GARGOYLE GECKO CARE

This guide is more about how I keep mine and less about listing exact care parameters that you can find all over the internet. This is based on many other keepers putting information out and my own experience. There isn’t only one right way to do something so I truly encourage you to cross reference this with others and figure out what works for you and your animals. But remember to only take advice from someone that has been successful for many years. If you want to read a great book, check out “Gargoyle Geckos” by de Vosjoli, Repashy & Fast.

Enclosure Sizes

  • Baby/Juvenile (0g - ~15g) 6qt

    As a small gecko, it is important that the enclosure matches their size. At this stage I will use a 6qt storage tote. It may not be the most visually stunning enclosure, but I have found that it can be counter productive to give massive enclosures to tiny geckos as they seem to not eat as well. At this stage they get branches from a plastic plant and half of a paper towel roll or a small piece of cork bark as a hide. Cork rounds or tube shaped objects are always the best because it lets them be somewhere that they are fully enclosed and can feel secure. About 2/3 of the enclosure has plants/hides and 1/3 is the open space for food/water bowl.

  • Juvenile/Sub-Adult (~15g - ~30g) 16qt

    At this stage the gecko is most likely already well established and growing fast. I will use a 16qt storage tote. Again, it may not be the most visually stunning but it works well. Inside of the enclosure I will use a whole plastic plant. If the plant is too large and takes up the entire enclosure then I break off branches. I also provide a medium sized cork round as a hide. About 2/3 of the enclosure has plants/hides and 1/3 is the open space for food/water bowl.

  • Female Adult (~30g +) 15x16x18

    My adult females will go into their final enclosures as they are getting close to breeding size. I use a PVC 15x16x18 enclosure. The reason these are bigger than the male’s enclosure is because i’m anticipating on housing more than one gecko in the enclosure during breeding season. I like giving the females the bigger enclosure so when they are together with a male it provides them enough space to get away from each other. Also I don’t ever move the females into the male’s enclosure, the male always goes into the female’s. My thinking behind this is that a gecko moving to a new enclosure is already stressful for them, so I want to limit the stress on a female because she is also the one who has to use her resources to develop eggs and lay them on top of being “harassed” by a male. This seems like it can take a lot out of a female so I prefer to keep them as stable as possible. the way the enclosure is setup is exactly like the male’s except a little more cork and usually an extra plant to take up more room in the enclosure and provide both geckos with their own hides during breeding.

  • Male Adult (~30g +) 11x16x18

    My adult males will go into their final enclosures as they are getting close to breeding size. I use a PVC 11x16x18 enclosure. The reason I use these is because they make great displays, fit perfectly on metal racks, save time with a front opening door instead of a lid, hold humidity better than glass, provide much better security for the animal because the sides aren’t clear, and have more space than a 12x12x18 glass enclosure. I will provide a large plastic plant and 1-2 cork rounds depends on how much space they take up. The front ~3 inches of enclosure are empty space to put water/food bowls. I put the bowls on the ground at the base of the cork.

Substrate

  • ReptiChip

The other substrate I will use is ReptiChip. This is much better at holding humidity and more aesthetically pleasing than paper towels. Also it makes cleaning very easy because you can just spot clean and pick out the pieces that have food or poop stuck to them. This lets you keep isopods and springtails if you want a more bio-active setup because they do a pretty good jobs at cleaning the spilled Pangea and eating the poop. I prefer this over the paper towels and I am currently working to switch my whole set up to ReptiChip with springtails and isopods.

I personally wouldn’t recommend using a soil due to some issues that come with it. Coconut fiber like Eco Earth is very hydrophobic when dried out. This can cause issues when spraying the soil because now it is prone to get into the geckos food or even stick to the geckos skin. Another problem is when the gecko walks into the food bowl, it acts like a glue to the soil and can cause shedding issues. Also it is easy for the gecko to accidentally eat it so I have just stayed away from it as my collection has grown.

  • Paper Towels

Paper towels are an easy and cheap substrate. They don’t have much aesthetic value to them but they certainly work. The main downside to them is they don’t hold humidity well and need to be changed often. The other downside is that the geckos will mess them up by walking around and also when you change them you need to take all of the plants/cork out so you spend a little more time. I will change them every 1-2 weeks but if I notice one dirty then I will change it on the spot.

Temperature

I keep my enclosures between 75-78 F throughout the day and I let them go down to 71-73 F at night. I use a space heater to achieve this. The warmer you keep them, the faster their metabolism is which means they will grow faster. Between 70-80 F seems to be comfortable temps for them. In the 80’s you can start getting into it being too hot. They are much more tolerable to colder temps than hot temps. I’ve had a time they got to low 60’s and never had any adverse issues. However if you do keep them cold like that it’s really going to slow them down and not be conducive to a good growth rate. When breeding, I like to let my adult temps go to the high 60’s/ low 70’s in the off season to make sure they get a good cool down time to let them rest and recover.

