A condensed version of this guide is available at our booth and at Gargoyle Queen Reptile's booth at shows. If you would like one to take with you while browsing booths at a show, please stop by and pick one up.
Tips for Finding a Healthy Gecko: What to look for and ask when buying a gecko
Age / Size: Is the gecko’s age known? Is there a hatch date listed? Watch out for geckos that are too young or small (under 3-4 grams for cresteds and under 4-5 grams for gargoyles). Most reptiles are fragile during their first 4-8 weeks of life and often do poorly or die when moved to a new home during this time. Geckos sold too young or small sometimes also have deformities or other issues that are not yet obvious. The effects of being sold too young can be long-lasting with geckos that manage to survive the initial change, failing to grow well. See "Failure to Thrive" under our Health section (found here).
Baby geckos should not be sold earlier than approximately two months of age, though weight gain is the more important factor in determining readiness of a baby to be re-homed successfully. The minimum healthy weight for a baby to be sold is 3 to 4 grams for crested geckos and 4 to 5 grams for gargoyle geckos. New and less experienced keepers should choose babies that are larger in size to best ensure success with their new gecko.
* Exceptions to this are baby geckos sold with the caveat that they will be kept and raised by the breeder until reaching a suitable weight to be transferred to the new owner.
The pictures below may be used to judge whether baby geckos being offered for sale are likely to be well established and at a healthy weight for being sold and moved to a new home.
Baby geckos should not be sold earlier than approximately two months of age, though weight gain is the more important factor in determining readiness of a baby to be re-homed successfully. The minimum healthy weight for a baby to be sold is 3 to 4 grams for crested geckos and 4 to 5 grams for gargoyle geckos. New and less experienced keepers should choose babies that are larger in size to best ensure success with their new gecko.
* Exceptions to this are baby geckos sold with the caveat that they will be kept and raised by the breeder until reaching a suitable weight to be transferred to the new owner.
The pictures below may be used to judge whether baby geckos being offered for sale are likely to be well established and at a healthy weight for being sold and moved to a new home.
Pictured above is a 3.3 gram 2-month-old crested gecko (left) and a 1.4 gram 3-day-old hatchling (right) next to a quarter for size comparison.
|
Pictured above is a 5.4 gram 3-month-old gargoyle gecko (left) and a 3 gram 1-day-old hatchling (right) next to a quarter for size comparison.
|
Weight & Hydration: Watch out for protruding hips, ribs, sunken eyes, hardened patches of stuck-on shed, etc. These can be signs of malnutrition and dehydration. Look for thick tails, rounded bellies (not obese, but not thin enough to see ribs and hip bones protruding) and soft, smooth skin.
Gargoyle geckos tend to have a more rounded look to them, except when going through growth spurts. During growth spurts, healthy gargoyles may appear thinner or more lanky and develop a wavy tail. The best way to differentiate between a healthy gargoyle going through a growth spurt and a dehydrated or underweight one is to ask the seller about the gecko's weight and feeding records. Sellers that fail to regularly weigh their geckos will not be able to ensure that a gecko they are selling is free from any issues.
* Larger commercial breeders that produce thousands of geckos each year may not have individual weight and feeding records for geckos being sold. Many of these large commercial breeders are experts with massive investments and large teams of people ensuring their stock is healthy. They should not be expected to provide detailed records as it is simply not feasible for the part of the market they are catering to. For purchases from large commercial breeders, instead rely on the appearance of the animal and the breeder's reputation (see section below on seller knowledge, resources and reputation).
Diet: What does the seller feed their geckos? Ask if the gecko is eating regularly and what their feeding schedule is. Reptiles fed improper diets can develop life-threatening issues. Improper diets for New Caledonian gecko species include baby food, yogurt with added sugar, insects only, etc.
Make sure the gecko is eating one of the gecko diets that have been proven to meet all their nutritional needs. These include brands like Pangea, Black Panther Zoological, Zoo Med's reformulated Crested Gecko Food, and Repashy.
Housing: Ask the seller how they house their geckos. Check for nips, bites, scars, regrown tails, etc. These are often signs of co-housing geckos in groups too large for the space and could indicate the seller does not follow proper animal care practices for the species. Some geckos, such as non-adult gargoyle geckos, should never be kept in the same enclosure..
Though relatively uncommon, tail drops in cresteds can occur for a number of unpreventable reasons. Having multiple adult breeders and a few baby or juvenile cresteds with no tails is normal, however beware of sellers that have many young geckos with missing tails.
Origin: If a gecko was not produced by the seller, ask how long they have had it, if it is captive bred or wild caught and how long it was quarantined for. A minimum of two months of quarantine is standard to ensure a gecko's health and applies even to captive bred geckos purchased for resale.
Wild caught geckos are often more stressed, have parasites, are not eating well and are difficult to handle so may not thrive in captivity or make good pets. Most tokays, flying geckos, Halmahera geckos (often mislabeled as "Vorax"), and many other species found in pet stores and at shows for low prices are wild caught. Many leaftails offered at lower prices are also wild caught specimens. Even as captive bred specimens, many of these species are more challenging to keep.
Please do not purchase these wild caught animals if you are not an experienced breeder already working with the species with a proven record of successfully acclimating and breeding them. If you are truly interested in and determined to keep a particular species, you will be far more successful with it by purchasing a captive bred specimen from an experienced keeper who can provide ongoing husbandry advice.
* It is especially important that wild caught leaftails are left to the experienced breeders to add to the genetic diversity of our captive populations and hopefully ensure their viability as a captive species going into the future. Leaftails are a very delicate, challenging species to keep and the concern that they could be banned from import into the United States in the future, just as Electric Blue Day Geckos (L. williamsi) were, is very real should the trade in them be mismanaged.
