Category Archives: Gecko Care

Crocodile Gecko Care Sheet

Introduction

The crocodile gecko is also known as the T Maruitanica in the reptile world. While a lot of gecko can be found in mostly regions like South America, this unique species actually comes from areas like France, Greece and even Northern Africa. Also, in a more recent reporting and discovery, it’s been reported that the species has been actively breeding in California as well.

 

Unlike the name crocodile though, you more than likely won’t find one of these hanging around water or in the swamps because this particular gecko prefers to hang around rather dry areas or rocky areas in nature. They prefer areas that are usually like cliffs or boulders to rest on. Also, one of the reasons they seem to love Greece is because of all the stone walls and architecture there. Most gecko are nocturnal and you won’t catch them out and about during the day but the crocodile gecko can be seen out and about during the day a good majority of the time.

 

Under the alternate name, the crocodile gecko is also known as the Moorish gecko and what the good news for pet owners is, if they’re properly cared for, they will live for a long time compared to most gecko (a good 9 years). However, these are under ideal conditions and living conditions, so this shouldn’t be expected but you can achieve this longevity if you take good care of it. While the crocodile gecko isn’t necessarily large or intimidating by appearance, for the size of the animal, it actually comes with a relatively strong frame and it’s very heavy built when you take the size into consideration.

 

When you first notice a crocodile gecko, some of the first things you’re going to notice are that the tubercular scales along the back seem to have their own style that set them apart from other geckos. These scales also travel down the flanks and the tail as well and are pretty distinguishable. The head unlike some geckos which have round heads is a very pointy looking head and is rather large for the body size. Also, much like the crocodile the skin color doesn’t seem to change too much except that it can range to a drown with a little bit of darker mottling. However, a good majority of them are usually grey in appearance and nature.

 

You’ll also happen to notice that there’s a little flap of skin that doesn’t run for long but will go under the limps and the flanks. To help the gecko move quicker and to get around quicker, you’ll notice that the toes have some adhesive pads along the underside of their toes. You can easily tell apart a juvenile from an adult because the majority of juveniles will have a very distinct looking stripe that will fade over time while it grows into an adult. The adult however will only reach to about six inches.

 

Housing

When it comes to housing crocodile gecko or young reptiles of any sort, the general consensus seems to be that you can use a ten gallon enclosure or aquarium to keep them captive. Some would agree and some veteran owners would disagree because you’re going to have to keep upgrading your enclosure as they grow older and older. However, it’s recommended by some that you should acquire at least a 20 gallon tank to be fully prepared for when they’re an adult. The only argument against having a larger than normal enclosure is that they might have trouble finding their food when they’re young which isn’t much of a concern because they usually find it.

 

Also, you should make sure that whatever style of enclosure you obtain is higher than it is wide because you’ll need an ample amount of space to hang your bulbs. Not only that, but crocodile geckos have very unique adhesive on their feet which allow them to climb around the enclosure and they will do this quite frequently, so make sure they have enough space to hang and do that. While most geckos are nocturnal and crocodile geckos are as well, they will usually sleep during the day for the most part, however, it’s not uncommon to see them out and about during the day wandering around.

 

You ideally only need one hiding spot in the enclosure and to make sure it’s in the cool spot of the tank but some people like to give their crocodile gecko options and allow them to choose between two different hiding spots in the enclosure. More important, you want to make sure that you’re not grouping up two male crocodile geckos together, because they will fight each other. There’s no real reason for why they fight, because they’ll do it without a female present as well, so it’s best to just keep them separated from each other. However, if you have two female gecko and one male gecko, they will get along just fine and will even breed.

 

Now when it comes to substrate, you have a lot of options available but a lot of people don’t recommend sand type substrates because it may get some substrate caught in its throat and choke to death. For the new owner, I would highly recommend using paper towels so that it doesn’t swallow anything too hard or anything that can rip it apart internally. However, if you’d rather avoid the shady look of paper towels or paper in general, then you may want to look into obtaining peat moss. It gives off a more nature approach and realistic look.

 

It comes down to what you plan on feeding to your crocodile gecko as well because if you plan on feeding the gecko crickets, then you’re not going to be able to use bark. If you use bark and crickets in the same enclosure, you run a risk of the gecko eating up bark and choking on it. This is something that should more than likely be avoided at all costs. They may not choke and die on it like they would some sand, but it’s been known to make geckos sick which can be a costly veterinarian bill.

 

For new owners who still aren’t sure how to keep their gecko safe while feeding, you might want to have a brand new and second enclosure that you can isolate your gecko in so that you know for a fact feeding will go smooth and there will be no problems.

 

Temperature

When keeping any kind of pet such as a reptile, the heating situation is going to be the most important thing you look at because if you don’t have proper heating, your pet could stop eating or it could die. If you’re looking for a quick reference on the heating and temperature that are ideal conditions for your enclosure, then you’ll want to make sure that you have an enclosure setup accordingly. The temperature during the day shouldn’t exceed 115 degrees for the basking and usually should be hovering around 85 degrees. However, for night time, it’s generally best to keep them cool so they can cool off from the heat all day, which is usually best done at a steady 70 degrees.

 

There are a few different methods for obtaining the perfect and most efficient temperature for the gecko enclosure. First, you can use spotlights that have some variable wattage that allow you to setup the enclosure how you want it and to control exactly which side is getting the heat and staying cool. You’ll want to use candescent bulbs on the outside of the enclosure and should never place a bulb inside of the cage. Second, you’ll have something known as under tanks or heathers that sit under your cage or aquarium. This is one of the most common options for people who own aquariums because under tanks are highly effective at spreading heat around those enclosed areas.

 

If you’re going to use spotlights or over head lights, you’ll want to make sure that you’re using some red bulbs because the bright light tends to bother crocodile gecko after a while with prolonged exposure. Some people prefer to use a combination of the different heating methods to keep their enclosure cool and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re maintaining the most efficient temperature. You’ll want to make sure you have a thermometer to ensure that temperatures stay at an efficient range and the best one to use is definitely a digitalized one. Digital thermometers are more accurate and will give you a better idea of which side you should place your shelter inside the enclosure.

 

The humidity should ideally be around a steady 65% to help give it ideal conditions for not only eating, but breeding and for shedding. When geckos are out in the jungle or out in the open in the case of the crocodile gecko, they’re usually in heat a good portion of the day. When they start to shed, you’ll need to make sure that there’s an ample amount of humidity or there’s a good chance that it will not go as planned. If you’re looking for a tool to measure the humidity, then you might want to look into getting a hygrometer. Also, misting the gecko by occasionally gently spraying some water on it from a water bottle will help it out as well.

 

Food

Crocodile geckos are rather interesting when it comes to feeding because they’re not particularly a picky species. You see, geckos in general are very laid back when it pertains to what they’ll eat and much like the crocodile they’ll eat just about anything that moves. If it something has legs or it has movement inside of them, then the crocodile gecko will more than likely eat it. However, you should more than use caution because while they are enticed by anything moving, they’re not particularly large creatures.

 

If you’re looking for a quick guide or rule of thumb on what they should be fed, then just feed them some normal sized insects or bugs. However, most breeders prefer to feed them pink mice and this one you have to be careful with because you have to make sure they’re actually eating them due to their size. Mice are a bit larger than the typical insects or crickets that gecko will eat so you must make sure they’re actually eating them. However, with insects, you’ll more than likely want to throw in some supplements to make sure that your gecko is getting the nutriments that they need from them.

 

Another word for this is commonly known as gut loading, when you feed insects vitamins and then feed them to your gecko or pets. This is an effective way to feed your pet vitamins but however, it can be time consuming and a lot of those nutriments are already found in pink mice. If you raise them right and they’re eating at a healthy rate, you won’t have to worry about any kind of vitamin supplementation at all essentially. The main diets behind most geckos are mealworms and crickets but most prefer to feed crickets because of their low cost.

 

You want to make sure that the serving sizes are proportionate and you’re not causing your crocodile gecko too much stress by trying to feed it too much. A good judge would be by taking the size of the geckos head and not going over that limit, that’s usually how you can tell what a good size cricket is, don’t ever feed your gecko something that’s larger than its head. Now, while some people complain that the gecko doesn’t come out right away when you leave food out on the floor of their enclosure, you have to give it time because it’s common for them to stalk the prey first. Especially when it’s live, they’ll prefer to stalk it then come out for the meal.

 

Once a gecko realizes that it’s feeding time, that’s when you’ll see it poke its head out for the food and realize that there’s food outside of its shelter. While feeding, all crocodile gecko should have an adequate source of water to drink and a nice clean bowl to do it from. The water should be clean and look like something you wouldn’t mind drinking out of. Whether or not you ideally want to dust the crickets with calcium as some sources recommend will really be up to you but if you’re feeding them accordingly and they’re getting all the food they should be, then you really shouldn’t have to worry about it. You should also make sure to change your water every once a week at least or whenever it needs changed to keep the bowl clean of parasites and other nasty junk that could cause harm to your crocodile gecko.

Panther Gecko Care Sheet

Introduction

The panther gecko is one of the most interesting species out there known to many for its many characteristics and distinct unique features that set them apart from other geckos. The panther gecko also has alternate names and is known by many different things. Some people might refer to this species of gecko as the Madagascar Ground Gecko, some people might know it better by the term Ocelot Gecko and some people might even know it better as the Big Head Gecko. There are a lot of different names and some of them are far less common than others but they share a lot of common appearance knacks with their nicknames.

 

The first thing you’ll notice about the panther gecko is that it has a very cat like appearance in the eyes region and doesn’t have eyes like some other species of gecko. Another common feature of the panther gecko is the size of their head because some people have often referred to them as the bobble head species of the gecko or animal kingdom. Their head does seem to be relatively large for the frame they’re working with, which is where they more than likely got that name from.

 

However, despite the large head, the body doesn’t exactly make up for the size because the body of a panther gecko is rather slim and slender. You’ll then more than likely notice that the tail attached to this species is very thick and unique as well. When you take observations from their body, you’re going to notice a mixture of different colors and these can come in a variety of different mixtures. You’ll notice that the majority of them are a very distinct color of brown with some gold on them. The gold part will usually be around their head and it wouldn’t be too surprising to find some white around their head as well.

 

Check the back as well because some of that color may extend down from the head (the starting point) and run down the back but it doesn’t do this on all of them. On some of them, their little stripe or color mixture might actually extend all the way down to their tail which is very thick in nature. However, while the name panther suggest that it’s a black animal due to panthers being black in nature, the panther gecko can come in a variety of different colors which may include seeing them in red, in yellow or even in purple. An adult can grow relatively reasonably sized for a gecko and this may be up to 15cm long, but make sure you’re including the tail in your measurements.

 

Some people have reported that they’ve known panther gecko to live for up to 10 years but you have to understand, this is only under the ideal conditions and there’s no guarantee that a panther gecko will live this long, because most species of gecko only live for half this long and that’s under the right conditions. If you notice that your gecko has outgrown the maximum average length of 15cm, don’t panic because some gecko have been reported to grow up to outwards of over 20cm on rare occasions.

 

Housing

When you’re looking for some enclosure, you want to make sure that you’re following some basic rules for housing panther gecko together and that you’ve appropriately prepared your living situation. First, map out just how many geckos you have and how many you plan on storing in one area. If you’re a new pet owner, then you more than likely will only have one or should at least only start with one until you get the general idea of what you’re doing and how to properly maintain one. One of the very first things that you’re going to want to start out with is an aquarium tank or cage.

 

A lot of people prefer to keep their geckos in general in aquariums because there are quite a different species out there that like to climb on the walls or climb on the doodads that you keep in the enclosure for them. This doesn’t apply to all species but quite a few of them do so this boils down to a personal preference thing and which one you prefer to keep them in. The general size of a healthy enclosure should be a 10 gallon tank at the bare minimum.

