Name:
Latin: Correlophus ciliatus
Wildlife:
Following internet sources this specie is found in 1866 by Alphone Guichenot.
The wild population isn’t very big. There are more crested geckos being held captive bred. There are a few breeders working with F1 (wildcaught or first generation wild caught).
Crested geckos are living in New-Caledonia (also known as Grande-Terre). It is a group of islands located south-east around Îles de Pins.
It is most common that animals in the wild have no tail and have a green/brown coloured pattern.
They live in small trees and bushes, eating insects and fruits.
In general:
Crested geckos are night active and are getting active when night falls. In some exceptional cases they like to walking around by daylight.
They are coldblooded animals.
They have lamellea = microscopic plated pads and small nails so they can climb on almost all surfaces.
They have a mouth with small serrated teeth, a pink tongue and at the back of the mouth they have 2 calcium sacks. Here they save calcium, especially import for women in breeding season. In front of the head you have 2 nostrils, followed by 2 eyes with the well known lashes. Below you can find their ears (2 in total, each side). The ears are sealed with a lid, it is very important that these seals don’t break (it is deadly so be careful). They have 4 legs and feet with each 5 toes. The long body ends with the cloaca, finished with a beautiful long tail.
Good to know:
Crested geckos can drop their tail for all kind of reasons. Think about stress, overheating..
The tail doesn’t grow back, it is also known as ‘frog butt’.
When a taildrop happens, the tail can move for minutes even hours after the dropping moment. This is a very good move for wild animals.
When crested geckos feel trapped from predators, they drop their tails so the tail keeps moving and the predator is focussed on the moving object. In that moment the crested gecko has benefit to run of unharmed. Sadly the tail doesn’t grow back, so next time they can’t use this trick again.
Crested geckos don’t have eye lashes. They clean the eye lids with their tongue.
The pupils are vertical and small in daylight and more thick and round at night for a perfect sight.
Crested geckos can change colour (kind off..). You can find them in ‘fired’ and ‘unfired’ state. Unfired = the animal is resting, colours are off, more light.
Fired up animals are gorgeous. They show their true colours in best form.
The intensity of the colours can change a lot. Especially when growing older, the colours are less intense.
A misfire is also a known term when animals are partly fired up and fired down. It can be very funny to watch.
There is also another reason why crested geckos can be off colour. It is shedding time!
It is possible you never noticed a shedding time, they eat the shed because it contains healthy parts.
How much a crested gecko sheds, I honestly can’t tell. It is possible a crested gecko has some stuck shed on skin. You can give them a sauna (box, paper towel, not warm not cold water) for a few minutes and try to remove the stuck shed.
When a crested gecko keeps having bad shedding = check your humidity or could there be another reason (Ilness?).
Captive holding
Housing
- Dimensions
Crested gecko’s love to live in higher places. So a terrarium more high then wide is perfect.
The minimum dimensions are 40-40-60 cm, the bigger -> the better.
Don’t think that you can keep multiple geckos in 1 bigger terrarium (see further).
I don’t house babies directly in a big terrarium. I love to keep close sight so I start with a faunabox and when growing I move on to a smaller terrarium.
I love to use exo terra terrariums (there are also new cheaper brands on the market: terra della and repto terra). They have doors which opens to the outside so you don’t hurt them while opening. They love to stick on the front glass and with sliding glass, it can be really difficult.
- Furnishing
Crested geckos live subtropical.
You can use to work fully bio active or something in between.
Especially the different layers are very important. You start with a layer of hydro pellets who absorb water but also keep the humidity up. You put a netting layer on top and finish with the earth. The netting keeps the earth seperate from the pellets.
I use cocopeat as earth as it is 100% safe to use for reptiles.
You can also use bigger parts of wood and earth but I think that is dangerous for the crested geckos to swallow and get obstructions.
You can also work with natural parts like leafs and moss.
Don’t forget to add your army: add springtails and tropical isopods (smaller version) to your terrarium, they are your cleaning crew on the ground!
Crested geckos love to have a lot of hiding places. You can add a lot of branches, bamboo (watch out they cant climb into the big holes, they can get stuck!), corch, real plants (watch out you take safe plants, not poisonous. Crickets sometimes eat plants and the cresteds eats crickets..).
I also love to add some fake plants on top of the terrarium to have a more full look and they also like to sleep in those plants.
- Do it need to use UVB?
I personally only use LED strips above the terrariums. But it’s always better if you can provide UVB lighting. Crested geckos make calcium of UVB which is very important for them and also for the plants if you decide to go full bio active.
If you decide not to provide UVB, you can always add calcium with D3 into the food or to the crickets (see further).
There are a lot of UVB lights but from what I’ve seen on facebook groups the ‘Arcadia shade dweller’ is one of the bests.
