🦎Crested gecko: gear and buying guides

The crested gecko is a small nocturnal arboreal lizard, docile yet quick, ideal for keepers who want a beautiful planted terrarium without heavy heating gear. It thrives at room temperature (22 to 26 °C, never sustained above 28 °C) and mainly needs a vertical enclosure and daily misting.

Profile : 18 to 22 cm including tail as an adult, 15 to 20 years of lifespan, beginner level.

Crested gecko gear, family by family

• 🍖 Food

  The practical staple is a complete fruit-gecko powder mixed with water, offered 3 to 4 times a week, plus calcium-dusted insects once or twice weekly. Fruit purée alone is unbalanced.

• 🧴 Care & grooming

  Mist morning and evening, letting the decor dry in between: humidity should swing between 50 and 80%. Mind the tail, which unlike many geckos does not grow back after dropping.

• 🎾 Toys & enrichment

  A dense layout does all the work: vines, bamboo, live or artificial plants and elevated hides. It readily leaps from branch to branch after dusk.

• 🏠 Bedding & habitat

  A vertical terrarium of at least 45 x 45 x 60 cm for an adult, densely planted, usually needing no heater in most homes. Low daytime UVB is a welcome bonus.

• 🧳 Travel & safety

  A small faunarium with damp paper towel and a piece of branch, kept out of the sun: overheating above 28 °C is its main travel risk.

• 🧰 Accessories

  Hand sprayer or automatic mister, hygrometer, elevated magnetic feeding ledges, plants and background decor. A full planted setup often costs 200 to 400 €.

Guides to read

• Complete bearded dragon setup: what starting budget should you plan for?Bedding & habitat

  Terrarium, UVB, heating, decor, food: everything a complete bearded dragon kit includes, with a realistic starting budget of 400 to 700 €.

• Complete leopard gecko setup: what starting budget do you need?Bedding & habitat

  An 80 cm terrarium, heat mat, hides and calcium: what goes into a complete leopard gecko kit, with a starting budget of 250 to 450 €.

• Which terrarium for a corn snake? Size, security and budgetBedding & habitat

  Minimum dimensions, secure locking, thermal gradient: how to choose a terrarium for an adult corn snake, with a detailed budget.

• 3D terrarium backgrounds and decor: polystyrene, cork or resin?Bedding & habitat

  3D background decor for terrariums: cork panels, carved polystyrene or resin, prices, installation and safety for geckos, bearded dragons and snakes.

• Branches, vines and climbing supports for terrariums: choosing wellToys & enrichment

  Natural branches, flexible vines, hammocks: which climbing supports to install in a terrarium, how to disinfect them and at what price.

• Combined LED + UVB lighting: the two-in-one terrarium fixtureAccessories

  Combined LED + UVB fixture for terrariums: benefits, spectrum, prices from 80 to 200 € and the species concerned, from bearded dragons to tortoises.

• Dimming thermostats and timers: regulating your terrarium smoothlyAccessories

  Dimming, on/off or pulse thermostats and day/night timers: how to regulate terrarium heating and lighting, with prices from 25 to 120 €.

• Temperature probes: where should you place them in the terrarium?Accessories

  Where to place temperature probes in a terrarium: height, basking spot, thermostat probe and control thermometer, plus mistakes to avoid.