 

Be warned: that if you start out with a 10 gallon tank, you’re going to have to upgrade it at some point and you’re to end up spending more money in the long run than you necessarily want to if you have to continuously keep upgrading your aquarium because of a growing gecko. Your gecko is going to grow as long as you continue to feed it and there’s nothing you can really do about it so for this reason and this reason alone, it’s highly recommended that you start out with an enclosure that can hold the adult version of your pet. Panther geckos grow up relatively quick and you want them to be used to that large tank before they grow up.

 

However, some people like to house 3 panther gecko in the same house and have done so with some decent results as well. You shouldn’t expect it to go well if you put males in the same housing unit together but if you plan on housing a male and two females together then there shouldn’t be any issues. Like just about every other type of reptile out there, you’re panther gecko is going to want to hide throughout certain times and you should know that most reptiles only come out at night due to being nocturnal. So that’s why it’s important to have something known as a shelter. During the construction of this shelter, you want to make sure that the gecko can fit and that they’ll be under the shade.

 

That’s really only the main two things you have to look for and any pet store that sells pet reptiles will more than likely have some cheap shelters that you can purchase. So what can you do if you’re on a shoe string budget and don’t want to a buy a shelter? You can easily make one by cutting open a cereal box or butter tub and laying it down inside the aquarium. Make sure there’s a hole to get in and out that’s at least bigger than the animal’s head and you should be alright. Now, the next thing you’re going to want to worry about is something called substrate and you have quite a few different options here.

 

The first rule of thumb when using any kind of substrate is never to use any kind of fine grain sand because this may have lethal consequences on any kind of gecko you house in an aquarium with the substance. They’ve been known to choke on the sand or get the sand stuck in their throats from time to time, so it’s best to avoid this altogether. So what you’re ideally going to want to use for substrate is something known as moist moss or dirt. Dirt ideally may not be the easiest thing to see in the world when there’s fecal matter or there’s something that needs cleaned up but this is highly efficient.

 

Not only is there no risk of your panther gecko eating the substrate, but however, this is what kind of substrate they’re used to walking on in their natural habitat. So, moist moss will be your first and number one go to substrate while you have something known as light vermiculite to be your second. It’s not as cost effective as moss but it gets the job done and it’s great to look at as well. Substrate is also going to aid a great deal when it comes to start the shedding process which is also something that every reptile does. You’ll know when this process starts and it’s important that your housing unit helps assist the gecko in this process.

 

Some people have even gone as far to put a kind of Astroturf down in their enclosure to give it a better look but this really isn’t necessary and is completely up to you if this is something you want to do. However, you want to make sure your substrate can support items like rocks, some trees, shrubbery or any other items that you may be placing in the enclosure and that they naturally fit in with the ground as well, because you don’t want it to look out of place. Another problem with some of the dusty type substrates is that it may create breathing problems for yourself or your pet.

 

Now, when your pet is a baby, you’re only going to be using one specific and particular type of substrate, and that is newspaper. Until your pet is at least six months of age, you’re going to want to use newspaper and break it into the new environment. Babies are too small to navigate regular terrain and to tell the difference between food and innocent looking sand like substance on the ground which is why it’s recommended that you use newspaper at first.

 

Temperature

A common overlooked items for brand new pet owners is that they need to keep a very strict and close eye on the temperature of the enclosure. How do you do this and what are the tools required? First, you’re going to want to take measurements of your enclosure and set the entire landscape up. It’s highly important that you know where you want the cool spot of your aquarium to be and where you want the warm spot to be first before you go out and buy random items to help regulate the temperature of your enclosure.

 

The panther gecko will rely a lot on its owner to help regulate and digest food properly and making sure the enclosure is the proper temperature is the one of the best ways to do this. First, you’ll want to make sure that you have a digital thermometer and not one of those cheap one that you can pick up for a mere dollar, make sure you get one that is dead accurate and has a digital display. These are far better and will give you a better reading the temperature to help determine that the cold side is working as intended and that the heat side is at the best basking temperature possible.

 

Now, the temperatures at night shouldn’t cause too much alarm if they tend to drop down into some low digits because it’s not uncommon for temperatures to dip down to 70 degrees or a little lower depending on the season that it is and where the geckos are in the enclosure. Especially at night if they’re hiding under their shelter, they aren’t going to want to be under a basking light and won’t mind the 70 degree weather. However, once the temperature starts to drop below dangerous levels such as 60 degrees, then it’s time to re-examine your heating setup or test it out with a different thermometer just to be safe.

 

Now, it’s going to be essential to keep a fair amount of humidity in the tank as well and while many other owners don’t own a tool for this purpose, it’s recommended that you get one if you want to make sure that your pet is living in the most ideal conditions and temperatures. If you do have a decide to help you measure and monitor the humidity in the cage or enclosure, then you should be shooting for a solid 70% and if you need help with raising the humidity, then do a little misting at least once a day to assist in the process. Misting is simply the process of filling up a clean water bottle with a spray nozzle and spraying around the enclosure and your gecko.

 

One of the great things about this particular gecko is that they’re not going to require any kind of UVB light since they’re nocturnal. Most people prefer the red bulb lights but you can ideally use red or blue (it all comes down to a color preference at that point and whatever you want to use). You have to think back, because panther geckos are native to the land of Madagascar and they only come out at night, so that kind of lighting really isn’t necessary. Unlike some other species of geckos, they’re not very good at climbing so they’re spending a lot of their time in the sunlight and under leaves hiding from the sunlight. They try to use natural resources or nature to hide themselves from the glaring heat sometimes when it becomes too much.

 

Food

Much like just about every other reptile on the planet, they’re mostly meat eaters and will eat just about anything that they see as edible food. However, this doesn’t mean that you should just feed them anything and everything because different owners have proven different success with certain kinds of food. The first and foremost effective food is easily the crickets. Not only are crickets extremely easy to find at pet shops, they’re relatively easy to buy in bulk as well and cost effective.

 

Some people have reported that they’ve fed their geckos locusts but this isn’t really a common thing and it’s not something I can personally recommend you do because I’m not sure if a gecko will really even eat a locust or what kind of nutritional value that It provides for the gecko. Panther gecko like all the other geckos are going to require some vitamins from their meals so that’s why crickets tend to be the number one go to source.

 

However, if you’re looking to try something different, you may even want to try out waxworms. Some people have said that they may be delicious as a snack to gecko but they’re extremely high in fat so they should be used sparingly. Now, some people believe in and live by dusting or what’s known as gut loading but it’s really not necessary and it’s not something that you absolutely have to do. If you want to do this, then more power to you and that’s completely up to you, but no one’s going to force you or tell you that you HAVE to in order to have a healthy pet.

 

If you suspect your pet isn’t easting as much due to a vitamin deficiency, then it might be time to help assist your pet in the digestion of these vitamins to see if it’ll retain normal eating habits again. Sometimes you’ll get stuck with hard feeders that refuse to eat and the majority of the time this is usually caused by horrible environment conditions. Then you want to make sure that you ALWAYS have a fresh water bowl in the enclosure that’s constantly filled with water.

 

Some species of gecko won’t even use the bowl but they’ll rather just lick the droplets and while that may be enough for some species, it’s not for the panther gecko. Just make sure that you’re giving it a bowl of fresh water that’s clean and looks like something you wouldn’t mind drinking out of yourself. If you happen to notice any fecal matter or dead meals floating around in the bowl, then simply dump it out, clean it, wash it, fill it and place it back in the enclosure. That’s really all there is to taking care of a panther gecko.

 

Handling

Now, we know how anxious you might be to hold and to play with a panther gecko, but these geckos really aren’t particularly for holding. The reasoning behind this is because they have extremely small bodies and they’re very fragile. We’re not saying that you’re going to kill your pet if you try to pick it up but if for whatever reason you absolutely just can’t resist the urge of not handling them, you’re going to have to be extremely careful.

 

Not only are their bodies very gentle, but you also have to be careful and firm so that they don’t escape out of your grasp. What can happen is, while they’re squirming or trying to escape, you might panic and let go and letting them go in the process. Panther gecko at first will be very skittish and aren’t exactly going to be friendly towards the idea of being picked up by a stranger that they’ve never seen before. However, if you start with them while they’re young then you might be alright as they might get used to you with time. They tend to be very jumpy as babies and juveniles.

 

If you really want to get your panther gecko used to your touch and used to you, then what you’re going to want to do is regularly handle it but make sure to follow some ground rules. First, always handle it from the ground and don’t do it over a high surface or up on a bunk bed or something like that. Also, don’t handle it too much or you might stress it out (at least at first), it’s going to need time to adapt and to get used to you. They can be very tame and calm creatures once they’ve gotten used to you but it’s just something you have to work on.

 

Also when you’re handling your gecko or attempting to grab it, a common mistake that some people make is that they like to go under the gecko or try to grab the underbelly and this can commonly end up being a pretty big mistake if you’re not careful. Sometimes, (while this happens rarely), what happens is, the gecko is going to confuse you with a predator and attack you. The last and final thing you need to remember about handling a gecko is that you never ever want to pick up a gecko or at least a panther gecko by the tail because they easily come off and we can only imagine that it causes excruciating pain for the gecko.

 

 

African Fat Tailed Gecko Care Sheet

African Fat Tailed Gecko

African Fat Tailed Gecko

Introduction

The African fat tailed gecko species are known as one of the more neat and sophisticated breed of gecko. They’re very much so a pleasure to own and they’re relatively easy to take care of. They’re one of my highly recommended gecko breeds for brand new owners so they can get a feel for raising a gecko and taking care of one. Much like their name, their original source is about the same, as they come from various regions in the western part of Africa. They can also tend to be found in areas around Nigeria as well as Senegal.

 

The first thing that you’ll notice about the African fat tailed gecko is exactly what the name implies, and you guessed it, it’s the fat tail on the gecko. They tend to be laid back and not as aggressive as other species which might be confusing since the majority of species comes from Africa is violent in nature. It’s not exactly their fault though, because as an animal that’s not very large with a long line of animals that kill them, you have to be violent and quick to survive. However, the African fat tailed gecko has managed to survive and is a very laid back creature.

 

However, the only downfall to owning an African fat tailed gecko is that they tend to have a bit more maintenance and requirements than say owning a House Gecko or a Crested Gecko, but they’re still very simple to take care of. If you do maintain their living quarters every day and provide them with all the tools they need to survive, then they’ll be happy and you’ll have a healthy pet.

 

Housing

With being easy to take care of, this makes the housing situation incredibly easy; not that housing a gecko was difficult in the first place. Ideally, all you’re going to need to provide them with is the right combination of heat and humidity whether its night or day and you should be alright. Of course you’ll have to feed them the appropriate meals and times on a consistent basis but that’s covered a little further down. One of the greatest features for new pet owners is that the African fat tailed gecko is terrestrial. This means that they aren’t going to climb up the cage, they aren’t going to climb around and if they do happen to escape while you’re handling them or just escape, then you don’t have to worry about them climbing anything.

 

Therefore, you’re not going to have to provide any kind of props for anything the gecko to climb on but however, you’re still going to need to provide them with some proper substrate though. With the lack of things to climb on, you have to make up for that by providing things that are on the ground such as hiding spots and substrate that isn’t harmful to your pet which will be covered as well. If you fail to build a perfect habitat for your pet, they will become stressed out and they could possibly die.

