Crested Gecko Care

Crested geckos have some of the easiest heating, lighting, and humidity requirements.

Heating

As long as your house stays between 70 and 75 degrees, you really don't need to have any extra heating for your crested gecko.  It's also alright if your house dips down around 65 degrees at night, a night temperature drop is actually natural.  For the most naturalistic temperature, create a temperature gradient that ranges from 80 degrees at the top to 68/70 degrees at the bottom.  For this to work, the enclosure must be at least 36 inches, or 3 feet tall.  This allows your crested gecko to choose just how warm or cool they want to be.  DO NOT allow temperatures to go above 80.  Crested geckos cannot survive for long in high temperatures, unlike many other reptiles.

Lighting

Lighting can also be extremely simply.  As long as you have a light that turns on during the day to keep their circadian rhythm, crested geckos don't need any UVB.  This is because they are more nocturnal/crepuscular.  They typically see very little of the sun, and therefore naturally get very little UVB.  If you'd like to keep live plants in their enclosure, then make sure you use full spectrum lighting for tropical plants.

Humidity

Crested geckos come from a very humid environment.  They need to be misted every day, or every other day depending.  Try to maintain 60-75% humidity.  Just make sure that while the humidity needs to be high, you should give time for the water droplets to fully evaporate.  If you mist too often, and leave things constantly wet, mold can and will grow.

Just as their heating and lighting requirements are simple, crested geckos also have a simple diet.

Powdered Diet

The staple part of a crested gecko's diet is a powdered diet, the two most common brands being Pangea and Repashy.  These powders make feeding time extremely easy.  You mix the powder with the recommended ratio of powder, and once it has fully mixed you are good to go.  There are many different flavors, and you can rotate through them to give your gecko a variety.  There are also versions that contain insects.  I highly recommend these, for reasons stated below.

Insects

For a long time, it was commonly thought that crested geckos only needed a powdered fruit diet.  However, they greatly benefit from eating some insects.  It is important to feed crickets every once in a while, and another great way to get them these needed nutrients is too feed the powdered diets that contain insects.

Crested geckos are generally great for handling.  Some can be more chill, while others are more skiddish.  There are two main things to watch out for when handling.  First, they are quite jumpy, so you'll want to get used to having them jump from one hand to the other.  Second, they can lose their tail quite easily.  Even loid noises can cause them to drop their tails.  This is completely natural, but it won't grow back, so try to avoid this.