Crested Gecko Care Guide
Wild-tested care for a gecko built for cool forest nights
Crested geckos are calm, hardy and long-lived, which makes them one of the best first reptiles. Get three things right and most problems never start: house them alone, keep them cool, and give them height to climb.
This guide is built on what we measured in the wild on our two expeditions to New Caledonia, alongside veterinary and specialist keeper sources. Where wild geckos showed us something different from common hobby advice, we say so.
In this guide
At a Glance
Adult size
20–25 cm including tail; about 35–45 g
Lifespan
15–20 years
Housing
One gecko per enclosure
Adult enclosure
45 × 45 × 90 cm (W × D × H), our recommended standard
Optimal basking (warmest perch)
27–30 °C
Optimal day
22–26 °C
Optimal night
18–21 °C
Danger zones
Below 14 °C · above 34 °C
Humidity
Fluctuates between 60% and 95% every 24 hours
UVB
Low output (5–7%), UVI about 0.5–2 at the highest perch
Light cycle
14 hours in summer, 10 hours in winter
Diet
Adults 80% Blue River Diets, 20% livefood; hatchlings and juveniles 60% / 40%
Meet the Crested Gecko
The crested gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) is a tree-dwelling gecko found only in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific. It was thought extinct until 1994, when a local person rediscovered it on the Isle of Pines. The Blue River population, which gives Blue River Diets its name, was found later.
- Where: at least six known populations, on the Isle of Pines and on Grande Terre, including Blue River Provincial Park. One was only discovered in 2015, beyond the south of the island, so the range is wider than once thought.
- Status: listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Every pet gecko today is captive bred, so there is no reason to buy a wild-caught animal.
- Habits: crepuscular and nocturnal, and arboreal. They sleep by day tucked into foliage, stir at dusk and dawn, and are busiest after dark, moving through the branches to forage and hunt.
- The crests: the spiny fringes above each eye run back along the head and body, giving the species its name and its “eyelash gecko” nickname.
- Tails: a crested gecko can drop its tail to escape a predator, and it never grows back. Most wild adults have lost theirs, and a tailless gecko lives a perfectly normal life.
What We Learned in the Wild
Blue River Diets visited the Isle of Pines in the wet season (March 2024) and the dry season (October 2025). What we measured shapes the advice in this guide. Read the full reports: Wet Season 2024 and Dry Season 2025.
Humidity
Wet season: Rarely below 85%; 90%+ from 6–10am
Dry season: About 50% by day, rising to 75% late at night
At home: Let the enclosure dry by day and rise again at night
Temperature
Wet season: About 24 °C on average, up to 28 °C
Dry season: Over 30 °C by midday in the open
At home: Geckos sheltered in shade; keep the enclosure cool and give shade
UV
Wet season: UVI below 1 almost all the time
Dry season: Up to 6.7 by 11am in the open
At home: Low-output UVB with plenty of cover to retreat into
Height found
Wet season: 1–4 m up, in thin trees
Dry season: Higher in the trees than in the wet season
At home: Height matters more than floor space
Activity
Wet season: Peak 8–9pm
Dry season: Later at night
At home: Mist and feed in the evening
Movement
Wet season: Waited at branch tips; always fled upwards
Dry season: Same
At home: Thin branches, vines and a dense top layer
We never found crested geckos gathered together, and the wild diet appears to be a mix of ripe and overripe fruit, nectar and insects.
One Gecko per Enclosure
Always keep crested geckos on their own: one gecko per enclosure, for life. They live solitary lives in the wild, and across both of our expeditions we never found two together. They gain nothing from company, and the only reason to put two together is breeding.
One per enclosure
Whatever the sex, crested geckos live alone. Two males will fight, and no pairing gains anything from company.
Breeding only
Introduce a male and female only for planned breeding, and only for short, supervised periods. A male kept with a female keeps pursuing her to mate, which stresses her and can leave bite injuries and scarring. Living apart gives her the rest she needs between clutches.
She doesn’t need him to lay
A female can lay several clutches a year from a single mating, and will often lay infertile eggs with no male at all, so a male adds nothing to her welfare.
Other species
Never mix crested geckos with other reptiles or amphibians.
The Enclosure
An adult needs a tall, front-opening glass terrarium. Many care sheets give 45 × 45 × 60 cm (W × D × H) as the minimum; we recommend 45 × 45 × 90 cm as the standard, and it’s the size we use for all our own geckos. Wild crested geckos live 1–4 m up in the trees, and the extra height gives room to climb, jump and choose a spot. 60 × 45 × 90 cm is better still.
Fill the space, especially the top half
- Thin branches and vines, running diagonally and horizontally. Our expedition geckos travelled and hunted on thin stems, not thick trunks.
- Dense foliage near the top. Frightened geckos always climbed upwards, so a thick canopy gives them somewhere safe to go.
- Cork tubes or bark hides at different heights for daytime sleeping.
- A ledge or feeding cup holder high up, where the gecko naturally feeds.
- Ventilation at the top and front, so fresh air moves through after misting.
