Basic Crested Gecko Care

Crested geckos are becoming very popular due to their attractive nature. Crested geckos are very easy to care for, and are a very good choice if you are a beginner reptile-owner or have never owned reptiles before. Crested geckos are also owned by advanced reptile owners.

Your crested gecko will need to be fed twice a day. I feed my crestie crickets in the morning and Repashy MRP in the evening. Crested geckos are picky eaters and will not eat everything you offer to them. It also takes time to change your crested gecko's diet.

To change your crested's diet, you will need time and patience. Since crested geckos will not starve themselves and will eventually eat what is offered, continue offering the same thing at every meal time. Eventually, your crestie will be eating the new food. However, one product I strongly do not recommend is the new Fluker's Crested Gecko Food. It's advertised as "Easy to eat Spherical Granules that Crested Geckos will actually eat!". It is a horrible diet for crested geckos that has little to no fruit in it and is mainly vegetables, which are not a balanced crested gecko diet. Also, crested geckos will not touch it. Don't try to make your gecko eat it because geckos just won't eat this stuff, and you will end up the one starving your gecko.

Crested geckos can be tamed to handling, unlike other species of reptiles. It will take a lot of time for your gecko to get used to being held. I've had my crested gecko for a while, and he's still not totally used to handling. I suggest letting your new crestie rest 4-5 days after bringing it home before trying to handle it. After that, you can slowly introduce handling at 5 minutes per day (or less) and gradually adding time to that once your gecko is more comfortable. These geckos can jump, climb, scale walls, and cling to screen ceilings with ease! Remember that while holding your gecko. Also, remember that any animal with teeth can bite. I've read of some owners getting bitten by their geckos, though it's rare and mine has never done it to me.

The only way to make your gecko thrive is to have the correct heating, lighting, and humidity levels in your gecko's habitat. The temperature should be maintained (and is best at) between 72 and 80 degrees F during the day and should become no lower than 65 degrees F at night. Lighting is not necessarily needed for the geckos, but a heat lamp is. You should also mist the entire terrarium with water at least twice per day and make sure the humidity is maintained over 55% (you'll need a hygrometer) at all times.

Feeding your Crested Gecko

Crested geckos are omnivores, meaning that they eat both plant and animal matter.

What to feed:
Crested geckos will eat crickets, waxworms, mealworms, baby food, Repashy Superfoods, and fruit. Mealworms, however, should be avoided due to their thick exoskeleton and little nutrition. Some fruits you can feed to your crested gecko: peaches, pears, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, mangos, passion fruit, papaya, figs, and watermelon. Do not ever feed your crested gecko citrus fruits such as: oranges, lemons, limes, pineapple or grapefruit. Citrus is terrible for your geckos.

In the wild, crested geckos eat decaying or rotten fruit, so it's okay to feed geckos fruit that's a little overripe, but fresh fruit is better since it provides more nutrients.

Crickets and waxworms or other insects should always be "dusted" with calcium powder at every feeding. You should provide a multi-vitamin on the insects at least once a week as well. To dust insects with calcium, drop them into a zip-lock bag, add some calcium dust, and shake them around until they're covered.

If you choose to feed your gecko baby food, make sure it's organic and has little to no citric acid in it. You will probably never find baby food without citric acid in it as a preservative, and I personally avoid feeding my geckos baby food because of the citric acid in it.

The best option to feed your gecko is the Crested Gecko Diet (CGD), also known as the Repashy Superfood diet. This diet comes in powder form and must be mixed with water before fed to the gecko. CGD contains all the nutrients your gecko needs, and fruit does not have to be given if you're feeding this. Crickets should always be fed to your crested gecko, even if you're feeding CGD.

How much to feed:
Insects should never be bigger than the space between the gecko's eyes, or half the size of its head. If insects are too big for your gecko to eat, it can choke on them or might avoid them altogether.

Adult geckos should be fed as much CGD as can be consumed in 4 hours. Never leave food in the terrarium for more than 24 hours, as it can spoil or mold. Offer your gecko about 1 teaspoon of blended fruit. The fruit has to be blended well or chopped into tiny pieces. Adult geckos should also be fed about 3 crickets every day.

Juveniles should have 1-2 crickets per day and about 1/2 teaspoon of CGD or fruit.

When to feed:
The only thing that works with my gecko is if I feed him crickets in the morning and CGD at night. Different geckos have different personalities and habits, however, so you'll have to experiment and see what time is best for your gecko to eat. If you don't know, you should feed your gecko in the evening before turning his light off.