 

So why is heat so important, won’t heat just add to their stress and kill them? Well, if you add too much heat into the enclosure you could kill them but generally speaking, they need heat to survive. While we might find some temperatures scorching outside and a lack of motivation to do anything, African fat tailed gecko usually use the heat and humidity to do a number of things such as shedding and digesting food. Also, all reptiles are cold blooded and what this means is, they’re going to require heat into their bodies to help regulate temperatures. If you touch your gecko, even under a heat lamp, you might notice that they’re cold to the touch.

 

The best example of cold blooded skin is by touching a snake, even if it’s warm out, you’ll notice that the slimy surface of a snake feels really cold to the touch. This is because it relies on heat to keep its body warm and to regulate a healthy temperature. One of the other major benefits to adequate housing and having great heat is that if an African fat tailed gecko or any gecko for that matter loses their tail, having adequate heat will help them grow their tails back quicker if they should ever happen to lose it. So the first thing you’re going to want is to make sure that the gecko has a lot of floor space in a terrarium or aquarium. You can use a cage since they don’t really climb that well but you’ll have to monitor the temperature more since the area will be more open that an aquarium is.

 

There are a lot of different aquariums out there and different types, but you’ll have to shop around for whichever one you think is the best. Some people recommend different companies or different brands of enclosures but you’ll just have to do some searching to find out which one is best for you and works for the living situation you’re trying to setup. Also, take into account how many African fat tailed gecko you plan on storing because the more you have, the bigger space you’ll need, provided that you’re not mixing males together. Gecko males when in the same habitat have a tendency to fight and not that brotherly love fight, that fighting as in trying to kill each other.

 

Providing an adequate habitat for the gecko is obviously your number one chore and the first thing you’ll want to look into in my opinion is a 20 gallon tank. The 20 long gallon tanks will hold just about any size gecko and you can even hold 2 females and one male in there if you choose to do so. Also, just be aware that if you plan on mixing females and males, there will more than likely be breeding and you will have to deal with eggs in the future. Another benefit of the 20 gallon tank is that you’ll never have to upgrade the size of the tank as it grows into it.

 

The African fat tailed gecko likes to play hide and seek with the owner a lot, especially in a new environment, you’ll find that they’re hiding a good majority of the time so you need to provide them with a lot of different places to hide. This can be accomplished by setting up fake props from the pet store or making your own low budget shelters such as empty upside butter bowls with a hole for the door. You can choose to provide some ground foliage inside the aquarium if you like but that’s completely up to you and will depend on what kind of substrate you end up going with.

 

Substrate

Ideally, there are a lot of different kinds of substrate that you can go with for an African fat tailed gecko or any kind of gecko because it’s very versatile depending on what kind of theme you’re looking to build inside the housing structure. However, one general rule to go by is that it should be a very moist type of substrate and not too hard and not sharp in nature like fine grain sand. If you do go with a hard but suitable substrate, you need to make sure that the area has at least one moist place in the area that will help assist in the shedding process.

 

When it comes to the African fat tailed gecko, some people have found that moss type substrate works the best as they aren’t going to swallow it, it’s easy on their feet and it looks good in the enclosure as well. However, if you’re looking to make your own blend of substrate and you know exactly how to do it, then you should consider using a solution that combines cocoa husk, some peat moss and just a little bit of sand (provided that it isn’t fine grain sand).

 

You’ll find sometimes that a gecko likes to go into the ground and burrow. They do this in moist substrate if you’ve provided it because it feels good to them and they’ll use the substrate to hide. So make sure that its a few inches deep at the minimum if you decide to go with something moist. Also, they’ll use moist substrate to rehydrate themselves as well.

 

Temperature

Keeping your African fat tailed gecko at a perfect temperature will ensure that they live as long as they possibly can and live a long and happy life. Now for the particular species and breed the African fat tailed gecko, a lot of people would highly recommend that you use an under tank heating pad that helps regulate the temperature of the aquarium. What this does is, comfortably sits underneath the tank or aquarium and it will evenly spread out heat around the enclosure and can be effective but cost a little bit more than what’s known as an overheating lamp.

 

Now, with any kind of heating source, you’re absolutely going to need a thermostat and preferably not one that’s cheap or $1. You’re going to want one that’s digital and can read temperatures accurately because it’s very important that you get the right temperature. Obviously, when it’s day time out, the heat’s going to be more active and your enclosure is going to be warmer in the day time than it is in night time. If your enclosure seems to be warmer at night time, then you need to look into something because obviously something is wrong with your heater or your thermometer.

 

During the night, you can adjust the temperature settings to let the temperature drop a couple of degrees or even 5 degrees in most cases. This is because they’re used to the temperature drop out in the wild and they might be hiding until the heat goes away. This also stimulates a realistic version of being out in the wild and being night and day, because if it’s always day time and the gecko never gets any time to cool off, it’ll become very stressed out relatively quickly.

 

One common mistake that new owners make because they’re sold by pet store inexperienced workers is what’s known as heating rocks. While they may not be extremely pricey, they can be extremely dangerous to a terrestrial animal such as the African fat tailed gecko. Any kind of pet owner or pet store worker should know that but sometimes they’re just trying to sell some products without thinking about it. What can happen is, if your heating rock is overheating, your gecko might collide with it or mistake it for a nice surface to sit on and burn themselves.

 

Some people say that you can use a heat rock if you’re regulating the temperature with a thermostat but its best if you just stay away from using one altogether. When you’re trying to find the perfect humidity, it’s best recommended that you use a tool known as the hygrometer because it’ll help regulate the humidity inside the enclosure. Misting will do this as well but it won’t harm you to have both in place. You’re going to want to keep a healthy 50 to 70 on the humidity scale to make sure your pet can digest food and shed healthy.

 

Now concerning the humidity of the enclosure, the geckos don’t exactly need to be super humid but at the same time, you also don’t want the enclosure to be really dry either. If possible at all, depending on the size of the enclosure, you’re going to want to try to keep one area of the enclosure more humid than the other one. A bowl of water in the corner or wherever you choose to place it will also assist in creating humidity but the main thing apart from measuring humidity that you can do is do what’s called misting. Almost all reptiles from benefit from misting and the African fat tailed gecko is one of them. Simply spray your reptiles down once a day with a water bottle but not to the point of dripping wet.

 

You just want them to be a little moist and a little wet, you don’t want them to drown or anything. While a jungle scenario and setting might look cool, it’s best not to give them this setup because African fat tailed gecko are used to living in very temperate environments, so try to keep that in mind when setting up your enclosure as well and take all of that into consideration.

 

Food

The main dish and food that the African fat tailed gecko is going to eat is the insect. Insects come in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes but this is the main meal course that owners prefer to provide to geckos. Also, if you’re looking for a solid base diet that’s cost affordable, you might want to look into mealworms as well. A lot of fishermen use these types of worms because they’re really cheap and they can live for a really long time while being refrigerated. While the geckos main primary course of meal will more than likely be crickets due to a number of reasons, there’s also other species of insects and worms that you can feed to geckos as well.

 

The African fat tailed gecko really isn’t a picky eater by any standards which is why you have to be careful when feeding them because they’ll eat just about anything and everything that you put into the cage with them. Also, on the list of edible things for an African fat tailed gecko is a butter worm (while this isn’t very common it’s still acceptable), the silk worm, and the cut worm. Some people will feed them wax worms but it’s best just to never start this habit and don’t feed them wax worms.

 

If you like and want to make sure that your geckos are getting the most nutrients possible inside of a meal, then what you’re going to do is a process called gut loading. This basically means that you’ll either load up crickets with vitamins by feeding it to them or you’ll sprinkle vitamin powder on crickets before feeding them to geckos. This ensures that if any vitamin deficiencies are present, it’ll be addressed but this really isn’t something that’s necessary most of the time. There are a lot of different products out there on the market today for the sole purpose of gut loading or reptile vitamins.

 

You really don’t need to buy any of them but if you do choose to gut load your insects prior to feeding them to the gecko, then what you want to do is mix them up thoroughly. First, the most common option is to go with the feeding option where you feed the insects vitamins rather than use some kind of sprinkling powder and if you do this, you need to make the insects that are gut loaded wait at least 24 hours before being fed to the geckos. The nutritional value will go way up, which is no secret but a lot of people debate how much value it really adds and this will depend on the kind of vitamin that you’re using.

 

The only vitamins that you’ll find in a powder form will more than likely be Calcium and D3 which substantially help the growth process so if you feel gut loading is absolutely necessary, sprinkle them on the insects prior to feeding them and after you’ve fed them. How often you need to and should be feeding the gecko will really depend on the age of the gecko, because the older they get, the less they eat. African fat tailed geckos tend to come out of the wood work and eat when they want, and at times their eating schedules are a bit sporadic.

 

Also, you need to know that when you’re watering geckos, that you can’t get away with simply misting the cage and hoping that they’ll lick the water droplets because African fat tailed gecko will not lick the droplets, even when they’re starving. You have to keep a water bowl in the enclosure at all times and make sure that it’s filled up constantly.

 

Handling

As stated in the introduction of the African fat tailed gecko, they’re extremely tame pets and they’re reasonably easy to handle. They’re known as one of the most docile and easy to tame breeds of gecko out there as long as you have the patience required to sit there and work with them. Ideally, you’ll notice that after a few weeks and getting used to their environment, the geckos will be less jumpy and won’t be as frightened as easily. However, sometimes this can be done in less time it just depends on how stressed out they are and other contributing factors.

 

The first couple of weeks, it’s probably for the best that you’re not trying to handle the gecko and you’re not constantly trying to pick it up and add any unneeded stress.

Leaf Tailed Gecko Care Sheet

Leaf-tailed Gecko, Uroplatus silcoraeaf

Introduction

The leaf tailed gecko is just one part of a nine family member species. This particular gecko isn’t as large as some of the other breeds out there while it will only reach up to 8cm from 30cm. One of the most interesting species and family members of the leaf tail family is the cryptic gecko. Known precisely for its name, it can use an ability the basically camouflages it into the background staying hidden. This is a defensive measure designed to allow it to blend into the natural environment and usually this is in a rainforest. They tend to come from the rainforests of Madagascar and need to have as much defensive capability as possible to survive.

 

You’ll notice that the larger members of the family are commonly known to have fringes all around the entire body and that they’ll have beards as well. When they lay their head down on a covered rock or some moss, you more than likely will miss them or not be able to see them, which helps them hide from predators in the wilderness. One of the most unique features of this is that it blocks out any chance of a shadow being formed and it will allow it to hide from just about anything.

 

Some of the smaller members in the family have their tails shaped as leaves which will allow them to lay flat and blend in with the leaves on the ground. Not only that but their bodies are said to resemble other leaves on the ground that are dead or they can often resemble slim branches as well. The leaf tailed gecko is known as the master of disguise because they’re not great fighters and that’s their only line of defense really, they have to blend in with the environment. They’re also not as particularly fast as some of the other breeds out there.

 

This particular species has rather large eyes because it helps it hunt nocturnal prey. Being a nocturnal animal itself like most reptiles, it will actively seek for prey no matter what the size is. Unlike some geckos, their mouths can open rather large and accommodate larger than normal prey. Not only that, but after they’re done hunting for the night and they feel they’re done, they’ll even return to the exact same spot they were previously. They can even be known to change their skin color from time to time to help blend in.

 

Different Species Of Leaf Tailed Gecko

First, you have the common leaf tailed geckos or also known as the Uroplatus Fimbriatus. As the name suggests, it’s one of the most common members of the family and you’re more likely to find these on Madagascar than you are the other eight species. It’s also going to be the largest of all the family members as well. If you’re looking for these, you’ll have to travel to the east side of the rainforest where they thrive. These geckos have been known to grow up to 30cm which is actually quite large for a gecko and marks them as one of the largest in the world. The first thing you’ll notice is that they have amber eyes and a vertical stripe pattern.

