of reasons. That is just my opinion though.

Mood Geckos???? Hmmmm, you may be on to something marketable there....


(just funnin' with you)

Generally speaking, cresteds tend to not be fired up (they are duller or lighter in color) when they are inactive, especially during the day when they are asleep. They tend to fire up (become darker and/or brighter, showing their full color) at night when they are active. They also tend to fire up during or after eating and in response to elevated humidity levels. This can be witnessed by feeding and misting the gecko enclosures and turning out the lights--come back 10 minutes later and most of the geckos will be fired up.

Originally Posted by cookreptiles

Generally speaking, cresteds tend to not be fired up (they are duller or lighter in color) when they are inactive, especially during the day when they are asleep. They tend to fire up (become darker and/or brighter, showing their full color) at night when they are active. They also tend to fire up during or after eating and in response to elevated humidity levels. This can be witnessed by feeding and misting the gecko enclosures and turning out the lights--come back 10 minutes later and most of the geckos will be fired up.

Well damn. I thought I knew more than I did. I thought warmth and stress had a lot to do with them colouring up.

I suppose now I'll have to get a few and keep them and actually learn more by keeping them.

I REALLY don't need more lizards. damn damn damn

So far I have resisted the urge.

One word of warning...DON'T look into their eyes!!! If you do that they will telepathically numb your brain until you have to buy one...or two...or three...

Originally Posted by Wilomn

Well damn. I thought I knew more than I did. I thought warmth and stress had a lot to do with them colouring up.

I suppose now I'll have to get a few and keep them and actually learn more by keeping them.

I REALLY don't need more lizards. damn damn damn

Warmth and stress can affect whether they are fired up, but not so much as the other factors I mentioned unless the temps or stress is extreme. And yes, you do need some cresteds.

I've actually seen most of my cresteds fire up because of stress. Like at shows, because they are stressed from being in a delicup out on display, they will fire up. Just my general observation.