[curryman25]

Hello everyone,
I was misting my viv today when I noticed two tiny p. laticaudas running around--they must have hatched this morning!! This was very unexpected, as I did not see the eggs (which it turns out were in the very back of the viv hiding under a bromeliad).
I will post pictures when I get back from the store picking up the deli cups and supplies to start a new hatchling vivarium.

I'm asking for help because these are my first babies! I just want to know the basic do's and dont's when it comes to hatchling gold dusts. Specifically, what lighting should I give them, when I should expect them to eat first. I guess I need a general overview on hatchling care.

I've done my research and think I know what I'm doing, but I know the toughest part is the first week right? Please give me a hand. I'm going to get some fluorescent lighting for them--should I treat this like care for adults, only scaled-down?

Please give this new dad a hand!

Thanks,
Brian

[LLDG]

You got it Brian. Starting them like scaled down adults is a good start.

Differences:
Need more humidity and water than adults
Feed Daily for the first three months (I do this)
First meal should be day 2 after hatching and should be fruit nectar
Vitamins can be started after their first meal. They gotta start eating.
Pinhead crickets or fruit flies.

[daggekko]

Hey, congratulations on the new babies! I hatched out my first Phelsuma about 3 months ago (P laticauda). I honestly don't believe they are hard to raise. As far as heating and lighting go, I have been following the method of bright lights but no UV lighting. Take care of this with supplements.

Anyhow, I would try not too cook the babies if you are going to use deli cups to raise them. I personally went with kritter keepers. Use pieces of folded up paper to plug the holes in a few holes in the top, specifically where the handles attach to the top and in one corner there is usually a hole for air line tubing(for the people that use these for temporary fish tanks). I did have one of my babies get out of one keeper and into the other keeper. It was odd but since then I just plugged those holes. I have a 20" lamp on top of the kritter keepers with 2 screw in fluorescent bulbs(from the fish dept at walmart). These are very bright and not too warm. You just have to warm them up enough, but don't melt plastic or cook the gecko.

As far as feeding goes, I culture fruit flies and use baby food. I don't get to see the babies eat but I know they are. Once the babies are about 4-6 weeks old you can get some small crickets(1 week old at first and sometimes 2 week old(use your judgement to decide if the crickets are too large for the babies). I order crickets for my other geckos and for the first week I can usually feed my baby geckos on the new crickets-until the crickets have grown to large. I don't know how soon they will start to eat baby food but I know for certain my 3 month old babies are eating it. I just use different fruit flavors. I usually skip a day inbetween meals to make sure that there aren't a bunch of leftovers in the enclosures. Leftover crickets could potentially make a meal out of a baby gecko(hard to believe but I'm not taking chances!)

I supplement at every feeding with babies. Depending on what you are using it could be different but they do need extra calcium until they are nearly full grown. I am using Repashy calcium plus ICB at every feeding and like the results I am getting. I even mix it in to the baby food.

I decided to go with live plants in 2 of my keepers, but the 3rd I just used fake flowers. Both seem to be good. I do like the live plants better, but it is hard to find them small enough. I jammed bamboo horizontally in the keepers as well, and cut about 1/2 inch groove down the length so I could see in and the babies could use it as a hiding place. Cypress mulch is used as the bedding. I've never had problems using this. I try to spray them down daily or every other day. It varies a bit but definately at least every other day.

[daggekko]

Hey, I like Leann's(LLDG) method, but I don't always follow directions exactly. Here is a picture of my current baby enclosures.
[IMG][/IMG]
Good luck however you choose. Let us know if you have any more questions.

[LLDG]

I love Adam's placement of juvenile right behind his computer! I also like the bamboo set up in the Kritter Keepers. Got to try that.

[daggekko]

Leann, my first baby setups had bamboo at a diagonal from the bottom of one corner to the top of the opposite corner. Once I did the setups with the bamboo horizontal near the top I went from almost never seeing the babies to seeing them daily sitting out! I cut the bamboo at a slight angle to match the Kritter keeper walls and used a little paper towel to make it a tighter fit.