Zoo Med vs Exo Terra Crested Gecko Kits

Both kits are glass cages of about 30 × 30 × 45 cm (12 × 12 × 18 in), sold as complete starter setups for crested geckos. The Exo Terra kit sells for about $90 and the Zoo Med kit for about $25 more. A cage this size works for one adult. Two or more adults need a bigger cage.

The Zoo Med kit

The Zoo Med cage has one front door and slightly flimsy latches. The screen top has slots for power cords, with clips to close the ones you don't use. The background is laminated paper glued to the back.

• Care book: some good information, some questionable. It says a female can lay 20 clutches, or 40 eggs, a year; mine lay a clutch a month at most, generally 16 to 18 eggs a year. It also says the cage suits two adults. Don't use it as your main care guide.
• Plant: needle-like leaves that give very little cover.
• Stick: I really like it. It is sterilised, and the rough bark helps with shedding. Never use a stick from outside unless it has been sterilised.
• Water dish: good. Shallow and almost impossible to tip. Crested geckos do drink standing water; I haven't sprayed a cage in 8 years.
• Food dish: I would not use it. It sits so low that geckos walk through it, the food dries on their feet, and they struggle to climb and shed. Upgrade to an elevated magnetic dish.
• Eco Earth: compressed coconut fiber. I love it and use it in my lay boxes.
• Repashy calcium: a solid calcium for dusting crickets. When it runs out, I use Repashy Calcium Plus.
• ReptiSafe water conditioner: not needed. I have used straight tap water for almost 10 years without a problem.
• ReptiVite and Zoo Med crested gecko food: the food is coarse, mixes badly and geckos don't eat it well. I would throw both away and buy a better complete diet.

The Exo Terra kit

The Exo Terra cage has two front doors and a sturdier clasp. With a flighty gecko you can open one door to feed or mist, which leaves less room to escape.

• Thermometer and hygrometer: analog, so less precise than digital, but temperature and humidity are information you need, and the Zoo Med kit gives you nothing for it.
• Plantation soil: a compressed brick much like Eco Earth.
• Hide: my favorite item in either kit. Big leaves, a rough surface for shedding, and hollow at the back and top so a gecko can sit fully enclosed.
• Background: removable textured foam that geckos can climb. But crickets left in the cage will eat into it, and your gecko then eats the crickets. Feed crickets in a separate tub, or remove any left over the next morning.

My verdict

Both are good places to start, and neither is everything you need. Strip out what I would not use from the Zoo Med kit and you are left with similar setups. Zoo Med keeps the calcium; Exo Terra has the gauges and a far better hide. For my money, I would buy the Exo Terra. Then add a magnetic food dish, more plants, decorations and a vine for climbing.