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Gecko keepers often worry about whether their Crested Gecko is the right size.

Most of the time, first-time keepers are concerned about geckos that are short in length or “skinny” or “chunky” in appearance. For a keeper to feel happy, they often want a pet that is the “right” length and weight.

An average adult Crested Gecko is about 8-10 inches long, from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. Their weight should be about 40-60 grams.

However, that doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with a crestie that falls outside these ranges. Size is more complicated than you would think…

How Big Do Crested Geckos Get?

The average adult Crested Gecko is 8-10 inches long and about 5” long if it doesn’t have a tail.

Adults reach full size at 12-24 months and will weigh at least 40 grams, or as much as 60 grams.

Some healthy adults can be above 80 grams, below 35 grams and may take several years before they stop growing.

Newly hatched cresties are 3-4” long (including their tails) and weigh 4-10 grams. This means that most will double their weight between hatching and adulthood. In addition to length, their adult weight increases more like 10-20 times from their hatchling weight of 2-4 grams.

Juveniles can be up to 4” long (not including the tail) and may weigh up to 25 grams.

Key Points

• Most adults are 8-10” long (with their tails), and 4-5” long if they have no tail.
• They usually reach full size at 12-24 months of age.
• Their weight is normally 40-60 grams, but there are exceptions in healthy individuals both above and below this range. Some healthy adults are unusually small at less than 4” without tail and/or less than 30 grams.
• In extremely rare cases, a Crested Gecko may exhibit dwarfism, characterized by a normal head and an unusually short body.

Growth and Development

My first Crested Gecko came to me at about 1 month of age. He was tiny.

A few months later I was at a reptile show and I saw someone walking around with an adult crestie. My mouth dropped open as I realized that one day tiny Spencer might actually reach that length!

Sixteen years later, I take it for granted that Spencer is a healthy, sood-sized adult (“Adult 2” in the pictures below).

New keepers really want to know “how big will my Crested Gecko get?”

The answer to this question depends on a variety of factors including:

• What size were the parents?
• How much is it eating?
• What is their body structure?
• How quickly do they metabolize (digest and process) food?

In the same way that tall humans usually produce tall offspring, large Crested Geckos may also produce an unusual number of large offspring. It would not be uncommon for these Geckos to be as long as 10” and as heavy as 80+ grams.

Geckos with poor appetites may develop into smaller adults. You might expect them to be 7-8” with the tail and 35-45 grams in weight. Likewise, those with large appetites may not only be bigger, but may also become obese.

Some Crested Geckos are built to be long and lean; others may be wide and chunky.

The crested gecko weights listed below are only guidelines.

Your Crested Gecko may fall outside the weights listed above. As long as it isn’t so skinny the ribs are showing, or so fat that it has a huge belly, your gecko is probably the right size for its heredity and body type.

A review of weight charts on the internet shows that there is lots of misinformation available. Some sites list the maximum size for adults as 16” and at least one website stated they may grow to 336 grams, this is not true!

Another myth is that males are always bigger than females.

Crested Gecko growth and development is usually described in three stages:

1. Hatchling (3-4 inches)- includes the first 2 months or so of life
2. Juvenile – roughly 2-12 months
3. Adult (8-10 inches) – beginning at 12-18 months

Most Crested Geckos will reach their full size at 12-24 months.

There are some who appear to have their own growth schedule and may not correspond with the average pace of development. As long as your crestie is eating and is active in the evenings, even if it doesn’t reach 40 grams by 12-24 months, it is healthy. It may simply be an unusually small lizard.

A Crested Gecko can continue to gain weight after reaching full size for two reasons. Most grow to full length before “filling out” completely, and some have big appetites!

Crested Gecko Size Chart

The Crested Gecko growth chart above contains information about 8 real Crested Geckos.

We do not provide generic month by month growth charts because this can cause concern among inexperienced hobbyists whether their gecko is growing “correctly”.

Thanks to Mike Soltis of Dragontown Reptiles for the information about Juvenile 1, Juvenile 2, Adult and Small adult in the chart above.

Why Is My Crested Gecko Not Growing?

Some Crested Geckos grow very slowly.

Most of the time this is due to the fact they have a slower-than average growth rate. Sometimes they grow slowly and then “take off” all of a sudden.

When I was breeding geckos, I occasionally had hatchlings that could not get the hang of eating and needed not only to be hand fed, but to be encouraged to eat the feeders I was feeding by hand. At the age of 3-4 months, these geckos still weighed only 7 grams (they hatched weighing 3-4 grams, so this is a poor weight gain for their age).

Somewhere around the 4-6 month mark, these geckos figured out what eating was about!

They became more independent about eating and began to eat more. I have no idea what “turned on their motor”!

At any rate, within a few weeks to a month, they all reached the 15 gram weight at which I would sell a hatchling and went on to new homes.

On occasion, slow growth could be caused by a lack of eating or poor diet.

It can be difficult to determine if your crestie is eating. In my experience, one way to tell whether or not the lizard is growing is to look for poop. If they are eating, they are pooping.

Hatchlings and juveniles are more likely to have consistent growth when fed protein in the form of feeder insects. If supplying live feeders isn’t possible, consider using a complete crested gecko diet that includes insects. Pangea makes two flavors containing black soldier fly larvae that I use regularly. They are labeled “With Insects” and “Fig & Insects”.

On rare occasions a Crested Gecko has hidden health issues with its digestion or metabolism that prevent it from growing.

If you are still concerned about your gecko’s growth, it would be a good idea to make an appointment with a reptile vet.

Final Thoughts

Adult Crested Geckos are usually around 5” long (not including the tail) and 40-60 grams.

Watching a hatchling grow from baby to adult is an exciting and rewarding experience.

When I was breeding, I had the pleasure of watching the offspring start out at 2-4 grams and grow into healthy adults at 40-60 grams.

It is useful to know the average size of an adult Crested Gecko, but do not focus too much on it.

Understand that some geckos are unusually large or small. As long as they are eating, and active in the evenings, even small adults are most likely healthy.