Please check if the UVB light feels warm when turned on. Is the answer yes -> don’t put the light directly into the terrarium. Crested geckos are coldblooded so what feels ok for us, is very hot for them (they can have burn marks because they jump on the light!!).
You have some brands with caps on top of the terrarium (like exo terra as they have a gause top) or you can use a protecting case.
- Humidity
Crested geckos have a subtropical environment. They have a dry and wet cycle a day. Their humidity should be around 60-80%. I water them every night before I go to sleep. You can spray them with a hand sprayer or install a misting installation (I use mistking for all my terrariums).
I spray 1 time a day, that works perfect for me for years. To wet isn’t good for their health (remember they also need a dry cycle) and to wet is also dangerous for mold.
The trick is: good shed = good humidity!
- Temperature
Crested geckos are not to hard to hold temperatur wise but they also do have their limits: 18 degrees celcius as lowest, around 30-32 degrees at highest.
If the rooms drops to -18 degrees in winter, you have a few options as heating sources.
You can use a basking spot BUT watch out you don’t hang it in the terrarium without protection (remember they can jump on it and burn!)
The safest way to provide a heating source is a heating mat with thermostat.
You can hang the heating mat outside the terrarium on the side (left or right side) (not under because it needs to go through all layers of the bottom). The thermostat has a globe which helps the heating source not to get to warm.
Also don’t tape the heating mat all around but only tape corners so the heat can escape and the glass can’t break.
With this solution the crested gecko can choose rather to search for more warmth or go somewhere colder.
In summer, it can be really hot! Last years I have reached top temperature of 30-32 degrees celcius in my room. Luckily only maximum 2 days but it is not perfect.
I sometimes use a ventilator to provide some fresh air but for now I didn’t got any issues with these temperatures. I would not recommend to push it higher.
There are some other solutions like an airconditioner. But know an airconditioner makes a big difference on temperature. The constant drop of heat and cold (when you don’t use the airco fulltime) can be harder then a constant hotter temperature. So choose wisely.
You can also provide fresh water bottles (even from the freezer) en put them on top of the enclosure (not inside as freezing bottle are way to cold).
Some say it is recommended to mist/spray them more while being hot. Actually it isn’t!
The humidity will increase and they will have a more warm and suffocated feeling.
I just keep on spraying in evening when it gets little cooler.
- Can I keep multiple animals together?
Yes and no.. there is a lot of commotion.. Some facts:
1 male and 1 female: they need to be big enough (see breeding topic) and the female needs a period of rest (seperated from the male) -> so in that case you always need 2 terrariums
2 males fight until dead. I’ve seen topics where people succesfull keep males together from young age. I absolutely don’t want to take any risk and really don’t recommend.
2 females can work but not without risk. I succesfully housed 2 females on young age together (be sure they are 100% females!). But it is alwasy possible after years, they start fighting. I noticed it is much harder to introduced paired females back together.
Good to know:
When you keep multiple geckos together, there is always 1 dominant. It is not always very clear but in some cases it is. The non-dominant can be attacked and can be badly injured. Check for biting marks on the crest (head), feet and tail.
It can be very stressfull for both animals, even a lack of food for the non-dominant can appear.
So if you read all this.. it is possible BUT it can go bad at any time too. In that case you always need an emergency terrarium.
If you already need a second terrarium.. why not seperate them directly.. no risk, no stress.. all good!
Food
The main food of crested geckos are fruits. This can be bought as powder in different flavours from different brands. They are complete diets who contains also calcium and vitamins,.. The most known brands I know are Repashy, Pangea,.. but I love to use Gecko Nutrition as the best feeding response.
Don’t feed to big portions. Crested geckos don’t eat to much. I, for example, give a milk cap half full.
Beside that crested geckos like to eat insects. I give crickets but dubias, for example, have a better nutritional value.
Is it important that the insects is not bigger then the distance between the geckos eyes (length).
The insects are always dusted with calcium and vitamines. I use the sticky tongue farms
– with D3 = you don’t use UVB lighting
– without D3 = you have UVB lighting
UVB lighting + calcium with D3 gives an overload on calcium which is not to good.
My feeding schedule is feeding every 3-4 days (monday food = thursday or friday latest). I gave 2 times gecko nutrition and 1 time crickets so every 2 weeks they had 1x insects.
Also provide a small cup of water so they can drink anytime.
Some people like to hang the food with feeding ledges. I always provide food on ground. It is whatever you prefer most.
Good to know:
Jellycups are bad, they are pure sugar, no nutritional value.
Waxmotlarve are fatmakers. They are good to feed once in a time or at breeding season for the females. But don’t give large numbers.
Also provide your insects with good food. You can give leftovers from gecko nutrition or vegetables, fruits (no citrus!).
