So i have a germaphobia issue, my doctor recommends i get a pet to both help with my exposure therapy, and to give me a companion to help with depression, i’m currently considering a crested gecko? Basically what i’m asking is are they messy animals? And if so should i consider something else?
Hi, mod @release-the-hound here!
All animals are going to eat, so all animals are going to poop. All animals will require some amount of cleaning. Whether or not that's a mess you can handle is sort of up to you. For example, I find bird poop way ickier to deal with than dog poop, so I don't own birds! You may find lizard poop not that bad, or it may be the worst thing in the world (in which case I'd recommend an animal that is not a reptile). I can't tell you what animal you should get. But I can tell you "ick" factors that you'll have to deal with if you own a crested gecko, and ways you might be able to overcome them.
Lamellae are the hair like structures that allow crested geckos to stick to things and climb so well. They might feel weird on your skin. The good news is you don't have to handle your geckos a lot if you don't want to, and you can wear gloves and long sleeves so you don't have skin to skin contact with your gecko.
Crested geckos like to lick stuff! Watch some videos of them online to see if that grosses you out and if it's something you can tolerate seeing in your own home.
Crested gecko diets include fruit puree, powdered diet, and live insects. Make sure you are comfortable handling all of these substances before purchasing a gecko. Crickets and dubia roaches are probably the insects you will be feeding your gecko. The fruit puree can sometimes develop bacterial growths if you leave it out for too long, remove it after about 4 to 6 hours to prevent this.
Humidity in an enclosure should be 50% during the day and 80% at night. Crested geckos sleep during the day and only start to wake up around sunset. Therefore you're going to have to mist their enclosure on a daily basis.
A hot (ideal temp is 72F to 80F) and humid environment is an environment that bacteria love to live in. Your geckos will need hides. Cork wood is less prone to rot than other types of wood hides. PVC pipe hides are also an option. You will still have to clean these hides on occasion. You could also use disposable hides made from paper towel rolls and tissue boxes, and simply throw them out whenever they get gross. Crested geckos also need driftwood for climbing, which may need to be cleaned.
Crested geckos need plant life in their enclosures. You can develop a vivarium (aka. bioactive) enclosure, if handling dirt and dealing with plant care is tolerable to you. This lets you use live plants for your setup! Fake, plastic plants won't need much maintenance though, and can also be easily cleaned if they get dirty.
Crested geckos need to be provided with clean water on a daily basis in a shallow dish. These dishes will end up with bits of dirt in them so you have to be ok with cleaning them.
Crested geckos will shed, so you have to be ok with seeing that.
Substrates are tricky. An easy and common substrate for keepers early on is paper towel. It's great because it's quick to throw out and replace when it gets dirty. However, it makes it extremely visually obvious where your lizard has pooped, which might be difficult for you.
A natural substrate (ex. vermiculite or sphagnum moss) is a great option, because when set up properly, this "bioactive" enclosure naturally cleans up waste for you. However, this is very complicated to set up initially, and you'll have to be comfortable introducing fungi, and insects (typically springtails and isopods) into your enclosure (they're the ones doing all the cleaning up!). You will still have to clean the glass and hides on occasion, just as you would with a paper-towel substrate set up.
I'll also add some links that might help you: Overview of basic crested gecko requirements.
Guide to setting up a bioactive enclosure.
Hope this helps!
