[kirak]

There was a post here mentioning the natural morphs of Gekko vittatus, couldn't find it. Is it possible to learn more about these? Particularly, which morph(s) is(are) inhabiting Moluccan Islands? I am thinking of purchase of a pair, while the majority (all?) of the imported animals at the seller apparently come from the Moluccas.

Are there any diagnostic features that would help to pick a certain morph among young/half-grown animals? I would prefer those dark chocolate-brown with distinct white pattern when fully adult, but...

Any remarks would be gratefully received!

Many thanks

[Ingo]

Hi,

first, I do not know, how G. vittatus from the molucans look like.
I know of at least four different morphs occuring naturally.
1) your standard contrastly colured G. vittatus with an adult size of 23-26 cm.
2-or should I say maybe 2?) Animals which look like 1) but have a bulkier appearance and can reach almost 30 cm. The fact that these large animals came in in bulks and not as occasional individuals within normal sized animals makes me think, they may represent a certain locality and not just be very old individuals. But that is nothing but a personal guess and I may be competely wrong. I have seen these giants in imports from 2005 and 2006 and never before or after.
3) Small (21-23 cm) animals which as juvies look as contrastely coloured as animals described under 1) but which partially or fully loose white markings upon aging. These animals also tend to be much more vocal than 1)
4) De Rooj described animals from Waigeu and New Guinea, which have a purple tint, two dark dorsal stripes and tails with dark bands (originally described as G. bivittatus, which later was rejected and seen as synonyme for G. vittatus)
I have never seen these animals in the pet trade.

Also from time to time, animals which you may call calico come in. These do look normal as juvies, but loose stripes and gain the typical calico pattern as adults.

Hope that helps

Ingo

[Jan Grathwohl]

The Calico like form Ingo describes, must be the ones McCoy mentions from certain populations of the Solomon Islands - these look very calico like as adults

[kirak]

Hello!

Thanks much! That's what I wanted to know.

I made some further 'research' on local forums, and it appears to me that the Moluccan population are (at least mostly) of standard type 1. So I have good chances of receiving animals with that standard pattern.


Thanks again for helping with the issue.

kirak