HomeCrested Geckos
Crested Geckos
by Admin on Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:59 pm
New Caledonian Crested Gecko/Eyelash Gecko - Rhacodactylus ciliatus
Crested geckos originate from the islands of New Caledonia, and were thought to be extinct until the early 1990s when they were rediscovered. Most of what we know about these geckos has come from the extensive study by Frank Fast, Allen Repashy and Phillipe de Vosjoli. Repashy owns probably the largest private collection of crested geckos in the world, is responsible for the majority of morphs we see in the pet trade today and has created the entire range of Repashy Superfoods (aka T-Rex Sandfire Superfoods).
Cresties get their name from the crests of tiny soft spines or “eye lashes” above their eyes which run on either side of the head and then in two parallel lines down their back. They are nocturnal, with large eyes and vertical pupils. They do not have eyelids so will lick their eyes to clean them – this behaviour can be seen if the gecko is sprayed lightly with water, they will lick the water droplets off their eyes. When they are asleep their eyes will remain open, but slightly withdrawn into the gecko’s head, giving the eyes a less bulgy appearance.
Adults can reach 8in in length (including tail) and are quite chunky, with females generally being more robust than males. Hatchlings resemble the adults, though on a smaller scale and can have different coloration, which may change as they mature.
Crested gecko colours vary and include reds, yellows, oranges, greys and browns. They can have spots (which also vary in colour) and can change colour according to time of day and mood. Some of the many morphs available are harlequin, dalmatian, brindle, tiger, orange/flame or patternless.
These geckos make ideal pet lizards for beginners, as they are small but robust lizards with few problems, are very tolerant of handling with an excellent nature. They are well known for jumping though, and readily jump from any height so be careful that they cannot jump from high levels and injure themselves.
Sticky toes
Each of their four limbs ends with five sticky toes, and each toe is topped with a tiny claw. Like tokays, day, golden and other sticky-toe geckos, cresties use their sticky pads to climb vertical surfaces and can stick to just about anything. They can often be seen sleeping, eating or hunting upside down. They use their small claws for extra grip and although these claws can mark our skin slightly, will generally not break it.
A note on sticky toes:
These sticky pads are still under much scientific study, but it has been discovered that they bond with the surfaces they’re touching. This means that if the gecko sits on a wall and does not want to move, it won’t. Therefore it is important NEVER to try and pull a gecko off a surface if it doesn’t want to move, but rather nudge it gently to move where you want it to go. For the gecko to release the bond it has with the surface, it has to curl its toes up away from the surface, so observing their toes this is a good way to judge if your gecko is about to make a run or jump for it!
Tails
Cresties have a prehensile tail, which consists of half of their overall length. They use their tail for balance when climbing as well as when they’re jumping; it acts like a third limb, with a sticky pad on the tip (like that on their toes). Like most other geckos, they can “drop” their tail when they feel the need – i.e. their tail will come off if the gecko feels threatened, if it means they can escape.
However, unlike some other geckos, cresties’ tails WILL NOT grow back if they are dropped. Instead, they grow a tiny stub in its place. According to Rhacodactylus – The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care (see later): “Having seen and collected crested geckos in the wild, tailless adults appear quite normal to us… With the exception of a couple of subadults, every adult-sized crested gecko we’ve observed in the wild was tailless and with a pointed tail nub.” However, many owners prefer their geckos with tails for aesthetic reasons. Some keepers have also noted that if kept in groups, dominant cresties will eat viv-mates’ tails, regardless of gender.
Heating, lighting and humidity
These geckos need cooler temperatures in comparison to others such as leopard geckos. A daytime range from 23c-28c (73-82f) is ideal. Like all reptiles they require a thermal gradient – i.e. a hot end and a cool end, so they can choose which temperature they need and not over heat. Temperatures over 30c (85f) are very stressful for cresties and can result in death if allowed to persist. At night, the temperature can drop to 20c–22c (65-71f).
It is important to provide the geckos with a photoperiod – a day-time and a night-time period – especially if you plan to breed them. 10-12 hours of light is ideal for most of the year. It is still debated if cresties require UVB lighting, since they are nocturnal and they would possibly not benefit from it if they spend their days hiding. Like leopard geckos, many breeders have produced healthy offspring with no specialised UVB lighting, provided a correct and balanced diet is offered. So far I haven’t used any UVB lighting for any of my cresties and have noticed no ill effects.