 

The next species is one of the most varied and colored species out of all of them and it’s known as the Henkles leaf tailed gecko or otherwise known as the Uroplatus Henkeli. They can be a wide range of colors, while some have been reported to be completely white, some of them have been reported to be colored orange and some of them have even been said to be completely pink as well. While it’s still a rather large family member, it’s still 5cm less than the common leaf tailed gecko. You won’t find many markings on this particular member though and usually has pink eyes.

 

Next up is the species known as the Uroplatus Sikorae or more commonly known as the mossy leaf tailed geckos. These only measure to a size of 18 and a half centimeters but are still decently sized for a gecko. They often resemble a mossy branch that look like some twigs or they can often resemble some lichen as well. They might have some distinguishable bumps on them as well and they’re more than likely to be found on off-shore islands or on the northern tip of Madagascar. There is however a sub-species of this family member which is known on the island of Nosy Boraha. The only real different you’ll notice is the coloration in the mouth, which where the Sikorae is black and the Sameiti has a flesh looking color.

The next up species will be the lined leaf tailed gecko or known by its alternative family name, the Uroplatus Lineatus. If you’re looking for this species, well you’ll have to go to the North East section of the bamboo forest. You can distinguish this particular breed by finding the brown lines on their head and they’ll usually have some running along their body as well. Also, you’ll notice that most of them tend to have a very vivid yellow background. They can reach up to 25cm which makes them a decently large specimen. If these are to be kept in captivity, then you’ll more than likely want some bamboo canes as well.

Then you have an eerie name but the satanic leaf tailed gecko or otherwise known as the Uroplatus Phantasticus. This species is rather small compared to other members of the family as it’s only going to reach up to 9cm in length at the very maximum. The entire body though is unique out of all the different members of the family because it resembles that of a curled up leaf. Also, the tail is leaf shaped as the name suggests and is truly an amazing sight to see. You’ll notice that they’re brown in nature or can be grey as well. There’s a wide variety of colors that you may find them in but the word satanic more than likely comes from the small horns it appears to have and the red eyes.

The next and final species can be found on the North Western tip of the island and it’s known as the Nosey Be leaf tailed gecko or by its alternative name Uroplatus Ebenaui. Not a lot is known about this species except for the fact it tends to mimic dead leaves quite well and blends in well for survivability.

 

Housing

Housing will be the first and foremost essential step to owning a leaf tailed gecko or any kind of reptile because all reptiles require some kind of enclosure. I imagine you could try to let a bunch of reptiles live among you without any kind of enclosure but they would be severely dehydrated due to the temperature variance in your home unless you turned your place into a sauna.

 

The reason that reptiles require housing and structure is because of the things they require to stay not only healthy but alive. They require shelter, they require adequate lighting, heating and a place for eating that’s more suited to the wild. We’ll go over some of the basics of setting all of that up and hopefully you can setup a perfect home for your new leaf tailed gecko pet.

 

First, you’re going to want a cage or an aquarium type structure. Which one you choose is completely up to you but I will say that it’s a lot easier to hold your pets in an aquarium due to being able to control the temperature and humidity inside of the cage easier. So once you choose that, it’s time to move onto the decorations or doodads of the home if you will.

 

Depending on where your pet is from or what region of the world it’s from, you might want to setup your cage to resemble home as much as possible for the pet. You can either find your own from the forest or you can buy cheap and fake plastic looking toys that resemble logs and other tree like features that a rain forest has. This will not only make them feel at home, but give them things to do and some hiding spots which all reptiles love to have.

 

The next thing you’re going to want to have is a shelter. A shelter is essentially a hiding spot from the heat and the light. Any shelter you purchase or build is going to need to cut out the light from it completely and the only thing that should be showing on the shelter is an entrance hole. Inside, you want the minimal light getting in as possible. You’ll find your gecko spending a lot of time in a shelter, so you can either again, buy a cheap one or make one yourself. You can make them out of just about anything but it’s recommended that you do it with something with weight volume such as an empty butter container.

 

Now, there are some precautions and safety tips that you should follow when selecting and getting your cage/aquarium. You’re going to want to run your fingers through the entire enclosure and make sure there are no gaps or holes for the animal to escape. Not only that, but you want to make sure there’s no loose wires or anything sharp that the animal may cut themselves on as well as this may be costly when you have to buy a new shelter and a new pet. It all really comes down to personal preference and what looks the best to you on your personal budget.

 

Substrate

Substrate is a very straight forward subject because the whole idea of substrate is to cover the enclosure floor. Most of them are just for decoration but some of them are great for creatures that burrow. Basically, you want to avoid some substrates because they can be incredibly harmful to leaf tailed gecko. First, you want to determine just what kind of substrate that you’re looking to lay down and how much you’re willing to spend.

 

Some substrate may look great but honestly isn’t worth the cost and the hassle in my opinion. However for juvenile or baby gecko, you’re going to have to forget what kind of substrate you’ll be laying down because instead of getting to pick and choose, you’ll be laying down paper towels or newspapers. Why? There will be many various benefits of using towels or papers over substrate and let’s examine some of them.

 

First, it’s very cost effective because honestly, what do paper towels or newspaper costs compared to other substrates? Now, look at the cost of some substrates such as dirt, moss or other fancy kind of substrate that may look like a realistic ground for gecko and may look great from the outside but it’s not recommended for younglings until they’ve grown into their bodies at least 6 months in and have a grasp on walking and what’s edible and what’s not.

 

Second, when you have to spot clean, it’ll be much easier. Let’s face it, no one likes cleaning up poop or fecal matter from a pet cage. However, like every other animal the leaf tailed gecko has to leave waste somewhere and it leaves it’s feces on the floor as you can’t really potty train them. When this happens, at least you’ll be able to spot the mess easy and clean it up. If you refuse to clean it up or you get lazy, well let’s just say that paper is really bad at hiding smell and you’re going to reek of it.

 

Also, when you have moss or dirt like substrate, it’s going to be less obvious when there’s spots that need cleaned. Not only that but juveniles have a tendency to eat anything they can find on the ground and if you have some fine grain sand lying on the ground, they might end up eating the sand. What happens when they eat the sand? You might have to go through this fun little process called impaction which could kill your pet.

 

So what kinds of substrates are recommended? Personally I would highly recommend some dirt like substrate wherever you can get it because this is what this particular species is most used to in the rainforest. They’re used to moist dirt like substances and that’s what they’re most commonly going to do good on. However, just remember that you’ll have to clean out your cage more and it’ll be messier as your gecko will have some dirt on them and will more than likely drag that dirt around different areas of your cage, including your water bowl.

 

Just pick something that’s to your liking and isn’t harmful to your gecko’s health while matching the environment. You usually have a lot of freedom and room to mess around here so go nuts and get creative.

 

Temperature

This is going to be highly essential to providing the best temperature possible but before you start setting temperatures and setting up different numbers around the enclosure, there are some things that you’re going to need. First, you’re going to need a heating lamp that hangs above the enclosure and more importantly, you’re going to need an accurate thermometer as well. Now, as far as what the temperature should approximately be, that’s going to depend on whether it’s day time or night time.

 

During the day time, you’re going to want to shoot for 72 degrees and then during the night you’re usually going to want to see it go down to 65. They like to have a drop in temperature at night and the basking period is only in the day anyways, which that heat allows proper and efficient digestion of their food. Don’t be alarmed if you notice some sudden changes of temperature during the different seasons because this is completely normal and expected. It’s going to get colder in the fall and winter seasons as your house naturally gets colder.

 

Don’t crank up your thermostat to something ridiculous like 90 just to keep it warm, believe me the gecko will be fine. The temperatures mentioned above should serve as an average of numbers during the summer but can tend to fluctuate a few degrees here and there. Now, humidity is another thing that you need to worry about and to make it short, you need to keep the humidity around a healthy 50% or sometimes even a 60%. There are a couple of ways you can help influence this but you won’t know what the humidity is without having a measuring device in there to help measure the humidity.

 

Some thermometers have them that are digital and new age. A lot of people prefer to slap some old school dial thermometers on the side and I don’t recommend doing this. These can be off by give or take quite a few degrees and you don’t want to be off by a few degrees when you’re trying to breed geckos. The leaf tailed gecko is very tolerable to different temperatures unlike some other breed of reptiles that require a very strict temperature layout.

 

In order to help keep humidity at a decent high, you’re going to want to take practice in something that’s known as misting. First, get an empty water bottle that you’re sure is clean and free of anything, and then fill it up with some water. What you’re going to do is gently spray or “mist” the enclosure and the gecko. What this essentially does is not only helps keep it moist, but helps when it’s time to shed its skin and keeps the humidity up as well.

 

Feeding

Feeding your pets is one of the most common misinformation spots on the internet, especially when it comes to geckos or the leaf tailed gecko. Commonly though, the eating habits of a leaf tailed gecko aren’t much different than they are of a regular gecko or any kind of reptile. There are a lot of different things on the menu that they’ll eat but to be honest, the gecko will eat different kinds of substrate if they get hungry, curious or just bored which is why geckos in general need a lot of attention and care.

 

First, I’m going to go over the type of food that I wouldn’t recommend feeding your gecko and explain why you shouldn’t be feeding it to them. Then I’m going to discuss the benefits and cons of the multi-vitamin world and if it’s really a crock or not.

 

First, you have what’s known as the wax worm which is commonly known as the fatty food of the reptile world. It’s highly advised that you stay away from using these as a typical meal for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they’re very high in fat materials and aren’t going to provide your gecko much good in that area. They should only be used very sparingly and should only be used as snacks rather than meals if you absolutely feel this necessary.

 

Mealworms are the next topic of debate and there’s a lot of debate in the community because while using these as meals provide a lot of different nutrients for reptiles they also have a deadly side effect. A lot of mealworms and alike have something that’s known as a parasite. What these parasites do is dig into the reptile and will even go for the lung and try to infect it. It’s a scary thought but you could end up paying a huge bill just to be told that there’s nothing you can do for your pet if the worm makes it into the lung and refuses to come out.

 

Ideally, mealworms will be completely up to you whether you want to use them or not but please use them with caution and perform weekly checks for signs of parasites. You might notice some bumps on the belly or some spots that look irregular. Of course, parasites don’t happen to too many pets but it’s still a huge problem in the reptile community and it’s caused by things like mealworms. You shouldn’t be superstitious or anything but you should be better safe than sorry, so make sure you just keep an eye out on what kind of mealworms you’re feeding them.

 

Then you have other random insects that you can find in the wild which are also a horrible idea. Now, I understand that when leaf tailed gecko are out in the wild, they’ll eat just about anything and everything that they please but you have to understand, these creatures are born into captivity and aren’t used to the wild. They more than likely aren’t getting the nutritional values and vitamins that they should be unless you’re actively giving it to them. Rather than surviving based off their own survival instincts, these creatures are going to completely rely on you for survival.

 

Now then, the main food that you should be feeding these geckos is mainly crickets. Why? First off, the leaf tailed gecko mainly enjoys a meal that’s alive and active. It keeps them on the move and they’ll enjoy the food more if they felt like they actually chased it down. Also, crickets come packed with a lot of nutrients that your leaf tailed gecko need to not only survive but to function optimally. You don’t have to necessarily feed them only crickets but it definitely doesn’t hurt to put them on a cricket only strict diet.

 

Now, moving onto the topic of these so called vitamins that every pet owner just seems to have to have, are they for real or is this one big crock pot? A lot of people have different and mixed results on these vitamins because some people report success and some people report no change at all so do some of these pills have the sugar effect on their owners? They think the situation of their pet is improving and nothing is really improving at all?

