Intro to crested gecko care
Crested geckos are one of the easiest reptiles to care for and make great pets! They’re easy to handle and don’t require many of the special requirements that other reptiles do. Crested geckos do not require heat lamps and will thrive at room temperature, however they do prefer 72° to 75°. So if your house is cold you may need to get a heat mat.
Crested geckos do like high humidity which also aids them in shedding their skin, so you should mist the tank 1-2 times a day with a spray bottle. The geckos will also drink the droplets of water off plants or decor in the tank in addition to a water dish. In terms of feeding, crested geckos are omnivorous, meaning they eat live food and fruit/plants.
They will successfully live on a mix of the complete crested gecko diets on the market which are powders you mix with water. I prefer to use Pangea Crested Gecko Diet or Repashy Crested Gecko Diet. Both have great flavors and contain the necessary vitamins and nutrients the geckos require. I personally feed my geckos crickets dusted with a calcium supplement once a week but this is not a requirement if you don’t want to deal with live bugs!
Crested geckos when smaller should be housed in a smaller enclosures to ensure they find their food and can be monitored and a single adult should be housed in an 18x18x24 tank as they are climbers. Males cannot be housed together as they can be aggressive, females will cohabitate better however they are solitary animals and I keep all my geckos individually. Ensure there are plenty of branches and things for your gecko to climb on as well as plenty of places for your gecko to hide as they are nocturnal and bright lights can stress them out. You can either go the bioactive route with live plants which also aids in humidity or you can keep them with fake plants, both work great, it just depends how much work you want to invest into your terrarium.
Crested geckos are easily handled but can become stressed out. Start out by holding them in small increments at a time and build up to holding them for longer periods. Never grab onto their tail! Crested geckos can drop their tails at anytime for any reason and they do not grow back. It will not affect the gecko in the long term if they lose their tail but care should be taken to avoid them dropping their tail.
