The Information Portal
Your destination for species information, and other personal points of interest.
Your destination for species information, and other personal points of interest.
Crested Gecko Care
The crested gecko, (Rhacodactylus ciliatus), also referred to as "eyelash gecko" or "crestie" for short, is a small species native to New Caledonia. Where is New Caledonia? Well it is a group of islands about 750 miles off the east coast of Australia. Crested Geckos have soft sticky feet which tickle as they climb up your arm, their little toes curling up into the air with each step, I have many friends who hold them for the first time and find the feeling so strange yet appealing. Those cute little feet, beautiful "eyelashes" and all the amazing colors and patterns, laid back dispositions and not to mention such easy of care, it’s no wonder why these are such wonderful first time reptiles for new pet owners!
Housing
Because Crested Geckos are so hardy, they can be kept in a number of different types of enclosures. Cresteds can be maintained in the simplest of conditions or in elaborate and lush natural setups. This is one of the reasons the species be gaining in popularity. Hatchlings to four month old crested geckos can be housed in plastic kritter keepers. You can also use other forms of housing like storage containers. Although not as pretty to look at, sterlite tubs are often favored by breeders or keeps with many geckos for their easy of cleaning. But there is such a thing as to big. In some cases, small geckos housed in large cages will not eat well. To avoid this we recommend that geckos less than 8 grams in smaller containers such a medium sized kritter keeper. When a gecko reachs the 8-10 gram mark we normally upgrade them to a 10 gallon aquarium, or like sized storage container. Young adult to adult crested geckos should be housed in a 15 gallon tall aquarium or larger. Three adult cresteds can be comfortably housed in a 29 gallon aquarium, or if preferred the 18 x 18 x 24 exoterra enclosure. Screen cages can also be used, but precaution should be taken as these cages easily dry out. Because of this when using a screen cage, you need to mist more often. Remember this species is semi arboreal and prefer height over length, so when considering your new pets home, the taller the better.
Temps and Lighting
Temperatures for crested geckos should be maintained between 72 and 80 degrees. At temperatures of 85 degrees or warmer, I refer to this as "danger zone" ("Danger Will Robinson Danger!"), the geckos become stressed which can lead to dehydration, illness or death. It is normal for night time temperature drops down into the mid 60's, so don't fret, this isn't to cold for them! If you feel your gecko need a night time heat source, a 15 W - 25W black light bulb works well, providing a small basking area, and plenty of cool area if they prefer it. The black light also does not bother their eyes, and can aid in night time viewing for those of us who are night owls also.
Feeding
Do not care much for the idea of bugs getting loose in your house? The wonderful thing about these little guys they can be raised on a diet insect free. Crested Gecko Diet, or better known as "CGD" is a complete diet produced by Repashy, a breeder in California who has been breeding crested geckos for eons now. He came up with this formula for this species (which also works for gargs, chewies, leaches, and day geckos) as a complete diet, no extra supplementing needed. CGD can be found in most pet stores in their reptile section or can be bought online through retailers like Pangea Reptile.
Like to watch them hunt? By all means offer them insects then! Although adding insects into their diet is not needed as CGD is complete, it is always fun to watch these guys hunt! Or should I say leap, miss then try again! If you do decide to offer insects, do be sure to supplement these with a calcium dust. And whats some good types to offer? Of course the ever popular crickets and dubia roaches. I know I know...."ewwww", but roaches are much cleaner (less stinky), healthier, easier to breed and vary in size from super tiny for babie cresties, up to large enough for my beardie to munch on! This particular species of roaches do not climb glass or plastic containers, and although the males have wings, we have yet to have male try to fly out of the tub....and not to mention...they are kinda cute!
