SHIPPING 

When arriving, the animals are typically slightly cooler than ideal temperatures. It is important to let them gradually warm up to room temperature, opposed to exposing them to a rapid temperature shift. For crested geckos and other New Caledonian geckos, this is simple, since they are adequate at room temperature and need no supplementary heat.  
 
When you take the animal from the box, give the deli cup a quick inspection to make sure the animal is generally fine, and wasn’t banged up in shipping. It is a rare occurrence, but can happen nonetheless.  
 
Crested geckos are also known for occasionally dropping a tail during shipping. This affects the animal in no way regarding health or ability to breed. But if it does happen, be sure to set them up accordingly in their quarantine enclosure (typically paper towels for substrate, and everything swapped out and cleaned every few days while the wound heals over.)  
 
When you’re preparing to remove the gecko from the deli cup, be sure to do so over, or at least near the enclosure, as it will likely be jumpy due to being shipped. If you can manage to get them to cooperate, lightly grip the gecko to remove it from the cup, and give a more thorough inspection, prior to setting it in the enclosure to settle in.  
 
The first few weeks: 
This part is important, for the health of the animal. As tempting as it will be, only subject the animal to minimal handling during the first several weeks. We suggest at least a 2-3 week period to let the animal acclimate to its new environment prior to really handling. During this period, you can certainly expose the animal to your hands briefly while you’re spot cleaning the enclosure, placing new food in, or removing old food. This will help the animal get acclimated to the enclosure, but also acclimated to you, while you also take this time to observe the animal and learn it’s behaviors.  
 
Quarantine: 
Whenever you add a new animal to your care, it is critically important to quarantine them, regardless of where they’re coming from. This is important for not only the health of your new animal, but also to the health of animals already in your care. This period allows you to closely monitor the animal and ensure it is eating and staying hydrated fine, but also producing waste fine. Typically, we recommend at least a 60-day period, though if everything is fine, or we thoroughly trust the source, we will abbreviate that to 30 days, but never shorter.  
 
During this period, simply be sure to wash your hands thoroughly between handling any other animals and their enclosure/décor, and handling the new animal and its décor. Additionally, we always recommend handling the new animal last (ie- if you’re making rounds placing new food cups, place the new animal’s last, but still wash your hands prior.)