Ptenopus kochi

**thorrshamri** · #1 09-16-2010, 03:53 AM

I just bought 0:1:1 in Hamm. The female is CB09, and the juvenile 6-7 months old. I will trade it for a male with the breeder (Jon B.) if I have a female.

These guys are fantastic, not only because they are rare and expensive. They run fast on loose sand thanks to their elongated fingers, and eat readily small crickets. They hardly miss their targets.

Contrary to what it is said, they must NOT be kept in groups. Keeping them in pairs work well. They don't need such a warm basking spot neither, I have followed Jon's advice and provided them with a 84-87°F basking spot.

Another common mistake is to think they need a thick layer of sand. They don't. 1/2 to inch deep is enough. I use PVC pipes as artificial burrows.

The subadult: you can still see the immature markings. If it is a male, in 3-4 months from now, I should see the throat turning to orange-yellow. They are very hard to sex when one only looks for bulges and pores: because they live in the wild on hot, abrasive sand, they don't display such usual features. Bulges would soon become scorched if they had any.