Housing by age
Hatchling
Under about 10 g
A smaller tall enclosure for the first few months, so food is easy to find
Juvenile
10–25 g
Move up to the adult enclosure from about 10 g
Adult
35–45 g
45 × 45 × 90 cm
Keep it interesting
Change the layout every few months. On the wet-season expedition we never found the same gecko twice, which suggests wild crested geckos roam widely through the understorey. New routes and new plants are simple enrichment for a captive gecko.
Place the enclosure away from windows, radiators and draughts. Direct sun through a window can overheat it within minutes.
Temperature and Heating
Crested geckos need gentle warmth and a choice of temperatures, from cool cover to a warmer perch. In the wild we often recorded 28 °C, but the geckos always had shade to move into. A warm perch is fine because the gecko can leave it; a whole enclosure running hot gives it nowhere to go. Keep the general air below about 28 °C: overheating is one of the most common ways pet crested geckos die.
Dangerously low
Below 14 °C
Too cold for any length of time
Optimal night
18–21 °C
After lights out
Optimal day
22–26 °C
General air in the enclosure
Optimal basking
27–30 °C
At the warmest perch only
Dangerously high
34 °C+
Keep the general air below about 28 °C
- In most UK homes a heat source is still worth having, because room temperatures fall well below 24 °C for much of the year.
- Use a low-wattage incandescent flood lamp above the mesh at the top, on a dimming thermostat. Its infrared (IR-A) warms the gecko right through rather than just its skin, and a wide flood beam warms the whole body evenly. Avoid halogen spots, which are too narrow and intense. The light also marks day from night.
- Every heat source goes on a thermostat, with the probe at the warmest perch. Digital dimming thermostats give the steadiest control.
- Check two digital thermometers daily, one high and one low.
- Night heat is rarely needed. If the room drops below about 18 °C, add a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat set to 18 °C, overnight only. It gives background warmth and no light, but only warms the skin, so it backs up the daytime incandescent lamp rather than replacing it.
Summer warning
Heat waves are the real danger. If the room passes 27 °C, turn the lamp off, move the enclosure to the coolest room, and mist with cool water.
Humidity and Drinking
Copy the wild cycle: a drier day and a humid night. Mist once in the evening as the lights go off, so humidity peaks around 90–95% while the gecko is active, then let it dry back towards 60% by the next afternoon.
- Mist every evening, coating the leaves and glass. Crested geckos drink droplets from leaves rather than from bowls. Add a light morning mist only if the enclosure dries below about 60% too quickly.
- Let it dry out between mistings. An enclosure that stays soaked grows mould and bacteria and can cause skin and breathing infections.
- Keep a shallow dish of fresh water and change it daily.
- Measure with a digital hygrometer, not a dial gauge.
- Signs of dehydration: sunken eyes, wrinkled skin, sticky or stuck sheds and toe pads that stop gripping.
Our dry-season trip found daytime humidity near 50% in the wild, rising after dark. A short dry period each day is natural and healthy. The wet season is another story: we recorded humidity that rarely fell below 85%, with rain lasting for days. Experienced keepers with a misting system and good ventilation can mirror this with much heavier misting for a few months of the year.
Lighting and UVB
Provide low-level UVB for the length of the day: about 14 hours in summer, falling to 10 in winter. Crested geckos are crepuscular and nocturnal, active at dawn, dusk and through the night. They are exposed to gentle light and low UV at dawn and dusk and rest in dappled light by day; low UVB supports calcium use and normal daily rhythms. Crested geckos sit in Ferguson Zone 1, the lowest UV group, and low UVB a gecko can hide from is better than none.
- Use a low-output (5–7%) linear UVB tube across the top, covering about half to two-thirds of the length, so the gecko can move into shade.
- Aim for a UVI of about 0.5–2 at the highest perch, falling to zero in the cover below. A UV index meter takes out the guesswork.
- Plants make the shade. Our wet-season readings stayed below UVI 1 under the canopy; dense planting at the top recreates that.
- Replace UVB tubes as the maker advises, usually every 12 months, as their output fades before they look dim.
- Run lights on a timer, about 14 hours on in summer and 10 in winter, adjusting gradually through spring and autumn, with all lights off at night. A plant grow light helps live plants thrive.
Light cycle through the year
Summer
14 h light
10 h dark
Spring and autumn
12 h light
12 h dark
Winter
10 h light
14 h dark
Substrate, Plants and Going Bioactive
A naturalistic, bioactive enclosure suits crested geckos best: live plants hold humidity, give cover and make a stable home.
Substrate
5–10 cm of moisture-holding substrate over a drainage layer: coco fibre or commercial blends such as ProRep Crestie Life, topped with leaf litter. Paper towel is fine for hatchlings and while settling in or monitoring a new gecko, but don’t use it as a permanent substrate: it holds no humidity and adds nothing else to the enclosure.
Plants
Sturdy, safe plants that can take a gecko’s weight, such as pothos, philodendron, bromeliads and ferns.
Clean-up crew
Springtails and woodlice break down waste and stop mould.
Feeding insects
Release them in the evening and let your gecko hunt overnight. Check the next day that they’re being eaten, and remove any still roaming after a day or more: uneaten insects, locusts especially, will eat your plants. Keep livefood to about 20% of an adult’s diet, or 40% for hatchlings and juveniles.
