Care

We are going to outline some do's and don'ts when caring for crested geckos. This is by no means an all encompassing care sheet. We highly suggest that anyone starting out with crested geckos [or any pet for that matter] spend a great deal of time reading about the pet first. Our recommendations are added but for the most part, this is the generally accepted way to care for them.

Do's:

• Keep temperatures in the mid-70s ( a nighttime drop should be ABOVE 65 degrees)
• Have an enclosure that is more tall than wide. They like to climb [they are arboreal]
• Feed Crested Gecko Diet (CGD).
• We recommend Repashy's CGD. There are several flavors, every gecko has their preference.
• Change food every other day. You can use pop or water bottle caps for their food. They do not need huge hamster sized food dishes. They will never eat that much.
• You do NOT have to feed insects. If you do choose to feed insects, do not feed them more than once a week. Use crickets or dubia roaches. Dust them with calcium powder. Live insects' length shouldn't be wider than the gecko's head.
• Mist daily. 
• Humidity levels should drop to 30% (have a Hygrometer in enclosure) and be misted back up to 70%. Depending on your location, enclosure for the gecko, and humidity in the house, you may need to spray 1-3 times a day.
• Give plenty of vines, branches, plants [fake or real*].
• They need places to hide and climb.
• New geckos should be quarantined for at least a month. This means they are living on their own, they are the last ones to be handled, and you wash your hands after. It would also be advisable that they are on paper towel to monitor health and food intake. 

Don'ts:

• Put geckos of different sizes together. Smaller geckos look like food. 
• Feed baby food. It will cause calcium deficiency and malnutrition!!
• Use sand as substrate. They are NOT desert animals! Don't use small animal litter or newspaper either. We use paper towel to monitor health and for ease of cleaning. Some people use Eco-Earth or Coco Bark.
• Use a heat lamp. They don't need it, again they aren't desert animals.
• Put any sharp objects in their cage.
• *Put in harmful plants. Research whether your plant is safe for crested geckos. We keep it safe with fake plants. They would always squish real plants when we had them.
• Put a male & female together unless you intend to breed. Even then, your geckos should be over 30 grams each. [We prefer our geckos to be more than 35 grams when bred]
• Put two known males together. 99.9% of the time, they will fight and it will not be pretty and could lead to death.

Other things to keep in mind:

• Crested Geckos are NOCTURNAL. They are not active during the day, they tend to be more active after the sun goes down. Even then, if you have the lights on in their room, they will wait for you to turn them off to move. 
• Geckos get STRESSED. Especially when being shipped, moved to a new enclosure, too much handling, etc. Unlike humans, when they get stressed they will not eat. This could go on for 3 weeks. It happens. Just keep providing CGD for your gecko. 
• Geckos do lose their tails. It is not the end of the world but the gecko should be on paper towel until its butt heals completely. They do not grow back.
• Geckos shed! They will often eat their shed so you may never even see it happen. When they are about to shed they will look gray in color and do not stick too well.
• We recommend no more than two hatchlings together for at least the first 3 months. Our breeding groups are either a pair or one male to two females. We urge you to not house more than 4 geckos in any one enclosure, no matter how big.
• Geckos have all sorts of Poop. Brown, white, black, what looks like half a cricket... is all normal!
• Some females will lay infertile eggs beginning once their in their mid-20 grams. This does NOT mean they are actually ready to breed. A female should be much more than 30 grams when bred. Again, we wait until 35+ grams.
• If you do decide to breed or 'accidentally' [Um...], keep in mind that geckos lay eggs about once a month. Those eggs hatch between 40-120 days depending on temperature (warmer temperatures=shorter incubation=decreased survival rate). Females will retain sperm, so even if you have them together just once, she can continue to lay for the next year. Just think of it like this:
• One pairing=16 hatchlings a year, 16 more mouths to feed & house until they are a)big enough and b)someone wants to buy them from you. The gecko market is SATURATED, do not think you're going to tons of money and quit your day job.

We do not recommend people just jumping into breeding (especially if you have not kept this type of animal for an extended period of time already) so more indepth information will not be provided to the general public.  Please do not take offense.

Join Pangea Reptile's forums and watch JB's Cresties videos on youtube for more information.