Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 31, Number 4;   April, 2004

The Captive Care of the Crested Gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus)

by Travis Cossette

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus) has captured the hearts and interest of many since it came onto the reptile scene in the late 90's. Thought to have been extinct, this species was found by several herpetologists on the Isle of New Caledonia. Currently there is no other gecko in the reptile trade today that offers more opportunity with color morphs and phases yet to be discovered.

Physical Appearance
The crested gecko is a medium sized gecko. It gets its name from the fringe-like pointed scales that run from above the eye and all the way down each side of the animal's back usually stopping at the back legs. They are some of the only geckos that have a prehensile tail and lamellae pads at the tip of their tails. This allows them to grip with their tails either using their lamellae or wrapping their tail around objects. Cresteds like to jump and many people call them the "frogs of the gecko world" Be careful though, crested geckos can easily drop their tails if they are scared or become injured. Unlike most geckos, cresteds do not regenerate their tails. This does not hurt the gecko in any way and many people who own geckos figure that it is just a matter of time before the gecko drops its tail. An opinion is that the gecko is less attractive after losing its tail.

Coloration
This is a large area and I won't get into much detail here. Currently there are Buckskin, Olive, Chocolate, Salmon, Orange, Red, Rust, Yellow, Sulfur, & Cream. Any of these colors can have one or possibly more of the following patterns such as Brindle, Dalmatian, Fire or Flame, Pinstripe, and Harlequin. Many new colors and patterns are popping up constantly, which is what makes Crested Geckos so exciting to work with. I can't wait for the albinos to start hatching out someday.

Acquiring Crested Geckos
Over the past 4-5 years, ciliatus have really taken off and become very popular. In my opinion, they fall right in line with leopard geckos as far as a great pet gecko. You can find cresteds in most pet shops these days, but I must warn you of the majority of pet shops, you will find much higher prices & less knowledgeable staff. There are definitely exceptions to this, though. I recommend purchasing cresteds from a trusted gecko breeder in the industry. Check out www.kingsnake.com and look at the gecko classifieds. I have had nothing but excellent service from the small breeders (like myself) around the country. Prices of crested geckos usually range from $40 for the tan colored babies and can reach up to $400-500 each for the red flame adult breeders. The neat thing about these geckos is that you can produce some very nice offspring from buckskin colored breeders. If you hold back some of your nice offspring and selectively breed for color or pattern, you could end up (in time) with some top quality animals.

Enclosures, Types of
Okay, this is another highly debated area. Screen cages, large Rubbermaid bins, Aquariums, Reptariums. It's enough to make your head spin. I have product tested pretty much everything you see here. Here's my take. Hatchlings should be singly housed in small enclosures such as the acrylic critter keepers found in your local pet store. If you keep multiple baby cresteds together there is too much competition for food and as they age you will possibly have some fighting going on. A 20-gallon aquarium is perfect for one or two adult cresteds. I like tall cages, and I keep my adult breeding pairs in the 16x16x30" screen cages with an opening front. These can be purchased from www.chameleoncondo.net. I have had excellent luck with these and they really don't cost any more than a 20-gal setup. They provide excellent ventilation, are lightweight, and when they get dirty I can lightly scrub them with soapy water, a brush and blast them clean with a garden hose.

Heating
Ready for some good news for you, bad news for CMP and Bangor Hydro? Room temperature! I love it! Cresteds thrive in temps between 65F and 75F degrees. I have noticed that they don't take too well when it hits around 80 and above. For all you folks in Maine those houses can get a bit drafty in the winter, maybe a small wattage black heat lamp or a very small strip of heat tape maybe useful during the winter months. Just be careful that it doesn't get too warm. I have had to move my cresteds out of my herp room and into my living room due to the heat.

Lighting
Crested geckos do not benefit from any type of full spectrum lighting. However, placing [a light] on top of the enclosure will benefit any live plants that you may place in the cage. I will explain plants later in this article.

Substrate
Probably the most argued subject in the crested gecko hobby today. My first substrate for my very first crested gecko was cage carpet (popular with snakes and lizards). I watched in horror, as only hours after I put the carpet in, my crested was stuck face down in the cage carpet struggling to free itself. He apparently dove for a cricket and his tiny teeth stuck like Velcro to the carpet.

My next substrate attempt was to put small orchid bark chips in. Not a good idea. He dives for a cricket and POOF, mouth full of big bark chunks! I was getting frustrated.

So do you want .to go natural or inexpensive and time saving? If you want to go natural, mix some organic potting soil (no Pearlite) with just a little bit of sand and some orchid bark, and put a layer of the mixture on your cage floor. Depending if you want to place live plants in it or not you can make it as deep as you want to. Pat the mixture down a little and there you go. You can lightly spray the top with water and stir the substrate every week or so as you geckos defecate to make the cage biologically active. If you are breeding crested geckos, this can become difficult for you. You have to search the entire enclosure for eggs laid instead of opening a nesting box.

Paper towel, newspaper, and even nothing at all are also popular and perfectly acceptable substrates for keeping cresteds on. I have had excellent luck and still use paper towel. The key is to stay away from anything the gecko can accidentally ingest when it dives with it's mouth open for a cricket.

Cage furniture
Crested geckos love to hang out in foliage. Whether it's real or fake is up to you. Go to your local craft store and pick up some silk foliage. It can be easily sanitized and you don't have to water it. If you want a more naturalistic setup, any of your broad-leaved houseplants or ferns will work well. Make sure they can stand up to the trampling of gecko feet and the impact of "gecko high-diving". I never said cresteds were particularly graceful. The plant should take up about half of the top portion of the cage. Don't cramp your cresteds too much in their enclosure; this will inhibit them from jumping around.

Feeding
Now that you have placed foliage in the enclosure, you will notice the crested hanging out in the leaves at night, waiting for crickets to pounce on.

Crickets
Should be given about 2-3 times per week. A good rule of thumb is feed your crested gecko 5 or 6 crickets that are half of the size of its head. You should lightly dust them with vitamins and minerals such as RepCal and Herptevite. I cannot stress enough how important it is to gut load your crickets prior to feeding them to your cresteds. I could go into detail on gut loading, but I will give you the opportunity to research this.

Baby Food
About once or twice a week, give your crested gecko some baby food. Most of your fruit baby foods work well. You can mix fruit baby food with some chicken or veal baby food as well to give your gecko protein. There, are many people who feel that cresteds can be kept on a diet of baby food alone. I have tried to keep cresteds on baby food alone, and the good news is that they stay alive. Here's my take: Cresteds can survive on baby food alone, but will thrive and grow quickly on a combination of baby food and crickets.

T-Rex Gecko Food
Now here's the newest thing to hit the market. Several large, reputable crested gecko breeders say that T-Rex Inc. makes a Crested Gecko Diet that is supposed to be a combination of fruits, proteins, and vegetable matter dried into a powder. You mix the powder with water or baby food to create a soupy paste and geckos do very well on it. Not having to mess with crickets anymore? Awesome! I just had to try it out. I have been testing this product for a very short time on a small group of cresteds, and cannot tell you yet whether or not this product is what they say it is. It sounds very promising though, and I will continue to test it. The one thing I did notice with the commercial gecko food is that it's difficult to get the cresteds switched exclusively to this food; the small dish of mush just doesn't seem to get them as "riled up" as a cricket crawling by their nose.

Conclusion
From the day I purchased my first hatchling crested gecko to even today when I have new baby cresteds hatching on a weekly basis, these little geckos have captured my heart. I hope that this article has helped you understand the Crested gecko and spark your interest in them or maybe you have them and can learn a few tips from this.