CRESTED GECKO CARE
HOUSING
Here at Ruby Reptiles LLC we house all of our hatchlings, juveniles, and adults in plastic bins that have been modified with vents to maintain proper humidity. Our hatchling geckos stay in 6 qt "shoe box" tubs from The Container Store until around 5-10 grams, where they are then upgraded to a double tall 12qt shoebox tub. At around 15-20 grams our geckos are upgraded to plastic bins that measure 12"x12"x18". These 12x12x18 bins are perfect for housing any juvenile-adult by themselves. Other alternatives include Zoo-med or Exo-Terra Glass Terrariums. These cages are much less budget friendly compared, but can make great displays to show off your pet.
LIGHTING & HEATING
UVB: *OPTIONAL* These geckos do not require UVB, however it can always be supplemented and beneficial. When offering UVB we recommend choosing a low output UVB option, like a reptisun 5.0.
Heat: *NONE* These geckos do perfect in room temperatures. They prefer to be between 72-78 degrees at all times. Under no circumstances should you have a heat lamp on your crested gecko.
*WARNING*: Exposing your crested gecko to temperatures above 85 can result in death.
SUBSTRATE & CLEANING
Substrate: Here at Ruby Reptiles LLC we have used a variety of different substrates for our animals. Our goal is to ensure the enclosures remain as clean as possible, while making clean up times efficient. Our primary substrate is paper towels, its absorbent, easy to spot clean, and doesn't pose a potential for impaction issues. Some individuals choose to make their enclosures " Bio-Actives ". This is where you put a bioactive soil blend in the enclosure, along with a clean up crew of bugs to handle all of the cleaning for you. Please do your research, and use what works best for you.
Cleaning: We recommend spot cleaning your enclosure a few times a week to ensure your geckos are in a clean environment as much as possible.. We deep clean our enclosures with Chlorhexidine. Other alternatives include SC10 and a Bleach/Water solution mixed 1:10.
DIET
Crested Geckos have two main food sources currently used in the hobby. The first is crickets, which we can't recommend highly enough. These animals in our opinion should be fed crickets atleast every other feeding. The second food source is Pangea/Repashy premade diets. These are powder blends you mix thoroughly with water to create a slurry with a ketchup consistency. Your gecko will lick these readily out of a small bowl or cup and get nutrition from. While your gecko can thrive solely on these commercial diets, they will grow 2x as fast with crickets in the mix. We rotate Pangea and Crickets every other feeding. So one week we give pangea 2x and crickets 1x, and the next week crickets 2x, and pangea only once. We've seen good results from this mixture.
HUMIDITY & HYDRATION
Humidity is extremely important with these animals, and must be maintained. Ideally you want to be misting your geckos once per day or every other day. Our tubs are all ventilated so that once we mist them, humidity spikes above 80% and gradually falls. By the time we are misting the next time humidity is around 50%. Crested geckos need this increase and decrease in humidity for proper health, shedding, and hydration. If the enclosure is constantly to humid you will have a mold problem. We also recommend keeping a small bowl of water (we use water bottle caps) in the enclosure along with food. This water will get knocked out, stepped on, and pooped in periodically so it is important that it be replaced with fresh, clean water daily.