Who works with Sandstone Geckos?

MauricesExoticPets · #1 09-24-2010, 08:49 PM

I'd like to hear about your experience with them, I'm just now considering the potential of getting into them.

I'm particularly interested in any issues or major pitfalls. Errors in care I'll want to avoid like the plague.

Care info and any other info would be great as well.

If I do go ahead with keeping them, I'd like to work with as many unrelated individuals as possible, this does not mean I'm against WC rather I'm somewhat interested in gathering some WC to mix in with a number of CB individual lines.

Thanks,
Maurice Pudlo

Geitje · #2 09-25-2010, 12:14 AM

I assume you are referring to Gekko petricolus? If so, you will probably have a lot of difficulty in finding any wc specimens of this species as they are native to Thailand - a country that does not export any longer. I'm also guessing that there are probably less than 5 keepers in the USA (realistically, maybe only 2-3!) and only a few in Europe. So, your chances of getting this species are from very limited resources and with limited bloodlines as well.

Otherwise, their husbandry is quite straightforward like most Gekko species. They can be very productive!

Jon

Ingo · #3 09-25-2010, 06:17 AM

Yes, very hard to get. But worth the effort: They are colorful -at least the males-, partly diurnal (in captivity), easy to keep and very prolific.
Just provide a tank with lots of artificial sandstone surfaces, including crevices and also inclusing the inner side of the top of the tank.
These geckos love to sit upside down.
A very recommendable species.
The major problem ist, that males are rare among the offspring.
Also see my other posts on this species. Just search the forum for petricolus.
The strange thing with all these nice features and the rarity is, that it is still hard to sell the offspring and price tags are extremely low.

Best

Ingo

MauricesExoticPets · #4 09-25-2010, 09:38 AM

I've poked around the few posts here on GU, and it seems like the geckos are easy enough to care for, which is great.

There are at least a couple things I'm interested in over in Germany, namely A. vermiculatus (Cuban stream anoles), so it might be worth combining the two into a single purchase.

As for WC, do you think all that exist now in collections are CB or CBB? I consider LTC the same as WC.

Maurice Pudlo

Ingo · #5 09-25-2010, 10:42 AM

All G.petricolus in captivity in Europe and the US should be captive bred.
A.vermiculatus also is rarely available, but here you can find wc as well as cb animals.

Best

Ingo

MauricesExoticPets · #6 09-25-2010, 02:47 PM

Interesting, thanks for that information.

I was considering caging based on some of the information found here on GU, I figured a rear wall design of sandstone plates arranged like this ///////// should be fairly easy to manage in a front opening enclosure. Each plate would have enough room between them to provide me just enough room to capture the geckos if need be. My guess is the depth of each plate should be about the same as the geckos TL. The height would be floor to ceiling with each plate on a 45° angle or so.

What is your opinion on that idea, I'm open to any suggestions.

Maurice Pudlo

PassPort · #7 09-25-2010, 07:18 PM

Maurice,

All in captivity would have to be CB, since they haven't been imported in 15+ years or so.

I used to keep them (thanks again, Jon), but let them go to a friend who really appreciates Gekkos. Stunning species though, and I really enjoyed them when I had them. Lightening fast geckos indeed!

MauricesExoticPets · #8 09-26-2010, 11:23 AM

With just 3.3 unrelated geckos I'd feel pretty ok starting a project, not as good as I'd prefer but that would be the bare minimum.

Just for the sake of future planning, here is what I would do.

A 1.0
B 1.0
C 1.0
D 0.1
E 0.1
F 0.1

AxD=AD
BxE=BE
CxF=CF

AxE=AE
BxF=BF
CxD=CD

AxF=AF
BxD=BD
CxE=CE

ADxBE=ADBE
ADxCF=ADCF

ADBExCF=ADBECF

Obviously there are more combinations where unrelated individuals can be paired, I just wanted to point out my ideas and basic coding process.

This tracking system helps me work with limited founding stock, so I can develop as many unrelated lines as possible from the smallest group of founding geckos.

When availability is not an issue I prefer to start with 12 pairs, using the entire alphabet minus O and I which look too much like 0 and 1.

In any case, it would be a shame if these geckos simply faded away in the pet trade because of a general lack of interest in seriously working with them.

Do you guys think there are at least 3.3 unrelated in private hands?

Maurice Pudlo

PassPort · #9 09-26-2010, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MauricesExoticPets

Do you guys think there are at least 3.3 unrelated in private hands?

lol, maybe.

I had one of 2 males that were definitely in the states, but there may be more, just nobody talks about them. It took me over a year to find a male and Jon finally had one imported from Europe for me. Females are more available.

So to answer your question, yes, there's probably a 3.3 in the states, but you won't find anything for sale but a 0.1. They're in reality much rarer than New Zealand geckos.

sune jensen · #10 09-26-2010, 12:33 PM

yeah, it is funny how the so-called rare is often pretty common, whereas the species many people just consider cheap imports are in fact often extremely rare in captivity. I'm not too sure about NZ species though, but as for the popular and oh-so-rare Australians, most of the these are among the most commonly kept geckos in the entire hobby (but off course still to be prefered over retarded morphs).