Crested Gecko Tail Drop & Loss? Here’s What You Need To Know

A common saying for all reptiles is that they can drop their tails and grow them back. But, sadly, for crested geckos, only half of it is true.

Do crested geckos’ tails grow back? A crested gecko can drop its tail, but it cannot grow its tail back.

In fact, for this reason, a crested gecko that drops its tails is called a frog-butt by many reptile enthusiasts and crested gecko owners.

Why Do Crested Geckos Drop Their Tails?

A crested gecko will drop its tail if it feels stressed or threatened.

Here’s how this act of dropping the tail under threat may have developed over time in crested geckos:

In the wild, a crested gecko is often preyed upon by larger animals. So, sometimes, if it does get caught by its tail, a crested gecko can still escape the predator by simply dropping its tail and running away.

Not only does the dropping of the tail free the crested gecko from the clutches of the predator, but also, a sudden tail dropping works as a shocking distraction that keeps the predator distracted for just long enough to allow the crested gecko to run and escape.

This habit of dropping the tail under threat has slowly evolved into becoming a consequence of excess stress as well.

And so, in captivity too, when a crested gecko feels stressed or threatened, it may equate the situation to being predated and drop its tail and run and hide.

Reason 1 – Forced Cohabitation And Bullying

Firstly, crested geckos are solitary creatures who prefer to live alone and enjoy their personal space in their enclosures.

So, cohabitation may be a stressful event for your pet crested gecko. Sometimes, if the cohabitation is forced upon it, your crested gecko may get so stressed by the presence of another crested gecko in its tank that it drops its tail.

Some other times, while the presence of another crested gecko in itself may not be as much of a stressor, it could possibly be that one of your crested geckos may be bullying the other one.

Yes, it does happen – a crested gecko is capable of bullying another. It may do so by eating up the other’s food, not letting the other one exist in peace, and sometimes even by scratching or biting.

All these reasons could lead to one of your pet crested geckos being so stressed out that it loses its tail.

Reason 2 – Forced Mating

If you have cohabitated a male and a female crested gecko together in the same enclosure, then you need to be on regular vigil to ensure that the male crested gecko does not bother the female crested gecko too much.

Sometimes, a male may try to forcefully approach the female for mating – and if the female is not ready for it, she may get stressed out and drop her tail.

Reason 3 – Rushing The Bonding With A New Pet Crested Gecko

If you have just brought your crested gecko home, you need to let it take its own time to adapt to the new surroundings and get used to your presence.

If you force or rush the process of handling by constantly trying to pick your crested gecko up in your arms or fidget with it before it is ready to be around you, you may end up stressing your new pet out so much that it loses its tail.

The key here is to be patient and let the crested gecko get used to your presence at its own pace. Never rush the process of bonding with a new crested gecko – it will always backfire.

Reason 4 – Incorrect Environmental Parameters

Did you know that having incorrect humidity and temperature of the enclosure can also stress your pet crested gecko out so much that it loses its tail? It is true.

Therefore, you must be mindful of the humidity and temperature of the enclosure and ensure that these parameters are always in the ambient range.

The ambient range for humidity in the enclosure of a crested gecko is between 60% and 80%. Similarly, the ambient range for temperature is between 70- and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

You should provide a temperature gradient in the enclosure with a cool spot to allow your crested gecko to cool off when it needs to.

You should also ensure that the humidity levels do not cause bacterial or fungal growth. This is why misting is also very necessary.

Every owner of a pet crested gecko needs to keep these pointers in check to ensure that the crested gecko does not experience stress. Eliminating stress will automatically prevent the loss of its tail.

Reason 5 – Escaping A Predator

This reason is only valid for the crested geckos who live in the wild. Quite often, when they are caught by their predators, they drop their tails to escape the clutches of their predators and save their lives.

Does It Hurt When A Gecko drops Its Tail?

It does not cause much physical pain to your crested gecko when it drops its tail.

But the very fact that the loss of tail happens in times of extreme stress or threat is indicative of the mental stress involved in losing a tail.

Moreover, it may take some time for your pet crested gecko to get used to balancing itself without its tail. However, there is no physical pain for your crested gecko as such either during or after losing its tail.

What Happens If A Crested Gecko Loses Its Tail?

A crested gecko cannot regrow its tail once it is lost. So, the one thing that cannot happen is the tail growing back.

But this does not hamper the health and life of a crested gecko in a major way. A crested gecko who has just lost its tail will experience some imbalance and difficulty in the movement for the first few days.

But eventually, it gets used to not having a tail and returns to its normal routine of playing, running around the enclosure, and climbing and jumping inside the foliage.

Losing Its Tail In The Wild

In the wild, a crested gecko will drop its tail as a defense mechanism to escape a predator. It happens very often that a predator grabs a crested gecko by its tail.

In such a case, a stressed-out and scared crested gecko will drop its tail in order to escape the predator and save its life.

Another reason behind a tail being dropped in the wild could be the stress that comes due to the shortage of food in the wild.

If a crested gecko is unable to forage or hunt for a long time in the wild, starvation leads to stress, which leads to the crested gecko losing its tail.

