Gargoyle Gecko Humidity: Your Guide For 2025

Gargoyle geckos originate from the subtropical regions of New Caledonia. Therefore, these species prefer to live in highly humid and warm habitats.

You must maintain humidity levels of 60 – 80 percent to keep the gargoyle geckos healthy and happy.

Ignoring their humidity requirements is like placing them in a desert.

But since we don’t want your gecko to die from dehydration, we’ve compiled this guide to help you understand the humidity requirements of pet gargoyle geckos.

Importance Of Humidity For Gargoyle Geckos

Gargoyle geckos come from a subtropical region. As such, their bodies have adapted to living under fairly high humid conditions.

This is a clear indication that humidity plays an important role in the survival of gargoyle geckos. Here is why:

Keeps The Gecko Hydrated

Gargoyle geckos do better when their bodies are hydrated. Allowing the humidity levels of their enclosure to go down can lead to dehydration.

Dehydration can harm the gecko’s health and if not addressed quickly, it can become fatal.

Promote Better Shedding

Just like other gecko species, gargoyle geckos shed their skin as they grow. The shedding happens as soon as the gecko outgrows its old skin.

However, the conditions of your enclosure must be right for the gargoyle to have a complete shed.

By maintaining the correct levels of humidity in the tank, you’ll help the geckos shed without problems.

Improper humidity levels can cause incomplete shedding. That explains why some old skin gets stuck between the toes or near the eyes of your gargoyle gecko.

Promote Healthy Skin

High humidity promotes better skin health. So, if you want the gecko to have brilliant colors on the skin, maintain the right humidity levels.

Improper humidity levels cause the gargoyle gecko’s skin to become coarse, pale, and flaky.

Can Humidity Be Too High For Gargoyle Gecko?

Yes, humidity can be too high for gargoyle geckos. These geckos thrive in humid conditions but you still need to keep the humidity at the recommended levels. The ideal humidity of your gecko’s enclosure should be around 60-80%.

Don’t allow the humidity levels to rise above 80% as it might be too uncomfortable for the gargoyle gecko.

Ideally, you should allow the humidity levels to naturally increase at night as it’s when the gargoyle geckos are most active.

What Should The Humidity Be For Gargoyle Geckos?

The humidity level of a gargoyle gecko’s enclosure should range between 60 to 80 percent.

A gargoyle gecko tank should be highly humid. You ought to ensure that the hygrometer in your tank setup reads 60-80 percent.

Misting the tank should help achieve the desired humidity level. The goal is to ensure your tank isn’t drenched at all times.

Baby

Baby gargoyles need an average humidity level of 60-80 percent to promote healthy growth.

Besides, baby gargoyle geckos need a lot more humidity due to their frequent shedding.

However, you should allow the humidity levels to drop to around 50% during the day to prevent fungal and bacterial growth in the tank.

Juvenile

Juveniles will also do great in fairly humid conditions. As long as the humidity levels don’t fall below 50% and don’t rise above 80%, your juvenile gecko should be fine.

Adult

Adult gargoyle geckos should be fine with 50-70 percent humidity levels because they shed less frequently.

At least you don’t need to mist the tank plenty of times as your gargoyle gecko ages.

How To Increase Humidity For Gargoyle Gecko

Here are some tips to help raise humidity for your gargoyle geckos:

• Mist the enclosure daily (preferably in the morning and evening)
• Install a reptile fogger if you don’t prefer to spray the enclosure every day
• Add moss to the enclosure
• Change the substrate or try using wet paper towels
• Add a water feature in the enclosure (a small waterfall)

How To Maintain Humidity In a Gargoyle Gecko Tank

Humidity levels in your gecko’s enclosure will not remain constant. Sometimes the levels will drop below 50 percent, or increase significantly depending on the temperatures and climate of your area.

But since you want to maintain a certain humidity range, you’ll need to follow these tips to achieve that:

• Maintain the temperatures of your tank within the recommended range of 72 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit
• Mist the enclosure and plants twice a day
• Avoid exposing the tank to direct sunlight
• Use a substrate that retains moisture better

Always ensure you have a hygrometer in the tank to help you monitor the humidity levels with ease.

How To Lower Humidity In a Gargoyle Gecko Tank

Too much humidity in a gargoyle gecko tank can encourage bacteria and fungi growth. Therefore, you might need to lower the humidity in the tank at times. Here is how you can do it:

Ventilation of the tank

You can reduce the humidity levels by increasing ventilation in your enclosure. Proper ventilation allows air to circulate in and out of the enclosure with ease.

Consequently, the free-flowing air will absorb the excess moisture, allowing the humidity levels of the gargoyle tank to drop.

Adding a mesh screen on top of the tank is a great way to ventilate your tank without worrying about your little gecko escaping.

