And also because everyone loves pet videos! Ok, so I am going to give you the quick and simple answer first but I recommend sticking around and reading the full explanation. Why do crested geckos bury themselves? There are two main reasons why a crested gecko may bury itself in the substrate. The first reason is that it is a female who is getting ready to lay her eggs. The second and most common reason is that your crested gecko is too hot and is trying to thermoregulate in the cooler substrate.
Both of these scenarios require your attention so read on to learn more. Now that we know the reasons why our crested geckos dig and bury themselves in their substrate we can have a look at what we can do about it. This is the number one reason why you may notice your crested gecko burying itself so we will start with this one.
If your pet is digging in its substrate to a depth and then laying flat on its stomach it is more than likely trying to regulate its temperature. Unlike humans and all mammals crested geckos are cold blooded and rely on the environment to regulate their temperature.
If your crestie has gotten to hot it may dig into the cooler substrate to lay down in and reduce its temperature. If this is happening there are things that you can do to sort the problem.
You need to make sure that there is an accessible warm and cool side to their tank. Hilde, great post! This is so true. One other consideration is the temperature of the enclosure. Make sure it is not too cool. Should be around upper 60s to lower 70s F. If kept too cool, sometimes cresties will bury themselves to conserve heat.
I think my geckos tend to bury themselves during the day in a area that will maintain a constant temp. It's normal I think if you have a planted tank, this is the equivalent of a humid hide. User Tag List. However, if you still notice that your reptile is shoving itself under the ground during the day and even at night, you must keep reading for other causes you need to examine.
Dehydrating your gecko is dangerous and could be lethal if it goes on for more than a couple of days. Incomplete shedding might happen, leading to loss of toes, tail tips, or, rarely, an entire foot. As a response to the dry environment, your gecko would burrow underneath the substrate for a humid retreat. During winter or in an arid environment, I recommend you heavily mist in the morning while replacing your current substrate with a more moisture-absorbent one such as peat.
If you have followed the suggestion yet are still facing the same problem, you should check its enclosure for possible leaks, causing failure to sustain the moist environment amid manual or automated misting. Block all holes and crevices you can find to prevent moisture in the substrate from escaping the tank. Generally, if you use a screen sheet to cover your tank, you must replace this at once as it poorly keeps moisture. However, burying itself sometimes signifies that your gecko feels too warm and tries to cool off under the substrate.
While the warm temperature is essential for your plants to grow, your gecko may find it to be too hot since your pet is susceptible to heatstroke. In return, you observe your reptile avoiding the heat lamp by burying itself under the ground for a colder environment. To handle this, you might need to reorganize the tank to create a sufficient temperature gradient with a warm and a cool side. Adding supplemental moist hides on the cool side can help achieve cooler temperatures your gecko would love.
On a side note, I have noticed that my gecko only digs the soil and hides under the substrate during summer. Though I have implemented a temperature gradient in its tank, I did note high temperatures that are challenging to bring down.
To solve this seasonal behavior, I turn on the air-conditioning unit in the room. This method effectively lowered the ambient temperature of the tank. However, you should be careful in setting the temperature of the unit. As you adjust the remote control, you must monitor the thermostat in the tank to avoid hitting lower than what is comfortable for your gecko.
On the other hand, your gecko may be hiding under the soil to warm itself from the cold environment. When your gecko is full after a meal on a chilly evening, it might try to warm itself up by staying under the ground for heat. Soils or sands as substrates are known to capture and store considerable heat during daytime when lights are on. With this, the warmth under the substrate may provide relief to your reptile. If you do not like your pet to burrow itself at night, you can add a basking rock near the night lamp like this product I recently bought on Amazon.
Do you have a newly adopted or purchased leopard or crested gecko? Hiding under the substrate might help it feel secure with the new environment since relocating into another home is stressful for geckos. If this is the case, you can only give your reptile some time to adjust and get accustomed to its tank. In more or less a week, you should be able to see it roaming around and exploring its surroundings more. Though crested geckos can tolerate minimal cohabitation, it is still best that you individually tank each of your reptiles to avoid stress and further unwanted problems like fights and injuries.
Do note, however, that this is not applicable to your leopard gecko because it should always be housed individually! While the previous four possible causes focus on external factors such as tank maintenance, the last four reasons pertain to your leo or crestie and may not potentially pose adverse effects.
They will hide in substrate, just for hinding. However has anyone ever dug into a mulch pile or something around those lines, well if you dig into it, there is heat. The decomposing of mulch creates heat. Maybe they will dig into substrate in an attempt to find this heat instinctively. BigZ , Jan 16, That makes sense. It isn't the safest in the light for their colouring and the extra heat is needed. Gargs don't have as bright of colours which would be why they can come out during the day and bask without worrying too much.
Good thinking BigZ. LewsKinslayer0 , Jan 16, I think what he means is that with their bright colours they stand out like a sore thumb during the day light , and with the extra heat in the wild the ground could be decomposing its a 2 for one deal to bury themselves.
A secure place to hide from predators, and a warmer hide. Gargoyles come out to bask during the day, and their dull colours blend in very well to bark and stuff. So they can bask, while the cresties hide. I don't know how many cresties in the wild will have bright colours, or how many predators will have colour vision. But I guess it is just that lighter shade that makes them stand out.
No it is what my sis said. Their colours would stand out like a sore thumb. Now the bright colours and patterning aren't found in the wild but that could be an instince for them since those morphs could turn up. Granted they probably not last that long. A bright red fire would probably stand out at night aswell. LewsKinslayer0 , Jan 17, You must log in or sign up to reply here.
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