 

If you feel any signs or see any hints that your leaf tailed gecko is coming down with a vitamin deficiency such as slow movement, uncoordinated or isn’t eating their food as much, then yes, getting more nutrition obviously is a must and vitamins are a great way to do that. So how do you do it? The easiest way is to sprinkle calcium powder on crickets before feeding time and to make crickets eat some B vitamin food and have them held for 24 hours.

 

It’s best if you feed your gecko once every day but once they grow older, you can get away with feeding them once every two days. Just feed them accordingly and use common sense. Look for signs of any kind of infections or parasites and try to treat them early on to prevent anything serious.

 

Breeding

When you’re looking to breed leaf tailed gecko, you want to follow a couple of simple and easy to follow rules that most gecko follow. A lot of people prefer to breed the satanic leaf tailed gecko because they like the look of them or just like the name. They’re a very beautiful species but first, you should figure out exactly which species you want because this should be done before purchasing them in the first place.

 

However, you should know something about the satanic family member, because they’re one of the hardest to care for when it comes to their newborns and you’re going to have a lot of trouble raising their offspring. Not only that, but they definitely don’t make it easy on you when you’re trying to breed and are highly un reliable, they have their name for a reason.

 

Unlike some reptiles that can breed during nearly any time during the year, the most successful breeding time for a gecko of just about any species seems to be near the winter time. Some people say they have success in spring but the general consensus state that you should be doing it in winter. What you’ll want to do is increase the light cycle to 12 hours a day and you’re going to want to make sure you’re using UV lighting. This kind of lighting increases calcium absorption from the females which helps increase your odds of having eggs successfully.

 

Now, you want to make sure that your substrate is very moist but you don’t want it to be overly moist to the point of where it’s damp, just a little wet like mud right after it’s rained and starting to dry up. At this point in time, you should be spraying a couple of times a day to make sure that it stays moist. Just remember, don’t drench or overdo it to the point where water puddles start to form. Drop the temperature a few degrees and make sure it stays consistent that way as this breeds the best conditions for breeding.

 

When you’re feeding them during this time, it’s important that you keep a close on eye on the number of crickets that are out and roaming about because you want to make sure that they’re eating them all and that they’re getting a healthy nutritional dose of vitamins during this time as well. You’ll also notice that females will become hefty as well which is completely normal. After a while, they will breed and you will have hatchlings about a few months later.

 

Health And Safety

Now when you’re dealing with some fresh imports, you’re going to run into the issue of mites a lot. It’s not a problem you can particularly avoid when you have imports. Now, there are some different medications and sprays out there that actually kill mite and they shouldn’t give you too much trouble. You can find a lot of different mite sprays at pet stores and most of them work quite well if you tackle the problem early on and don’t let it grow into a huge problem.

 

All you have to do is simply spray a cotton swab or gentle rag surface and then you can dab it on the mite that you’re trying to rid of. This is most commonly helpful for mites that don’t seem to want to leave and tend to try to hide in places like toe pads. It might work on the very first try or it might take several applied instances to completely rid of the mite before you see some improvement. However, make sure that you keep the chemicals or spray away from the eyes, the nostrils or the mouths of your geckos as well, you shouldn’t get it anywhere near that.

 

Now some mites like to hide in tricky areas such as right between the eyes or other close by areas and if this is an issue for you, you can let a veterinarian do it or you can take a pair of tweezers and do it very carefully. Sometimes, mites will have a good hold onto the gecko and will be a pain in the behind to remove. That’s why you want to use say a cotton swab or something such as a q-tip that you can dab on to the animal and remove the mite or at least apply the application. Some people have said they have success in using vegetable oil but this isn’t talked about a lot or proven so use it at your own risk.

 

There are some products that you should stay away from though such as Provent-A-Mite. The reason being that it can be highly hazardous to the health of your smaller geckos and might even be fatal if you’re not careful. If you’re not careful, it might even get into the food that you’re feeding your geckos and cause serious problems for all of the pets eating from that food supply, so just be careful and look up reviews on different mite removal sprays before buying them.

House Gecko Care Sheet

House gecko on broad green leaf

Introduction

When you think about the common house gecko, you probably think about that little lizard you see on the Geico commercial all the time but what kind of breed that is, is debatable and they’ve dropped some clever hints but always cut him off before he has time to tell us. However, the house gecko is basically the most common household pet out there when it comes to owning a gecko and they’re relatively easy to maintain as well. People all over the world love owning these things as pets because not only are they small and tiny in nature but they’re relatively inexpensive as well, which some lizards just aren’t worth the trouble of owning and some breeds are worth more trouble than what they’ll end up costing you.

 

Also, it’s extremely easy to maintain them in captivity and it’s one of the easiest pets to own period. Some people say that it’s a lot easier than owning a dog because while it might be man’s best friend, there are a lot of things you have to worry about and common household pets like the dog can be very expensive if you’re on a shoestring budget. The house gecko is meant for an observational type of pet that you can watch every now and then and while some gecko are easily handled, it’s really not recommended that you handle a house gecko because of how fragile they are.

 

While it’s true they’re very gentle, they’re also very fragile and can break easy, kind of like a toy. Unlike some other particular breed of gecko, the house gecko is also relatively quick so if it escapes out of your hands and starts running through the house, you’re going to have a fun afternoon on your hands running through the house trying to chase it down. However, unlike some pets which can be self-sufficient such as a cat that can go out on its own and hunt when you stop feeding it, the house gecko relies solely on you to feed it. The common life span of a house gecko tends to be around 5 years or a little less depending on how well they’re taken care of.

 

If you’re taking poor care of the gecko, then obviously the life span will go down but some owners have reported that the life span of a house gecko can be extended for up to 7 years if they’re under ideal conditions. However, as a new owner, you shouldn’t expect your house gecko to make it the full 5 years (at least the first one) because you’re brand new to raising one and there will be some things you miss. House geckos tend to have some amazing characteristics that set them apart from other gecko and while others have this unique and distinct ability, they tend to climb a lot of walls and don’t really spend too much time near the ground. It’s not common for a lot of breed of different gecko to avoid the ground the majority of the time.

 

So if you’re purchasing a house gecko with the idea of gifting it to your child in mind, then you might want to re-think and re-consider your purchasing options because these definitely aren’t the most ideal pets for children to own. Instead, you might want to look into some more docile and easier to handle species of geckos or perhaps another type of species altogether. Not only that but taking care of a gecko requires immense attention to detail and some children won’t have the attention span to deal with them or take care of them.

 

Housing

When you’re purchasing housing or looking at different enclosures, you’re going to want to make sure you pick the most appropriate and right sized enclosure for the particular combination that you’re setting up. For instance, if you only have one single gecko or you’re housing a pair of them, then you might want to look into a tank that can accommodate 20 gallons. This will not only be able to one house gecko adequately but a house gecko and a mate if you’d like (but be warned, if you do this, you will more than likely have a lot of baby gecko running around not too far down the road).

 

What you want to look for in your tank more than anything is a vertical incline that’s not only steep but high enough to climb for the gecko since they’ll spend a lot of time climbing the aquarium or enclosure that you place them in. As one of the few species of gecko that likes to be airborne and climb around, you’re going to want to make sure that you provide them with quite a few different amenities for doing so and you have quite a few options for doing that. You want to make sure that your gecko is given the freedom to hop around, climb up the walls or other things can put inside of your enclosure.

 

Basically, a house gecko when it’s beginning to feel threatened or just bored, it will climb up to the highest point that it can to avoid any danger on the ground. This is a mechanic that keeps it alive in the wild and this basic survival instinct carries over to captivity as well. If your gecko is spooked, is suddenly scared or you try to handle it for the first time, you might find it running up something inside of the enclosure or up the aquarium walls themselves. So what are some of your options for giving them things to climb?

 

First, you can opt to put real nature in there such as logs and little trees. A lot of people don’t like to use real plants because plants die and need replaced when they do, so this can be a hassle when the time comes. However, then there’s the option of having fake and non-toxic plants for the gecko to climb. This is a fairly popular option and should be available at just about any pet store you walk into and ask. Not only are these great for climbing but you’ll find that these are great for hiding as well because if the gecko can’t find something to climb immediately, it might just go into hiding mode on the ground.

 

Also, an important housing issue will erupt if you ever try to store more than one gecko in the cage at a time. Whether you have an aquarium or a cage doesn’t matter but if you ever try to store two males together then you may very well be purchasing one or two new geckos because for reasons unknown house geckos like to fight each other when in each other’s presence. No one’s really honestly sure why the exact reasoning of this is, but many suspects that it’s because they’re fighting over territory and who owns the territory that they’re on.

 

Whatever the reasoning behind it may be, it’s far better off to just not put them in the tank together and to let a male live by itself. However, there’s no real issue that arise out of keeping a female with the male so you should be good if you decide to go with that route. However, in that instance, you have another housing issue because then you’ll also have to take care of eggs and if this is your first gecko, then you probably shouldn’t worry about eggs yet until you have a good grasp on basic maintenance and care for the gecko.

 

It’s said for a beginning pet owner that the house gecko is one of the best pets you can own because of their simplicity to take care of and just how easy they are to house and clean up after.

 

You’ll want to consider the substrate as well when you’re building or planning out the housing because there are a lot of different types of substrates out there. When you’re building your enclosure or selecting your house, you want to make sure that you’re using a newspaper if you plan on having any juvenile or baby geckos in there. This goes for all different species of geckos but the little ones tend to have a habit of chewing on everything in sight which is why pellet style substrate or any other kind of substrate other than newspaper isn’t the best idea.

 

It’s easy to lay down newspaper and you only have to continue to do this for the first six months then you can switch to a mulch type of substrate, at least for the house gecko. Some people have even found success in using a specific type of carpet type substrate for cages but this isn’t very common and not something particular heard of, so we’ll stick with the normal options for now which is mulch and newspaper. Also, if you ignore this advice and decide to use whatever substrate you want, you could be causing serious injury to your house gecko because when it eats substrate it might cause something called impactation. This is when it has a hard time digesting the substrate it has eaten and it can actually kill your pet.

 

Now one thing you need to do that most owners (especially new owners) forget to do or just neglect is to do something that’s known as spot cleaning. You need to look for feces spots and you need to be changing the water out for fresh water. Some people say you don’t have to change the water until it starts looking dirty but I would personally recommend changing your house gecko’s water at least once a day.

 

Temperature

The temperature and ideal living conditions will be different depending on a couple of different factors. The first factors will be the time of the day and the season. Obviously, it’s going to be colder in your home and for the gecko during the winter season but you still have to maintain a certain temperature. The second factor will be depending on where your basking light is that you’ll have hanging over your enclosure. The direct area over your basking light will more than likely be up to 88 degrees during the day time and it will probably be about 70 degrees at night.

 

Of course this may vary a few degrees here and there and it really shouldn’t be too harmful to your pet. However, the humidity of the enclosure needs to be kept at a certain amount to ensure a healthy pet, to ensure that it’s digesting food properly and to ensure that it will shed smoothly when the time comes to shed. For the house gecko, you’re going to want to keep a nice and steady 65% as the perfect humidity inside the habitat.

 

So how do you obtain the perfect humidity and temperature inside of an enclosure? You take a water bottle filled with water and a spray nozzle and you lightly spray the inside of the enclosure and the gecko. This is called misting and will help ensure that your humidity stays at a healthy level. Some people will recommend that you mist your house gecko every single day and some people will recommend that you do it several times a day just to be safe.

 

Fluorescent lighting should be used at a minimum of 10 hours a day to 14 hours a day for the basking area and should be used by an incandescent bulb. However, you can completely disregard this if you’re using a ceramic heater as your heating source.

