Crested Geckos come from the New Caledonia area. Semi-arboreal and nocturnal. They spend their nights in the tress and shrubs and come down near the ground to find shelter during the day. Crested geckos do well at room temperature in most cases. They are easy to care for, have an unusual appearance, and are well suited to breeding in captivity.

Description

Crested Geckos are a stocky, medium sized lizard. In color they vary, but almost always some shade of red, yellow, and orange. Some have black spot on their bodies. They get about 5-6" when fully grown. They have 2 frills running down either side of their head, over the eyes, and down the body. The frills over the eyes give an "eyelash" appearance. They tend to have a flattened body. Their feet bear adhesive lamellae they use to climb with. Crested Geckos also have an additional adhesive lamellae at the tip of their tails.

Housing

Crested Geckos need a tall enclosure as they love to climb. A twenty gallon tall is minimum for a pair. They will need some hiding places for the day time. And give them plants, vines and pieces of wood for climbing. Substrate I use is coconut fiber. Bark works as well, and long as its not to small.

But they do not need any special lights or heating in most cases. Temperature should be around 72-80f degrees most of the time. Anything above 84f degrees and they will start to get stressed. They can tolerate lows down to the mid 60's. Maintain the humidity at 50-80% to keep them healthy.

Once a year, you should lower the temperature and keep it around 65-70f degrees for a couple of months. This will facilitate breeding. They breed very easily in captivity, and have up to 15 clutches a year of 2 eggs.

A lighted period of 12-14 hours a day is enough for most of the year. With 10 hours during the couple of months that you lower temperature for breeding.

Diet

Crested Geckos are omnivores, and love fruit and insects. I recommend you try some baby food fruits, no sugar added types and see what you Crested Gecko likes. Mine like apricot and peach. Once a week mix in a dose of calcium supplement. For insects, crickets, fruit flies, mealworms, and small feeder roachs. Once a week dust them with calcium dust. You can even forgo the insects and feed a meat based baby food.

Keeping a balanced diet on a Crested Geckos is very important. You should research how to check their calcium sacs to know how to adjust your diet.

Maintenance

Crested Geckos are fairly easy to keep clean. Once a week look for droppings and dead insects, remove from the cage. Change substrate twice a year to prevent mold build up. They will leave a trail of....well...slime on the glass. DO NOT USE ANY WINDOW CLEANER!! This will seriously harm your pet. Use just a damp rag or paper towel and wipe the glass clean. Then use a dry rag or towel to dry it.