Handling
Most crested geckos tolerate handling quite well. Babies are a bit more jumpy then adults. My geckos tolerate handling quite well, and I try to handle the babies often to get them more used to handling. When aquiring your new gecko, it is best to let them settle in for about a week before trying to handle them. This allows them to become more comfortable with their environment, and used to seeing that big pink thing (your hand) reach in and out of their cage for feeding and watering. When you're ready to try to handle your gecko, the grab and snag is not the best approach. A small gecko gets frightened easily. The best approach is to place your hand infront of the gecko, then gently touch its tail or hide legs. This will cause the gecko to walk (or leap) forward onto your hand for a safe handling experience. As stated young geckos are a bit more jumpy. Some of my adults are quite content to sit wherever I put them until I pick them back up again. But young geckos are more apt to climb around. So when handling your geckos, you need to get used to the idea of them jumping. And these guys dont always look where they are going. So when holding your gecko in one of your hands, your free hand always have out infront of your gecko in the direction your geckos head is facing, this is the direction it will leap in. The smaller the gecko, the smaller the leap, so realize little geckos, little jumps, big geckos, big jump! Don't worry, you will soon figure out the distance your gecko jumps! And limit the handling. Even a calm gecko can get stressed out from being handled to long. So when enjoying the company of your gecko, try to limit it to 10 minute time frames to keep from your gecko getting to stressed out for your bonding time.
Temps and Lighting
Temperatures for crested geckos should be maintained between 72 and 80 degrees. At temperatures of 85 degrees or warmer, I refer to this as "danger zone" ("Danger Will Robinson Danger!"), the geckos become stressed which can lead to dehydration, illness or death. It is normal for night time temperature drops down into the mid 60's, so don't fret, this isn't to cold for them! If you feel your gecko need a night time heat source, a 15 W - 25W black light bulb works well, providing a small basking area, and plenty of cool area if they prefer it. The black light also does not bother their eyes, and can aid in night time viewing for those of us who are night owls also.
Feeding
Do not care much for the idea of bugs getting loose in your house? The wonderful thing about these little guys they can be raised on a diet insect free. Crested Gecko Diet, or better known as "CGD" is a complete diet produced by Repashy, a breeder in California who has been breeding crested geckos for eons now. He came up with this formula for this species (which also works for gargs, chewies, leaches, and day geckos) as a complete diet, no extra supplementing needed. CGD can be found in most pet stores in their reptile section or can be bought online through retailers like Pangea Reptile.
Like to watch them hunt? By all means offer them insects then! Although adding insects into their diet is not needed as CGD is complete, it is always fun to watch these guys hunt! Or should I say leap, miss then try again! If you do decide to offer insects, do be sure to supplement these with a calcium dust. And whats some good types to offer? Of course the ever popular crickets and dubia roaches. I know I know...."ewwww", but roaches are much cleaner (less stinky), healthier, easier to breed and vary in size from super tiny for babie cresties, up to large enough for my beardie to munch on! This particular species of roaches do not climb glass or plastic containers, and although the males have wings, we have yet to have male try to fly out of the tub....and not to mention...they are kinda cute!
Handling
Most crested geckos tolerate handling quite well. Babies are a bit more jumpy then adults. My geckos tolerate handling quite well, and I try to handle the babies often to get them more used to handling. When aquiring your new gecko, it is best to let them settle in for about a week before trying to handle them. This allows them to become more comfortable with their environment, and used to seeing that big pink thing (your hand) reach in and out of their cage for feeding and watering. When you're ready to try to handle your gecko, the grab and snag is not the best approach. A small gecko gets frightened easily. The best approach is to place your hand infront of the gecko, then gently touch its tail or hide legs. This will cause the gecko to walk (or leap) forward onto your hand for a safe handling experience. As stated young geckos are a bit more jumpy. Some of my adults are quite content to sit wherever I put them until I pick them back up again. But young geckos are more apt to climb around. So when handling your geckos, you need to get used to the idea of them jumping. And these guys dont always look where they are going. So when holding your gecko in one of your hands, your free hand always have out infront of your gecko in the direction your geckos head is facing, this is the direction it will leap in. The smaller the gecko, the smaller the leap, so realize little geckos, little jumps, big geckos, big jump! Don't worry, you will soon figure out the distance your gecko jumps! And limit the handling. Even a calm gecko can get stressed out from being handled to long. So when enjoying the company of your gecko, try to limit it to 10 minute time frames to keep from your gecko getting to stressed out for your bonding time.
Leopard Gecko Care
The Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius) has been captive bred in the United States now for the past 30 years and have established themselves as an ever popular first time pet reptile. "Leos" as they are known as originate from Southern Asia, Pakistan to Northwest India. Reaching an adult size of 7" - 9", leopard geckos have the average life span of 10-20 years. Leopard geckos are extreamly docile and an easy to care for species, and with so many different color morphs to choose from, it is no wonder why this reptile species has become one of the most popular pet reptiles today!
