Can Crested Geckos Live Together? Are They Better In Pairs?

Wondering If Crested Geckos Can Live Together? This guide is for you!

To make your Crested Geckos happy and healthy, you must provide them with good living conditions in their enclosures.

One of the things you’ll have to ask yourself is whether your cresties would be happy living together.

Wild crested geckos rarely live in pairs; they enjoy solitary lives. So the only time you’re likely to see two cresties together is during mating. This tells you that, naturally, these lizards don’t like to cohabit. However, if you MUST put your geckos together, you should closely monitor them.

Those who try to cohabit cresties find it is easier to do so with females than with males.

Even so, female crested geckos do not live together in the wild; it is against their nature.

What Should I Consider in Cohabiting Crested Geckos?

If you plan to keep crested geckos together, you must be conscious of their gender. So, naturally, cresties don’t like sharing the same space.

However, the behavior pattern of females makes it more likely for them to get along in the same enclosure.

Can Two Males Cohabit?

Putting two males together creates a disaster waiting to happen. Males don’t like sharing their territory with other geckos, least of all, males.

They will fight for every resource in their enclosure. When males are housed together, fights and nasty injuries are common.

Being fiercely territorial, male cresties have even been known to kill each other.

You may not have much choice in separating unsexed baby cresties. This is because it is rather hard to determine the sex of these reptiles when they are young.

However, as soon as you can determine their sex, separate the males.

Can I Put Two Females Together?

Females tend to be a bit more tolerant of each other than males. This is because, naturally, these cresties are more docile and ‘easy-going’ than their male counterparts.

Female geckos living together quickly determine and stick to a pecking order. The dominant one and the others allow her to take charge.

Although there will be the occasional fight amongst female cresties, it cannot be as serious as that of males.

Some keepers have successfully housed up to seven female cresties with no major incidences.

What About Male and Female Pair?

As noted earlier, crested geckos in the wild come together when they want to mate. As such, your male and female cresties will likely get along together if they are a breeding pair.

However, expect the female gecko to need some time to herself after mating. The male may not understand this and will keep chasing her around, which may upset the female.

Overall, a male and female pair will not fair as badly as two males together.

Advantages of Cohabiting Crested Geckos

No Fights

When you bring a new crested gecko into your home, you want it to be happy and healthy. You don’t want to constantly step in to separate it from bullies.

A solitary gecko does not have to fight for the resources available. Instead, they will be happy with the space you provided.

This gecko will eat to its full, and does not face the risk of becoming weak and underfed.

No New Tanks

When cresties are put together, you’ll likely get hatchlings. So you may have to create a budget for new enclosures and the attendant equipment.

This will dent your pocket in a big way, especially if you have not thought of it beforehand.

It’s Natural

A close look at crested geckos in the wild will tell you that these lizards prefer a solitary life. Although female cresties can live together if there’s no option, this is not without incidences.

You’ll have to deal with the occasional fight for food, space, and other resources.

Disadvantages of Cohabiting Crested Geckos

Need for Extra Tanks

Crested geckos have different dispositions. While some are docile and friendly, others are pretty aggressive.

This means finding a pair or group that will fit together with no hassles is hard. You may have to come up with extra tanks to separate the bullies from the rest.

As such, you should have in mind the extra space for the enclosure and a budget for equipping it.

Fight for Food

Cresties are known to compete for food. Some have ravenous appetites and will gobble everything you put in the enclosure.

This will disadvantage the weaker and slower cresties. If you think your gecko has not been eating enough, it would be wrong to house him with others.

He may be bullied and pushed out of the way every feeding time. Usually, dominant geckos deny others food and the best spots in the enclosure.

Food is taken up by those higher up in the hierarchical order.

Since you cannot always keep your eyes on the gecko, the best thing is to separate him from the rest.

This way, you can be sure he will get enough of the food and the other resources you provide for him.

Unplanned Babies

If you put two unsexed cresties together, you risk getting baby geckos you have not planned for.

