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Golden Gecko Care?

rosebud945

rosebud945

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Hi. I am new to the forum. I do know some members from other forums. I am a rescue rehabber from SE Texas. I started rehabbing lizards a few years ago.

Yesterday, a lady surrendered a three year old, three footed golden gecko to my shelter. I have kept leos before, but understand that the care for this little guy will be different. I plan to get him on a good diet and make sure he is healthy, and then adopt him out.

He was surrendered in a ten gallon tank. :( The tank has been heated mostly with a UTH, and rarely any lamp or light. He has been fed only bugs. He is on bark, but that will be tossed very soon as it smells bad.

His temps now are 94 at the lamp/uth end, and 78 at the other end. He is hanging in the 94 degree area and has been all day. I put some salad with fruit pieces in.

Questions:
What is the best substrate?
Does the plant/fruit matter need to be pureed or will he eat sliced or diced?
Does he need any UV/UVB?

Thanks so much!
 
Golden gecko care? ANYBODY?????

Can anyone give me advice about how to care for this gecko? There is a lot of mixed advice out there, and I have questions. Thanks.
 
I've had my golden for about four years now. He eats mainly crickets dusted with calcium and herptivite, but occasionally I give him fruit flavored baby food or flavored CGD. Ambient temps in the tank (30x12x24) are in the mid to high 80s and it is misted heavily with a pressure sprayer once in the morning and once at night. I keep two large Dracaenas in the tank (which are potted) and he licks the water off the leaves.

He does not tolerate handling at all and I rarely see him in the daytime. Also, I use a 60 watt red bulb to keep up the temps at night.

Good Luck!
 
Sorry, I didn't address your questions specifically...

1. I use cypress mulch. It holds humidity well and is cheap enough to replace on a regular basis.

2. I have not seen my golden chomp down on solid pieces of fruit. I use the pureed stuff.

3. I have not provided any UVB, as this gecko is completely nocturnal. I do use a calcium supplement with D3 1-2 times a month. The rest of the time I use calcium without D3.
 
Thanks! And . . .

Thanks. I have been making the mistake of turning off the light and letting the temps drop to around 75 at night.

I do have a few more questions. I need to put him in a larger enclosure, at least until I adopt him out, but wonder if extra foot space will be okay for now. He only has three feet, and I have not seen him climb at all. He stays on the ground, but then he has only had UTHs for heat for three years. The missing foot is a front one, and yesterday I did see him kinda glass dancing, but he never actually scaled the glass, and I never see him climb the branch that is in the enclosure.

Also, I am in SE texas. I have a big wildlife room that has two solid walls, and three sides walls that are hardware cloth. It is in the low 90s with humidity outside now. Would he be okay if ambient temps stayed in the upper 80s to 90 for a few hours a day?

Thanks.
 
Letting the temps drop to 75F at night is not a mistake that is prefectly fine for them. Also you need to turn the lights off at night. They are nocturnal that is when they are more active. If you keep the lights on all the time you can really mess them up. Yes it is find if the Temps get in the lower 90s during the day.
 
Thanks. Since I started this thread, I moved him into my open air wildlife room where the daytime temps get into the upper 80s low 90s, humidity levels are never below 60 percent and mostly in the 70-80 percent range this time of year, and I use zero lighting or heat. He is thriving! He has doubled in size, climbs now, attacks supers and crix every day, and cleans up a dish of baby food fruit a few times a week. I think he thinks he died and went to heaven, but he is in for an even better change. He is going to a nature center that maintains a large arboreal display, so he will have even more room to climb! ;)
 
Hello

Hello Donna,
I don't think you told me you had taken in a golden gecko. Ah, it sounds like he is doing pretty well now.
He will certainly have tons of room once he gets to go to a nature center. When will he be moved?
What a life he has now though, he sounds spoiled. :D

Tracie
 
Hey Tracie! :wavey:

Yeah, he was surrendered a few months ago. This lady had him in a ten gallon tank with only UTHs and fed him crix a few times a month. I was surprised at his condition, thinking that he was normal sized and fairly healthy in spite of the lax care until he gained weight and started pretty much shining gold! :crazy03: Turns out, he prefers silks and supers to crix, and he gets the baby food of course. He about doubled in size, and has gone from hanging on the ground and fairly slow to move to leaping up onto branches and glass climbing. He hears me open the tank lid, and he shoots out of that cave and looks me right in the eye, then looks for whatever I have brought him! :thumbsup:

He will go down to the center as soon as we can work out transport. Its only about 50 miles, but I am just so busy and so is the lady that runs the center! :rolleyes:
 
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