Care guide

Crested gecko care, made simple.

Crested geckos are one of the best beginner reptiles — hardy, gentle, and happy at room temperature. Here's everything you need to get started with confidence.

New keeper? Don't worry about memorising all of this. Get the enclosure, humidity, and diet right, and you're most of the way there. We're always happy to answer questions — that's part of the deal when a gecko comes home from us.

Housing

Crested geckos are arboreal — they live in the branches, so they want height more than floor space. For a single adult, a vertical enclosure of 45×45×60 cm is the minimum recommended size — bigger is always welcome, but don't go below this. Hatchlings and juveniles actually feel safer in something smaller at first, then move up as they grow.

  • Plenty of climbing: cork bark, branches, and leaves (real or artificial) to feel secure.
  • Hiding spots at different heights so they can choose where to rest.
  • A substrate that holds moisture (a bioactive mix, or paper towel for easy cleaning while young).

Temperature & humidity

This is the part people overthink. Crested geckos thrive at normal room temperature, roughly 22–26 °C. What matters most is that it doesn't get too hot — sustained heat above ~28–29 °C is genuinely dangerous for them, so in a warm climate the priority is keeping them cool, not warm.

  • Humidity: mist the enclosure in the evening to reach 60–80%, then let it dry out toward 40–50% before the next misting. That wet-then-dry cycle keeps them healthy and helps with shedding.
  • No special heat lamp is usually needed at room temperature. A gentle day/night light cycle is plenty.
  • A simple digital thermometer/hygrometer takes the guesswork out.

Diet

The easy part: a good commercial crested gecko diet (CGD) — such as Pangea or Repashy — is a complete food. Mix the powder with water to a ketchup-like consistency and offer it in a small dish a few times a week, fresh each time.

  • Offer feeders (like appropriately sized crickets or dubia roaches) occasionally for enrichment — dusted with calcium.
  • Always have clean water available.
  • Remove uneaten fresh food so it doesn't spoil.

Handling

Let a new gecko settle in for a week or two before handling. Then keep sessions short and gentle — crested geckos are calm but quick, so stay low over a soft surface. Support them, never grab. And an important one: never grab or pull a crested gecko by the tail — they can drop it, and unlike some geckos, it won't grow back. A tailless "frog-butt" crestie is perfectly healthy, but it's easily avoided.

Health signs to know

A healthy crested gecko is alert at night, has a rounded (not sunken) body, clean eyes and nose, and sheds cleanly. Keep an eye out for:

  • Stuck shed, especially on toes and the tail tip — a bump in humidity usually sorts it out.
  • Weight loss or not eating for an extended stretch.
  • Lethargy during the day is normal; lethargy at night is not.

When in doubt, a reptile-experienced vet is always the right call.

Buying from us? Every gecko goes home well-started and eating strong, with care notes to match. See delivery & our health guarantee, or join the waitlist to hear when hatchlings are ready.