[aquapimp]

Hello,

I'm considering this uncommon Paroedura for my collection. Can someone please provide some detailed husbandry protocol, and some pics perhaps? There seems to be a paucity of information on these available.

thanks!
Tom

[Riverside Reptiles]

Hey Tom, can't help ya with stumpfii info. But thought I'd say Hi since I haven't seen you around here in ages. Glad to see you back around. I think that Derek Dunlop has some stumpfii. Give him a PM.

[aquapimp]

I needed a break from geckos for a bit. Now, I'm returning to my "roots" (and branches, LOL). Rekindling my love affair with taxa I have not worked with in a long time, and adding some new future faves as well. Feels good to be back.

Tom

[aquapimp]

Nobody can help me out here? I've been told identical to pictus... anyone able to back this up? As with others in the genus, I would imagine that they are quite sturdy and tolerant (substantiated by Jon Boone). I'm sure they'll do well with what I have planned:

12X12X18" Zoomed terrarium with a "special blend" substrate (coconut coir, sand, fir bark), vertically oriented cork hollows, "waxy leaved" vine (unsure of latin name) and temps in the upper 70's to mid 80's.

Am I missing anything?

[Ken Bartenfeld]

Sounds fine to me, Tom! How the hell have you been bro? How's the shop doing? PM me!

[Geitje]

Tom and others,

Unfortunately, the cumulative experiences of the community with this species is virtually nothing so that leaves us with only the success of one or two people to gain insight from. Most of the larger bodied Paroedura, outside of the gracilis and masobe clan, are quite sturdy and hardy captives and can be very productive. In saying that and weighing it against current availability it leaves us with a couple of possibilities – 1. They have been truly rare up until now. 2. They are common, but hard to breed and thereby affected supply/demand and therefore not rare. #1 is the correct answer here and I feel virtually nobody has kept P. stumpfii in more than a decade, at least in the USA.

I picked up 2.2 Paroedura stumpfii from a friend in Europe last year that were direct imports from Madagascar. Immediately after being imported to Europe they faced yet again another shipment to the US and then another shipment to my home. They suffered not in the least, even as wild caught animals. They quickly settled in and ate the same day I unpacked them. As a safeguard, I put one pair in a planted, semi-tropical/semi-moist, moderate temperature, vertically-oriented terrarium with about 2 inches of sandy loam substrate; whereas the other pair in a sterlite box (12” x 14” x 12” tall) with the same sandy loam dried completely out, a few terrestrial hides, one diagonal branch, kept 10-15 F hotter than the other pair – day and night, and lightly misted prior to every feeding (which quickly evaporated within an hour or so). Both pairs settled in and did fine under these opposing conditions. In fact, both pairs produced with equal fecundity. The pair that was kept hotter tended to produce eggs at slightly higher frequency. However, there was no discernable advantage, for the geckos, of one terrarium over the other. The fact is after I was comfortable in knowing I had a sufficient number of eggs and juveniles, I borderline mistreated the “sterlite pair” by cranking up the heat in an effort to understand their tolerance. They went to the opposite and cooler side a bit more frequently but continued on laying eggs seemingly unshaken.

The facts are – this species is very strong and undemanding (similar to a picta), rank high in productivity like picta, show remarkable adaptation to a variety of husbandry approaches and are overall very interesting and beautiful animals.

Hope that helps!

Jon

[aquapimp]

As always, thanks for the valuable insight, Jon. I'm certain they'll thrive in my above mentioned vivaria, and I'm quite excited to add them to my collection.

Hi Ken, been meaning to contact you. I am very well, thanks. The shop, as all retail has been, is a little slower than usual, but we are definitely surviving.

[Riverside Reptiles]

Jon, thanks for that information. It's always nice to have people add their experiences with the more rare species to GU. I'm not currently keeping stumpfii, but would like to in the future.

[Viridovipera]

Very interesting reading! I was only able to find this, and i dont know if it is any help since it is in german, but you might be able to get an understandable translation with google-translator (translator.google.com).

-link-

[aquapimp]

Thanks for both the link and the translator tip . Definitely some great info there!