Crested Gecko Care Packet

If there ever comes a time where you decide you do not want your crested gecko or cannot care for it any longer, give us a call and we will gladly take it back. Crested geckos sold by us will always have a home with us.

Enclosure & Setup

Enclosure – Crested geckos require enclosures which are relative to their current size. As babies, they are housed in smaller enclosures, and graduate to larger enclosures as they grow. We start out our hatchlings in a small kritter keeper, and upgrade them to a medium and then a large size one, as they grow in size and gain weight. Eventually, they are upgraded to a glass enclosure or terrarium, though some people choose to keep them in see-through plastic tubs (modified to have ventilation, of course). The key with enclosure size is that you do not want an enclosure that is so large that the gecko cannot find its food and water. Therefore, we start small, and increase the size of the enclosure as the gecko grows. For an adult crested gecko, the minimum size that should be used is the 12 x 12 x 18 terrarium type enclosures, though bigger is preferable.

Hides – Crested geckos are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk. Crepuscular animals like to have lots of areas to hide. Make sure to provide lots of coverage, hides, branches, and plants (live or fake) in your enclosure, so your crested gecko feels secure. We like to use fake plants, as they are easily washable and inexpensive. Make sure there’s enough of these for your gecko to feel secure in their tropical paradise!

Substrate – Baby and juvenile crested geckos should be housed on paper towels, or another substrate where it is easy to tell that your crested gecko is eating and pooping. Adult crested geckos can have a wider variety of substrates in their housing, though paper towels can continue to be used, if desired. Crested geckos love humidity. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a substrate which will help maintain this humidity, with less effort on your part. Some examples of appropriate substrates include the following: coarse orchid bark, eco earth, leaf litter, moss, bioactive soil mixes, tiles, and reptibark. Personal preference tends to dictate what substrate is used, as any of these options are safe. Please do not use aspen or sand for substrate for your gecko, as these are not safe options.

Temperature – Crested geckos live in temperatures ranging from 70-80F during the day, and 65-75F at night. Basically, they live in temperatures that are comfortable to humans. Typically, if your house temperature falls within these temperature ranges, you should be able to keep your crested gecko without any additional heat source. Of course, your crested gecko’s housing should be kept away from drafts and out of direct sunlight, as these will affect the internal temperature of the enclosure.

If your house is cooler than these temperatures, additional heating may be needed. This can be accomplished with a ceramic heat bulb. If you choose to heat your enclosure using this method, please note that you will need a thermometer to monitor the temperature, and adjust as needed. Also, please note that you do not want the entire enclosure to constantly be at the top of the temperature range, as you want your crested gecko to be able to find a cooler spot, if they would like.

Lighting – While crested geckos do not need any sort of special lighting, once you’ve upgraded to a larger enclosure with an adult crested gecko, it can be nice to have some light shining down into their enclosure to light it up. If you choose to light your enclosure, there are options for lighting that do not include heat. Please keep these in mind if you do not need to adjust the temperature to warm the enclosure for the geckos. Also, crested geckos do need a day / night cycle, so you should turn off their lights, or switch to red or blue lights, during night time.

Water / Humidity – Crested geckos love humidity. They are a tropical species of gecko that thrives in high-humidity environments. To recreate this under our care, we mist our crested geckos every 1-2 days, depending on the season, house temperatures, and how quickly their setup dries out. In the winter, we can typically mist every 2 days, while in the summer, we typically mist every day, sometimes even more than once a day. The important thing to remember is that there should be a wet / dry cycle to the misting. In the rainforest, while there is quite a bit of rain, there are periods of dryness, where the land dries out a bit before it rains again. It is important to recreate this in our enclosures. Therefore, you do not always want your setup saturated with water, but rather, the enclosure should have some time to dry a bit before re-misting. Some people use a humidity gauge or monitor, and ideal humidity levels should be between 60-80%.

Part of the reason your crested gecko needs to stay well misted and have proper humidity levels is in order for them to stay hydrated. While crested geckos will drink from a small water dish, most would prefer to lick water droplets off of the leaves and branches in their enclosure. Also, when it comes time for your crested gecko to shed, the proper humidity will allow them to shed properly, rather than to shed in patches. We provide all our crested geckos, regardless of age, with a water bowl. For babies, we use pop caps, while for juveniles and adults, we use larger water dishes.

Feed

Your crested gecko is currently being fed Pangea Fruit Mix Complete -- Watermelon Mango CGD, along with weekly crickets.

Crested Gecko Diet (CGD) – CGD is a powder which is mixed with a small amount of water until it forms a yogurt-like consistency. It can be served in bowls, pop caps, and similarly sized lids. It should be replaced at least every 48 hours, as it may start to mold due to the real fruit in the mixture. Do not feed CGD dry, as the powder absorbs water and will draw water out of your crested gecko’s body, which can lead to dehydration, among other health problems.

