Caresheet for Diplodactylus vittatus.
- Thread starter Uroplatus
- Start date
Hi Patrick,
Here is a link to Danny Brown website, there's a caresheet for Diplodactylus species: http://gecko.bigpondhosting.com/The Care and Husbandry of Diplodactylus Geckoes-1.htm
It's not specific to D.vittatus, but that should answer most of your questions.
If then you have other questions, just feel free to ask.
Regards,
Fred
Here is a link to Danny Brown website, there's a caresheet for Diplodactylus species: http://gecko.bigpondhosting.com/The Care and Husbandry of Diplodactylus Geckoes-1.htm
It's not specific to D.vittatus, but that should answer most of your questions.
If then you have other questions, just feel free to ask.
Regards,
Fred
I wrote an article my self a few weeks ago which was published in the newsletter of the Dutch Gecko Society.
So, how good is your Dutch?
In short: this gecko likes it not too warm, but high temperatures are tolerated. Important is to mist them regularly (not soak them!) and give them some climbing opportunities. Provide a water bown and regularly feed them (it are active feeders), gut loaded and dusted insects.
Mark
So, how good is your Dutch?
In short: this gecko likes it not too warm, but high temperatures are tolerated. Important is to mist them regularly (not soak them!) and give them some climbing opportunities. Provide a water bown and regularly feed them (it are active feeders), gut loaded and dusted insects.
Mark
sune jensen
New member
...because of they are kept constantly dry they will die from dehydration
(generally alle Diplos seem to benefit from misting)
Sune
(generally alle Diplos seem to benefit from misting)
Sune
sune jensen said:
Why not supply a water bowl??? My point is that these are ARID animals and misting is not to their benefit (only ours). I keep approximately 200 Diplo's and rely on waterbowls alone because my experience with them in the wild shows they are not accustomed to wet environments.
Sdaji
New member
They don't spend all day out in the scorching hot sun, they're often underground where it is nice and humid, only coming out when conditions are favourable. Reptiles in the scorching hot, nasty, dry areas successfully incubate their eggs without nice plastic tubs filled with damp vermiculite - clearly there are nice little humid spots out there in those nasty arid habitats. Giving them the option of drying out is critical, but giving them option of being somewhere moist is beneficial and natural.
Ari
New member
Scientifically speaking we have to remember that in the wild various species have their own micro eco systems & within these little systems the geckos have access to various sites. In captivity the only wait to really create such systems, considering a species in the wild will venture more than the length of a 2 ft tank is partially via misting. Creating humidity & also by supplying fluid.
We have to remember that in the hot & dry outback that many species derive moisture from early morning dew and as well from various insects. We can't cater in a captive environment all the possible food items available in the wild ( with varied amounts of fluid content ).
Thus agreeing that misting is a vital requirement for all life including geckos.
We have to remember that in the hot & dry outback that many species derive moisture from early morning dew and as well from various insects. We can't cater in a captive environment all the possible food items available in the wild ( with varied amounts of fluid content ).
Thus agreeing that misting is a vital requirement for all life including geckos.
Sdaji said:
I agree that the option to dry out is critical. Can this be achieved with daily misting of the entire enclosure. A moist hide box and a water bowl will cater for water requirements adequately without creating issues of wet surface substrate and subsequent disease issues. John, do you mist your Bynoes daily????
Ari
New member
"Important is to mist them regularly (not soak them!)"
I mist once every 2 days & daily if it dries out fast (not soaking just a mist) & not over the whole enclosure either. D. Galeatus love it & actually get under the mist & same goes for the D. Granariensis - don't think its caused them any harm, she laid 7 x clutches last season.
I guess the % of misting depends on where you are in the world & how fast it dries out really.
I mist once every 2 days & daily if it dries out fast (not soaking just a mist) & not over the whole enclosure either. D. Galeatus love it & actually get under the mist & same goes for the D. Granariensis - don't think its caused them any harm, she laid 7 x clutches last season.
I guess the % of misting depends on where you are in the world & how fast it dries out really.
Ari said:
But how do you rationalise that a dry enclosure is "bad" if a water bowl and a moist hide site are made available. The whole argument is that misting is ESSENTIAL which it is not if those two items are provided. Particularly when dealing with wild caught (as so many of our new species are) or juvenile animals, even a thin temporay film of water will create an environment for the transfer of particularly protozoan parasites. I have seen entire enclosures of animals wiped out with flagellate and coccidian infection purely as a result of misting and spread of pathogens in water films hence I don't do it myself or recommend it to my clients. I only mist for arboreal species like leaftails that require a humid environment.
Ari
New member
geckodan said:
I think the confusing is that the above statement may have been misunderstood in its original contents. Misting can be also interpreted in many ways by different people, i.e. watering, spraying & misting.
I agree that a water bowl & a moist hide would be fine - but I dont supply a moist hide instead I mist or spray one end only of the enclosure which is probably what some others do. For example I sprayed this morning at 8am and by 9.30am it was dry & hard as a rock.
There is no harm in misting every 2nd day or in my case once a day as it rapidly dries out. If they didn't like it then they would do a runner but they love the water spray.
Single celled - Protozoa can be rich in both moist & dry soil, but are more abundant in polluted or stagnated areas & fluids - good housekeeping & a quick dry unpolluted sanitary conditions is the keep when keeping anything.
Troy, you are talking about soil and water commensal which are of no consequence to reptiles. I am in no way referring to these ubiquitous commensals here. I am referring to pathogenic organisms, excreted in the faeces of the reptile that 100% require a microfilm of water in order to initially survive and transfer from host to host or if lying dormat in dried faeces require a fresh microfilm to reactivate and be actively consumed by a drinking individual. I'll give you three examples from cases I can recall that have put me off misting.
