What species of gecko is right for me?
Are you considering getting a gecko, but don’t know which kind will be
best and if a gecko is right for you?
I wrote this as a guide to get you started in that decision. Once you get an idea
of which one might be best for you, still read the corresponding care sheet before
buying so you know for sure that you are ready.
–Kim Baker
KimsGeckos@gmail.com
Click to jump to a specific question, or scroll down to browse them all.
I have never owned a gecko; would I make a good owner?
What will my daily interactions with my gecko be like?
Which geckos are most difficult to take care of?
Which geckos are most difficult to handle and tame?
Which geckos need the most space?
I have never owned a gecko; would I make a good owner?
There are three very important questions to consider before getting a gecko:
1) Do I have the money to provide the proper enclosure, food, and veterinary care for the life of the gecko (up to 20 years!)? Buying a gecko is the least expensive part of owning a gecko. Setting up the proper size enclosure with all the right hiding places, heating, and lighting can be several times more expensive than the gecko itself. Most geckos will have something physically wrong with them at one point in their life and all should have an initial exam with your reptile veterinarian when you first receive it. As a veterinary technician, I know that just an exam can be more expensive than the gecko, and treatment for any problems will be more on top of that. Also, all of the geckos we have listed above have the capability of living up to 10-20 years, so this is roughly the same amount of time commitment as buying a dog or a cat. Another important consideration is food for your gecko. Most geckos eat live insects as their primary diet (an exception includes those in the family Rhacodactylus, e.g. crested geckos, but even they should be regularly fed some live food). This means you have to find a way to purchase live food regularly and often, and be ready to keep live insects in your home. Make sure this is an expense you can afford and something you are willing to do.
2) Will I stay interested in my gecko and be able to care for it during its entire life (again, up to 20 years)? Buying a gecko for a child may seem like a good idea, and certainly can be a wonderful one, but young people and children are going through periods of rapid growth and change in their life and could very well lose interest or move away long before the gecko has reached the end of its natural life. Hence, when a parent buys a gecko for a child (or a child buys it themselves), the parent will need to make sure that the child is taking proper care of it, staying interested in it, and continuing to feed and water it daily so the animal does not die a slow death of malnutrition. Also, all reptiles are capable of carrying salmonella (which is communicable to humans) in their feces so it is important for a parent to make sure that their child always washes their hands after handling their reptile or cleaning its enclosure, and that s/he sanitizes the cage properly. It is also important to consider whether you will be living in housing that permits owning reptiles and the insects they eat.
3) Am I ready to learn how to take care of insects and let them live in my house with me? Learning how to properly feed and care for insects is an essential part of keeping a gecko. “You are what you eat” applies to geckos, and if you feed them starving or sick insects, your gecko will not be healthy. Insects need to be fed a calcium-rich, nutritionally balanced diet prior to being fed to your gecko, and need to be provided with a clean water source at all times. Of course, you will also have to handle the insects, so you must be comfortable with them.
What will my daily interactions with my gecko be like?
All of these geckos will need your daily care to be healthy and happy. What do they give back to you? All of the arboreal geckos we sell (tokay, skunk, flying, and golden) are a more “look, but don’t touch” type of pet. They all display amazing behaviors (they will display a wider range of behaviors based on how well your enclosure is set up) and are fascinating to watch. However, if you are the kind of person that needs to touch and personally interact with (rather than watch) your gecko to keep you interested in and caring for it, these are not the appropriate gecko species for you. Handling will stress most individuals, so it is best to leave them alone as much as possible. It is also important to set up hiding places such that when they retreat there, they cannot see you and vice versa. All of these geckos are nocturnal, which means that you usually won’t see them at all during the day in an enclosure that is set up properly. However, when their lights go out in the evening, they come out to hunt and interact and are a joy to observe. Although this is the case for the majority of individuals, I do have some arboreal geckos that tolerate being out and interacting with people for a time. They do not seem to be stressed out (and may possibly enjoy it, but who knows) when taken out of their enclosure. However, this varies by individual and you cannot assume that your gecko will be like this. As for the ground-dwelling geckos (leopards and fat-tails) all of what I said above can also apply to them. However, you can eventually tame them enough that they don’t mind being out of their enclosure at all. Taming takes time and patience (just grabbing your gecko and handling it right when you get it can be one of the worst things for it; please read my discussion on taming *coming soon*), and you will need to consider if you will get bored or frustrated and start to neglect the gecko.
Which geckos are most difficult to take care of?