Housing
Leopard geckos can be housed in very simply setups. Juvies can be housed in 5 gallon aquariums or like sized storage containers with paper towel substrate along with 2 hide spots anda moist hide. Adults same basic setup except a single adult can happily live in a 10 gallon aquarium. A pair of females will do fine in a 20 gallon aquarium. Although elaborate setups can be made one thing we stress is not to use sand substrates. Although this is a species who prefers dry setups they are far from a desert species. They often get impactions from being housed on sand substrates. Sand also is a great breeding ground for bacteria to grow due to feces in the sand. Sand also gets rather stinky after a few weeks, this is due to the fact that once it has been "gone" in, it is dirty and will never to be clean again even if you are spot cleaning daily. So insure a healthy gecko, keep them on a non-particle substrate like paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner, or tile. Your gecko and your nose will thank you!
A moist hide needs to be offered to all leopard geckos. Although like I stated leos come from a fairly dry area, and as I stated they are not a desert species, where they do comefrom is a rocky area. Within these rocks are humid caves. Humidity is vital to a leopard gecko for proper shed. Without it leopard geckos have an extreamly tough time shedding correctly which can result in the loose of toes due to the shed binding around their toes. A moist hide consists of a plastic container, doesn't need
to be fancy, an old food storage container works fine, or if you want something more realistic, the exo terra egg laying box will work. Within this you will use either paper towels, peat moss, or reptile moss. Keep this moist at all times.
Non moist hides can be made out of quite honestly anything the gecko can hide under or in! If you wish basic, things like paper towel rolls, plastic containers like that of which holds margarine in, or solid colored deli cup containers. But if you wish the more realistic setup, things like corkbark, rock caves or even a second exo terra egg laying cave will work!
Heating
Leopard geckos do require supplemental heating, this can easily be obtained by using an under tank heater (UTH). There are various makers of the UTH so there are plenty of brands to choose from. We personally use Zoo Meds brand
of UTH. They also come in many sizes so you can find the right size that best suits your needs. Now with this we place 2 things over the warm area, the humid hide, and 1 of the normal hides. You want to offer 2 hides for your gecko, one
of them being warm, and the other being cool, to give your gecko the option between hiding under a warm area, or a cool area. The ideal temperture for the warm side of the tank is to be 85 - 90 degrees, and the cool side to be in
the low 70's. To read tempertures here, we personally use the Temp Gun, but another type you can use is a stainless steal backed aquarium thermometer you can normally find in the fish and aquarium products area at a pet store.
Water
Although these guys do prefer a more dry environment, they still require a daily water source. A small shallow water dish is needed at all times. Make sure the dish is stable as these guys like to trample things in their homes.
Food
Who doesn't love food! Leopard geckos are insect eaters and there is a very large variety of insects to choose from. A common staple in the reptile world is the cricket. Other choice insects are roaches and mealworms. Adults can also
eat superworms. We personally feed a variety to our geckos, its the spice of life! We offer dubia roaches as the main diet, and twice a week we supplement in with crickets or mealworms, along with the occasional superworm.
We do not suggest the feeding of waxworms or pinky mice. Both are extremely high in fat. Waxworms are fine in situations of an underweight gecko in need of putting on weight from being sick, or from a female loosing alot of weight during the breeding season. But long term feeding of these two items can result in your reptile getting fatty liver disease.
Although you may gutload your insects, dusting them with a calcium dust will be required. To dust your insects, place them in a plastic bag with some of your calcium and mineral dust, and shake them like its shake n' bake! Another way to offer calcium is via a small dish containing your calcium/minerals/vitamins. We personally do both ways. The dish allows our leos to get the chance to always have calcium, and by dusting the insects themselves, we know for sure they are getting it.
And not all insects are created equal! Do be sure to properly gutload your insect days before offering them to your reptile. It often takes several days for the gutloading process to be properly absorbed into the insect, so you never want to gutload your insects right before feeding as the gutloading is pretty much void then. We suggest insect gutload made by Repashy. We have found the gutloads often found in the pet stores are high in corn, a filler food that isnt that nutritional. Also be sure to give your insects some sort of water supply. This can be done with using water crystals, fresh veggies, or sponges. Just be sure to change the sponges daily to limit bacteria buildup!