Fresh water should always be provided in a dish in the enclosure, but cresties also require daily misting. I mist mine twice a day – morning and evening – to maintain the high humidity levels that they need. Misting is important for shedding as well – low humidity will lead to shedding problems. Proper ventilation is vital, especially when maintaining higher humidity – fungus can grow and mites can be attracted to poorly ventilated enclosures. If you are keeping live plants in the enclosure, humidity levels will be maintained a bit better but it is important to check which plants are safe for the lizards and also that the soil/substrate contains no dangerous products or creepy crawlies.
Diet
Cresties are omnivorous, and will eat just about anything. I recommend using the pre-formulated T-rex Crested Gecko Diet, as this diet has been specially designed (by none other than Allen Repashy himself) to provide a complete diet for adults. They will relish live insects, which can be offered once a week for adults, and more frequently for growing babies - insects should be supplemented with vitamin/calcium dust.
They will also eat fruit mixes and baby foods, however these do not contain all the correct nutrition for the geckos and if fed on these alone they will become susceptible to calcium and other nutritional deficiencies. Therefore fruit and baby foods should only be offered as a treat or mixed with the crestie diets. Some food they may enjoy can include banana, mango, papaya, apricot, peach, fresh fig, kiwi. You can try almost anything to see if they like it, but be careful they don’t get too fond of something unhealthy and refuse to eat the good stuff!
I feed my baby cresties daily and the adults on alternating days but there is no set guideline. I also provide all of my geckos with a dish of calcium powder all year round – if they need more calcium than I am providing in their diet (e.g. growing babies, gravid females) they can take what they need. I have seen other species licking calcium from these dishes in the past so I provide it for the cresties as well as I believe it can do no harm to have it there just in case.
Enclosures
A single adult or a pair can be housed in a 2ft x 18in x 2ft vivarium. Hatchlings and youngsters can be kept in small plastic tubs e.g. Kritter Keepers, Faunariums etc, until they’re bigger - when small geckos are housed in large enclosures they can have trouble finding their food. The more you intend to house together the bigger the space you’ll need. Height is most important to these geckos as they love to climb, and plenty of branches, plants and other décor should be added to allow them to explore. They also need hiding areas, if you are keeping a number of geckos together, always provide as many hides as possible so they can escape from each other if they feel stressed or bullied.
I’ve found they will eat/drink from dishes that are on the floor of the enclosure; though seem to prefer dishes being placed at higher levels. It’s worth experimenting to see what your gecko likes.
Some safe plants for crestie vivs include:
Most figs/Ficus including Ficus benjamina – weeping fig
Epipremnum aureum - Devil’s Ivy/Pothos
Most Bromelias
Note: Always check the toxicity of plants before putting them in an animal enclosure!
Behaviour
Male cresties are extremely territorial towards each other and will fight to the death so males should never be housed together. Females are less aggressive though are still known to be territorial and can be very domineering, even around males (most noticeably when their tails start disappearing…). If you aren’t sure, keep them separate, as it is easier to monitor feeding and stress levels when they are separated. Hatchlings and juveniles can be kept together as long as space allows, but will need to be separated once they hit sexual maturity any time from 6-8months onwards.
They generally don’t make any noise, however they can squeal or squeak when they are upset and in breeding season, males can croak.
Sexing
Accurate sexing of these geckos can only be done when they start becoming sexually mature. Males have a very obvious bulge at the base of the tail, whereas females have a flatter tail base. Males can have larger spurs on these bulges, just behind the back legs, though all babies and youngsters have these and it takes a trained eye to tell which is which at a young age. Femoral pores on the insides of the rear legs can be examined under magnification – males will have more developed pores than females. This isn’t the most obvious way of sexing, and the pores can only be clearly seen under magnification on mature animals. Adult females are slightly chunkier and heavier than males.
Floppy Tail Syndrome (FTS)
Because of the crested gecko’s ability and habit of hanging upside down on the side of their enclosures, their tail can fall over to one side. This can lead to a malformation of the hips, where the hip bones change shape due to the weight of the tail falling over. If the gecko doesn’t get enough calcium in it’s diet then the hip malformation will be worse. From what I have seen and read of FTS, it doesn’t affect the gecko’s behaviour or health and breeding is not hindered (unless it is very serious).
The best source of information I've found for crested gecko care is Rhacodactylus – The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care by Phillipe de Vosjoli, Frank Fast and Allen Repashy.