Humidity

I keep my humidity around 60%. Humidity is a more difficult thing to dial in because more factors go into it like the climate in your house, substrate, and the type of enclosure you’re using. The best way to determine this is to use a hygrometer, leave it in the enclosure for a week, and go through your normal cycle of feeding and spraying and see how the humidity fluctuates. Too dry and you need to limit the enclosure’s ventilation or use a better substrate. It is okay to let you enclosures dry out daily but if you keep it too dry for too long your gecko can start developing health issues. The most common one is sores on their lips commonly referred to as lip curls. Once the humidity is corrected these will go away. Too humid and the substrate doesn’t get a chance to dry out which means more issues with things like mold and fruit flies. The solution to this is spraying less or increasing the ventilation. If you decide to spray less than once a day, it would be good idea to keep a water bowl so they have access to water.

  • Pangea

Currently the best food that I have found for my animals is Pangea. I feed my animals 2x per week and try to stick to the same days. When mixing my Pangea I use a condiment bottle and try to obtain a consistency similar to apple sauce. I use 3 different sized bowls. The silicone bottle savers for the babies, “small” gecko silicone feeding cups from Pangea for the juveniles, and “large” geckos feeding cups from Pangea for the adults. A cheap “diy’ bowl is the bottle caps from water bottles or other bottles. In order to prevent waste I will squirt enough into the bowl to fill the bottom but I won’t fill the bowl to the brim. A good way to know how much to feed is to take notice in how much is eaten each time. I find the geckos eat varied amounts each feeding but If there is constantly leftovers then maybe use less food and if the bowl is constantly full then use slightly less each time. I leave the food in for 48 hours before taking it out. I have observed that sometimes they haven’t touched the bowl the first night but will eat some the 2nd night. After 48 hours the food will start spoiling and grow mold if left in too long.

Feeding

  • Insects

Insects are a good supplement with Pangea if you want to increase the growth of your gecko. Gargoyles seem to pickier than other New Caledonian geckos when it comes insects so they can be hit or miss. I’ve successfully raised them on 100% Pangea so the insects aren’t a necessity but they do help. The biggest issue I have run into when it comes to insects is parasites. I have noticed the worms in their poop after feeding crickets and BSFL so I completely cut those off. I will only use dubia roaches as they seem to be the cleanest and they live very long! A quick trick to get your geckos to start on dubias is to cut off the head and let the gecko lick the guts until they bite it.

  • Spraying

If your enclosures are being able to dry out daily, spraying is a great way because it kills two birds with one stone. It brings up the humidity and the water droplets accumulated on the enclosure provide drinking water. When going this route I will spray them before I go to bed at night. When you spray early in the day typically the droplets are dried up. So if you spray at night, by the time they are awake there are still droplets for them to lick.

Water

  • Water Bowl

If my humidity stays at a higher level then it is better to just use a water bowl instead of keeping everything wet. This is pretty straight forward, just provide a water bowl with clean water weekly.

I really suggest using some type of filter or buying water from a store instead of using tap water due to the added chemicals.

Lay Box

I provide a lay box for all of my adult females even if they aren’t breeding. They still need a place to lay their dud eggs. I just use a cheap tupperware container with clear sides and roughly 4 inches deep. Cut a 1.5 - 2 inch hole in the lid, big enough for your female to get through. The I fill it with a mix of coconut fiber and sphagnum moss about 3 inches deep. This is also the only time I will use coconut fiber but make sure to not let it dry out. The lay box should be kept moist but not soaking wet. This way when she lays eggs they will not dry out. Also the clear sides help you see if there are eggs inside.

  • Initial Pairing

Once my male and female hit the age and weight goal, it is time to put them together. Ideally they are within 10g of each other. Putting a 60g female with a 40g male can cause problems in the form of not being successful or injuries. You can still breed them but I highly recommend keeping a close eye on them and watch for any “bullying”. Due to me housing my females in larger enclosures I always move the male into the female’s enclosure in order to cause as little stress as possible on her. I do not breed in any larger groups than 1.1 because I have observed that the more geckos together, the higher the chances of problems. Also if there are multiple females, you can never be certain on which female laid the eggs which is an issue in my opinion because I like to know the lineage of both parents. So after I put the male into the female’s enclosure I write down what date it was. Record everything!! I leave the male in for 10 days on the first introduction. This is because it gives him extra time to be successful and my females typically outnumber the males so since I don’t do large groups, I will need him for other females. Once I take him out of the enclosure I record the date. Now I let him rest for about 3-5 days. Make sure he gets fed and is hydrated in that period. Obviously use your judgement for how long he should rest because if he doesn’t look good then let him rest longer. Once he is hydrated and fed he goes on to the next female and the process continues. At the most, I have used a male for 4 females in a year. More than that and it really starts being difficult to manage the male because of the next step.

