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How to: Crested Gecko Care

Crested geckos are the most low maintenance pets you will ever own. 


I personally found a crested gecko to be one of the best pets one could have in college. The geckos themselves are small, their tank is not very big (since dorm rooms are about the size of a prison cell), food for a whole year only costs around twenty dollars, they are not inherently social so you do not have to get them out and socialize with them for certain amounts of time, tank cleaning is only required once a month (or only when dirty), he gets fed three times a week, and I only have to maintain his humidity. All of these combined together proved that Pongo would be the best college pet. 


Daily Routine:

    - In the mornings I get up and mist his cage until the humidity rises anywhere between sixty five percent and seventy five percent (65%-75%). I also make sure that the temperature is at an adequate number, anywhere between seventy degrees Fahrenheit and eighty degrees Fahrenheit. During the day he requires very little to pretty much no maintenance. I personally like to get him out and let him crawl around my room. He really likes one of the plants that I keep in my dorm room, and sleeps on it often. If I walk by his tank and see that he has defecated in his tank or he has tracked food across the glass, I will spot clean his cage to avoid having to do a deep clean every month.

    - At night, right before I go to bed I mist his cage again. His cage at night should have humidity range between seventy five percent and eighty five percent (75%-85%). This is essential as crested geckos are nocturnal and are most active during the night. This is most likely when they are shedding, eating, and drinking. Crested geckos drink a lot of water, and they do this by liking the leaves or glass (just like they would in the wild). 


Weekly Routine: 

    - I have a mix between a strict and a relaxed feeding schedule for Pongo. Most weeks I make sure to feed him every other day, which is about three times a week. During these weeks I feed him his commercial food that has the consistency of thick baby food. It includes all of the things he needs nutrition wise and also includes his calcium supplement. It is extremely important that crested geckos have some kind of calcium supplement in their diet. There are a couple weeks where I only feed him twice. This is because the will not always eat there food every day and this also replicates how it would be in the wild if he had a hard time finding food. Other weeks I only feed him his commercial diet only twice because on the third time I substitute the commercial diet with some other food like bananas or apple sauce. Occasionally I also will substitute his commercial diet with crickets (I get mine from PetSmart for around seventy-five cents). 



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