 

Food

Now as it pertains to food and what you can feed your house gecko pet, this is one of the easiest things about the house gecko because their eating habits are very simple. Much like any other pet, they’re going to eat every single day and they eat very simple and cost effective foods. However, once they grow up and reach full adulthood, it’s not uncommon for them to skip a day so eating once every other day really isn’t that uncommon.

 

They commonly eat the most cliché items just like all the other reptiles out there but the most common items on the menu for a house gecko are crickets, mealworms and wax worms. Ideally, what you feed them will be your own personal preference but you shouldn’t get used to feeding them wax worms because not only do they provide absolutely no benefit such as vitamins, but they’re very high in fat, so they should be given sparingly. You don’t have to provide them with a vitamin supplement as some sources will tell you but it definitely won’t hurt if you use crickets. The easiest way to trick them into taking vitamins is to sprinkle some calcium powder on crickets and to make them eat the crickets. Crickets are easy to find and they’re cheap in a bundle, and not only that but they provide all the vitamins that a house gecko needs to survive, so this is the most common choice.

Handling

Handling isn’t necessarily recommended because of just how fast the house gecko is. You really shouldn’t be handling them at all, especially when they’re brand new to you or the environment and they don’t know where they are but if you just can’t contain yourself, then you need to be careful about how you handle them because they’re very fragile. If you yank on their tail or you pull them by their tail then they might lose their tail so you never need to do that and make sure you avoid doing that.

 

Also, make sure you never try to pick them up from the underbelly because that spooks them quite easily and you might find yourself chasing your gecko up a wall. It’s best not to handle them at all until they’re not only full adults but they’re used to you through several feeding sessions as well (which should come with age as they grow into an adult).

Flying Gecko Care Sheet

Introduction

The flying gecko or also known as the Ptychozoon Kuhli, isn’t exactly a very common pet to own but they’re fantastic pets to own that can last a very long time with the right owner and the right amount of care. Unlike a lot of geckos, these are very unique in nature and actually live in rainforests but unlike most geckos, they live inside of trees. They can hop from branch to branch and steer themselves clear of all the predators that other species have to deal with on the ground, which is what makes them so unique. You won’t find them in a desert area; you’ll instead have to go to the jungles of Indonesia and the surrounding immediate areas to find these geckos.

 

It’s not very common to own one of these but a lot of people don’t commonly go for these types of geckos because they’re not really meant to be handled. If you do handle them, they’re more than likely going to jump as they scare very easily and not only that, but their skin rips incredibly easy. That’s why this may not be the ideal gift pet for someone who wants to hold or play with their gecko, this is more of an observing pet. The flying gecko will commonly reach anywhere from six inches to eight inches in length at a maximum. In the forest, they use a mixture of black, tan and brown blotches all over their skin that helps them blend into the environment, blend into the branches and stay clear of predators.

 

To help them glide and balance, their toes are webbed and their tail is flat like in nature, almost like a rudder that you’d use to help guide you through the water. What this rudder allows it to do is guide through the air and help navigate from branch to branch. However, they lack wings and they don’t actually fly if that’s the type of flying that you’re thinking of. The reason they got their name is because of their jumping distance and how they fall, it’s not because they actually fly from tree to tree. However, due to being held in captivity for some of them, they form flaps on their skin that are never going to be used and are just for cosmetic appeal.

 

Housing

If you’re looking to house a flying gecko, you’re going to need a 20 gallon tank as the recommended capacity. Some people will tell you that you can get away with a 15 gallon tank but it’s highly recommended that you get a 20 gallon for the extra room. The space from these alone should be enough to support 2 adult flying geckos. Much like a lot of other species of gecko, if two males are kept together in the same space or confined enclosure, they will fight each other. Geckos in nature are highly territorial so it’s best to keep them on their own unless you plan on breeding them, then they should be alright to stay with a female as a male.

 

However, if you plan on housing some younger baby geckos (while respecting the rule of not keeping two males together), you can plan on using a 10 gallon enclosure but you’re going to have to upgrade it once it grows out of that enclosure, so you need to plan accordingly for that. Some people say they have some moderate success housing male geckos together until they’re about 6 months of age, and that’s when they begin to start fighting each other. However, the most important thing about choosing your housing is not the appeal of the cage or the width but the height of the cage, because a flying gecko isn’t going to spend a lot of its time on the ground. They prefer to be up off the ground, much like in their natural habitat.

 

However, unlike other gecko, the flying gecko requires a unique housing setup, because of the habitat that they’re used to living in. With most gecko, you have to worry about getting props, getting a shelter, getting all this different stuff and as long as it looks pretty then you’ll be alright (provided the temperature in the enclosure is accurate). However, with a flying gecko, you need to worry about something else inside the housing unit which is foliage or tree like figures. You need something in the enclosure that it can hop around on or hop to and back. So, the first thing you need to do, is to make sure that the foliage is very dense throughout either the cage or the aquarium.

 

A lot of people like to accomplish this using fake plants over live plants because fake plants will die, you have to keep them constantly watered and it’s a huge hassle when they do die because you have to replace them. Cosmetic items are optional but make the cage or enclosure look better such as rocks, logs, fallen trees, etc. How much of a budget and space you have to work with will more than likely determine just how cool you want to make your enclosure. One of the main things that you’re going to want to look at in your foliage is that there’s plenty of hiding spots within the cage.

 

A flying gecko might be an airborne gecko, but it likes to hide just like every other reptile. Make sure that there’s not only one type of shelter in the cage, but that there are multiple places to hide in the cage, because it might not use only one. Now, when it comes to substrate for this particular gecko, you want to follow the standard and typical gecko rules for substrate. First, you never want to use any kind of fine grain sand, because this has a risk of getting caught inside of the gecko’s throat and choking it to death or ripping apart the insides. Not only that, but you don’t want to use any kind of fine or small mulch as well because if you’re feeding your pet crickets or any kind of small feed, it could choke on the mulch.

 

Ideally, you can honestly just use a couple of paper towels that will get replaced when you spot clean or you notice that it’s time to clean out and maintain the cage. This is easiest and most cost effective kind of substrate but there are other options out there available as well such as potting soil (provided that it’s non-fertilized). Also, you might want to look into using a bed-a-beast type soul as well, as this is excellent substrate for the flying gecko. Not only do these substrates look good, but they provide a benefit to the temperature and condition of the cage, providing a good humidity boost which is great for the overall health of the gecko and the shedding process.

 

Flying gecko generally aren’t going to nor do they like to spend a lot of time on the ground so if you can’t afford the bundle of foliage, you want to make sure there’s at least a lot of plants (being alive or dead doesn’t matter), so that it has somewhere to be. Now, the general temperature is a lot more straight forward than most geckos because it can vary depending on season or depending on what they’re doing. When you’re taking care of flying gecko, you want to make sure the temperature in the basking part of the cage is 95 degrees. It’s not necessary to heat up every part of the cage to 95 degrees, but it’s absolutely essential to have one area like this.

 

Most people prefer to use a basking light to achieve this goal and to maintain a steady temperature of 95. I’m sure you can walk into just about any kind of pet store and you’ll find that most of them sell basking lights that are used for this specific purpose. You’re going to want an appropriate bulb for the light as well, and generally speaking, you should be using an 80 to 100 watt bulb. However, everyone’s house is a different temperature and you may find yourself adjusting the wattage to meet a certain temperature standard in the cage to accommodate the gecko.

 

The last thing you need to remember is to pick up a digital thermometer to ensure you have one area of the cage at appropriate temperature and that you want to make sure the humidity is high. Really, the only thing you have to do to maintain a decent humidity is spray down the enclosure every night and some people prefer to do it when they wake up as well. Remember, these geckos are from the rainforests and are used to such conditions such as high humidity and being wet.

 

If you have a tool to measure the humidity, you want to make sure it’s at a steady 80% and during the day, it can drop to a safe 60%. A lot of people have stated that you don’t actually need a water bowl with the flying gecko, because when they become thirsty, they actually lick the enclosure or the water droplets and that keeps them satisfied.

 

Food

The flying gecko is an insectivore meaning that it’s mostly going to eat insects. It’s not much of a meat predator because it doesn’t really spend a lot of time on the ground to hunt small predators. However, you can feed them a variety of different foods such as crickets, worms or even mealworms. Most people prefer to feed them crickets because they’re the most nutritious and they provide the most value to a cricket. You really don’t need to gut load flying geckos because they get everything they need from crickets.

 

When it comes to feeding patterns and feeding habits, you’re going to feed your young gecko and your adult flying gecko differently. The young babies can be fed anywhere from a small plate of 5 crickets to 10 a day (or until you notice they stop eating them). However, the adults can be fed up to 15 a day, but make sure they’re eating them all or else you’re going to leave a lot of live waste laying around in the enclosure and you’re going to make more of a mess than you want to. The adults don’t require fed every single day and they can be fed every three days.

 

A lot of people will try to sell of calcium nutriments and etc to you but it’s not absolutely necessary to do this. A lot of these nutrients are already built into the meals they eat but it really doesn’t harm anything to feed them a little extra and to make sure they’re getting their calcium. Some people have been known to put vitamins little pieces of vegetables such as lettuce or such and try to feed them that. They don’t always eat it though so be advised, you might spend money on wasted vitamins because they don’t always take the bait.

Handling

Handling them really shouldn’t be done because they’re not for handling. They have very sensitive skin and not only that, but if you attempt to pick them up or hold them, they could leap away from your hand. These geckos are known to be extremely skittish and jumpy on even the slightest nudge, so if you absolutely feel you want to handle the gecko, do it with caution. If it does happen to jump out or start running away, I hope you’re in for a long night, because the flying gecko is an extremely fast animal and will lead you on a wild goose chase.

Gargoyle Gecko Care Sheet

Gargoyle Gecko

Introduction

The gargoyle gecko or otherwise known as the Rhacodactylus genus family member have been known to grow up to about 8 to 9 inches in length and are considered medium sized for their particular species. They’re considered to be one of the semi arboreal members of their family as well. While they grow longer than quite a few other different species of gecko, they’ve been considered to be quite chubby for their species as well. Their appearance has some very robust qualities that you might notice. One of the great particular features of the gargoyle gecko is that they handle being handled quite well and aren’t as fragile as some other species.

They’re known to be one of the more docile breed of gecko and aren’t known to be frightened easily or try to attack when they’re picked up or handled. If one does happen to escape, you won’t have to worry because they’re particularly slow movers and they don’t really jump at all, which is a plus for children or younger members of the household since they tend to move around a lot when holding animals. However, other members of that same Rhacodactylus family are known to be extremely jumpy and the family itself is known for being high strung on anxiety and hard to handle.

 

Housing

Picking out housing is the first step to housing any gecko and gargoyle gecko prefer to be enclosed in a cage or aquarium that’s taller than it is wide because of some of their behavioral habits. The number one rule of an enclosure is that it must be relatively tall because gargoyle gecko like to climb a lot and their feet allow them to do this. Much like a flying gecko, they don’t like to spend a lot of time on the ground and will more than likely spend a lot of time climbing up a cage or climbing up some shrubbery that you’ve placed inside of the cage.

When measuring and comparing a great sized tank that’s appropriate for your pet, you need to take into consideration how large and how old your gargoyle gecko is. If you have a juvenile or a hatchling gecko then you’re more than likely going to want at the very minimum a 10 gallon aquarium or enclosure. This is because it’s the very basis of what they can be supported in and be allowed to move around but they won’t be left with a lot of room. It’s not ideal to buy a 10 gallon enclosure though because you’ll be spending more later on when you upgrade the size of the enclosure and buy more substrate to accommodate for the upgraded size. Whether you get an aquarium or terrarium is completely up to you and either one is going to be fine in this case, the gecko aren’t picky about where they live.