Crested geckos originate from the islands of New Caledonia, and were thought to be extinct until the early 1990s when they were rediscovered. Most of what we know about these geckos has come from the extensive study by Frank Fast, Allen Repashy and Phillipe de Vosjoli. Repashy owns probably the largest private collection of crested geckos in the world, is responsible for the majority of morphs we see in the pet trade today and has created the entire range of Repashy Superfoods (aka T-Rex Sandfire Superfoods).
Cresties get their name from the crests of tiny soft spines or “eye lashes” above their eyes which run on either side of the head and then in two parallel lines down their back. They are nocturnal, with large eyes and vertical pupils. They do not have eyelids so will lick their eyes to clean them – this behaviour can be seen if the gecko is sprayed lightly with water, they will lick the water droplets off their eyes. When they are asleep their eyes will remain open, but slightly withdrawn into the gecko’s head, giving the eyes a less bulgy appearance.
Adults can reach 8in in length (including tail) and are quite chunky, with females generally being more robust than males. Hatchlings resemble the adults, though on a smaller scale and can have different coloration, which may change as they mature.
Crested gecko colours vary and include reds, yellows, oranges, greys and browns. They can have spots (which also vary in colour) and can change colour according to time of day and mood. Some of the many morphs available are harlequin, dalmatian, brindle, tiger, orange/flame or patternless.
These geckos make ideal pet lizards for beginners, as they are small but robust lizards with few problems, are very tolerant of handling with an excellent nature. They are well known for jumping though, and readily jump from any height so be careful that they cannot jump from high levels and injure themselves.
Sticky toes
Each of their four limbs ends with five sticky toes, and each toe is topped with a tiny claw. Like tokays, day, golden and other sticky-toe geckos, cresties use their sticky pads to climb vertical surfaces and can stick to just about anything. They can often be seen sleeping, eating or hunting upside down. They use their small claws for extra grip and although these claws can mark our skin slightly, will generally not break it.
A note on sticky toes:
These sticky pads are still under much scientific study, but it has been discovered that they bond with the surfaces they’re touching. This means that if the gecko sits on a wall and does not want to move, it won’t. Therefore it is important NEVER to try and pull a gecko off a surface if it doesn’t want to move, but rather nudge it gently to move where you want it to go. For the gecko to release the bond it has with the surface, it has to curl its toes up away from the surface, so observing their toes this is a good way to judge if your gecko is about to make a run or jump for it!
Tails
Cresties have a prehensile tail, which consists of half of their overall length. They use their tail for balance when climbing as well as when they’re jumping; it acts like a third limb, with a sticky pad on the tip (like that on their toes). Like most other geckos, they can “drop” their tail when they feel the need – i.e. their tail will come off if the gecko feels threatened, if it means they can escape.
However, unlike some other geckos, cresties’ tails WILL NOT grow back if they are dropped. Instead, they grow a tiny stub in its place. According to Rhacodactylus – The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care (see later): “Having seen and collected crested geckos in the wild, tailless adults appear quite normal to us… With the exception of a couple of subadults, every adult-sized crested gecko we’ve observed in the wild was tailless and with a pointed tail nub.” However, many owners prefer their geckos with tails for aesthetic reasons. Some keepers have also noted that if kept in groups, dominant cresties will eat viv-mates’ tails, regardless of gender.
Heating, lighting and humidity
These geckos need cooler temperatures in comparison to others such as leopard geckos. A daytime range from 23c-28c (73-82f) is ideal. Like all reptiles they require a thermal gradient – i.e. a hot end and a cool end, so they can choose which temperature they need and not over heat. Temperatures over 30c (85f) are very stressful for cresties and can result in death if allowed to persist. At night, the temperature can drop to 20c–22c (65-71f).
It is important to provide the geckos with a photoperiod – a day-time and a night-time period – especially if you plan to breed them. 10-12 hours of light is ideal for most of the year. It is still debated if cresties require UVB lighting, since they are nocturnal and they would possibly not benefit from it if they spend their days hiding. Like leopard geckos, many breeders have produced healthy offspring with no specialised UVB lighting, provided a correct and balanced diet is offered. So far I haven’t used any UVB lighting for any of my cresties and have noticed no ill effects.