The Pangea brand of CGD is one of the highly recommended foods for crested geckos and will keep your crested gecko healthy for years to come. We offer fresh CGD to our crested geckos on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and we make sure they have water available at all times. For young crested geckos, we start with a small amount of CGD, and see how much they eat. Over the course of several feedings, we get a feel for how much we should put in their feeding cap. Of course, they will eat more as the grow, and you want to make sure they have plenty to eat. However, it is helpful to start with a small amount and add more if needed, as that way, un-eaten CGD does not go to waste.

We feed the Pangea Watermelon Mango CGD, as that is, by far, the most popular with our crested geckos. That said, there are a variety of other appropriate CGDs available. These include: other flavors of the Pangea Fruit Mix Complete, Pangea Complete Insect Diet, Pangea Breeding Formula (for breeding adults), BPZ Colorbomb, BPZ Melon-istic, and Repashy.

While crested geckos can be fed solely a diet of CGD, adding live food to their diet adds both variety and mental stimulation to the crested gecko’s life. When determining the size of live food to feed, the general rule is use the width between your gecko’s eyes for size reference. A variety of live food is available to feed your crested gecko, including crickets, dubia roaches, wax worms (as treats only), and hornworms. We offer our crested geckos live food twice a week, mainly in the form of crickets.

“Food” Bowl – To feed CGD, we use pop caps for our babies / juveniles, and larger feeding cups for our adults. We replace these with new food every Monday / Wednesday / Friday. We’ve noticed that many of our crested geckos would rather that their food bowl be located in a secluded spot – a shady spot partially hidden by a plant, or in a darker corner of their enclosure, rather than in a spot right out in the open. This should be taken into consideration, when determining where you want to place their food, as they may not be comfortable coming out into the open to eat. You may need to try different spots for their food bowls, until you determine a spot that they prefer.

Treats – As crested geckos are reptiles and their diet is rather limited, there’s more things that cannot be given as treats, as opposed to those that can be given. Please note, as mentioned above, that wax worms may be given to your crested gecko as a treat, but not as part of their regular diet. In addition, Pangea and some of the other reptile companies produce powder mixes (similar to CGD) which are not complete diets, but rather, are basically treats for your crested gecko. An example would be Pangea’s Fruit Mix Banana & Papaya (blue bag). This is not a complete diet, so it should only be fed occasionally as a treat, or your crested gecko may not want to eat their (note: more healthy) diet of CGD. We sometimes mix this treat food in with their Watermelon Mango CGD as a sort of added bonus flavor. They eat it right up. In addition, you can always swap up the flavor of Pangea (or the brand of your choice), to add variety to your crested gecko’s diet. Just as an example, for Pangea’s product line, these flavors / varieties are available: breeding formula, insect mix, watermelon mango, banana apricot, and banana papaya.

You may have noticed that many of these CGD mixes are made up of, and flavored with, fruit. However, these foods are manufactured to give your crested gecko a complete diet. That said, crested geckos should never be given any citric fruits (oranges, lemons, kiwis), banana, baby food, or jelly pots.

Health

If the enclosure for your crested gecko is put together correctly – they have the correct CGD food, water, they are being misted regularly and fed properly -- crested geckos are generally healthy animals. However, like any animal, they can get sick. Signs of illness include a change in eating habits, lethargy, and labored breathing. In addition, they can develop Metabolic Bone Disease if fed improperly. They can also develop Floppy Tail Syndrome if their enclosure does not provide enough natural cover (read: foliage) for them to properly hide.

Taming and Handling Your Crested Gecko

Crested geckos are more active and more jumpy / flighty when they are young. As they grow into juveniles and eventually adults, they tend to calm down somewhat. Some crested geckos take better to handling than others. While some will sit calmly while being handled, some never really tolerate handling much, and would rather jump out of your hands and find a place to hide.

Crested geckos do have teeth and can bite. We rarely get bit, and I believe this is due to proper handling practices and common sense. If you are reaching for your crested gecko, and the gecko starts to hiss at you, this is a sign that you will want to leave your gecko alone, at least for the time being. If you leave the gecko alone, you will likely avoid any unpleasant consequences. However, if you continue to bother your crested gecko (as the gecko would see it), they may feel cornered and decide that their best way to protect themselves is to bite you.

Regular handling, from the time that you bring your gecko home, can help your gecko to realize that you are not a threat to it, and may help get your gecko more used to being handled, and more comfortable, as time goes on.

Other Info.

Crested geckos should only be housed together in same-sex female pairs. As it is often impossible to tell the gender of a crested gecko when it is younger than a juvenile, this should only be attempted with caution, and plenty of enclosure space. Even with same-sex female pairs, crested geckos can and do bully each other, so care must be taken, if housing multiple geckos together, to ensure that none are being bullied.

There is a wealth of crested gecko-related information available online. While websites often offer conflicting information, you may find it useful to join a crested gecko group on facebook, as many breeders and other enthusiasts are happy to help answer questions and talk about their experiences.