Breeding
Crested geckos are not to hard to breed. That’s why it is not hard to find any crested geckos for sale. What I always recommend to know breeders: find a morph you like, find a purpose. There are a lot of breeders, what makes you different?
What do you need to breed crested geckos?
First of all.. a male and a female. It’s important they have a certain age and weight:
– males: 2-2,5 years and 35-40 grams (kilograms)
– females: 2,5-3 years old and +45 grams
What if I pair them sooner?
It is possible the male is not ready yet or the female is to dominant, he is to afraid to make a move.
Other way the female is still to young and she can crash of calcium deficiencies. The eggs take a lot of calcium and she can lose weight or have eggbound (stuck eggs in the belly = deadly!)
Once a female starts laying, there is no way back!
It’s very important to be patient in best care of your animals.
One pairing is enough for a female to lay multiple eggs. You can choose to keep the male together with the female for a few months. But you can also choose to remove the male after pairing. It takes about 4 weeks for the female (after pairing) so lay her first set of eggs. Then she continues to lay eggs every 4 weeks for about 4 to 8 times. It is possible females only lay 1 egg. If you count 2×8 eggs = +-16 babies from 1 couple.
To continue, I keep my couples together from march until september. After that period I seperate the male from the female. The female can stop laying shortly after and regain some weight and power in winter months.
It is important to check the females vitals before you decide to breed her.
The babies
Babies hatch around 90-120 days. You can incubate them on room temperature or you can choose to use an incubator to keep the temperature constant.
With an incubator the incubation time is mostly constant but with room temperature it can change. In warmer days, the babies will incubate faster.
The longer the eggs incubate, the bigger and healthier the babies are.
You need a terrarium for every baby, keep that in mind!
There are a lot of different methods to use.
How I work:
I keep them together first, as clutch in a faunabox.
When they grow out more, I seperate them (you can also choose to seperate them instantly at birth).
I grow them up with bigger sizes of faunaboxes until they are big enough for terrariums (+-15-20 grams).
You have several breeders who choose to keep all babies together (in same range of weight). The range can’t be bigger then 5 grams AND it is important to seperate all animals in time the gender is visible.
I feed babies the second day after birth. Just a little cup of food, a few drops gecko nutrition. You mostly don’t see them eating, but they are. I handfeed the babies the first weeks for years but I stopped a few seasons ago and I never had any loss.
Good to know
After a few weeks giving gecko nutrition, I start feeding small crickets to the babies.
At first time it’s mostly not a success but I found a trick to help.
I crush the cricket until it stops moving and dip it into gecko nutrition. First the baby will start licking the gecko nutrition but after a few licks they will start to bite the cricket. 1 or 2 crickets is more then enough, also don’t push the gecko. If the gecko declines, try again next week. After a few weeks of trying, you will see the geckos are directly interested in the cricket, even without gecko nutrition or crushing the cricket. Victory!
Gender
A male has 2 rows of pores between the back of his legs (under the belly). They are black dots on the scales. Also males grow balls on a certain age. It depends with every male but mostly it starts around 15 grams. Some females can show pseudo pores but I haven’t seen it often.
It is possible to see pores at a very young age with a magnifying glass. I don’t guarantee any 100% genders until the animals are 10-15 grams. You can always mention you see pores or not.
A male has overlapping scales, a female has more rounded scales next to each other.
You can always search on internet ‘how to sex my crested gecko’ and you will see a lot of information, videos and photos.
When you are on groups or forums, it is possible you have seen 1.2.4 crested geckos:
This means 1 male, 2 females, 4 unsexed animals.
1.0 = male
0.1 = female
0.0.1 = unsexed
Morphs/lineage
I mentioned the word morph already in the breeding topic. It is important to know what morph your crested gecko has. I can write another 3 pages about morphs but I highly recommend to start searching on the internet. There are a lot of morphs and every once there are comming new morphs into the world.
You have morphs but you also have different traits.
I think it is very important to know what morph you like, especially while breeding. What will the babies look like if I combine these 2 animals? You never can calculate that 100% but you can make a prediction.
Lineage is also an important factor. Who are the parents, the grandparents? Their lineage also counts.
Some people don’t think lineage is important but for me it makes or breaks your pairing. Aswell as it is good to know you don’t combine 2 animals who runs the same genetics (inbred is not done).
So, I’ve been writing a lot.. and I hope with this information, you learned a lot!
For dutch people there are some lovely groups to join on facebook:
- Wimpergekko liefhebbers – lief voor gekko’s en lief voor elkaar
- Wimpergekko gekken
- Wimpergekko’s 🏠✈️ België en Nederland (sales group)
Some reptile shops in Belgium and Netherlands (online or at expos)
– Jokergeckos
– Happy Reptiles
– Kammieshop
– La tanière