Fresh water should always be provided in a dish in the enclosure, but cresties also require daily misting. I mist mine twice a day – morning and evening – to maintain the high humidity levels that they need. Misting is important for shedding as well – low humidity will lead to shedding problems. Proper ventilation is vital, especially when maintaining higher humidity – fungus can grow and mites can be attracted to poorly ventilated enclosures. If you are keeping live plants in the enclosure, humidity levels will be maintained a bit better but it is important to check which plants are safe for the lizards and also that the soil/substrate contains no dangerous products or creepy crawlies.
Diet
Cresties are omnivorous, and will eat just about anything. I recommend using the pre-formulated T-rex Crested Gecko Diet, as this diet has been specially designed (by none other than Allen Repashy himself) to provide a complete diet for adults. They will relish live insects, which can be offered once a week for adults, and more frequently for growing babies - insects should be supplemented with vitamin/calcium dust.
They will also eat fruit mixes and baby foods, however these do not contain all the correct nutrition for the geckos and if fed on these alone they will become susceptible to calcium and other nutritional deficiencies. Therefore fruit and baby foods should only be offered as a treat or mixed with the crestie diets. Some food they may enjoy can include banana, mango, papaya, apricot, peach, fresh fig, kiwi. You can try almost anything to see if they like it, but be careful they don’t get too fond of something unhealthy and refuse to eat the good stuff!
I feed my baby cresties daily and the adults on alternating days but there is no set guideline. I also provide all of my geckos with a dish of calcium powder all year round – if they need more calcium than I am providing in their diet (e.g. growing babies, gravid females) they can take what they need. I have seen other species licking calcium from these dishes in the past so I provide it for the cresties as well as I believe it can do no harm to have it there just in case.
Enclosures
A single adult or a pair can be housed in a 2ft x 18in x 2ft vivarium. Hatchlings and youngsters can be kept in small plastic tubs e.g. Kritter Keepers, Faunariums etc, until they’re bigger - when small geckos are housed in large enclosures they can have trouble finding their food. The more you intend to house together the bigger the space you’ll need. Height is most important to these geckos as they love to climb, and plenty of branches, plants and other décor should be added to allow them to explore. They also need hiding areas, if you are keeping a number of geckos together, always provide as many hides as possible so they can escape from each other if they feel stressed or bullied.
I’ve found they will eat/drink from dishes that are on the floor of the enclosure; though seem to prefer dishes being placed at higher levels. It’s worth experimenting to see what your gecko likes.
Some safe plants for crestie vivs include:
Most figs/Ficus including Ficus benjamina – weeping fig
Epipremnum aureum - Devil’s Ivy/Pothos
Most Bromelias
Note: Always check the toxicity of plants before putting them in an animal enclosure!
Behaviour
Male cresties are extremely territorial towards each other and will fight to the death so males should never be housed together. Females are less aggressive though are still known to be territorial and can be very domineering, even around males (most noticeably when their tails start disappearing…). If you aren’t sure, keep them separate, as it is easier to monitor feeding and stress levels when they are separated. Hatchlings and juveniles can be kept together as long as space allows, but will need to be separated once they hit sexual maturity any time from 6-8months onwards.
They generally don’t make any noise, however they can squeal or squeak when they are upset and in breeding season, males can croak.
Sexing
Accurate sexing of these geckos can only be done when they start becoming sexually mature. Males have a very obvious bulge at the base of the tail, whereas females have a flatter tail base. Males can have larger spurs on these bulges, just behind the back legs, though all babies and youngsters have these and it takes a trained eye to tell which is which at a young age. Femoral pores on the insides of the rear legs can be examined under magnification – males will have more developed pores than females. This isn’t the most obvious way of sexing, and the pores can only be clearly seen under magnification on mature animals. Adult females are slightly chunkier and heavier than males.
Floppy Tail Syndrome (FTS)
Because of the crested gecko’s ability and habit of hanging upside down on the side of their enclosures, their tail can fall over to one side. This can lead to a malformation of the hips, where the hip bones change shape due to the weight of the tail falling over. If the gecko doesn’t get enough calcium in it’s diet then the hip malformation will be worse. From what I have seen and read of FTS, it doesn’t affect the gecko’s behaviour or health and breeding is not hindered (unless it is very serious).
The best source of information I've found for crested gecko care is Rhacodactylus – The Complete Guide to their Selection and Care by Phillipe de Vosjoli, Frank Fast and Allen Repashy.
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