Adult Crested Gecko

ADULT CRESTED GECKO CARE

Housing

Crested geckos are arboreal (meaning they live in trees), and it was discovered in an expedition that they tend to stay around 6 feet off the ground.  Knowing this, it is necessary to provide branches, plants, and vines that they can climb on and jump across.  Your crested gecko's size is more important than its age when it comes to picking the appropriate enclosure.  A 12in x 12in x 18in enclosure is suitable for one adult crested gecko.  Another option is an 18in x 18in x 18in enclosure, which can house two average (45 gram) sized adult crested geckos (or three smaller adults).  You should never house two or more mature males together, they are extremely territorial and will fight to the death.  Please note that housing two or more geckos together of different sex will invite breeding and potentially aggressive behavior.  At Reptile Rack, we have had no issues whatsoever with any of our geckos cohabing, as we house all of our breeders together year round.

Decorations and Substrates

We use Zilla Jungle Mix (which is a sphagnum moss and fir shavings blend) in our adult crested geckos' enclosures due to the natural look and its great ability to hold humidity.  There are lots of other substrates to use when it comes to crested geckos such as Eco Earth from ZooMed, Plantation Soil from Exo-Terra, paper towels, etc.  If you are breeding crested geckos, it is necessary to provide a lay box if you use paper towels or any fixed substrate.  If you use a loose substrate, you do not need to provide a lay box since the geckos will lay their eggs wherever they feel is best in their enclosure.

As for decorations, anything that they can climb on, hide in, and isn’t sharp will do.   We use a variety of branches, fake leaves, vines, and cork bark.  When using anything from your yard, it is necessary to clean and disinfect the item/s with a 10% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water; if you have a large sink or container, use that to disinfect the item(s) in.  Next, pour the bleach and water into your sink or container and scrub the item(s) to get all of the dirt off.  After your item(s) have been scrubbed, soak the item(s) for 30 minutes or so.  Next, remove the item(s) from the bleach solution and let them sit for a couple hours in the sun to dry.  Finally, after everything is dry and doesn’t smell like bleach, your item(s) can go into your enclosure).

Temperature and Humidity

For optimum health we recommend keeping them between 74F-76F.  Crested geckos can tolerate colder temperatures much better than hot temperatures.  Crested geckos are susceptible to extreme heat.  Constant temperatures over 85F will eventually kill your gecko.  A thermometer (preferably digital) will help you monitor your temperatures in your tank.  If the temperature in your gecko's cage is on the warmer side, you can thoroughly mist it and place a fan over it to cool it down.  If your cage has loose substrate, your gecko will likely bury itself in the substrate to cool itself down, which is completely normal.  If you don't have loose substrate in your gecko's cage, you should provide a humid hide for your gecko, spray the cage down frequently, and place a fan over it.

Crested geckos generally don't need heating, but if you're not able to keep stable temperatures in the winter or fall, you can use a 15 watt heat bulb with preferably a dimmable dome (Fluker's makes one for cheap that works great).  You should never use products labeled as night bulbs; they will throw off your gecko's day/night cycle, which leads to numerous health issues.  You should also never use heat bulbs in plastic containers.  The plastic will overheat, melt, and release toxic fumes harmful to your gecko.  You can also use heat pads, but they tend to get very hot without a thermostat, and thermostats can be expensive.  All this being said, however, we do not recommend you providing heat for your gecko.  These geckos thrive at very similar temperatures as we do, so just keeping your house at reasonable temperatures will fulfill their needs.

Humidity should be kept between 50-80%. This can be achieved by misting once or twice a day.  If you are misting once a day, make sure that it is at night, when crested geckos are most active.  You can monitor your humidity by having a hygrometer. It is important that the cage dries out during the day and isn’t kept too wet.  Keeping your enclosure too wet can cause respiratory diseases, shedding problems, as well as causing mold and fungus to grow in your enclosure. That being said, don’t worry if your hygrometer reads 99% after you mist the cage.  As long as it goes down to about 50-60% at some point during the day, there is no need to stress out.  If your cage is too dry, your gecko may get dehydrated and will have stuck shed after shedding.

Feeding

At Reptile Rack, we feed our crested geckos Pangea gecko diet and live, dusted mealworms.  Repashy’s MRP (Meal Replacement Powder) is also a good choice; however, we have noticed that most of our crested geckos don’t like Repashy as much as Pangea.  We feed a variety of Pangea flavors every day as well as mealworms once or twice a week.  You can also mix other diets together to give them a better taste if you have picky geckos, or to offer a variety.

Along with Pangea diet, you should also offer insects, ideally once or twice a week.  Your geckos will grow faster and larger when being fed insects.  The most recommended feeder insects for crested geckos are mealworms, dubia roaches, and crickets (not necessarily in that order).  Some people believe crested geckos can't digest the mealworms' or superworms' exoskeleton; however, this is completely false.  ACReptiles and Supreme Gecko have proven mealworms to be very nutritious and safe for your crested gecko to eat.

All feeder insects should be gut loaded and dusted with calcium that has D3 (D3 is essential for the geckos to be able to absorb the calcium).  Do not use calcium with D3 if you are going to provide a UVB light!  This may cause calcium overdose which can kill your gecko!  For calcium without D3, we recommend Rep-Cal Calcium without D3.  To gut load our insects, we use Repashy Bug Burger and veggies.  We use Repashy Calcium Plus for dusting the insects before feeding.

Providing Water

Having a water bowl in your gecko's enclosure will provide a constant water supply for your gecko.  It has been said that crested geckos do not drink standing water; however, this has been proven untrue by several breeders including us.  We use a water bowl (a 1.5 oz salsa cup filled with water) in our adults’ enclosures because it eliminates any chance of dehydration.  Providing a water bowl is optional but, it can be helpful when you are leaving your house for a couple days, or you are temporarily unable to mist your gecko's cage.  It is very important that if you do offer water dishes, to clean or replace them every few days.  Soiled water bowls will become breeding grounds for bacteria that are harmful to your gecko.

Sexing 

Sexing adult crested geckos is very easy.  Males will have a large hemipenal bulge underneath the base of their tail, whereas, females will not.  Males will also have a line of femoral pores above the vent; females do not have a significant line of pores.  Females may have a couple pores, but for the most part, if your gecko has pores then it is a male.  Notice how the male's scales in the photo below are more pointed and appear glossy compared to the female's round, matte scales.  They appear glossy because males emit a waxy secretion from their pores to mark their territory.  Some people have said that you can use the geckos spur size to determine the sex of your crested gecko.  We have found that this claim is not a reliable way to sex your gecko since the size of the spurs can differ greatly.

Handling

Handling an adult crested gecko is very easy.  The best way to handle crested geckos is through a method called hand walking (or hand jumping if your gecko is jumpy).  Hand walking is simply allowing your gecko to walk from hand to hand (for jumpy geckos, we recommend hand jumping which is the same thing as hand walking, but instead of letting your gecko walk from hand to hand, you let it jump from hand to hand).