Katherine Stewart
One day, I went to an exotic reptile expo. There I saw a Crested Gecko. I had never seen one before, and didn’t even know they existed. I thought that the only geckos out there were Leopard Geckos. I was wrong, obviously. Well anyway, I held one and completely fell in love with the species. I knew that I couldn’t buy one that day, since I knew nothing about them, so I went home and did research after research after research. I literally spent hours out of the days of the week reading and reading about crested geckos. Finally, about three months later, I decided to go and get my first one.
I found a great, local deal. There were two adult crested geckos that came with the cage, everything inside it and everything else they needed for under $100. I knew I needed to learn more, but this couldn’t be passed up.
I hadn’t seen any pictures of them, but I knew I wanted them, regardless of how they looked. I contacted the person who had them for sale and met up with them all in a few days. I was so stoked I was getting this — these— beautiful creatures!
The Old Care Details
When I met up with them, they told me more about the geckos:
“I feed them on Sundays, occasionally on Saturdays. They eat mainly mealworms and crickets but every so often as a snack I will give them ‘fruit blocks’. You can get it all from Petsmart or Petco. About once a month or so I dust the crickets with calcium. They are almost three years old. I have had Frye (the male) since he was about 3 weeks and French (the female) since she was about 2 weeks old. They have lived together since I have had them. If you spray them with a spray bottle about twice every two days and keep a heat lamp 12 hours on and 12 hrs off, they won’t breed. they have not laid eggs, ever.”
They were in a ten gallon tank –together. She said she had kept them in it their whole lives. There was one small hanging plant and one small wood tree and one small aquarium plant decoration.
I knew things should not be this way.
The New Care Details
they were kept together for about a month in a 20 gallon tank which gave me time to get two larger cages and fill it with plants and everything else. I continued to feed them crickets, dusted every weekend. I cut out the mealworms entirely, and added an off-brand of CGD (crested gecko diet). It was not complete, but I was told by a crested gecko breeder that it was alright for them. The male did not touch it, and the female ate it pretty well I thought, that is until I switched it out for Repashy. The male and female both gobbled it down!
I never used the fruit block things. The day I brought them home, I started misting them twice a day, but continued with the heat lamp.
before I could get them separated, the female laid a clutch of eggs. I knew they laid once a month, and once they start they won’t stop, so I just turned out the lamp.
Once I got them into larger cages, I got my girl a lay box and put her on paper towels. She had been on eco earth/bark chips previously. I changed their names. the male went from Frye (what the previous owner named him) to Alex to his final name which is Dekstest. the female went from French to Alexandra to her final name which is Lovely.
Once I got them moved, I went and got a gram scale. Dekstest was 28 grams and Lovely was 40 grams. I plumped up Deksted and Lovely, with him weighing 37 grams and her weighing 46 grams.
they are both rather healthy considering, although Dekstest does have slight floppy tail syndrome (FTS).
Gecko on the Loose!
One day, I asked my brother to get one of the geckos out of its cage. When he went and got Dekstest, the gecko flipped out, jumped out of his hands, onto the floor and under a table. My brother saw him and grabbed him and brought him over to me. Before he got there, the gecko jumped out of his hand again and went under the couch. I lifted the couch so he could grab him and Dekstest ran over and climbed up the wall. My brother ran over and tried getting him, but Dekstest continued to run. I walked over to him, the gecko stopped, jumped onto my hand, ran up my arm and sat on my shoulder, just staring down with a “YOU CANT CATCH ME” look on his face!.
Ever since then, Dekstest and I have bonded and have been inseparable. He is so spoiled and gets all of the home-made hides and treats and is the center of attention!
Write about your Beloved Gecko
Do you have a “Beloved gecko”? Would you like to write about it for Gecko Time? Use the “comment” box to let us know that you’re interested. Your message will not appear on the site as a comment to the article.
I “rescued” 4 adults from a local fb group recently that were in really rough shape and in even worse living conditions. Even after only 6 or 7 weeks they’ve all doubled in weight and are doing fantastic. It’s incredible how ignorant some people can be towards care of an animal especially with the internet available to just about everyone…
I love geckos so much <3
My hatchlings were born September first . I was wondering when I can put them with momma . Will she attack them at 10 weeks old ?
I think there are 2 related issues: size and age. The general wisdom is not to put geckos of different sizes together. I do, however, put adults of different sizes together on occasion (such as a 60 gram female and a 100 gram male) without difficulty. I do think that juveniles and adults shouldn’t be together largely due to differences in appetite, and also because while a 100 gram gecko could probably not eat a 60 gram gecko, a 60 gram gecko could eat a 10 gram gecko. To be safest, keep the babies separate from the adult until they are at or near adult size.