One goal of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) is to understand the role of development in the origin of phenotypic novelty and convergent evolution. Geckos are an ideal system to study this topic as they are species-rich and exhibit a suite of diverse morphologies — many of which have independently evolved multiple times within geckos. Classic examples of such morphologies are adhesive toepads, which have been gained and lost at least 12 and seven times, respectively, through gecko evolutionary history. Crested geckos (Correlophus ciliatus) not only exhibit impressive adhesive toepads, but also an adhesive pad located at the tip of their prehensile tails. Although C. ciliatus was presumed extinct before being rediscovered in 1994, this species is now abundant in the pet trade, providing the ideal opportunity to study the development of these remarkable structures. Due to the overall differences in adult morphology between C. ciliatus toepads and tailpads, we hypothesized that the adhesive tailpads of C. ciliatus are not serial homologs of toepads; therefore, we predicted that tailpads would exhibit different morphological and temporal developmental patterns to those of toepads. To test this hypothesis, generated embryonic series of C. ciliatus and Lepidodactylus lugubris, a non-adhesive-tailed gecko. We visualized tail and toepad development using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Early development of C. ciliatus tailpads is similar to that of toepads but rapidly diverges from this pattern through the formation of granular scales. Here, we discuss evidence for the serial homology and novel scale formation of adhesive tailpads and discuss development of adhesive structures in a phylogenetic context.