Hello and Welcome! < : (New Cresty owners)

Today is the day that I start my blog,


To those of you who are new to me, let me introduce myself! 

I am a college student who is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Visual Development for the Gaming and Movie industry. I live in the Bay Area of California, but am originally from the rainy city of Portland, Oregon. I love animals of all sorts, I always have and always will. I have previously taken care of or owned the following: Cats, Birds, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, Gerbils, Rabbit, Aquatic Turtle, Russian Tortoise, Leopard Gecko, many a Fish, African Dwarf Frogs, now currently I have a Betta fish and became a proud owner of my first Crested Gecko! (Phew) if you ever have any questions, feel free to ask! :) Enough about me, now on to the good stuff.

I am making this blog in hopes that someone who is new to owning Crested Geckos can learn from my experiences and benefit from what I share here. Let me start off with discussing how this will pan out here.

I will cover the following in this blog entry:

 1) How did we end up together?
 2) Are you ready for a Crested Gecko?
 3) "Where can I purchase a Crested Gecko?"
 4) Caresheets, Links, Resources, Research!!
 5) "What do I need to be prepared?"

After this entry I will at minimum do a weekly entry with progress, pictures, stories, and anything else I find helpful and relevant for you the reader!


1) How did we end up together?

By "we" I am talking about my beautiful juvenile Crested Gecko whom I have currently named Smaug until we can tell the gender.(about 6 months) This is a very interesting story!

I live in a household that I have very limited options for pets, mostly due to allergies or general dislikes for certain animals, this is completely understandable when you don't live alone. It is always a good idea to be aware of your surroundings and be respectful to those who share your living space! (Well there are others you should respect too, but you know what I meeeaaan) So for a while I looked into a pet I could give a loving home while still staying within boundaries. I did my fair share of research on different pets, including unknowingly some that are illegal here in the state of California. It is always a good idea to watch out for the law and make sure you aren't wasting your time before deciding on a pet to research. Here is a link to illegal pet's in California So sad no Hedgehogs :(. So after process of elimination along with having previously playing with and handling Crested Geckos in the past, I set my goal towards a Crested Gecko.

During Christmas I had on my list a Crested Gecko, but soon after I realized that for someone who has little knowledge of the creature, it would be hard to get the necessary things and purchase a Gecko. So after the Holiday had passed I decided to look deeper and search for breeder's where I could find happy and healthy baby Cresties I could raise. Breeders won't ship during the winter due to extremely cold weather that can harm or kill the Gecko, so I set my sights on spring since I was unable to find any nearby breeders. I had asked my spouse to go with me to the local Petsmart to hold a Crested Gecko so that he could become more familiar with the breed. When we arrived we were disappointed to find that they were out, but realized that it is probably due to the cold winter weather and understood. I knew that the Petco in the area had a Crested Gecko I had seen a while ago we could visit, so away we went! Sure enough there was a baby and an older one as well, so I asked the associate if it would be alright to see them. As she pulled the baby out, she mentioned that she had a Crested gecko at home that she was actually looking to re-home because she had other animals to take care of, and she also is a college student. What a coincidence? So I asked her more and came to find out she had a red baby Crested gecko with an unknown age, and showed me a couple pictures. She offered to sell me the Cresty with two tanks, some toys and food for a very very low price. The next night we met up with her and it was love at first sight! I knew that I had stumbled upon a great deal that others aren't so lucky to find. I made sure to check for any health issues, but alone from some stuck shed, 'Sticky' looked healthy and happy. We took 'Sticky' home, and have now renamed he/she Smaug, unless he is a she, then she will be named Alexstrasza. C: Brownie points to those who get the references. So this was all a little fast for my spouse who wasn't as informed as me, and if it was someone who hadn't done a lot of research, then it probably would be too fast for them as well. Luckily I knew what to do and told him I would teach him the Cresty ways. :)

Smaug turned out to be a flame/tiger looking morph to my current knowledge, although Smaug turns to a more cream color when not 'fired up'

2) Are you ready for a Crested Gecko?

Before you ever decide on getting a new pet, it is VERY important that you spend days, or even weeks researching and taking notes about that animal. I cannot tell you how many people I have known who have unknowingly done something harmful to their pet because they simply did not prepare themselves before getting the pet. I know it is hard, there are a lot of people who have conflicting information, but for the most part you can just go with the masses and see what works for you. It will be scary at first, but usually most things are when you just start out. :)

Make sure that you are old enough to have access to heating options during the winter and cooling options in the summer depending on where you live. If you are a parent getting a Crested Gecko for a child, realize that these are DELICATE creatures. If your child is rough with animals, please consider a different pet. I have seen children accidentally kill too many pets, and it is heartbreaking that the parent wasn't supervising them closely enough, or knew that the child had the potential to harm the animal, and turned a blind eye. Please don't be that parent. Also make sure that you have the funds to take care of this pet, because if you have to take them to a vet, it will be an exotic pet vet if they need medical care. Knowing this though, Crested Geckos are pretty hardy pets that can tolerate quite a bit and are pretty easy to upkeep.