Ventilation of the room

Ventilating the enclosure may not work if the room isn’t well-ventilated. This is the case for people living in humid areas.

So, if ventilating the enclosure fails to work, you should try improving air circulation in the room where you keep the gecko enclosure.

Installing a humidifier in the room should work wonders. Alternatively, you can open the windows to facilitate natural airflow.

Substrate

A change of substrate can help lower humidity levels in your gargoyle gecko enclosure. As you know, some of the substrates used in gargoyle tanks are notorious for retaining moisture.

Unfortunately, such substrates may not help when you start grappling with excess humidity.

You’ll need to remove the moisture-holding substrate and replace it with newspapers or paper towels. Both substrates should help lower humidity levels in the vivarium.

Reduce Misting

Misting your gecko tank helps keep the humidity levels high. However, you might need to reduce the misting if you are struggling to keep the humidity levels down.

So, if you were spraying thrice a day, reduce it to once or twice.

Remove Live Plants

It’s quite tempting to have live plants in your tank setup. However, live plants may boost humidity to unprecedented levels.

Getting rid of the live plants and replacing them with artificial plants should help lower humidity.

While at it, choose your fake plants wisely as some of them can fray and disintegrate over time.

You wouldn’t want your gargoyle gecko to accidentally consume these pieces.

How To Create A Humid Vivarium

You must create a humid vivarium since humidity is crucial to the survival of your pet gargoyle geckos. Here is how you can ensure your vivarium stays humid at all times:

Plants

Live plants can be the key to creating humid conditions in your vivarium. And since moisture is the fuel for your tank setup, you’ll need some plants to create humidity.

In our case, we have an easy time maintaining a humid vivarium when we add live tropical plants. The more the plants, the more transpiration and water evaporation take place.

Substrates

The substrate you use in your vivarium can determine the level of humidity. So, as you pick your substrate material, ensure it can absorb and retain moisture.

For gargoyle geckos, you should use Sphagnum moss as your substrate of choice as it holds humidity well. However, if you are worried about impaction, you can use paper towels or a carpet.

Misting And Humidifiers

Automatic foggers and humidifiers are an excellent way to keep your vivarium humid.

Some people may mist their enclosures manually while others simply install an automatic mister.

With automatic misters, you can adjust them to spray your tanks at specific intervals. Just ensure that the humidity isn’t too high to cause bacteria and fungi growth.

Live plants help maintain humidity

Type Of Enclosure

When choosing a gargoyle gecko tank, you need to consider the material used to make it.

And since you want to create a humid environment, you are better off choosing a glass tank.

Glass tanks can’t allow moisture to escape easily and that should help maintain humidity in your vivarium.

Do Gargoyle Geckos Need High Humidity?

Yes, gargoyle geckos thrive in highly humid conditions. Ensure their enclosures have a humidity of around 60-80 percent.

What Is The Humidity At Night For Gargoyle Gecko?

Gargoyle geckos are quite active at night. This means they’ll need high humidity levels due to their increased activities during the night.

So, if you can maintain a humidity level of around 60-80 percent, your gargoyle gecko will enjoy it.

Extra Tips For Maintaining Humidity

Here are some extra tips we use to maintain high humidity levels in the gecko tanks:

• Use live tropical plants in the tank setup
• Install an automatic fogger or misting system
• Use sphagnum moss or coconut coir as substrate
• Add a small waterfall to increase the amount of water in the enclosure

FAQs

Is Too Much Humidity Bad For Gargoyle Geckos?

Yes, too much humidity is bad for gargoyle geckos. As much as gargoyle geckos thrive in highly humid habitats, you need to be careful about too much humidity.

Too much moisture will create the perfect conditions for bacteria and fungi infections.

Such infections can harm your gargoyle gecko’s health and cause discomfort.

That said, you need to reduce humidity to around 50% during the day to avoid such problems. Also, try to keep the humidity levels below 80%.

Do Gargoyle Geckos Need A Humidifier?

No, a humidifier can help you maintain a humid enclosure but you don’t necessarily have to use it. You can always spray the enclosure manually if you don’t have a humidifier installed.

Summary

Gargoyle geckos are tropical creatures and they need fairly high humidity. So, if you plan to add a gargoyle gecko to your pet collection, try to replicate their natural habitat.

Your gargoyle gecko’s enclosure should have a humidity level of 60-80 percent at all times. With such humid conditions, your gecko will grow and shed without problems.

Sources

• https://reptilesupply.com/blogs/care-sheets/how-to-care-for-your-gargoyle-gecko
• https://reptifiles.com/gargoyle-gecko-care-guide/gargoyle-gecko-humidity-temperatures
• https://www.reptilecymru.co.uk/gargoyle-gecko-care-guide-care-sheet
• https://www.sensorpush.com/articles/temperature-and-humidity-monitoring-for-pet-reptiles-and-amphibians