Gargoyle gecko tend to start maturing relatively quickly compared to some other species of gecko which is why you must keep a consistent eye on their behavioral habits and growing patterns. If you see that it looks trapped or that it needs more room to move around, then it may be time to upgrade the enclosure. Now, when they get to be an adult and have outgrown that juvenile stage, then what you’re going to want is an enclosure that again is high enough for them to climb in but much larger in width as well. A decent aquarium for an adult gargoyle gecko will be around 29 gallons. Also, you may keep another adult as a pair inside the enclosure with a 29 gallon as well.

A lot of people like to furnish their aquariums so that it not only looks great and is cosmetically brilliant but because the gecko’s going to need things to climb on. You can’t just slap a gargoyle gecko inside of an empty aquarium with substrate, that would be extremely boring to watch so here are some of the ideas of things you can put inside of an enclosure to give it room to climb and to make it entertaining: You can consider adding things such as bark, some other furnishings sold by pet stores or you may even consider adding driftwood into the enclosure. Some people like to keep artificial plants in their enclosures as well which looks great but might clog up a lot of room and isn’t a requirement.

Important: If you have plans on housing some gecko together, then you need to make sure that it’s not two males or they will more than likely fight. A lot of the time, they fight purely for territory and domination status but sometimes they’ll fight just to fish so it’s best to keep the males separated if they live close together. You’ll want housing available for each and every single gargoyle gecko that you own and if you own a lot of them, it’s recommended that you use what’s known as the rack system. The rack system will act as a slide out drawer kind of like a dresser and will allow you to store many different gargoyle geckos individually without them fighting each other. You have to be extra careful though and make sure you’re locking the enclosure up every night so none escape.

Now when it comes to the substrate of the enclosures, you’re going to want to use something simple and something not grainy or sand like in appearance. While some geckos are ok on certain types of sand, there’s something called fine grain sand that you should avoid at all costs. This is because food tends to stick with the sand, and sand will get inside of your pet potentially causing damage from the inside out. So what’s the best kind of substrate to use? You might be surprised to hear this but it’s also the most effective and you more than likely have it right there in your kitchen, it’s paper towels. What paper towels do while they don’t look the best, they help the animal avoid what’s known as impactation.

Impactation occurs when the animal ends up eating some of the substrate that it wasn’t supposed to. However, once they turn about 3 to 4 months old, if you would like to (you really don’t have to, you can keep using paper towels), you may switch to a safe substrate such as earth dirt or anything that involves coconut husk style substrate. These may not be the most effective but they’re the best to look at and they’re the safest kind of substrates available for gargoyle gecko. However, when it comes to the larger geckos, they’re going to be far less likely to develop problems with the bedding so you can experiment a little bit with the different type of bedding available.

Temperature

Maintaining an appropriate temperature is not only important but it’s highly vital to do so in order to avoid cooking or freezing your gargoyle gecko to death. Throughout a good majority of the year, you’re going to want to make sure that your enclosure is at a steady 72 degrees during the night and at a nice 82 degrees during the day time. There have been some sources that say you can vary these off by a few digits but it’s highly recommended that you stay with those recommended numbers.

 

Much like every other reptile, you’re going to want to have what’s known as a basking lamp or a heating lamp that’s strategically placed at one end of the enclosure to help keep it as warm as possible. The side that you place your basking light on is obviously going to be slightly warmer than the other side but that’s alright because you want the other side to be cooler for when it goes into the shelter. What giving them a cool area of the enclosure allows them to do is get out of the harsh light every once in a while and chill on a nice and cool surface. However, they like to be up in the air a lot and not on the ground so a shelter might not be as useful to gargoyle gecko as it is to other species of gecko.

A lot of people will tell you that you should be using UVB lighting but for gargoyle gecko it’s not really a 100% necessity and you can live without it. Ideally, there are a lot of different lighting options out there because it seems that this particular breed of gecko isn’t as sensitive to light that some other species are. If you’re really looking for an efficient bulb for the heat lamp, then you might want to look into getting a linear 2.0 fluorescent bulb for the best results because that will ideally provide all the UVB that the enclosure needs.

When it comes to the humidity of the enclosure, you’re going to want to make sure that it stays around a nice and crispy 50% without going too high over. This seems to be the general level of humidity that gargoyle gecko enjoy but this will ideally depend on what time of the day it is. There are several tools out there on the market or in pet stores available to measure the humidity inside your enclosure just make sure you don’t get the cheapest option so that you can get an accurate reading of the humidity. Gargoyle gecko should go through a process called misting that should happen at least once a day (some people say they do it twice a day for the best results).

What misting essentially is, is when you put water into a water bottle with a spray nozzle, and you spray down the cage so that there’s little water droplets that form on the cage. Not only that but you should be misting the animal as well because this will help them not only shed, but digest their food better and they’ll live a longer life if you do this on a regular basis. However, once the misting process is in session, you should allow the humidity to reach a high 80%, as this is normal for the enclosure and just keep an eye on things to make sure they return to normal. Within around 2 or 3 hours, you should notice that humidity levels are back to normal.

Food

When gargoyle gecko are out in the wild, they seem to eat a lot of different variants of food because you have to remember, they prefer to be up high off the ground and don’t spend a lot of time on the ground chasing down food but have been known to be great hunters as well. You can feed your gecko things like fruits and nectars and raise a healthy pet but the majority of gargoyle gecko pet owners prefer feed them the cost ineffective insects known as crickets. They come with a lot of nutrient value and are easy to find in any local pet store.

 

Depending on the general size of the gecko and the age of the gecko, you might even be able to feed them small little rodents such as pinky mice but this isn’t really a common food to feed this particular species of gecko and shouldn’t be done that often. Also, they tend to reject this food a lot if they’re not used to it and should be fed pinky mice at birth to get used to the live bait or thawed bait if this is what you plan on raising them on. If they refuse to eat the pinky mice, then switch them back to whatever they were eating before.

Gut loaded insects sometimes are a way to provide calcium and a great supplement of vitamins to your gecko but this really isn’t necessary and a lot of people who recommend doing this are vitamin companies trying to sell their products to you. Truth be told, while some owners feel this is necessary, the majority of the time, you can do just fine with feeding them raw insects without gut loading them (or also known as, sprinkling vitamins on them before feeding the crickets to them). You need to keep a close eye on your gargoyle gecko eating habits because what happens sometimes is they refuse to eat the smaller objects and won’t eat as much if their meals aren’t as large as they would like them to be. So keep a close eye on your geckos eating habits and make sure they’re actually eating their meals.

Any crickets or any food that you feed to the gecko should never exceed the size of a gecko’s head because the food may become stuck in the mouth of the gecko and you’ll have to get it out or else you run the risk of the gecko choking to death. They have however been known to eat items as large as their head without a problem, but just make sure you’re keeping a close eye on them.

Gargoyle geckos will typically drink droplets of water that are formed on the sides of the tank and plants that may be present in the enclosure.  Some gargoyle geckos will regularly drink water from a dish (which should be present in the enclosure) so it is important to always provide clean water as well as to mist the enclosure regularly to ensure that they’re getting the proper humidity and cool surroundings at the exact same time.

Handling

One of the great features of the gargoyle gecko is that they’re amazingly easy to handle and they’re super easy to grab. It’s been said by breeders and pet owners worldwide that gargoyle gecko are easily the most easy to handle type of gecko out there on the market. They’re very laid back, they won’t jump at you and they’re very docile creatures which makes them an excellent family safe pet (which is a huge plus for anyone with young ones). As long as they’re handled properly, aren’t in the process of eating and are fed quite well, it’s not very common (in fact extremely rare) for gargoyle gecko to bite anyone when trying to handle them.

Do not ever pick up a gargoyle gecko by its tail or any type of gecko for that matter. When you’re picking up a gargoyle gecko you want to make sure you go to for the body and do a scooping motion first rather than trying to grab it and pick it up. However, if you’d prefer to let the gecko come to you, then what you can do is lay your hand out in the middle of the cage in front of it and let it take some time to walk up onto your hand. This is known as the coaxing method and is a great method of allowing your pets to become used to you. Some people state that if you nudge them on their backs and push them a little bit it’ll assist them in getting up to your hand, but from other’s experiences, you can just let them come to you.

However, if you decide that you want try to surprise a gargoyle gecko or grab it suddenly, then like all other reptiles they may be prone to biting. However even then, this isn’t very common and if you do happen to get bit, then you shouldn’t have to panic or worry about anything, because they don’t really leave much of a mark, they only do it when frightened suddenly. They’re not harmful (especially when they’re young and their bite isn’t that powerful).

Hand walking is another common tactic employed by pet owners to allow them to not only to let them get used to your touch but to settle them down when they’re feeling restless. If they start to walk around or you feel them being restless inside of your palms then what you can do is hold them in one hand and put your other hand with an open palm out to the other one. Then, what you want to do is let them walk from one hand to the other and eventually they’ll either calm down or you can put it back in the enclosure to let it roam around. Sometimes, geckos don’t want to be bound when handled and they don’t want to be restricted to one place.

The best way to go about this is to sit on the floor, preferably in a room without a lot of hiding spots just in case the gecko happens to get free. You can do this until you’ve successfully gotten used to their behavioral patterns or they’ve gotten used to you handling them, or you could do this just so they get used to their owner. You’ll find that with the more and more sessions that you do, they’ll become used to you quite quickly and they aren’t going to jump or be anxious when you try to handle them in the future.

Breeding

If you’re looking to breed or you’re thinking about breeding gargoyle gecko, then you should be pleased to know that one of the easiest breeds of gecko to effectively breed is the gargoyle gecko. There isn’t too much work involved in the process and it’s relatively cost effective as well because not much more is required to do so. You see, unlike the human interaction process, two geckos that are placed together in the same enclosure will commonly begin to mate because they don’t have a rigorous selection process, they just commonly mate with whoever is closest to them. Males and females that are grouped together aren’t going to fight much like the male on the male process works (they will and actively do fight when grouped up).

So as long as both geckos are generally healthy and taken well care of, they will begin to breed once they’re introduced each other. However, even though the geckos in general have a very aggressive behavioral attitude, if you place on male together with two females, none of them will begin to fight, they will get along just fine and the male will pick a female to mate with. However, you don’t want to overdo this as some people do have trouble with the male and female fighting due to their aggressive nature and territorial issues. To address this issue, you want to introduce them to each other every few days and don’t let them overstay their welcome, only do this a few days at a time.

However, the breeding process for gargoyle gecko can be rough and strenuous on both the male and female in the enclosure, so you need to make sure you’re keeping a close eye on both of them. They’re more than likely going to get injured as there really is no surefire way to prevent fighting or injuries that are caused directly from mating. Injuries you should expect and some that really can’t be avoided are some tail loss and you’ll notice other minor injuries and scrapes as well, so you want to be prepared for that.

After a gecko has successfully impregnated a female gecko, commonly for the gargoyle gecko the result will be the laying of the eggs after about 30 days. Sometimes, as some owners have reported, it can happen as early as 20 days and it may happen as late as 40 days but the typical point of egg laying seems to be around 30 days flat. For the eggs, you’re going to want to provide a special container or tub that the egg can rest in and grow until they hatch. Ideally, any kind of tub or container could work but you need to make sure that it’s 4 to 5 inches deep and has a soft substrate available inside for the eggs such as moss or vermiculite. What this substrate allows you to do is, dig some small ditches or holes in the substrate without it shifting or caving in and destroying the egg.

This is ideally where you want the female to be laying her eggs so get her into that spot and what you want to do is, come back every day single day to check and see if any of them have been laid or not. When she has, you’ll notice that the majority of them should be down towards the bottom of the container so be careful when searching through your tub of egg safe substrate so that you don’t harm any eggs. Some people check every few days but its better off if you do a daily search if you have the time so that you can help prepare the eggs on the same day that they’re laid.

