My new wheeleri...

diplodactyla · #1 05-07-2010, 08:28 AM

Hi guys, i'd like to introduce to you my new little friend, a nephrurus wheeleri cinctus...

Here he is (i'm pretty sure he's male):

And here you are a pic of his faunabox:

for now i'll keep him on papertowel to be sure he doesn't eat sand, when he'll be adult, i'll move to a naturalistic vivarium with rocks and sand that i'm planning right now...The hot side is 32degrees, the cold is 21 (air's temperature), but i have never seen him on the cold side (maybe I have to put a piece of heating cable to rise the temp)...
He eats small dubias and blauberus and sometimes I give him baby superworms, all dusted with calcium and d3 twice a week, he has also a dish with pure calcium and instead of eating it, he use it to bath in (at least i'm sure he'll never have mom)

Critics and opinions are well accepted!!

joris · #2 05-09-2010, 03:49 PM

congratz on your new addition! looking good1

diplodactyla · #3 05-09-2010, 06:16 PM

thanks joris, he had just eaten three mini blauberus cranifer!!! I love him!

earendel83 · #4 05-12-2010, 09:24 AM

uooo... gorgeus wheeleri! it´s one of the brightest orange i´ve seen in wheeleri... congratulations!

I think´s papertowel increase stress levels, they love to dig and put sand in their back...

Maybe 21ºC are too cool for the cold-shelter in the "summer period", if i were you, i rise up near to 25-26ºC...

Beware with superworms, they have too high leves of chitin and fat, give them to your geckos only occasionally.

Regards! José R.

diplodactyla · #5 05-12-2010, 09:58 AM

thanks for the answer Josè

I put in the viv papertowel because, i use to kept him on sand (pure sand nothing added) and noticed that his poos were composed by sand, infact i made a try and break a poo between my fingers, inside there were only sand grains...so i get worried and put in a safe substrate.

It's not summer in Italy, we have an air temp of 21/22C, in summer my room reaches 29C

, i had figured out that for now that temp was too low, I'll move a piece of heat cable on the cold half.

I know the superworms are fat and hard to digest, infact i give him only one per week (or a white newly shed mealworm just to vary the diet), the other meals consist in roaches, dubia and blaberus carnifex!

oli · #6 05-12-2010, 10:28 AM

crickets are a good staple insect to vary the diet as well when gutloaded up nicely. The roaches have a hard shell, and if the heat is not enough they will sometimes have a hard time digesting them unless they are eating lateralis or some softer variety, I'm not sure how the cranifer are? Sand is the way to go, I wouldn't worry about some sand in his poops, it is true that they do better on sand and your guy is digging in his calcium dish because he is trying to camoflauge himself which he would normally do with sand. The calcium dish won't be used, it is fine to just dust his food, he will get more than enough calcium from this. I'm suprised that your guy eats superworms, I never had a wheeleri to eat any kind of worms for some reason? Nice gecko though!

sikorae · #7 05-12-2010, 05:43 PM

Stunning wheeleri, congrats

diplodactyla · #8 05-12-2010, 07:14 PM

Thanks sikorae!!

For OIL: unfortunately i cannot keep crickets, my idiot neighbours had alredy made noise for the crickets's noise

so you suggest to put back sand? And what kind have i to buy to minimize the impaction risks?? My idea was to keep this baby on towel for a while until he gets adult and then move him on a naturalistic set up made by expandin' foam...is the sand NECESSARY for him to stay healthy? Can i cause him problems if i avoid sand at all?

And if the answers are all yes, can you suggest a valid sand? (small grains are better i guess, because i use to have a sand made by big grains)

and about the food, i use only mini roaches of blaptica dubia and blaberus cranifer (not carnifex, i'm idiot sometimes) that i find great cause they cant climb, i don't really know if they are chitinous...and yes he had loved the two superworms i gave him the last month, he was satisfied after having destroyed them

sorry for all those question, i want all the best for this little cute guy

oli · #9 05-13-2010, 12:10 AM

Maybe you could just buy 5 crickets from a petstore for just that night's feeding every once in a while to vary the diet? Roaches are good too though, and superworms are pretty decent too. I like to vary the diet and it looks like you are doing that which I'm sure your little dude will appreciate. I would suggest jurassic sand. It is very fine sand, and when the grains are magnified they look round and smooth, unlike many other sands. Those calcium sands don't get good reviews and have large grains. Most people on here would agree that the jurassic sand is the way to go. I have not heard of any impaction in wheeleri, and don't know of any cases in the nephrurus genus either. It seems like a common problem in leopard geckos especially. Nephrurus in the wild reside on sandy outcrops. They are known to eat sand with their prey, and it's almost like us humans eating fiber, not really but somewhat. I would recommend sand definitely, I don't know whether it is imperative, but I've housed many hatchlings to adults on sand with no problems. I haven't heard of anyone really keeping wheeleri on paper, I have seen amyae on paper, but I wouldn't recommend it either. No caretaker of nephrurus will recommend anything but a sand or sandy loam. I am just about to make a terrarium with that foam, it should be fun to customize the whole setup. Take suggestions, I understand your apprehension, and I too want the best for you and your little friend.

diplodactyla · #10 05-13-2010, 04:27 AM

Thank you very much OIL, you are very kind!! Now i'll start searching online that jurassic sand and see if the boy likes it, i'm sure of this, because even when he was on that big grain sand, he used to throw it on his back and on his head, you're right, he needs sand!! I'll keep gu posted!!

Thanks again