How to Care for Your Dragon!
Researching the proper care for your new pet is important! Read our care tips for crested geckos below!
Crested geckos, also known as eyelash geckos, Latin name Correlophus ciliatus, come from New Caledonia. They are tropical arboreal geckos, requiring tanks with height and humidity to replicate their natural environment. They are nocturnal and omnivorous, seeking out various fruits and insects at night. In the wild, they jump from branch to branch, making them excellent climbers on all types of surfaces.
They have prehensile tails and 'sticky toes' that allow them to quickly maneuver. They can drop their tails, however unlike other lizards, once dropped it does not grow back. Think like one life in a video game! Tail drops do not hurt, and most wild geckos actually do not have tails. We call tailless geckos "frogbutts."
Crested geckos can also change color! What? Yes! Not quite like chameleons do, but they do have chromatophores, cells inside their skin that allow them to slightly change or develop their colors. This can be due to their age or environmental state!
When hatched, young crested geckos are usually brown in color, displaying minimal coloration. This develops as they age and with each shed. As they get older you will notice they display different colors usually at night vs. during the day. At night they usually become darker in color, or as we call it in the community, "fired up." During the day they are usually paler in color, or "fired down." This is a form of camouflage.
They may also start to look grayer in color as they're about to shed, this is completely normal.
As they get older, especially as they reach their 'elder years,' geckos will start to lose more pigmentation-- for example, yellows may start to look almost white in color as they reach retirement age.
They do not have eyelids, so it's often not easy to tell if your gecko is sleeping! A good rule of thumb is if the gecko's eyelashes are pointed out or down, they are likely asleep, while upright means they're awake! Their pupils react to the amount of light in the room, so when it's dark, their pupils expand, and when it's light, they contract, giving them that snake-eye look. They are known to lick their eyeballs to clean off any debris.
Can geckos bite? Technically, yes. But because they don't have sharp teeth, it feels more like a small pinch. They are very unlikely to draw blood, and usually they'd rather not bite-- they're all flight, not so much fight.
Just like all reptiles, crested geckos shed their skin. But you'd rarely see it happen, as it usually occurs at night, and they actually eat their skin as they go to retain some nutrients.
Crested geckos can live 20 years in captivity with proper care. They take about two years to reach sexual maturity. At adult age, they can weigh upwards of 40 grams. Female geckos can lay eggs, as many as 2 per month for 10 months out of the year, though producing less is not uncommon. If she is not paired with a male, she may lay the occasional infertile 'dud' egg, but she will not produce with the same frequency as a paired female.
Enclosure: We suggest 20 gallon tall minimum tank size, also known as an 18x18x24. This is perfect for an adult to live in its whole life. For a young baby, we suggest starting smaller so they can easily find their food.
Temperature: Lows of 65 are acceptable for winter nights, with highs of 82 being the absolute maximum for a summers day. Crested geckos are pretty hardy creatures, but they do not tolerate heat well at all. They are very susceptible to heat stroke. 72-76 degrees is a wonderful daily climate.
Humidity: In the tropical rainforests of the island, they experience both high humidity coupled with a coastal breeze. So too much dampness is breeding ground for bacterial infection, and too little can cause dehydration and other issues like trouble shedding. Maintaining humidity at around 60% is the way to go. The way we recommend maintaining this is by misting the enclosure nightly, focusing on leaves and surfaces. During misting, humidity may spike up to 90%. Allow to dry out before misting again. Beware water bowls/dishes. They are not swimmers, despite being on an island. They will drown.
Feeding: Feeding daily is not necessary. We feed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week, collecting the old food when we provide new food. We use a variety of Pangea flavors, favorites include Watermelon, Fig and Insect, and Growth and Breeding. We supplement with calcium-dusted crickets and liquid calcium, particularly for our breeders to maintain good calcium stores. Beware feeding straight fruit or commercial sugar-dense diets like jelly pots. These are not healthy options for your gecko and do not provide proper nutrition.
Common problems: Every animal has their issues. You should not get a pet if you are not prepared for potential medical expenses. Veterinary care is important in the event of illness. Some common preventable illnesses include MBD or metabolic bone disease, which is caused by calcium deficiency. Parasites are easily transmissible if you have multiple reptiles, and are often found in feeder insects.Be sure to quarantine any new animals, and watch for things like weight loss. Heat stroke and dehydration are very common if not monitoring high temperatures and maintaining humidity, and respiratory or bacterial infections, which are often caused by too high of humidity. Impaction can also occur. It is a blockage caused by a foreign body. If you notice your gecko has stopped eating or defecating, it could be a sign of impaction. Best way to avoid this is with proper substrate. Don't use straight coco fiber.