Now, the next part is highly essential to having healthy eggs and ensuring that they’ll stick around long enough to hatch. When the eggs have been laid, you’re going to want to remove the eggs and place them inside of a container that you can ensure is air tight. Don’t use a container that isn’t air right. You can use a lot of different products here but if you want something that’s quick and easy, you can grab yourself some moistened vermiculite and place that in the air tight container. Another essential step is to make sure that the container is moist.

What we mean by moist is that it should be pretty wet but the container shouldn’t feel like a cold beer bottle and dripping water off of it leaving water rings behind when you lift the container. Now, what you’re going to want to do ideally is keep the room at a perfect temperature of 75 degrees. Of course, this can vary and tamper off during the night to a cool 70 degrees for the eggs but during the day, you’re going to want more along the lines of 75 degrees or up to 80 degrees. Some people report different results and easier hatching with 80 degrees as their room temperature during the day.

Some people say that you can easily influence the sex of the hatchlings and what exactly they will be by controlling the room temperature and some people have dismissed that theory as a myth. However, if you want to give it a shot, you’ll want to make sure that you’re using an incubator and maintain a steady temperature which is usually pretty similar in nature to the temperature of the gecko’s enclosure. However, it’s going to be a little more warm to ensure that there’s plenty of heat and that they’ll be able to break out of the shell of the egg once they do hatch.

Determining The Sex

If you’d like to determine the sex of a hatchling, then you’re going to want to do a little practice makes perfect routine because it’s not easy on the first try but if you keep at it, it’s relatively easy. Now, when you’re dealing with juveniles, there’s a relatively easy way to determine the sex of the baby gecko and that is by using something known as a loupe magnifying glass. This is will allow you to see things that the normal eye without magnification may miss or just overlook.

You’ll notice that with the aid of a loupe magnifying glass, you’ll see some pores on the underside of the gargoyle gecko. In males, they’re going to have 3 or more rows of these pores visible and they should be located just right above the vent. However, while females might have these same rows, they’re only going to have two rows of these pores but that’s where the magnifying glass comes in because both sexes have them and sometimes it’s hard to determine just how many rows there are. It’s more about observation and carefully examining the underside to determine the sex and it gets easier with practice.

The different between female and male spores is that you’ll notice on the females, there’s not going to be a dark little pin point on the very center of the scale. On the males, there’s a very small pin point dark spot on most of the pores which is easy to see with magnification. Now, as far as the incubation process and the temperature influencing just what sex the babies will be born as remains debatable but it’s common to know that if you incubate them at approximately 70 degrees or a little higher, then you’re more than likely going to have females. However, at about 75 or up to 80 degrees, you might just have a better chance of breeding males. Some people say it works and some people call it bogus, you’ll have to try it for yourself.

 

Crested Gecko Health Issues

While crested geckos don’t normally have a lot of issues, they like every other animal and pet have a set of common issues that you need to be on the lookout for and that you need to watch for.

Mites

This isn’t a normal condition and this usually doesn’t happen when they’re kept in a home or in a private place but it can still happen. These are a complication that not many owners report having but it’s still very possible so you need to be educated on what to do just in case it does happen. The first place that you’re going to notice them is around eyes of the Gecko and some people say they notice them around the corners of their mouth.

The best way to describe them is that they’re very small, they’re round in shape and they’re usually brown or black. They look very ugly and are unpleasant for both you and the Gecko. The good news is that before they do any kind of damage, they can be treated easily because there are numerous products out there to treat for mites. This isn’t life threatening commonly and can be treated relatively quickly. Your veterinarian will more than likely be able to recommend you a product for this sole purpose.

The bad news is that while these things are killed quickly, eggs from mites hatch on a daily basis. That’s right, eggs will hatch every single day if you do nothing about it and depending on how many mites has infected the Gecko, it can take up to a month to fix. For owners that have more than one Gecko and if you suspect that one of your Geckos have it, separate them immediately and don’t risk infection to the other Gecko from the infected one.

Impaction

This affects owners that have their Geckos on natural substrate. If you happen to be keeping your Geckos on any substrate that’s completely natural and you’re feeding them insects off of it, there’s a small chance that your Gecko could ingest or eat some of the substrate. This usually doesn’t happen and usually isn’t a cause for concern as it’s only small quantities but however, large quantities on the other hand are another story.

What happens is, some of the substrate may go to its intestine which may prove to be fatal if you don’t get the infected Gecko to a vet immediately.

Calcium Deficiency

One of the most common effects (and this is why so many people praise vitamins/gut loading) is a deficiency in a very essential vitamin called Calcium. Usually this is accompanied by a growth disease known as Metabolic Bone Disease. The growth rate will obviously be affected as well and you will notice that the Gecko is growing slower than usual.

Some of the most common signs of a deficiency are twitching legs or twitching toes. This is uncontrolled and isn’t caused by the Gecko, it’s because they have a deficiency. You may also notice some less common signs such as their tail starting to kink or their jaw is starting to flop down. If you do notice this, make sure to include some calcium in their diet right away. Introduce an efficient amount of Calcium into the Gecko’s diet right away if you suspect this is happening.

One of the common and parasitic things you need to watch out for is called Internal Parasites.

These usually can’t be treated at home by any at home remedy and they need to be diagnosed and treated by a trained veterinarian. These can be fatal over time if they go untreated, which is why it’s important to know if your Gecko has Entameoba Invadens. They’re a very common parasite that is fatal in some Geckos but not a lot of them get them. There are other parasites as well, but if you suspect something is off about your Gecko, take it to a local veterinarian and have them checked immediately.

Crested Gecko Heating and Lighting

Building or buying a housing unit for a Gecko is one thing, but you want to make sure that your Gecko is living in adequate temperature as well. You don’t want your Gecko to be cold or too hot, but remember that they’re from warm habitats. The common and basic temperature all year round should be anywhere from 72 to 80 degrees. The leading cause of depression which leads to death in Geckos is because the temperature is far too warm which is usually 90 and above. Most of the year, they’ll prefer that the temperature be somewhere in the mid-70s.

What happens is, they become sick or ill and they stop eating or doing anything. It’s the opposite reaction that humans have to becoming stressed because when the majority of humans become stressed, they tend to eat more than normal. However, when Geckos become stressed, they stop eating altogether usually until they die from a lack of food or nutrients.

While Crested Geckos can tolerate moderate temperature drops in the night time, this isn’t necessary. You commonly won’t see your gecko during the day time anyways as they like to come out at night, they’re very nocturnal. So you’re not advised to provide any kind of drop down in temperature, it’s best to just leave it as it is.

If you have breeding crested Geckos, then you might want to give them at least one month a year where they do cool down a bit to help ensure that breeding is successful. The temperature during this time can go down to 65 degrees but it’s not recommended that you go any lower than that. Usually, they get about 12 hours of light a day which is a completely acceptable amount of light. However, during their resting or cooling period which can be one to two months, they’re going to require only 10 hours of light or you might be able to get away with less.

When it comes to lighting, you can do this by using fluorescent lights. Most people prefer to put them in the middle of the cage hanging from the top. Not only does this serve a purpose for the Geckos but also live plants in the cage will get their daily light as well. You don’t have to use UVB lighting as some guides have suggested although it really doesn’t hurt. If you have a rather large collection of crested Geckos, you more than likely know what you’re doing but you should make sure that there’s plenty of artificial and natural light coming into their enclosure or area.

The problem with breeding is that if they’re given any less than 12 hours of light, they’ll stop laying eggs and they may stop breeding altogether, so try to make sure they’re given 12 hours of light at minimum. Just remember, that the perfect temperature is between 70 to 80 degrees and shouldn’t go under or above this unless they’re in the cooling period then 65 degrees is adequate.

If you’re having trouble keeping your temperatures in an appropriate and efficient range to raise or breed your Gecko, consider getting a nocturnal black heat light to add to the cage. It can just hang there for 24 hours without a problem and it won’t overheat the enclosure. Nocturnal viewing is also helped greatly when you put one of these in.

Crested Gecko Feeding

One of the most common overlooked sections of other crested gecko guides out there on the internet is that a lot of them don’t cover a lot on feeding. The majority of people just think that Gecko will only eat crickets and that’s what they’re going to eat. However, there’s a wide variety of food that the Gecko will actually eat, that’s healthy for them too!

There are numerous ways to feed your gecko and one of them includes something called gut loading. This is kind of like steroids for humans but instead, it’s not illegal and won’t damage the Gecko in any way. There are some things to watch out for when you do this and maintenance required but it’s all relatively easy and it ensures that your Gecko is healthy.

First, there’s something known as the crested gecko diet. There’s a powder known simply as the “Crested Gecko Diet” and other owners have sworn by it. A man named Allen Repashy came up with the formula and it’s just a simple powder that contains all the nutrients and vitamins to ensure your Gecko is getting all the nutrition they need. Not only does it contain all the vitamins that a Gecko could ever need for their diet but it all contains all the fats, proteins and minerals inside as well. It’s kind of an all in one solution. The claim is that under this particular diet, that a Gecko will never require any insects what so ever and that it can live alone off of this diet.

The recommended feeding amount for a Gecko is four to five times per week and whether this diet works or not will really depend. It may work for some and some may not find it as efficient as another diet or method that they’re trying out. So you’ll find out which works best for you whether you’re just trying to raise it, trying to breed them or you just like to watch it every once in a while.

The second and probably most common method of feeding would be through insects. Some people say they feed their geckos insects 3 times per week and some people say they prefer to feed them 5 times a week, but again that boils down to a personal preference thing.

The two most common insects to feed a Gecko are crickets naturally and feeder roaches, but not everyone wants to handle or find roaches, they creep a lot of people out. A general rule of thumb as to whether the insect should be fed to the gecko or not is based on its length. If the insect is longer than the Gecko’s nose to its eyes, then you shouldn’t feed it to the Gecko as it may get stuck or be very difficult to digest. There are other insects or bugs out there such as mealworms and wax worms but these aren’t very common.

Some people say that wax worms have a possibility of injuring Geckos and some people say that they work perfectly and that it’s just a myth. Whatever insect you go with or whatever food you go with, you should note that you could benefit from dusting it with a vitamin powder that’s rich in D3. There are a lot of different products out there for this purpose.

Gut Loading


One of the main things that people will talk about is “gut loading” the insects that they feed their Geckos. What is this and does it really work as some people say it does? Well, essentially, you’re going to mix in powder or vitamins with the crickets/insects and let them consume it. Once they’ve consumed it, in 24 hours you should serve those insects or bugs to the Geckos because then they’ll have maximum nutrition in their bodies. This in fact does work because it increases the nutritional value of the insects being fed to the Geckos.

Think back to when you were a kid. Did your parents ever try to feed you vegetables or vitamins flat out and you refused to eat them? They would pretty much do the same thing to you, when they stirred up vitamins in your food or put nutritional essentials in your food that you didn’t even know was there. Now obviously, it’s going to work different with crickets, but this is basically the same concept. You can use powder based vitamins, leaf, small carrot pieces or other small vitamin rich foods that insects will eat.

Some people will argue that they can feed their Geckos pure fruit or custom blends. While this isn’t exactly in the crested gecko care guidebook, it’s something you can do. You should only attempt to do this if you’re a seasoned owner of Geckos and you can monitor their health on a very frequent basis. If you notice that they stop eating as much or start becoming ill, then it’s advised to switch back to the old diet they were on as soon as possible. The real downfall to this method is that the majority of it is guessing and there’s no real way to tell just how much your gecko can eat or how much it will eat.