[Palex134]

I got 1.1 T. tripolitanus, 1.1.1 steudneri, and 1.1 nubicus today. All arrived well, and look great. After a little accident with some nubicus and some sticky label ( long story) all are doing well, and settling down.
These are the smallest geckos ive worked with, so it will be challenging feeding any hatchlings later on.

T. steudneri: absolutely beautiful, amazing pattern





T. tripolitanus: I love this species, great scalation, and larger then the other two species







T. nubicus, beautiful Tropio, great looking eyes. I am just glad they are doing ok.




Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

[SelectGex]

Very pretty geckos!

[sune jensen]

gotta love em small and cryptic

sune

[thorrshamri]

Congrats Peter,great new geckos!
I have been looking for an ID key of the tripolitanus various subspecies but can't find any.All I can say looking at your pictures is that mine have a little more dark spots on the back,tails are slightly duller but more contrasted and more orangeish than yellowish too(as yours are),unless the pictures convey a false impression:

[danscantle]

Originally Posted by thorrshamri

Congrats Peter,great new geckos!
I have been looking for an ID key of the tripolitanus various subspecies but can't find any.All I can say looking at your pictures is that mine have a little more dark spots on the back,tails are slightly duller but more contrasted and more orangeish than yellowish too(as yours are),unless the pictures convey a false impression:

I think you are correct. The 'tripolitanus' that made it to the US this year are very different than anything I've ever seen. They have notably less speckling, a much more orange tail, and the mask on the forehead extends to the shoulder or further. These characteristics are very similar to T. bisharicus but missing some additional diagnostic features. I wish I had a key to the tripolitanus subspecies as well.

And interesting note about T. nubicus. I incubated one T. steudneri egg at 34C (93F) this year. The baby that hatched was noticebly duller than his siblings, with a pattern comparable to nubicus! Unfortunately, after my 1700mile move to upstate New York all of my baby Tropiocolotes escaped from their new cage. I managed to find all but one...

[Palex134]

ya I dont know the origin of these Tropios, I didnt ask. I bought them from Boone, and they are all nice, big, and healthy. The nubicus are doing better, hopefully a lot less stressed this morning, so I will get some pictures later on. If they are not CB, he did a damn good job on acclimating these guys to perfection!


I do agree though that my tripolitanus do have less speckling and more orange on the tail. They are probably the favorites of my Tropios so far, but then again, I love the pattern on the stuedneri.

Thanks Danscantle too for the info. I will make sure to get secure hatchling containers. Has anyone tried incubation in situ for these guys? I have heard the parents leave them alone and will not feast on them.

[danscantle]

Yes, that is probably the easiest way to hatch and raise them. I throw the babies back in with the adults once they've hatched and my data has been recorded.

[René]

Those nubicus are really beautiful!
Gorgeous little animals!

Originally Posted by Palex134

Has anyone tried incubation in situ for these guys? I have heard the parents leave them alone and will not feast on them.

I'm incubating my T. steudneri eggs in situ.
I only have this species for a short time. There's one egg in the viv now and the female is pregnant again.
The parents should indeed leave the hatchlings alone, so that shouldn't be a problem.

René.

[thorrshamri]

Is feeding fruitflies to hatchlings unproblematic?Can I feed them fruitlies maggots too?

[thorrshamri]

About tripolitanus subspecies,this is what I found:

"Coloration is basically sand-brown, but the dorsal patterns vary. There is a brown streak on the side of the head and neck which passes through the eye and ends above the forelegs. (In T.t. somalicus, these stripes merge on the neck in a horseshoe pattern). Apart from this, there are often dark brown spots and/or small spots on the head and dorsal surfaces. There may also be up to seven vague transverse bands on the body and up to 10 bands on the tail. The ventral surfaces are white. The different subspecies are differentiated by the postmental scales. It should be noted that not all subspecies are recognised by all authorities: some only recognise T. t. somalicus, while others only recognise algericus and occidentalis. See Szczerbak and Golubev for a discussion of the subspecies and the various authorities. Scalation details: 7-10 supralabials, of which 2-3 reach orbit. 5-8 infralabials. Postnasals and internasals much larger than surrounding scales. Nostrils pierced between the rostral, the 1st labial and 3 nasals or between the 1st supralabial and two nasals. The mental is followed by a pair of chin shields. 8-13 scales across head. 42-48 scales round midbody. 34-48 ventral scales across midbody. Scalation is imbricate and rhomboidal, with dorsal and ventral scales strongly keeled. Fingers: 11-17 subdigital lamellae. Breeding: takes place May-October, with up to 6 clutches of 2 eggs being laid every 4 weeks".

There also exists of course the nominate subspecies,plus T. t. apoklomax which does not seem an accepted name everywhere.

http://www.nephrurus.org/gattung_tro...otes_alles.htm

Here you will find pics of 3 subspecies,I think ours cannot be occidentalis,it would be either of the two others.

This is purely speculative,but the distribution range is so wide that there could be various localities within the same subspecies.Some populations may be separated from each other by natural barriers,i.e. oueds (riverbeds which become flooded when a storm comes),mountains especially in Algeria,and so on.This would explain pattern and colour variation too,what do you guys think?