[cindy]

Hi there,

I have a male and female Gekko vittatus, wich are housed in the same space as my male Turner's thickfinger gecko. My male vittatus spends most off it's day hiding under a leaf with my Turner's gecko. They get along great, but he doesn't seems to be interessted in my female vittatus at all...
I've tried to take my Turner's gecko male out of the vivarium, but they both stopped eating!!
As soon as I placed my Turner's gecko back in the enclosure, they started hunting again.
Does anybody know why my male issn't interessted in a female of it's own species, but rather spends it's time with a male of another species??

Greetz,
Cindy

[cliff_f]

I highly advise not to keep them two diff species housed together for one. Maybe they are stressed because you are keeping them together like that.

[audio]

lmao i have no idea on that one...
they stop eating when you take out the other species? that's crazy...
I would look up breeding tips for that species, you can change the temperature and humidity to help initiate breeding. I'm not sure what to change it to though. Maybe if you keep out the 2nd species longer they'll adjust and start eating again. Then maybe he'll become more aware of the female? I'm just throwing things out there though...

[Ingo]

You mix a gecko from very arid regions with a relative from very humid regions. So what kind of climate do you provide?
While I in fact do mix species myself, it is of course of utmost importance to choose species which are compatible and one of the first -of many- points to consider is identical climatic needs. Those could not be more different in that case.
That animals stop eating for some time if conditions are changed abruptly has nothing to do with a bonding to a cage mate of such deviant origin.

[cindy]

First off al; thanks you all for your feedback!

I am well aware that I keep two different species in the same enclosure. But In their natural habitat Chondrodactylus turneri lives in slightly wet forrest type regions as well as in very dry regions. They thrive very well in both types. For what i've read; Gekko vittatus lives in slightly wet forrest type regions. The temperature off my enclosure is approximatelly 26 degrees Celcius, and I spray the enclosure daily. All tree animals look well-fed, they shed their skin regularly and show a normal behaviour. The only thing that questioned me is that my male vittatus doesn't seems to be interessted in the female.
On the other hand; I do not own both animals quite some time now, but rescued the female recently from a reptile store were she was kept between 6Leopard geckos in a dessert terrarium(!!) The male vittatus, who arrived two weeks later, was a gift from my friend, because Miss. Stripe was suddenly al alone in her new home.
I can understand if you don't approve my desisions, keeping and care of these species, but please do not immediately judge me over this! I was just asking for an explainition...

[Ingo]

Well put. But still, G . vittatus prefers very humid microclimate and Chondrodactylus turneri, even though it can tolerate some humidity, prefers a dryer setup. More importantly, the Chondrodactylus is used to strong temp. drops at night and the skunk gecko prefers moderate temp fluctuations.
As I said, I do mix species but I would not do it for these two.
To more specifically adress your question: G. vittatus are stress sensitive animals which may need months or even a year for full acclimatization. If I remember correcly, my breeder pair needed a year before having the first clutch of eggs.
So they just may need somemore time.
Also a well done structure of the tank can help. For G. vittatus you should provide lots of branches of at least the diameter of the geckos body and some branches of at least 3-4 times that diameter. Also the tank should be heavily planted to give the geckos a rich choice for shelters where they can hide witout beeing seen.
I do keep my G. vittatus slightly dryer in winter to give them a rest (also my herp room is a bit cooler in winter and overall light intensity is reduced since many of the metal halides are not used when the inhabitants of the respective tanks are out for hibernation). During this time my skunk geckos do not reproduce. In march I increase misting from once a day to 4 times a day (Which a C. turneri would hate) and in april I do find the first eggs. They continue laying till I reduce the misting schedule again in september. Usually the october clutch is the last one.
One year I did not change the misting schedule and the female produced year round.

Hope that helps

Ingo

[cindy]

Thanks for helping me out, Ingo! I really appriciate that!! There issn't much info about this species in my own language (Dutch). So most of the info I have obtained, was from English or American sites on the internet. I do use live plants in their vivarium, but I don't think they have enough climbing abillity...
I'll visit the reptile store later this day, and bring some branches home for them.

I would really like to seperate my Turner's gecko again, but I'm afraid he will stop eating again. His female recently died becauce off eggbinding, and it is since that day, that he lives with my vittatus couple. I've looked around in different reptile stores and on the internet to purchase a new female, but unsuccesfull yet.
I now have my hopes up for an upcoming reptile show, were I hopefully will find a new mate for him.
If I seperate him now, how long can he survive without eating?? Because the show is on june, 8th.

Maybe I'm just overly concerned, but I do not want to loose him either. He's not tame or anything, but he's really beautifull and even funny in his own way!

Thanks again for your advise, and I'm sorry if I sounded a bit affended the first time. I diddn't mean to!!
Kind regards,

Cindy
(and Miss. Stripe & Mister Skunk )

[Ingo]

Hi,

do not worry. A healthy P. turneri can stop eating for a month or more without loosing weight significantly. The only thing important is to take care that the gecko drinks enough.

BR

Ingo