Although baby cresties can be kept together, they should be separated as soon as they’re old enough to be sexed.

Crested geckos reach sexual maturity at around the age of 3 or 4 months. Try your best to sex them before they reach this stage.

Injuries and Deaths

Putting two territorial cresties together is a recipe for disaster. It’s given that these lizards will fight for just about everything in the enclosure.

They will fight over food and water. They will fight to dominate the warmest or coolest spots in the terrarium.

These fights will often lead to injuries, and you may have to constantly visit the vet to handle the wounds.

You’ll also have to spend lots of time monitoring the tanks to break up fights and tend to the injured. Unfortunately, these fights aren’t cheap for both the lizard and the owner.

For example, lizards have been known to gouge each other eyes in fights. Others lose tails, and some even die.

For the owner, you’ll have to fork extra vet fees for examination, wound care, and prescriptions.

Harder to Monitor Health

It becomes harder to monitor the growth and progress of your crested geckos when they’re together. This is because each animal has its own needs and wants.

For example, how do you keep tabs on how much each reptile eats? What about how often it goes to the bathroom?

It is hard to monitor when each crested gecko sheds and what happens to the skin when these reptiles are housed together.

In case of an infection, the situation immediately turns disastrous. Identifying how the infection started and how to contain it may be hard.

When crested geckos are put together, monitoring their vital health signs becomes tough.

Elevated Stress Levels

Because crested geckos don’t naturally get together, they become stressed if forced to share the same premises.

A close look at the enclosure will indicate that one or more of these reptiles are uncomfortable with the arrangement.

The most affected ones will be wagging their tail, breathing heavily, and isolate.

Elevated stress levels compromise the other aspects of your gecko’s life. For example, your pet becomes more prone to infections.

They may also drop their tails or become uncooperative when you try to handle them. You will be negatively affected when your pet is unhappy and contented.

To avoid all these, make arrangements to house your crested geckos separately.

How to Successfully Cohabit Your Crested Geckos

Create an Enclosure Large Enough

Creating a large enough enclosure may make your crested geckos happy. This enclosure should have multiple warm and cool zones.

It should also have enough feeding points so that each reptile can eat to its fill. Finally, a big enough enclosure ensures the geckos keep safe distances from each other.

They will not get in each other’s way needlessly, and this will minimize fights and conflicts.

Build a Bioactive Enclosure

Cleanliness is one of the most critical issues in a leopard gecko tank. However, many keepers find it easy to maintain good hygiene and health practices in a bioactive tank.

A bioactive tank has insects and other organisms that help in the natural process of breaking down waste.

This means that your gecko’s droppings and leftover foods do not become a health hazard.

Install Enough Equipment

Your crested geckos will likely fight over lights, and warm, and cool areas. In addition, they will compete over who gets the best shedding spots in the enclosure.

If the shedding spots are insufficient, some cresties will develop complications due to poor humidity.

To solve this problem, install enough equipment in the enclosure. This will ensure suitable temperature and humidity levels for all the geckos.

Make it possible for the cresties to have different areas that suit what they are individually going through.

Regularly Weigh the Cresties

When housed together, it isn’t easy to monitor your crested geckos’ health. You may not know which one is eating right and which isn’t.

You may not even identify which dropping belongs to which animal.

You can circumvent this problem by regularly weighing each of the cresties. Any deviation in expected weight will tell you the individuals that need closer supervision.

Give Them Plenty of Food

To avoid unhealthy competition and unnecessary fights, provide your crested geckos with enough food.

If need be, establish different feeding spots in the enclosure. You can also vary the feeding times to meet the needs of all individuals.

This is important considering that your cresties will not all eat at the same time or pace. Some eat whenever the opportunity presents itself, while others eat only when they’re hungry.

With this in mind, devise a suitable feeding routine.

Conclusion…

Rule of thumb? Crested geckos should not be housed together. Their behavior in the wild tells us these creatures have evolved into solitary animals.

However, it is not impossible to cohabitate your crested geckos if you know how to go about it.