Seven Lies You Have Been Told All The Time About Crested Geckos

In this article, we will talk about the lies that you may or may not have heard about crested geckos. However, it is not everything on this list that applies to everybody.

This list comprises a mixture of things like common misconception or just outlandish things that you can hear from anywhere from reptile shows to your friends in the gecko industry.

Let’s get right into it! The seven lies about crested geckos.

You Cannot Touch A Crested Geckos Tail Or It Instantly Falls Off

This is the first on the list, and it is an exaggerated statement with some truth to it. This is because the crested geckos tail is fragile, and they can drop their tails as a defense mechanism when scared.

However, the idea that their tails are fragile and drop off when you touch or handle them is not true. You can pick cresties up by their tail if you know how to rig your geckos, and they are comfortable with you.

Since they only drop their tail when threatened, you can easily hang them by their tail on your finger if they are not scared or feel threatened by you.

Note: this post tells you that their tails are not as fragile as people portray it. They will not drop their tail when you touch them, but you should exercise caution when handling them. You don’t have to grab them by their tail or be scared when handling them, and their tail touches your hand.

They Will Not Drink Standing Water

This is another common misconception that has been around for a long time ago. Many people still believe this is true, and you need to spray their cage so they can lick the water off the leaves and side of the cage.

However, this makes no sense because after you spray the cage, the water drops are just standing water. So, why won’t they seek a big puddle of water in the water dish to drink rather than just drops of water? Now, this makes no sense, and it is not true.

New to crested gecko? Check out the crested gecko care sheet now! We had listed out all the things you need to know about crested gecko as pets. Check it now!

Now, the lie is a common misconception of some truth that some reptile species would only drink from moving water. That they do not recognize still standing waters, and it got attached to crested geckos.

However, it is not true as they will drink standing water if you provide them with a water dish. You can only mist their cage for humidity control.

Even some facilities control the humidity of the facility as a whole and will not spray only the cages. This means the only water source for a gecko in this facility is from the one provided by their owner. This is another lie about crested gecko.

Crested Geckos Gets Lonely And Needs To Be Housed In Groups To Stay Healthy

This lie about crested gecko is anywhere from ignorance to just malicious actions. Some people are just ignorant and want to put their emotions onto the gecko, and they figure if I get lonely, the gecko must get lonely.

This kind of thinking just doesn’t apply to most reptiles anyways. Cresties don’t get lonely and don’t need a friend. However, you can keep a couple of geckos; usually, it is two females. If there are no aggression or cage bullying or food deprivation issues, they get along well together.

It is not detrimental to them to live together, and you can certainly house multiple geckos together. You can house breeders together for almost a year-round without being detrimental to their health.

However, you need to keep an eye on them to ensure no health issue arises, no bullying issue and stuff like that.

But the idea that they get lonely and they need a friend, it is just not true, this is one of the seven lies about crested geckos.

Breeding Crested Geckos is Random, And You Cannot Know The Kind of Offspring That A Pairing Will Pop Out

This is not true as crested geckos genetics are predictable. However, there is a lot that we don’t know about crested geckos genetics. And a lot of time you get an offspring that doesn’t appear to be what you would expect from a paring.

This phenomenon commonly happens to an inexperienced breeder and do not know they are inexperienced. Although there are things that we just don’t know how some of their genetics was and that is part of breeding crested geckos, but that does not mean that you can breed.

According to an old adage popular in Facebook forums some years ago, which looks ridiculous.

“Crested gecko breeding is like if you bring a dalmatian to a harlequin, and then you hatch a banana.” This means that breeding crested geckos are totally unpredictable, but that is not true.

You can check out crested geckos morphs for more information on crested geckos breeding.

Crested Geckos Can’t Breed If They Do Not Have A Tail

Some people believe crested geckos without a tail cannot breed. They believed female cresties are physically unable to reproduce and lay viable eggs without a tail.

This is a complete balderdash and hilarious misconception because crested geckos can breed without their tail. 

New to crested gecko? Check out the crested gecko care sheet now! We had listed out all the things you need to know about crested gecko as pets. Check it now!

That It Is Only A Male Lily White That Can Produce Lily-White Offspring

Some breeders believed that a female visual lily-white would lay eggs, and all of those eggs will produce non-lily-white offspring. This is ridiculous, as it is just a basic codominant trait.

Both the males and females can reproduce visual offspring, and the sex of the parent that has the gene makes no difference whatsoever.

You may have heard this misconception before, but it is an absolute lie. You do not need to have a male lily-white to produce more lily-white.

This misconception may come from very shady and nefarious breeders that are trying to sell very high price males and justifying it by saying females can’t produce more lily-white offspring.

They do this so you can buy their expensive males. However, this is ridiculous and not true as either sex can produce a lily-white visual offspring.

That You Need To Keep A High Humidity Levels At All Time

Many people think because crested geckos look very exotic, they think exotic means tropical. Many people think they are tropical species, and they must want high humidity all the time.

This is not true as they actually need a good up and down gradient flow of humidity level to be as healthy as possible. So, generally, that means spraying their cage once in the morning, once at night, or even just once a day if you are living in a humid area.

And that helps to get the humidity to spike and then slowly falls throughout the day, and it has another spike, and it slowly falls, and that up and down wave is what these gecko needs. You can interfere with their shedding if you keep them at high humidity all the time.

This is because their skin gets sticky when it is time to shed under a high humidity level. They will then have problems getting it off, and it can cause some serious issues if it goes on for a long time. So, avoid keeping the humidity level at a high level all the time.

So you need the humidity of their cage to go up and down. Another way is by providing them with a humid hide. This gives them the chance to go bury themselves in the hides once they sense they need more humidity.

Conclusion

I hope you have been told one of these lies before, and now you know they are not true. I hope that if you heard any of this lie in the future, you would know it is not true. That’s it, guys, and I hope you learn a thing or two from this article, the lies about crested geckos.