With the correct set up, all of these geckos are about the same level of difficulty. However, there are some slight differences that may make certain geckos more difficult to maintain for some people. All of the arboreal geckos listed here (tokay, skunk, flying, and golden) will require twice-daily misting of their enclosures. They will not drink from water bowls and all require high humidity, so without this misting they will not get any water to drink and will have humidity-related problems. Leopards and fat-tails can just be provided with a water bowl. However, that water bowl will need to be monitored daily to ensure it hasn’t been spoiled with feces or dead food items, and will need to be removed and cleaned at least every few days. Also, the leopards and fat-tails will need a high humidity hiding place that will need to be monitored to keep it from drying out. The feeding schedule will be about the same for all of these; the only necessary difference will be in quantity. Tokays will eat the most out of these geckos (because they are the largest), but all the others are approximately the same size and will eat comparable quantities. Leopards and fat-tails will usually require a little more frequent cage cleaning. They live on the floor of their cage as opposed to the sides of their enclosure, so it is more urgent that the fecal material be cleaned out as soon as possible because they are living and walking where their feces are. However, all will need their cage spot cleaned a few times per week and thoroughly cleaned (depending on what is on the floor of the tank) periodically.
Which geckos are most difficult to handle and tame?
Tokays are easily at the top of this list. They are known for being quite aggressive and in my experience, some are simply impossible to tame completely. However, I have some tokays that are quite docile and are as easy to handle as any other gecko. The bottom line is that you cannot plan on having a tame tokay; when buying one, you have to be prepared to own an aggressive animal. They can and will bite if disturbed, and these bites will be painful (bites typically will break the skin)! Tokays also move very quickly, and require some practice handling them. They are not pets that should be handled by children. Skunk geckos are next. In general, they are less inclined to bite and if they do, their bite is not as serious as a tokay’s. However, it still will usually break the skin. Flying geckos are more inclined to bite in general than skunk geckos, but I put them after skunks on the list because their bite isn’t as serious. I can’t recall one ever breaking the skin, and if it did, it wouldn’t be too bad. Still, be aware that when they do bite, they are inclined to hold on and not let go – you could be in for a good pinch. Next on my list are golden geckos. I have never been bit by a golden gecko (compared to leopardgecko geckos and fat-tails, both of which I have been bit by), and I have been keeping golden geckos longer than any other kind of gecko. Of course, it is entirely possible that a golden gecko could bite and I would think it would be somewhere between a flying and a skunk in seriousness, but they are very disinclined to bite – instead, they just want to run away when threatened. However, they are above leopardgecko geckos and fat-tails because they don’t tame as easily and are very wiggly and flighty, making them sometimes difficult to hold on to. The last on the list are leopards and fat-tails, as they are the easiest to handle and tame. Leopards and fat-tails will bite and can be very wiggly, but in my experience with patience and some time, all will tame down enough that you can comfortably handle them without ever worrying that you will get bit. Also, once they get comfortable with you, they will not (won’t) be nearly as wiggly. (Please read my discussion on taming geckos before trying *coming soon*).
Which geckos need the most space?
Arboreal geckos (tokay, skunk, golden, and flying) all need enclosures that are tall rather than wide because they will spend all of their time on the sides of the enclosure and in the hides you set up for them. Tokay geckos need the largest enclosure of these geckos due to their size, and can only be kept singly or as a pair. As with any gecko, you should never put males together, and with tokay geckos you should not keep females together either. If you choose to keep a tokay singly, a 20 gallon tall (not long) is the smallest enclosure you could use. If you want to keep a pair, I wouldn’t go smaller than a 40 gallon enclosure. Some may say that you can keep tokay females together, but I strongly disagree. Please read my tokay care sheet for more information. Skunk geckos don’t need quite as much space as tokay geckos; a single skunk gecko could be kept in a 15 gallon space or so, with a pair in a 25 gallon space, though again, this is a minimum requirement. Golden geckos and flying geckos could be kept singly in a ten gallon space and as a pair in a 20 gallon space. Again, these are all arboreal geckos so you would want to get tall enclosures (a 20 gallon tall not a 20 gallon long, both of which are available). For ground-dwelling geckos (fat-tails and leopards), height doesn’t really matter because they spend all of their time on the ground. Both could be kept singly in a 10 gallon tank, and as a pair in a 20 gallon long tank. With these species, you can keep females together so if you choose to add more, just increase the size accordingly. Again, increase the floor space, not just the total volume space!