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gecko care info needed

M

mhwc56

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Can anyone tell me anything about the care and habits of "house geckos"?
I have 2 babies. 1 is cream colored with darker cream bands on it's tail .The second one is a milk chocolate color with cream lines running from nostrils to tail base. They are both about 3 inches long from nose tip to tail tip. They're very calm seeming but FAST...
They are presently eating 2 week crix.I have them in a 12"d x 24"h x 24" w tank.Paper towels on the bottom,potted pothos plant in the center,calcium dish,water dish,mealworm dish. basking light at one end. Am I doing this right , does any one know?
Do they need belly heat like Leopard geckos? Are they diurnal or nocturnal b/c I can't tell by their behavior so far....
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Martha
 
They are EXTREMELY fast (although usually fairly calm) and the few I've kept have been able to get out through some pretty small spaces.

They are mostly nocturnal, but are awake during the day more than other species I've kept.

I never did belly heat and it seemed fine, I think as long as you can maintain 70-90 on a decent gradient they'll be fine, and they'll take temps down to 65 at night. I'm not sure if they'll lick for a calcium dish as I usually just dusted every other feeding and kept some in with the mealworms. From what I could tell they loved climbing on branches and would usually hide on the bottom of the sticks during the day. I kept a water bowl as well but they only time I ever saw them drink was when I sprayed them, so make sure you mist them often. They seemed to be pretty hardy temperature-wise, but they do need a little more humidity than other groups.

Hope that helps a little bit.

More reading:
http://www.repticzone.com/caresheets/71.html
http://www.reptileallsorts.com/housegecko.htm
http://www.the-lizard-lounge.com/content/species/house-gecko.asp
 
Thanks Brian. I never usually do "impulse buys" and see this is why .....But they were right next to the Hermit crabs that I was getting for my g'son and they were so cute and I had all the basic stuff at home anyway.
So are there different morphs of house gecko? I wonder cuz there were 3 colors I noticed when I got mine.The cream, the chocolate and then there was a rusty red color also.
Anyway,thanks so much for your help.
Martha
 
I'm not sure on the morphs, but I do know that there are a number of species which are generally called house geckos that are pretty similiar. Most of them fall into the Hemidactylus Genus. My guess is that it's quite possible for color variations to occur. Also, the common house gecko has a few supspecies so they may have picked up those as well. I guess what I'm really saying is that I have no idea and it depends on how picky the pet store is about what species they actually get.

List of Hemidactylus
http://www.geckolist.com/info/Gekkoninae/Hemidactylus/index.php

List of all Species:
http://www.geckolist.com/info/all/index.php
 
That is a HUGE number of "house" gecko species !
Do you know if they interbreed ?
Thanks for the additional information Brian. I apprecaite it.
Martha
 
Some of the species probably can, but I would suspect that it's more of the subspecies breeding with each other. For example, Hemidactylus brookii (Brook's House Gecko) has 5 subspecies, which SHOULD be able to breed with any subspecies or the parent species.

I think that interbreeding between species is possible with some species/animals, but unlikely.
 
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