Seller Knowledge, Resources and Reputation: Does the seller know basic facts and care information for the geckos they are selling? Do they have care sheets, a detailed website, contact info and a good reputation? You can check out most breeders online via Facebook, Fauna Classifieds or other reptile forums for reviews and board of inquiry (BOI) write-ups to verify reputation.
A big red flag is a seller that tells customers to go to other vendors for care, feeding and housing advice. For geckos to do best in their new homes, they should be cared for, housed and fed in the same way that they were raised. We commonly get customers who have purchased a gecko from another seller coming to us because they were told to ask us how to care for, house and feed the gecko. There is no way for us to know what diet a gecko that was not under our care is used to. The seller needs to provide you with this information or the gecko may fail to eat. Pass by these often cheaper geckos. The money you save on the purchase of the gecko often gets spent on attempts to keep the gecko alive, healthy and growing.
There are many false beliefs regarding the various New Caledonian gecko species. For example, bites are extremely rare with crested geckos and this has led to the false belief that crested geckos lack teeth or do not bite. Be wary of sellers stating that these geckos are incapable of biting or that they do not have teeth. This is a good indication that they lack expertise and understanding of the species they are working with.
Gargoyle geckos tend to have a more rounded look to them, except when going through growth spurts. During growth spurts, healthy gargoyles may appear thinner or more lanky and develop a wavy tail. The best way to differentiate between a healthy gargoyle going through a growth spurt and a dehydrated or underweight one is to ask the seller about the gecko's weight and feeding records. Sellers that fail to regularly weigh their geckos will not be able to ensure that a gecko they are selling is free from any issues.
* Larger commercial breeders that produce thousands of geckos each year may not have individual weight and feeding records for geckos being sold. Many of these large commercial breeders are experts with massive investments and large teams of people ensuring their stock is healthy. They should not be expected to provide detailed records as it is simply not feasible for the part of the market they are catering to. For purchases from large commercial breeders, instead rely on the appearance of the animal and the breeder's reputation (see section below on seller knowledge, resources and reputation).
Diet: What does the seller feed their geckos? Ask if the gecko is eating regularly and what their feeding schedule is. Reptiles fed improper diets can develop life-threatening issues. Improper diets for New Caledonian gecko species include baby food, yogurt with added sugar, insects only, etc.
Make sure the gecko is eating one of the gecko diets that have been proven to meet all their nutritional needs. These include brands like Pangea, Black Panther Zoological, Zoo Med's reformulated Crested Gecko Food, and Repashy.
Housing: Ask the seller how they house their geckos. Check for nips, bites, scars, regrown tails, etc. These are often signs of co-housing geckos in groups too large for the space and could indicate the seller does not follow proper animal care practices for the species. Some geckos, such as non-adult gargoyle geckos, should never be kept in the same enclosure..
Though relatively uncommon, tail drops in cresteds can occur for a number of unpreventable reasons. Having multiple adult breeders and a few baby or juvenile cresteds with no tails is normal, however beware of sellers that have many young geckos with missing tails.
Origin: If a gecko was not produced by the seller, ask how long they have had it, if it is captive bred or wild caught and how long it was quarantined for. A minimum of two months of quarantine is standard to ensure a gecko's health and applies even to captive bred geckos purchased for resale.
Wild caught geckos are often more stressed, have parasites, are not eating well and are difficult to handle so may not thrive in captivity or make good pets. Most tokays, flying geckos, Halmahera geckos (often mislabeled as "Vorax"), and many other species found in pet stores and at shows for low prices are wild caught. Many leaftails offered at lower prices are also wild caught specimens. Even as captive bred specimens, many of these species are more challenging to keep.
Please do not purchase these wild caught animals if you are not an experienced breeder already working with the species with a proven record of successfully acclimating and breeding them. If you are truly interested in and determined to keep a particular species, you will be far more successful with it by purchasing a captive bred specimen from an experienced keeper who can provide ongoing husbandry advice.
* It is especially important that wild caught leaftails are left to the experienced breeders to add to the genetic diversity of our captive populations and hopefully ensure their viability as a captive species going into the future. Leaftails are a very delicate, challenging species to keep and the concern that they could be banned from import into the United States in the future, just as Electric Blue Day Geckos (L. williamsi) were, is very real should the trade in them be mismanaged.
Seller Knowledge, Resources and Reputation: Does the seller know basic facts and care information for the geckos they are selling? Do they have care sheets, a detailed website, contact info and a good reputation? You can check out most breeders online via Facebook, Fauna Classifieds or other reptile forums for reviews and board of inquiry (BOI) write-ups to verify reputation.
A big red flag is a seller that tells customers to go to other vendors for care, feeding and housing advice. For geckos to do best in their new homes, they should be cared for, housed and fed in the same way that they were raised. We commonly get customers who have purchased a gecko from another seller coming to us because they were told to ask us how to care for, house and feed the gecko. There is no way for us to know what diet a gecko that was not under our care is used to. The seller needs to provide you with this information or the gecko may fail to eat. Pass by these often cheaper geckos. The money you save on the purchase of the gecko often gets spent on attempts to keep the gecko alive, healthy and growing.
There are many false beliefs regarding the various New Caledonian gecko species. For example, bites are extremely rare with crested geckos and this has led to the false belief that crested geckos lack teeth or do not bite. Be wary of sellers stating that these geckos are incapable of biting or that they do not have teeth. This is a good indication that they lack expertise and understanding of the species they are working with.