Intro to the Crested Gecko – Rhacodactylus ciliatus

My most memorable experience with a crested gecko is probably from the year I took off between college and grad school, when I was living alone, before adopting my dogs. I heard a big, booming, thudding noise from within the house, and as the only other occupants were a clown agama, a very young Apalachicola (aka: blotched) kingsnake, and a juvie crested gecko, I couldn’t imagine who could be making the noise unless someone had gotten into my home. As I looked around, I finally found that I had unthinkingly set a container of crickets on the screened top to my crestie’s viv, and there was my ironically-named little Cujo, moving his entire enclosure in an attempt to get at those elusive crickets.

I think that experience just about sums up crested geckos. They’re undeniably cute, velvety, and generally un-intimidating to parents, potential dates, or whoever else has it fixed in their mind that reptiles are scary, gross, dangerous, or simply something they’d never want in the same house with them, let alone in their hands. At the same time, they execute Spiderman moves to catch prey and are more captivating to watch on the hunt than any other herp I’ve ever owned. While they may seem like the puppies of the reptile world, they’re also the ones capable of creating viv-shaking, reverberating booms in an attempt to secure their meal, something scarier than either of my rescue pit bulls has ever pulled.

Whether you’re new to cresties or looking for the next morph to add to your collection, I hope you find something new, fun, and fantastic here at Rhac ‘Em Up.