Hi all! New guy thinking about getting a crested gecko

[Joshaeus]

I am a young man living in New England with a passion for animals. That has primarily expressed itself with my fish tanks, but I recently realized I like crested geckos and am considering getting one within the next year. I have a few questions about them, of course;

1 - What is the best substrate for them? I have read paper towels are a good substrate.
2 - They prefer temps in the 70's, yes?
3 - Their minimum tank size is a 20 gallon right? (Long or high?)
4 - Can I put terrarium plants in with the gecko, or would the gecko eat the soil the plants are in?
5 - Can I keep them in a riparium with fish?
6 - Anything else I should know?

Thanks

[DJC Reptiles]

First off, awesome first choice, Crested geckos are amazing. Personally I prefer gargoyle geckos because of their ability to regrow their tail. I’ll try to help you the best I can.


1. People choose paper towels because they start off sterile, and allow the keeper to monitor an animals waste, to make sure it’s eating and drinking properly. They are a good choice if you don’t want live plants.
2. Yes, but they should have a hotspot in the mid to high 80’s. Some people have successfully been able to keep them at room temperature, as long as temps don’t exceed 95 degrees for any prolonged period of time.
3. 20 gallon is a great size, but may be hard to control humidity. They do appreciate vertical space more than horizontal. Be sure to add plenty of plants (live or plastic) and some wooden perches (sticks, etc.). Many people have also successfully kept them in a 10 gallon, so that size might be more manageable for you.
4. Soil and live plants are fine, just make sure there are no pesticides in the soil. Crested geckos shouldn’t be eating soil for food, but it may get some substrate in its mouth from eating.
5. I wouldn’t add deep water in the enclosure, unless it is much bigger there won’t be room for fish, plus if the crested gecko falls, it could drown.
6. Repahsy came out a couple years ago with crested gecko diet, which is a powder that can be mixed with water, and provides a full nutritional diet, and makes them easier to take care of, however insects should still be fed occasionally for exercise, and stimulation. Like I said above, I prefer gargoyle geckos which regrow lost tails, where as crested geckos do not, otherwise they are almost identical in care, including diet.

[kudzu]

2. Yes, but they should have a hotspot in the mid to high 80’s. Some people have successfully been able to keep them at room temperature, as long as temps don’t exceed 95 degrees for any prolonged period of time.

DJC, where are you getting this info. It strongly contradicts everything I have on Gargoyle and Crested geckos. All my info says you run the risk of killing them with mi-high 80's and 90's is lethal. I'm still a novice and would love to learn more so would appreciate you expanding on this. For now though, I'll still with temps in the mid-high 70's.

[Andy_G]

Originally Posted by kudzu

DJC, where are you getting this info. It strongly contradicts everything I have on Gargoyle and Crested geckos. All my info says you run the risk of killing them with mi-high 80's and 90's is lethal. I'm still a novice and would love to learn more so would appreciate you expanding on this. For now though, I'll still with temps in the mid-high 70's.

I agree with this completely, and I don't think I am still a novice...

The other information DJC mentioned would be correct, though.

[DJC Reptiles]

Originally Posted by kudzu

DJC, where are you getting this info. It strongly contradicts everything I have on Gargoyle and Crested geckos. All my info says you run the risk of killing them with mi-high 80's and 90's is lethal. I'm still a novice and would love to learn more so would appreciate you expanding on this. For now though, I'll still with temps in the mid-high 70's.

Yeah you’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Crested geckos/gargoyle geckos should never be in temps above 90’s. Regarding hotspot, I have seen keepers successfully keep them with a low wattage light bulb providing a hotspot of 85, without any problems. Ultimately as long as the overall cage is in the 70’s, and the gecko has places to retreat, a hotspot as fine. As mentioned above though, they do extraordinary well at room temperature, so I wouldn’t even get a hotspot anyway.

[chairman]

I like to use coconut coir for substrate for crested geckos. The geckos need high humidity and it can be hard to maintain with paper towel.

Some keepers do offer basking spots to crested geckos. The key to such an approach is significantly increasing the size of the gecko's enclosure. I once had a planted enclosure that had an unintentional basking spot due to lighting for plants. The enclosure was 2' x 2' x 3'. The geckos rarely used the heat. I didn't observe any obvious benefits for the geckos, nor did I observe any adverse effects. I eventually killed the plant and shifted to pothos, eliminating the need for the lighting. I now keep my geckos between 72 and 76 degrees F with no hot spots.

I use Rubbermaid All Access Organizers (size large) for my adult crested geckos. I've not modified them though some add screened vents to the sides. Single geckos seem to do well in the setups.

A riparium is possible but I wouldn't do it for your first enclosure. Keep a gecko in a traditional setup until you have their care down, then maybe try a riparium. When you set one up, floating plants, a turtle dock, or similar structures are necessary to prevent drowning (geckos need an easy way out of the water). Since you said you're a fish person, treat the gecko like a high waste fish when calculating stocking levels, use a small unagressive fish like a neon tetra or mollie, use a low current setup, and you'll probably want to employ a sump to maximize water volume while keeping the tank a manageable size.

I prefer Pangea's complete diets over Repashy.

[akane]

Most crested specific groups I've talked to say to keep them below 80F with many keeping and breeding them in the low 70s with no heat source. I give mine a little halogen UV since my house is 68F but mine don't go above 75F.

10 is considered very minimal and by most not large enough. From experience even saying you are setting one up temporarily gets you near run off the crested boards..... A 2' minimum high enclosure is often suggested. A 20g flipped vertical works well if you don't want to get one of the vertical reptile enclosures. We just frame them in wood, cover the bottom half with plexiglass or similar, and put a hinged door with window or door screen mesh on the top half. The pair I have together for breeding is actually taking up a custom enclosure equivalent to the dimensions of a 75gallon aquarium but I need it for my growing northern pines. I am framing a 40gallon long and 33gallon long to make 36 and 48" high crested enclosures. The 40 is over kill but I decided it's not worth splitting it into 2, 2' enclosures. I might eventually if the geckos become more numerous than my 2 males and 2 females but it's a bit extra complicated to build in a floor level with our setups.

Ours are bioactive but without live plants currently. I have some hardy plants growing out when I finally get everyone upgraded. We use a mix of plant compost, top soil, and coco fiber that is maintained by the cleanup crew rather than changing it out. Most of the year it results in ~50% humidity and evening misting spikes to ~80%. I usually start new reptiles on paper towel though until confirmed healthy and adjusting well.

I like black panther zoological (bpz) gecko diet. It's somewhat new but all their formulas use insect protein rather than egg or whey based alternatives. We often mix it with various flavors of pangea because that's one of the brands geckos most consistently eat and it has a variety of fruit flavors.