Losing Its Tail In Captivity

When kept as a pet, a crested gecko does not have to stress out about being predated or starving.

However, there are other stressors that may cause it to drop its tail. Some of the stressors that can cause this loss of tail to happen are:

• Forced or too frequent handling
• Forced cohabitation
• Bullying by cohabitated crested geckos
• Incorrect environmental parameters for a long time
• Excess noise in the room where the enclosure is kept

Do The Tails Of Crested Geckos Grow Back?

No, the tails of crested geckos do not grow back. Unlike other geckos, a crested gecko cannot regrow its tail once it is dropped.

Why Do Crested Gecko Tails Not Grow Back?

Geckos have something called fracture planes inside their body. This allows them to drop their tails in pieces and regrow them gradually.

However, a crested gecko has only one fracture plane. So, while it can drop its tail without any pain or complication, it cannot regrow the tail back.

What Age Do Crested Geckos Drop Their Tails?

The dropping of the tail by a crested gecko is part of its flight response. It has nothing to do with age. So, no age bar needs to be crossed for a crested gecko to drop its tail.

Regardless of its age, when a crested gecko feels threatened, and when its flight response gets activated, it will drop its tail and escape.

Does It Hurt A Crested Gecko To Lose Its Tail?

It does not cause any significant pain for a crested gecko to lose its tail.

The body of a crested gecko has evolved in a way that it is easy for the crested gecko to lose the tail without any physical pain or complication. So, it does not hurt a crested gecko to lose its tail.

Why Does The Tail Move On Its Own?

When a crested gecko drops its tail, you will notice that the tail still keeps moving on its own for a little while – this is much like how when you behead a turkey, its body flops around for some time.

The basic reasoning behind this is that the nerves in the tail are still firing and will continue to do so for some time – usually a few minutes, but in some cases, well up to half an hour.

Gecko tails move on their own to distract a predator.

How Common Is It For A Crested Gecko To Lose Its Tail?

It is very common for a crested gecko to lose its tail in the wild. In the wild, a crested gecko is an animal that can be predated upon by other wild animals.

So, dropping the tail is a part of the flight response that a crested gecko has evolved to protect itself. And in the wild, it is common for crested geckos to encounter predators on an almost daily basis. So, it is very common for a crested gecko in the wild to lose its tail.

In captivity, however, it is neither common nor healthy for a crested gecko to lose its tail.

If anything, it is a sign that there is some fault in the caretaking of the pet crested gecko. As pets, crested geckos are safeguarded from their biggest threats – predators.

There are no predators for a crested gecko in captivity. Neither does a pet crested gecko need to worry about food being in short supply or environmental conditions getting too harsh to handle.

So, there is virtually no reason for a crested gecko to feel threatened to a point where it activates the flight response and drops its tail.

In captivity, therefore, it is uncommon and unhealthy for a crested gecko to drop its tail because otherwise, it is an indication of loopholes in caretaking.

What To Do If Your Crested Gecko Dropped Its Tail

There is nothing much you can do once your crested gecko has already dropped its tail – it is incapable of growing the tail back. However, aftercare is important if you observe your pet dropping its tail.

Recheck the caretaking.

In captivity, there are no natural reasons for your crested gecko to feel so threatened that it drops its tail. So, if that has happened, it is an indication that the caretaking needs a revamp.

Remove stressors from the environment.

Tail dropping is an indication of stress in crested geckos. And stress can have adverse effects on the health of your pet.

So, find the root cause of stress and remove all stressors to the best of your capability – this will prevent any further health-related or behavioral problems from arising.

Dispose of the dropped tail.

Remove the dropped tail from the enclosure and dispose of it safely. You need to do this immediately because otherwise either the crested gecko may mistake it for food later, or it will decompose and start causing risks of infection inside the enclosure.

Should You Force A Tail Drop In Your Crested Gecko?

You should never force a crested gecko to drop its tail. The entire process of tail dropping is part of a flight response in crested geckos which gets activated only when they feel threatened.

You should never make your crested gecko feel so unsafe that its flight response gets activated and it drops its tail.

How To Prevent Tail Loss?

The best way to prevent tail loss in crested geckos is to make them feel safe. This sense of safety will come with proper caretaking and regular monitoring. Some basic pointers that may help to prevent tail loss include:

• Ensuring the temperature, humidity, and other environmental parameters are properly maintained.
• Ensuring timely food and constant supply of clean drinking water.
• Ensuring that there are no stressors in and around the enclosure.
• Ensuring proper lighting, heating, etc.

Is A Tailless Crested Gecko Less Valuable?

No, not at all. A tailless crested gecko is not at all lesser in value in any way. Your tailless pet crested gecko will experience no other change in its lifestyle other than a change in its physical appearance.

It will take some time to adjust to balancing without the tail – but even that will happen within a couple of days.

Once the stressors of the environment are eliminated, yo

Summary

The dropping of the tail by crested geckos is a consequence of the flight response of the gecko being activated when it is under threat.

In the wild, it is common for crested geckos to drop their tails because there they are under constant threat of predators.

But in captivity, the dropping of the tail is uncommon and could be an indication that the caretaking needs a revamp. Once a crested gecko drops its tail, it cannot regrow a new tail.