Fired up and down

Crested geckos can change color depending on their mood and climate in their environment. This is called "Firing up" or Firing down". A fired down gecko will often be pale and lack spots or stripes. A Fired up gecko is very vibrant and all their spots and stripes can be seen.

When fired up, Jasper turns into a very dark brown with lighter bands and golden to cream-colored spotting on his back and tail. When fired down, Jasper is a pale tan and you can barely make out his bands while his spots are still noticeable.  He tends to fire up when his tank gets humid (the way it should be). As you can see in the fired up image, this tank walls are saturated and so is everything else. His heat lamp evaporates the water throughout the day giving his tank a nice tropical feel. Near the end of the day, this moisture is nearly gone and his tank loses humidity...and he is sometimes fired down because of this.

Geckos can fire up for many reasons. Some fire up when they are ill or stressed. Since Jasper is obviously neither, he fires up for the other two common reasons: he's comfortable and he's active. Crested geckos are nocturnal animals. During the day, Jasper sleeps on his log and he's usually fired down. Near the end of the day (especially after being misted) he fires up and shows off all of his beautiful patterns!

As you can see, he's quite big now! He actually grew a couple inches since I got him just about a year ago. He's also two years old this month. I don't know his exact hatch day, but I heard it was in early April. He is considered to be a mature adult even though he can easily live another ten or more years. This is probably as big as he's going to get. I would get a measurement on him, but he doesn't sit still long enough for me to get a ruler out...plus that thing scares him a bit. He may not look like it, but Jasper can run away like a bolt of lighting if he get's spooked! Crested geckos are VERY good jumpers and runners!