Acclimating an Imported Gecko

[Logie Bear]

Before I get started, I'll just say I had no idea what forum would be best to put this in, so if a Mod feels it should be place elsewhere please move it! I want the best chance for feedback here!


OK! For me, this has to do with Flying Geckos, but I'd love some more info on the process in general for those of you with imports, and what you've found to be most successful. So, here's my story in a nutshell. My favorite shop in town recently had their annual reptile sale. Amongst the shipments of goodies they got from their supplier was a lone flying gecko. I bought it knowing full well that it was a wc animal and would need to be treated. So step one was the red mites! Mite off worked great, and after one treatment in the cage, with plenty of time to air out and some olive oil on the gek itself they seemed to be gone (never sprayed on the lizard and had about 2 hrs to evaporate). But the whole process seemed to have stressed the little guy out irreparably. He spend alot of time on the bottom of the cage (bad sign for an arboreal) and didnt eat much. Came home from work today, and he had passed. :sad:


But. I will not be deterred. They are such a cool species and I would love to contribute in establishing a captive bred population of these guys so we dont have to worry about import issues. But alas, it seems the only way to start a colony is to start with imports (unless, hey, you know of some cb's). My original planning with this fella (he was at least 6 mo old, had pores) was the initial mite treatment, and after a few weeks a vet fecal and panacur. I thought spacing it out would be less stressful than full treatments of everything at once.

SO! My questions to you fine folks! Could it have been the mite-off? Would it be less stressful to get all treatments done day-1 instead of drawing out the process? Were we doomed from the beginning or what would you have done differently? I really want to do this right. Losing one is a terrible feeling, help me make this work!

Thanks!


TL;DR version:
What's worked best for you in getting a fresh import settled with the highest chances of survival!

 

[AeroWRX]

Not experienced with treating imported WC, but just to let you know we do have a residential forum member who breeds CBB flying geckos.

I also heard people have success with using Hypoaspsis Miles for a mite killer as a natural solution.

Sorry about your loss, but it seemed like a WC stuck at some pet store didn't have much time left anyways.

 

[hexentanz]

Your thinking of spacing out the treatments to avoid too much stress is correct, too much at once and it will for sure be dead very quickly.

If you are going to work with olive oil to remove mites you must be very careful to dab only the mites and get pretty much none of it on the gecko. All to often I have heard of people using olive oil to rid geckos of mites and then the geckos die days later due to suffocation because it was applied to the gecko instead of the mites.

Another thing to consider when using any chemical is to let the gecko drink beforehand that way if they drink a few moments later or a few short hours after that they do not ingest anything. I know it says on the bottle it is safe around drinking sources, but according to a friend who got it in water it is not.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

In acclimating any gecko, minimal stress is the key. They've already gone through huge amounts of stress to begin with. And it's important to remember that these are wild animals. They are not accustomed to being handled or even looked at in the wild. Proper temps, humidity, and general husbandry need to be thought out and in place prior to even getting the animal. Once the animal is in place in its new home, proper feeding and hydration can begin, but this should be a "hands off" event. Force feeding, medicating, etc are only going to push it over the edge at this point. After a couple of weeks, once the animal has re established itself and is eating and well hydrated...then is the time to start treatment for parasites etc.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

If you are going to work with olive oil to remove mites you must be very careful to dab only the mites and get pretty much none of it on the gecko. All to often I have heard of people using olive oil to rid geckos of mites and then the geckos die days later due to suffocation because it was applied to the gecko instead of the mites.

I think that that often occurs because people are lazy and tend to cover the entire gecko with olive oil to try to make it a fast process. Really what needs to be done is to use a q-tip to dab the olive oil on each mite. And then use tweezers to pick as many mites off as possible by hand. This will usually need to be repeated through several sessions. It is a tedious process, but that's part of dealing with wild caught animals.

 

[hexentanz]

And then use tweezers to pick as many mites off as possible by hand. This will usually need to be repeated through several sessions. It is a tedious process, but that's part of dealing with wild caught animals.

I think it should be stressed that one should only carry out the process over several days if there is large amount of mites, but if there is only 3 or 4 there is no point carrying out the process over several days.

Treatments may also need to be repeated in some weeks if the mites manage to reach the adult stage and lay eggs.

 

[Logie Bear]

Thanks guys for your responses, I really appreciate it! I had used the q-tip method and after rubbing the mites off (maybe a dozen or so) he had a quick gecko-sauna to try and rehydrate him/ wash off any linger mite corpses. He was set up in a quarrentine enclosure in my bedroom, which may have been too high-traffic for the little guy. I think next time I'll try a closeted room no one goes into and try and reduce stress that way. And of course theres always the matter of not knowing where he was and what kind of conditions before they sent him to the shop here. Its just so disheartening to lose one. -sigh- I do really appreciate the feedback tho. Thanks guys.

 

[AeroWRX]

Your thinking of spacing out the treatments to avoid too much stress is correct, too much at once and it will for sure be dead very quickly.

If you are going to work with olive oil to remove mites you must be very careful to dab only the mites and get pretty much none of it on the gecko. All to often I have heard of people using olive oil to rid geckos of mites and then the geckos die days later due to suffocation because it was applied to the gecko instead of the mites.

Another thing to consider when using any chemical is to let the gecko drink beforehand that way if they drink a few moments later or a few short hours after that they do not ingest anything. I know it says on the bottle it is safe around drinking sources, but according to a friend who got it in water it is not.

How does olive oil suffocate a gecko?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hi Logie Bear ~

I am sorry that your flyer has passed away.

GU's Palor, who can be reached on GU via PM, is having great success breeding Ptychozoon kuhli! He currently has at least one hatchling if it has not been sold.

On the other hand, this is my story: About 7 years ago I purchased a WC male flyer at a reptile show. I took him back to my motel room and somehow hadn't packed the canola oil I generally use to de-mite. Thought about asking for a wee bit from the local restaurant, but ended up using moistened bar soap instead. One by one I took a fresh q-tip moistened with bar soap, gently dabbed the mite to suffocate him, and then brushed off the mite with a fresh dry q-tip. 28 mites, and 56 q-tips later :biggrin:, I seemed to be done. The mites never returned and no other treatment was ever given for any parasites. This flyer is doing well 7 years later.

 

[Palor]

Sorry to hear about your flyer. They can be a difficult species to acclimate since so many come in mostly dead already.

I wrote this to help people with their geckos, I hope it helps you to.
Flying Geckos (Ptychozoon Kuhli): Care and Breeding | Gecko Time

 

[Logie Bear]

Sorry to hear about your flyer. They can be a difficult species to acclimate since so many come in mostly dead already.

I wrote this to help people with their geckos, I hope it helps you to.
Flying Geckos (Ptychozoon Kuhli): Care and Breeding | Gecko Time

Thanks Palor! I had gone through both that care sheet and the other one that's floating around here on GU. Im afraid you're probably right tho that there was more already wrong with him than just the mites. The fact that I never saw him climibing around the tank and just sitting on the bottem leads me to think he may have already been in a bad way. Still a sad loss either way.
Is what Elizabeth says true, and you some times have CBB's?

 

[Palor]

Yup, i do have CBB flyers now & then. Pop over to my website and shoot me an email and i will add you to the waiting list.