Getting a Xanthic...questions

[Xanadu1]

I will be picking up an adult Xanthic tomorrow and have some questions. The care sheets I've been reading say no loose substrate but the photos I see here have loose substrate...so what's the deal? Also, I will use a UTH on one side of the viv, but do I need a light, too? The care sheets are few and far between and a bit conflicting. One care sheet said to feed them every three days. That seems kinda weird. What do you guys think? Any other important info would be appreciated.

Heather

 

[Leland]

The first thing I want to mention is, what do you think these geckos live on in the wild? Now, I only use paper towel with this species, but i've tried everything and they adapt well to any substrate. Here's some care info.
I have been breeding P.picta for about 6-7 years now and I have went through so many methods of keeping and breeding them in order to do it in the best possible way. Here's what I do:
*Keep the male and female together until she lays her first fertile clutch, then seperate them. The female will lay many many eggs from one breeding. I seperate the pair after breeing because the males can stress the female in some cases, but not always. A female will search out a moist place in which to bury her eggs (usually 2, but young females may only lay 1). I use plastic containers with moist soil and sand or vermiculite for the lay box. After you know she has laid, you can dig the eggs up and incubate them. This species is Temp. sexed like all geckos, so incubate accordingly. I keep all hatchlings seperate until they are mature for breeding.
*Hatchling to sexable-6"x6" sandwhich container with hide.
*sexable to adult-shoebox
*Breeding pairs-sweaterbox
*All animals are kept on paper towel, mister/fed every other day and have a hide on the hot end and a moist hidebox on the cool end. That's it to breeding/keeping this species.

 

[Xanadu1]

From the pictures I've seen of them I would say they live on a but of dirt, sand, rock, dead leaves, and fallen tree branches. I plan to use paper towel, carpet and a bit of tile. I'm not breeding...I'm just getting one. I don't want to sound sarcastic, but is this whole forum about breeding? It seems like when I ask a question, the answers are breeding answers...I assume I need a warm hide, a cool hide, and a moist hide....right? I have an enclosure a heat strip, dishes, the hides I mentioned, feeders, substrate, and moss for the humid hide...I think that's about it.....do I need a heat lamp?? Thanks so much for the post

 

[Leland]

Heather,
Everything on these forums is related to breeding because 98% of people keeping geckos wants to at some point breed them. Whether it be the challenge, money, or whatever reason, that's how it is. Now...If you are keeping this guy lone (is it male/female and is it wc or cb), as a pet, here is how I would set it up. I ask the sex and if it is cb or wc because if it is female and wc, it will be laying eggs for you (essentially a part of the breeding process), and if it is cb and has been exposed to a male, she will also be laying eggs. Now, if you have a lone male (male is a better pet)I would set him up in a cage with a mixture of 1/4 sand, 3/4 soil and mix in a bunch of dead leaves. I would place an array of bark hiding spots as well as some rocks throughout. You will want to keep a warm end around 88'F where he can heat up, the rest of the cage can be left as it with no additional heat, so your heat pad is all you need. I would keep an area in the cage moist at all times (live plants can aid with this, as well as spraying) for shedding purposes. Mist/feed every other night, and that's it. I keep other Paroedura in rather naturalistic enclosures for breeding, but this species does well on paper towel and I find it a lot easier retrieving eggs from a nest box instead of digging around in the natural cage.

 

[Xanadu1]

I'm sooooo afraid to keep it on a loose substrate for fear of impaction. If I do what you tell me to do, I assume I bake the leaves to disinfect them? I don't know what CB and WC means. It's a male. All I know is that it's a year old Xanthic. Here's the deal...last week I went to East Bay Vivarium for my birthday...I was going to get either a knob tail or a pictus. They had no knob tails and they were really expensive anyway...this place was packed...the guy showed me one pictus and he said he had more up front my the cash register and some in the back. We went to the front and it had just been sold. He asked if I saw anything there I would like...they had a bunch of racks of herps. I am EXTREMELY phobic in crowds and I really needed to get out of there. I saw a sign that said leusicitic leopar gecko and when I saw it, I thought he was pretty cute...he was getting ready to shed...I looked at a few other leos and decided on the leusictic...so I get home and put him away and take photos...post them here and there and peopel are telling me there's no such thing as a leusictic leopard gecko and that it's a patternless. At first I was a little put off but I really didn't care. In the past week I've been thinking about taking him back just because they told me wrong. I really didn't want another Leo...I have one that's absolutely great and no other leo would ever compare to her. So, I called last night and explained everything and I asked about the pictus geckos in the back...that's when they told me about the ones they had. They told me colors and ages...etc. But they also used a lot of the scientific names...(is that latin, by the way?)....So, today we're going to make the 2 hour drive and take this leo back and exchange for the Xanthic. I really don't know what I'll do if I end up not wanting it...I can't imagine walking around that place with all the people that will be there. I don't know if you're familiar with this place, but it's huge like a reptile show. People go there, I think, just to look...kinda like people do at an aquarium. Sorry for the long winded explanation, I just wanted you to know where I was coming from. I hope I don't sound heartless for taking the leo back. If I do end up keeping him on carpet, will it be bad for him? I have a humid hide with moss...I could always throw some moss around on the carpet...are they like leos where they're always licking their surroundings? Thanks so much for your help, Leland. Have a good morning...I will post pics when I get home

Heather

 

[Leland]

Have these people at EBV explained the proper husbandry of these geckos you want?

 

[Xanadu1]

I've been going by what I see online and people I know who have them. I hadn't been there to get the Pictus when I was asking you so, no, they hadn't given me a caresheet. We went this morning and the Xanthic was MEAN!! I ended up getting a Paroedura. I posted a couple pics on another thread. They had him on what you described. I walked out of the place leaving my receipt, caresheet, and guarantee. So, I'm going off the caresheet on their site. He's young so for now he's on paper towel. Thanks so much for all your help