Handling: Use the hand-walking technique, scooping up under the animal and letting it jump or walk from hand to hand. Hands over heads look like scary predators! Reptiles are not cuddlers. Even the tamest of geckos will be stressed by too much handling, and that can lead to illnesses. We suggest you limit handling your gecko to just once or twice a week.
If your gecko escapes, don't panic. Chasing after it is only going to startle it further, and they are faster than you. Move slowly and patiently. If you lose track of them, the best thing to do is to turn off all the lights and wait until it's dark. Listen for movement, and look up! These guys are arboreal so they'll climb curtains, walls, furniture, ceilings, house plants (in fact these are a gecko's favorite. always check here first). Leaving out water and food can be a good help too.
How Do I Go Bioactive?
It's a little more expensive at the start, but it will save you a lot of time with cleaning and maintenance. Bioactive enclosures are a way to replicate a naturally cycling mini ecosystem.
Once you have your cage, you'll need horticultural charcoal, mesh liner (we actually use window screen!), ABG mix soil, leaf litter, cork bark, live plants, and finally, springtails and isopods.
First, spread about an inch of charcoal at the bottom of the tank. This will provide a drainage layer for your soil, which is super important to avoid waterlog and bacteria build up. The springtails love charcoal, and it's great for encouraging plant growth.
Next, add your mesh liner on top to keep it separate from the soil. Then add your soil and isopods!
Isopods and springtails are little bugs you include in the set up to be your clean up crew (cuc). Isopods, sometimes called rollie pollies, eat poop and dead leaves, and springtails eat mold spores. Together they will keep your habitat healthy for your gecko!
Then we add the leaf litter and cork bark. This helps jumpstart the environment's cycle, but it also protects your isopods from becoming gecko treats. It's not harmful for your gecko to eat them, but you also need them for a successful bioactive enclosure.
Don't forget to add your plants! We suggest buying pesticide free plants and thoroughly washing before planting in your enclosure. Make sure the roots are clean so you don't have any hitchhiking bugs. The best plants we've found for geckos are vining pothos, ZZ plants, and snake plants!
And that's pretty much it! Make sure your gecko has lots of places to hide and be comfortable, ledges to jump on, etc. They'll thank you to provide a food ledge as they prefer to eat off the ground. We really only clean the glass of my enclosures as needed, and will occasionally stir up the dirt or add new isopods to keep things thriving.
Breeding
If you are considering breeding crested geckos, welcome to the club! However, there are a few things you must know before you begin.
First, never breed underage geckos. Wait until they are fully grown, at least 40 grams, before introducing a male to a female. Don't misinterpret-- this is what is safest for the animals. That doesn't mean they won't breed if left to their own devices! Do not house a male and female together until they reach proper breeding weight. This will help ensure their health and success.
Once paired together in the enclosure, they know what to do. However, do not be surprised if their first season isn't very successful, this is not uncommon. Males can be paired with multiple females per year, and breeding can get a little rough! They grab onto the female to hold her in place and you may hear little vocalizations that sound like squeaks.
Females will start to lay one month after pairing with the male. They will bury their eggs in the dirt or moss, wherever they can find a properly humid environment.
Eggs need high humidity to incubate, and can take around 70-80 days to hatch if incubated at 72 degrees. We do not recommend incubation temperatures over 78 degrees. Pangea Hatch is a great egg incubation medium. It is not recommended to let eggs hatch in the enclosure, as babies could become a snack later.
Maintaining good calcium stores is essential when breeding crested geckos. Patchy, under-calcified eggs can suggest low calcium stores. Supplement with calcium dusted insects or liquid calcium to maintain their vitamins. You or a vet can easily confirm this by examining the calcium sacks at the back of their mouths.
It isn't horribly common, but hemipene prolapses can happen. This is when the male reproductive organs swell and get stuck outside their bodies. If this happens, remove the male from the enclosure and keep him in a sterile, high humidity environment. Water-based lubricant can help make sure the organ doesn't dry up. If it doesn't retract within a day, or changes color and becomes swollen, see a vet as soon as possible.