Do you have time? A lot of reptiles need to be handled for a bit daily to become accustomed to you. Make sure you can take time out of your day to hold, and love your pet.

Let me tell you these scary things. I spoke to two other Petsmart employee's who have Crested Geckos, one says she "wishes she knew where hers went". These guys can be fast at times, and they do jump, so if you think you might lose your Cresty, then maybe you should reconsider. Another one said she uses a Bearded Dragon heat lamp for her Cresty, this is wrong and can be very harmful! Make yourself aware :)



 3) "Where can I purchase a Crested Gecko?"

Here are some places I looked:

-Now you can always go to Petco or Petsmart and pick up a Crested Gecko. I personally would rather adopt/rehome, or buy from a breeder. I feel like the animals from major retail stores seem to have the highest of health problems. That is just my personal opinion though. It is a good place to go to and hold and touch the animals.

-You can check your local Craigslist if you are old enough, and safe about it. Remember to always meet in a brightly lit public place, and always wait to give your money until after you have decided to purchase.

-Ebay has a classified section I have found some gecko's on, but there wasn't a lot of postings.

-You can Google breeders in your area! Remember it is always better to go pick up a Cresty in person if possible to help the stress level of the animal.

-Breeders do ship during warmer weather, just be aware that you pay for overnight shipping, and most breeders have their own terms and conditions you should carefully read.

-Exotic Pet stores, unfortunately there aren't any in my surrounding area, but maybe you have one! great place to usually meet the breeder, or learn more about them.



 4) Caresheets, Links, Resources, Research!!

Once again, do some major research! The girl I got my gecko from didn't know his age, was feeding him baby food, and even spelled Gecko, Ghecko! (sorry, but come onnnn! hahaha) Anyways, here comes some useful links and videos that helped me.

JB's Cresties (Breeder)
Mama T's Cresties (Breeder)
Moon Valley Reptiles (Breeder)

8 cool facts about Cresties
Place to answer most questions
JB's Youtube of helpfulness
Basic Care in awesome tank
A good video to consider
Petco Caresheet


Hopefully after you look through those links you will know much more than you did! c:

5) "What do I need to be prepared?"

Make sure you buy your supplies ahead of time! Although I did notice a lot of people who sell Cresties on Craigslist sell them with a tank or two. Also if you use an aquarium tank, make sure you set it on it's side longways so the Gecko can climb.

I have taken some pictures of some basic supplies!

Here I have the smaller Kritter Keeper in the larger tank for when he is older.

 Since the previous owner had him on a diet of baby food, JB recommended this awesome food mix. It works the same as Repashy food. I am going to get the green Pangea mix as well to give Smaug some variance. I also feed him 1 or two tiny calcium dusted crickets every two weeks.

 I know it is not inside his actual habitat, but it gives me a general idea of the temperature, pretty cool right now.

 I set the Kritter Keeper on it's side so he can climb.

 Humidity gauge, this one you have to make sure to not get the back wet, so I prop it up against the leaves.

 Kritter Keepers dry out fast, so I tend to keep a damp towel around the bottom to help with humidty.

 I purchased a 2.0 13 watt light bulb I put into my Ikea lamp just to make sure Smaug gets enough natural light since he isn't near a window, but this is not necessary. purchased here

A mister bottle!

I forgot to mention, having a scale that measures grams is a good idea if you want to keep track of your Cresties weight. I was able to find out that Smaug is about 3 months old from weighing him. An "average" weight chart for Cresties. I purchased this scale, and it works great, but it only does whole grams and not to the tenth which is preferable :(

I have a plastic thin bottle cap with water in the enclosure as well as one for the food mixture. I also have a great hiding spot in the fake leafs for daylight hours, and a stick to climb up on.

Hopefully this helps out~


My personal goals

I plan on someday breeding Cresties, I absolutely love the morphs that are possible and the unique attitudes each Gecko has. I would love to become a reputable breeder someday. Once I know enough and have the funds, space, and time!

But for the more immediate future, I am super excited to move Smaug up to the larger tank with actual substrate. Then the next goal will be to find out Smaugs sex, get an Exo Terra large tank, and hopefully be able to introduce another Crested Gecko or two to the habitat!

I will be going for a naturalistic Vivarium once I upgrade to the larger Exo Terra, live plants and all! This will be a larger project over the summer most likely, I have to see where Smaug is in growth, and I will need to make sure I do all of my research so it will run smoothly. So there is plenty for you to watch for, I will be uploading pictures and videos of the progress.


     Thanks for stopping by and share with your friends!