Our planting and bioactive guide
Diet and Feeding
Feed a complete crested gecko diet as the staple, offered in the evening, with livefood alongside. An easy rule: adults 80% complete diet, 20% livefood; hatchlings and juveniles, which are still growing, 60% diet and 40% livefood. Captive geckos move far less than wild ones, so the biggest dietary risk is overfeeding, not underfeeding. That is why Blue River Diets are made lower in fat.
Hatchlings and juveniles
Diet split
60% diet, 40% livefood
Complete diet
Fresh every evening
Livefood
2–3 times a week, no wider than the gap between the eyes
Adults
Diet split
80% diet, 20% livefood
Complete diet
Fresh every 2–3 evenings
Livefood
About once a week, less if gaining weight
- Mix to the pack instructions and place the dish high up. Remove leftovers within 24–48 hours, before they sour.
- Good insects: crickets, locusts, roaches, silkworms and calciworms, no wider than the gap between the eyes. Variety is great. Now and then, offer flying insects such as black soldier flies: on our wet-season expedition flying insects were everywhere, and chasing them is natural hunting enrichment. Gut-load all insects for 24–48 hours and dust lightly with calcium just before feeding.
- Treats only: waxworms and other fatty insects. Never feed citrus.
- Weigh monthly on kitchen scales. A healthy adult is 35–45 g with no fat pads bulging at the armpits or a thick, rounded tail base.
- Overweight geckos face fatty liver disease, poor breeding and a shorter life. Cut insects first, then space out meals.
Our expedition findings suggest wild geckos eat ripe and overripe fruit, nectar and insects as they come across them. A 2007 stomach-content study backs this up: wild crested geckos had eaten about half insects, around a third fruit, pollen, seeds and juices, and the rest small vertebrates, including other lizards. The diet shifts with the season, from overripe fruit to berries and sap to insects.
No pinkie mice
Don’t copy the vertebrate part of the wild diet with pinkie mice. Reptiles and mammals differ so much nutritionally that some lizards can develop gout from a single pinkie.
Handling
Leave a new gecko alone for one to two weeks to settle, then start with short sessions. Most crested geckos become calm with patient handling.
- Let it walk onto your hand rather than grabbing from above, which looks like a predator.
- Keep sessions short, about 5 minutes to start and no more than 10–15 minutes once settled.
- Go hand over hand: place one hand in front of the other, so a jumpy gecko always has somewhere to step. Sit on the floor so a jump doesn’t end in a fall.
- Never hold or pull the tail. It drops easily and will not regrow. If it does drop, keep the enclosure very clean while it heals and watch for infection.
- Avoid handling while shedding, after a meal or on hot days.
- Wash your hands before and after. Like all reptiles, crested geckos can carry Salmonella.
Health and Shedding
Register with a specialist reptile vet before you need one, and book a check-up once a year.
Metabolic bone disease
Signs: Wavy or kinked spine, rubbery jaw, weak grip, shaking
Usual cause: Too little calcium, UVB or both
What to do: Vet visit; review diet and UVB
Floppy tail
Signs: Tail flops over the body when hanging upside down
Usual cause: Resting head-down on glass or other vertical surfaces; too few horizontal perches
What to do: Offer plenty of horizontal perches, which prevents it or stops it getting worse; vet if the spine is affected
Stuck shed
Signs: Old skin left on toes or tail tip
Usual cause: Humidity too low
What to do: 10-minute damp-box soak, roll skin gently off; never pull
Overweight
Signs: Fat pads in the armpits, heavy tail base
Usual cause: Too much food or too many insects
What to do: Cut back insects and space out meals
Overheating
Signs: Gaping mouth, sluggish, lying on the floor
Usual cause: Enclosure air above about 28 °C for long periods, or no cool retreat
What to do: Cool down at once; vet if it doesn’t recover
Parasites
Signs: Weight loss, runny or smelly droppings
Usual cause: Infection
What to do: Vet with a fresh droppings sample
Crested geckos shed every few weeks while growing and less often as adults, usually eating the old skin.
See a vet for
Weight loss, not eating for more than two weeks (outside a winter slowdown), swellings, a soft or bent jaw or spine, or a wound that won’t heal.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Keeping geckos together. House one per enclosure.
- Running too hot. Keep the general air below about 28 °C with a cooler retreat, and watch out in summer.
- A short, wide enclosure. Height matters more than floor space.
- A permanently wet enclosure. Mist in the evening and let it dry by day.
- Too many insects. The complete diet is the staple; overfeeding causes obesity.
- Grabbing the tail. It drops and never grows back.
- Bare thick branches only. Add thin stems, vines and dense cover up high.
- Guessing. Use digital thermometers, a hygrometer and a thermostat.
Sources
Expedition New Caledonia: Wet Season 2024 and Dry Season 2025, Blue River Diets · Crested Gecko Care Guide, The New New Caledonia and In the Wild: Crested Geckos (May 2024), Exotics Keeper · Crested gecko care factsheet, Royal Veterinary College · Crested gecko care sheet, ReptiFiles