Gargoyle Gecko Care

This document is for guidance only and should not be used as the sole source of information. New information is being developed regularly. It is recommend to multiple sources of information before buying a pet.

CARE OVERVIEW

Common Name: Gargoyle Gecko

Scientific Name: Rhacodactylus auriculatus

Native to: New Caledonia (Grande Terre and the Isle of Pines.

Size: 6 to 8 inches

Life span: 15 to 20 years

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

General appearance: Gargoyle Geckos are a robust bodied yet small sized gecko measuring around 8” in total length. Gargoyle geckos come in a variety of colors and patterns. They come in shades of gray, brown, white, yellow, orange, and red. Patterns vary from individual to individual, but may include stripes, bands, and mottling.

Enclosure: We start our hatchlings a rack system with a plant and piece of cork. Juveniles and adults can be held in a 12x12x18. Some keepers prefer to keep their adults in a 18x18x24. Our breeding trios are in a 2x2x2 enclosure.

Heating and Lighting: Gargoyle geckos are a tropical species and don’t need as much heat as some of the other common exotics. They thrive at room temperature with a hot spot of 86. Anything hotter than that can cause serious problems.

Substrate: We use paper towels for babies. They are easy to clean and you can see the poop well. For juveniles we use paper towels/bark/ repti-soil, depending on the terrarium. Adults can be on bark/dirt/bio active.

Humidity: Gargoyle geckos are a tropical species needing higher humidity. The range you want is 60% to 80%. Never spray a cage at night.

Handling:

Leopard geckos are extremely popular as they max out at 8 to 9 inches (slightly larger for Giants) and are slow and easy to handle. Hatchlings tend to be more skittish and defensive (gecko scream!) but calm down with proper handling. These guys tend to be clumsy climbers (will literally just walk off your hand and fall off) and thus should be handled while sitting down until you are use to handling them.

Diet:

We feed our hatchlings to adults mostly mealworms. Our hatchlings and juveniles are bowl feed 10 to 15 mealworms every other day while our breeders are bowl fed mealworms and dubia roaches. We occasionally feed crickets but found it easier to bowl feed mealworms and dubias as we could keep track of each leopard geckos’ intake of food. We dust our insects with calcium (3 times a weeks) and a multivitamin (once a week) powder.

Last Thoughts:

Leopard geckos are great beginner reptiles as they require small caging and little maintenance compared to other lizards. These lizards come in an array of different colors and patterns. We at Curious Creatures LLC have started with a few different morphs, mainly consisting of tangerines, tremper sunglows and bold stripes.