#1 Carlia rubrigularis - 82 animals in a research colony. Doing just fine in a pit situatuion. Moved into smaller enclosures and researcher decided that misting was now necessary. 72 dead within 4 days due to massive outbreak of flaggelate protozoan infection, resident in low amounts in the original enclosure but not able to spread due to the lack of a surface microfilm.
#2 Pogona vitticeps hatchlings in a pet shop. 40 individuals doing just fine until a helpful outsider recommended that misting was essential. End result was a coccidia outbreak killing all 40.
#3 Mixed collection of skinks, monitors, and geckos. Regular misting used but massive outbreak of sudden deaths across the board. Outcome, pseudomonas contamination of the misting water causing severe bacterial infections with multi resistant pseudomonas resident in the plastic misting bottles.
Ari
New member
As stated "good housekeeping & a quick dry unpolluted sanitary conditions is the key when keeping anything" - this goes for faeces also.
Were they all communally kept in example #1 & #2, if so no wonder.
#3 is contaminated water that has been introduced.
I have been misting, spraying or watering ALL enclosures for a few years now with no effects - once again it all goes down to good housekeeping & of cause not introducing contaminates via water.
Were they all communally kept in example #1 & #2, if so no wonder.
#3 is contaminated water that has been introduced.
I have been misting, spraying or watering ALL enclosures for a few years now with no effects - once again it all goes down to good housekeeping & of cause not introducing contaminates via water.
No, 2-3 per cage.
No, the water supply was clean. The infection came from adjusting the water mister nozzle with the hands after routinely cleaning cages as the keeper went along feeding etc..
No, you have just been lucky or not aware so far. Pseudomonas and Aeromonas are the two most commonly culture organisms in reptile medicine. Both are obligate water borne pathogens. They are also gut commensals in most reptiles acting as pathogens when they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. This can occur from a single faecal sample exposed to a microfilm of misting water for 10-15 minutes (these bacterial organisms are motile). In none of the cases were the animals housed in unhygenic conditions. It comes down to a simple understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of water borne infections which are by far the most common route in terrestrial reptiles. The most common question I am asked clinically when presented with eye, ear, skin, oral infections is "where did the pathogens come from". If Aeromonas or Pseudomonas are cultured (80% of infections in our clinic) then the infection is obliged to be water borne. An enclosure can appear spotlessly clean but have a resident bacterial or parasite load on furniture surfaces just waiting for a fine microfilm to allow them to reactivate and recolonise (be it orally when the lizard licks the droplets or via the ear or eyes if the water microfilm runs off the branch and touches the face).
geckodan said:
That may be a possible source for the ear abscess in my female. I don't mist my animals directly, however they do have a small water dish in one corner and I spray or tip a small amount of water on the sand around the bowl and next to the nearest hide to create a humid hide (they get three hides).
Danny, what regime do you use to create a moist/humid area for your knobtails? Do you solely provide them with a water bowl, or do you wet the sand somehow? If the water spray/moist sand was potentially the cause of her infection (or rather acted as a vector for the pathogens) I will try to avoid this risk in the future.
It would depend entirely on what species of bacterial organism was cultured and its natural transfer characteristics. If it was Pseudomonas or Aeromonas then potentially yes. If it was another then one needs to also consider physical transfer of pathogens and blood borne infection.
For knobtails, I pour water in one corner and allow it to seep through to other areas. This avoids (as much as physically possible), transferring water into the soil via the majority of the surface. Capillary action will tend to draw the moisture to the remainder of the sub soil whilst allowing the surface to remain otherwise dry.
For knobtails, I pour water in one corner and allow it to seep through to other areas. This avoids (as much as physically possible), transferring water into the soil via the majority of the surface. Capillary action will tend to draw the moisture to the remainder of the sub soil whilst allowing the surface to remain otherwise dry.
Sdaji
New member
geckodan said:
Was that directed at me?
I assume you're talking about the parthenogenetic Heteronotia, although the Bynoe's have been fairly similar.
I spray the enclosures with water at least two or three times each week, I'd do it daily if I had the time. When I spray them daily (or five times per week as opposed to two, etc) I get much better feeding, egg production and particularly growth rates. If anything was going to dislike humidity, you would guess it to be the central Australia Heteronotia (extremely arid adapted, brittle-shelled eggs, etc), but they love it. Obviously I wouldn't mist the entire enclosure to the point where they couldn't help but stay permanently damp, but I don't think anyone is stupid enough to be suggesting that.
I haven't noticed a great deal of difference with Diplodactylus between daily spraying and spraying every second week.
The Nephrurus seem to do better in moist conditions, which isn't surprising as in the wild they'd spend most of their time in burrows, which even out in the arid zone are remarkably humid.
It's a bit on the ridiculous side to be trying to convince us that spraying your skinks and dragons killed almost every single one of them, with a total sample size in the hundreds, sometimes within four days! If animals were that sensitive they'd die every time it rained. If these events did take place, you should be looking for sources of the deaths other than a bit of misting! Either that or the majority of geckoes in the wild and in captivity have been extraordinarily lucky over the last few million years.
These weren't mine John, they were actual clinical cases that I have seen in my clinical practice. I highlighted the most impressive cases to show the potential outcomes whether it be on this scale or on a single animal scale. The sources of infection were determined correctly by use of multiple diagnostic elements including faecal flotation, light microscopy and cultures. Coccidia and most other protozoan parasites have a life cycle of less than 24 hrs so in fact compare to an protozoan outbreak in say a poultry farm Where most are dead the next day), those mass mortalities were quite slow to take effect. The only variable in the first two cases was the provision of misting water. In the third case, epidemiological traceback led to the water misting bottle being the culprit as the only standard component between all species in that collection. You should know better than to compare the parasite risk in captivity to that of wild animals.