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NOTE: Please find other gecko species' husbandry sheets above.
So, you've purchased or been given your first day gecko. Well, there are a few things you need to know to get started.
In the pages that follow, I hope to provide the basic information you need to maintain a healthy pet day gecko.
Additional, more in-depth information can be found later in this chapter.
- If You Have Not Made The Purchase Yet....
Day geckos have a few requirements you should know about before purchasing them as a pet.
Your new pet will require a tight fitting top to their enclosure. They will crawl on the glass, they will jump, and they are extremely fast.
While they are one of the most colorful geckos, handle them takes quite a bit of experience and patience.
They do also require misting each day. These geckos take in their water from dew/rain on leaves in nature.
When you are ready to purchase your first day gecko, look for healthy animal.
A perky disposition (not constantly sleeping) is something you should look for. If you are purchasing on-line, ask specific questions.
Your experience, and the animal's will be more enjoyable if you start with a
healthy gecko.
Finally, you should be prepared to care for your gecko before purchasing the animal. The best way to do that is to continue reading.
- Did you know this about day geckos?
- There are many, many species of day geckos (Phelsuma)
- They are different from geckos in that they are not nocturnal (the name day gecko should make that pretty obvious).
- The day gecko can only be found on the islands of Madagascar which is mostly a rainforest environment.
- Day geckos are arboreal. They crawl through tree branches, jumping from limb to limb. As mentioned earlier, they will climb the glass of an aquarium.
- The various species of day geckos can grow from 2.5 to 12inches (full length)!
- Day geckos may drop their tails. If roughly handled by the tail, it may come off.
This is a defensive behavior, where a bird or even larger lizard get a tail for a meal and the day gets to live another day.
- Male day geckos are very intolerant of other males. 2 males should never be housed together.
- Enclosures, What Do I Keep Them In?
Now that you have your first gecko, what do you do with it. Your gecko needs a home. There are several options available to you.
One of the easiest, and least expensive methods of housing day geckos involves using an empty glass aquarium. A 10 gallon is fine for younger animals or adult species that stay small, but is a bit too small for one adult of the medium/larger sized species.
A 20 high works well for smaller sized day geckos as they will enjoy the extra area the high tank will provide. Larger species need at least a 29 g sized enclosure.
Two to three averaged sized days (1 male and 2 females) should be kept in minimally an enclosure of 16X16X32 (LxWxH).
If you are using a glass enclosure, select a permanent place away from the sun as they can heat up very quickly.
A screen top is required as they can crawl up the glass sides.
Another excellent option is a full screen enclosure. This allows better air flow.
The most important aspect of the setup is the ability to provide taller plants that the day geckos can climb through to keep active.
- Heating, Lighting, and Humidity
Lighting is required with the same high UVB lighting other lizards require (such as bearded dragons and chameleons) as again, they are active during the day and do benefit from natural sunlight (or bulbs replicating sunlight).
A florescent bulb that provides UVB is required to light the enclosure and provides for the proper synthesis of calcium to vitamin D3. A timer to control turning the light on and off is very useful.
A "red" light can be used if you wish to enjoy your reptile's night time activity.
Heating- Day geckos require a day temperature between 79 and 89 degrees F and night temperature between 64 and 72.
One way to warm up the enclosure is to use an incandescent 'basking' light.
Attach it to the enclosure so there is no possibility it will come into contact with the animal and will not overheat the screen material.
Also, make sure the animals have an area in the enclosure to move to that is cooler.
- Humidity
Humidity for day geckos is best kept between 50 and 85%. This can be accomplished by misting once or twice a day.
This will aid in their water intake as well.
If humidity levels cannot be maintained at the desired levels, consider closing off sections of the screened enclosure or screen top.
- Bottoms Up!
As important as other elements of your gecko's enclosure is the substrate they will spend all their time on.
There are many options such as slate or tile, Repti-carpet, cocofibers, organic dirt, paper towels, and a bare bottom setup.
A decision you must make is how much maintenance you anticipate putting into the gecko enclosure.
If using tile, slate, bare bottom tank, or carpets they will need to be removed/washed occasionally.
Coco fibers will need to be discarded once feces build up.
Finally, not mentioned in the above list are products such as orchid bark and sand that, when ingested, will cause severe impaction problem with your gecko.
Because of this, these materials are not recommended at all.
- Other Furnishing
Hides
Your day gecko needs lots of room to 'exercise'- scamper about the enclosure. The best additions for this are taller, broad leaf plants, real or artificial, and wooden branches.
There should not be so many branches added that the geckos have a difficult time crawling and jumping between them.
One of the best sources of climbing material in a day gecko's enclosure is lengths of bamboo.
Although some type of floral cover is appreciated by day geckos, live plants are not required in your gecko enclosure.
Artificial plants work as well. However, live plants will maintain moisture levels and may serve as a place for female day geckos to lay their eggs (see breeding sheet).
Cork bark works well as both a decoration and a place for the day gecko to hide during daytime hours.
Although not desired by your day gecko, you may wish to use rocks or driftwood as decorations in your enclosure. Make sure any rocks or driftwood added to your day gecko's enclosure is both washed thoroughly and does not contain any sharp edges.
Another consideration is that when adding the new furnishings, they are in place and cannot topple onto your new pet.
Dishes
A small dish should be provided for water. Day geckos will use this for drinking. The water must be fresh, so replacement should be done every other day or so.
The water in the dish should be accessible to the gecko and the dish not so large and deep that they could drown.
Although a water dish is provided, day geckos still require misting at least once a day as they drink off of the leaves.
Do not mist so much though that the water does not evaporate within a half day's time.
Here you will find other great Day Gecko Care Sheets
next topic- Breeding and Genetics
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Copyright Walter Kern, Supreme Gecko ©2007
All images and text Copyright Supreme Gecko ©2007 unless otherwise noted
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