Housing
Leopard geckos can be housed in very simply setups. Juvies can be housed in 5 gallon aquariums or like sized storage containers with paper towel substrate along with 2 hide spots anda moist hide. Adults same basic setup except a single adult can happily live in a 10 gallon aquarium. A pair of females will do fine in a 20 gallon aquarium. Although elaborate setups can be made one thing we stress is not to use sand substrates. Although this is a species who prefers dry setups they are far from a desert species. They often get impactions from being housed on sand substrates. Sand also is a great breeding ground for bacteria to grow due to feces in the sand. Sand also gets rather stinky after a few weeks, this is due to the fact that once it has been "gone" in, it is dirty and will never to be clean again even if you are spot cleaning daily. So insure a healthy gecko, keep them on a non-particle substrate like paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner, or tile. Your gecko and your nose will thank you!
A moist hide needs to be offered to all leopard geckos. Although like I stated leos come from a fairly dry area, and as I stated they are not a desert species, where they do comefrom is a rocky area. Within these rocks are humid caves. Humidity is vital to a leopard gecko for proper shed. Without it leopard geckos have an extreamly tough time shedding correctly which can result in the loose of toes due to the shed binding around their toes. A moist hide consists of a plastic container, doesn't need
to be fancy, an old food storage container works fine, or if you want something more realistic, the exo terra egg laying box will work. Within this you will use either paper towels, peat moss, or reptile moss. Keep this moist at all times.
Non moist hides can be made out of quite honestly anything the gecko can hide under or in! If you wish basic, things like paper towel rolls, plastic containers like that of which holds margarine in, or solid colored deli cup containers. But if you wish the more realistic setup, things like corkbark, rock caves or even a second exo terra egg laying cave will work!
Heating
Leopard geckos do require supplemental heating, this can easily be obtained by using an under tank heater (UTH). There are various makers of the UTH so there are plenty of brands to choose from. We personally use Zoo Meds brand
of UTH. They also come in many sizes so you can find the right size that best suits your needs. Now with this we place 2 things over the warm area, the humid hide, and 1 of the normal hides. You want to offer 2 hides for your gecko, one
of them being warm, and the other being cool, to give your gecko the option between hiding under a warm area, or a cool area. The ideal temperture for the warm side of the tank is to be 85 - 90 degrees, and the cool side to be in
the low 70's. To read tempertures here, we personally use the Temp Gun, but another type you can use is a stainless steal backed aquarium thermometer you can normally find in the fish and aquarium products area at a pet store.
Water
Although these guys do prefer a more dry environment, they still require a daily water source. A small shallow water dish is needed at all times. Make sure the dish is stable as these guys like to trample things in their homes.
Food
Who doesn't love food! Leopard geckos are insect eaters and there is a very large variety of insects to choose from. A common staple in the reptile world is the cricket. Other choice insects are roaches and mealworms. Adults can also
eat superworms. We personally feed a variety to our geckos, its the spice of life! We offer dubia roaches as the main diet, and twice a week we supplement in with crickets or mealworms, along with the occasional superworm.
We do not suggest the feeding of waxworms or pinky mice. Both are extremely high in fat. Waxworms are fine in situations of an underweight gecko in need of putting on weight from being sick, or from a female loosing alot of weight during the breeding season. But long term feeding of these two items can result in your reptile getting fatty liver disease.
Although you may gutload your insects, dusting them with a calcium dust will be required. To dust your insects, place them in a plastic bag with some of your calcium and mineral dust, and shake them like its shake n' bake! Another way to offer calcium is via a small dish containing your calcium/minerals/vitamins. We personally do both ways. The dish allows our leos to get the chance to always have calcium, and by dusting the insects themselves, we know for sure they are getting it.
And not all insects are created equal! Do be sure to properly gutload your insect days before offering them to your reptile. It often takes several days for the gutloading process to be properly absorbed into the insect, so you never want to gutload your insects right before feeding as the gutloading is pretty much void then. We suggest insect gutload made by Repashy. We have found the gutloads often found in the pet stores are high in corn, a filler food that isnt that nutritional. Also be sure to give your insects some sort of water supply. This can be done with using water crystals, fresh veggies, or sponges. Just be sure to change the sponges daily to limit bacteria buildup!