  • Breeding Season

This can be different depending on your environment but I like to go with the natural fluctuations of my climate and temperature. This way the temps are naturally higher during my breeding season and lower when in the off-season. I initially pair in February and my last pairing goes until roughly October.

  • Females

For my females, I wait until they are 2.5 years old and around 50g. I will breed before 2.5 years if they lay dud eggs and are around 50g.

  • Males

For my males, I wait until they are 2 years old and around 40g.

Breeding

  • Re-Pairing

After about 30 days from the initial pairing, you should have an idea if your female has eggs. They can be pretty obvious when you hold her and look at her belly. If you see this then don’t worry about putting the male back in until she lays. If you aren’t sure however you can re-pair the male and repeat the process until your female lays the first set of eggs. You will notice her inside of the lay box starting to dig if she is about to lay. Make sure to check consistently after about 30 days of the pairing in order to not miss the eggs. Once she lays eggs, record the date. Give her about 3-5 days to recover and make sure she’s fed and hydrated. Use your judgement. If she isn’t looking good then give her more time. The health of her is more important than laying more eggs. After about 3-5 days I put the male back in. Record the date. Then after about 7 days I take him out and repeat the process of him resting and putting him in with the next female 3-5 days after she lays. Once a female lays 2 clutches of eggs you can count the days in between the lays and it will give you an idea when she will lay next. Every female is different. For example if there are 45 days in between clutches then she will likely lay the next clutch in 45 days, give or take a couple. This is usually extremely accurate and helps you gauge when to start looking in the lay box. If you do not re-pair the male then I have noticed that the female eventually stops laying fertile eggs. I repeat this process until she stops laying eggs completely or until October, whichever comes first.

  • Incubating

Once they are in the incubator, let them be. Just make sure that the substrate doesn’t dry out. I incubate around 76-78 F. The warmer the temps the shorter they incubate, vice versa with cold temps. Im not sure if just trying to get them to hatch as fast as possible is really a good thing. Be patient. if your temps are in the 70’s F it can take anywhere from 80-120 days. Don’t interfere with nature. Let it take it’s course. Some eggs will go bad or never hatch and that’s OK!!!!! It sucks but why try to cut an egg open and then introduce a potentially underdeveloped or weak animal into the hobby and sell it to someone else that has no idea of the potential issues they might run into with that animal in the future. Try to limit large fluctuations during incubation. I moved with eggs incubating and they spent 2 days on the road through various temperature and elevation fluctuations. During that time I had a much lower hatch rate than normal so I feel like the fluctuations could have contributed to it.

  • Collecting The Eggs

Once your female lays it is time to collect the eggs. I take a sharpie and mark the top of the eggs when they are laid. This will help keep the orientation of the egg the same. In the first few days the embryo isn’t attached to the shell so it is okay if they rotated. It acts like a bubble and will go to the roof of the egg. But once it is attached you will want to keep the egg oriented the same way so that is why I mark them. Once you collect the eggs you can candle them. It is okay to rotate them at this time because they were just freshly laid. Take a flashlight, like the one from your phone, and hold it up to the egg and look for a red circle, commonly referred to as the “cheerio” due to it being the same shape. If you aren’t sure, incubate anyway. The egg will naturally decay if it wasn’t fertile. Put it in the incubation substrate about halfway buried and let nature do its thing.

  • Where To Put The Eggs And Substrate

I just use a tackle box because it comes with dividers to place the eggs in. My favorite incubation substrate is Pangea hatch because it retains moisture well, it’s easy to see if it is dried out, and can be reused. I fill the tackle box up with the substrate about an inch and that's pretty much all you have to do.

Incubation

  • Hatching

Roughly 24 hours before emerging, the egg will start “sweating”. You will see water droplets forming on the egg and it starting to look like its deflating. Be patient and check regularly. The baby will make a cut in the egg and pop its head out. At this point you can take the egg and set it inside of its enclosure. They will naturally crawl out of the egg. Keep the enclosure simple. I recommend paper towels and a very small hide and to make sure the humidity is good. Once the baby goes through its first shed, which typically happens within 48 hours, you can give it some food and then you are good! Congratulations on hatching a baby gargoyle gecko!