S. sthenodactylus baby questions

[sschind]

These questions are for those of you who have successfully reared S.Sthenodactylus from babies to adulthood.

I have 8 babies right now ranging from about 4 weeks or so to just born yesterday. Right now I have them in individual deli cups on paper towel to monitor them and make sure they start feeding. As the grow and I am certain they are feeding, to save space I would like to put them all in one tank (probably a 10 or 15 gallon) A couple of years ago I raised 2 babies up together and I had them on fine play sand pretty much from the start and I had no problems. I am well aware of the sand substrate debate so please don't bring that up. I've watched these guys eat, babies and adults, and they are very precise in their feeding habits. With fine play sand I am not concerned about impaction. Like I said however, I do like to keep babies on towels just as an added precaution. What I would like to know is.

1. How long, if at all, do you keep babies apart.

2. How long, if at all do you keep them on paper towels or similar substrate.

Thanks

 

[gbhil]

I give them about two weeks alone so I can monitor their intake and output. If all looks well, they join the colony, or in your case start a new colony.

I also use those two weeks as a jumpstart by offering as many dusted fruit flies as they will eat. Fattens them up a bit.

 

[tryme]

Is seperation neccessary? I don't have a spare tank or lighting equipment etc which will be a big shame. My babies are deffinately due sometime soon. (ish lol)

 

[sschind]

I don't think its necessary. I just like to monitor them for the first few weeks to make sure they are eating and pooping good. All my deli cups are punched though so fruit flies get out. For next season I am going to look for unpunched ones that will take the FF culture lids with the gauze lining. That will give me the ventilation and still keep the flies in.

 

[tryme]

I see, well I will try to get another enclosure sorted. I love these guys and would love a couple more in my collection!

Thanks

 

[sschind]

Yeah, I like them too. I was trying to raise some money a few months back and they hadn't given me any eggs in about a year so I took the group (1.3) to a show and had them out for $100.00. Another vendor kept looking at them and I know he wanted me to lower the price a bit but I really didn't want to sell them that bad so I held firm. At the end of the show he said he hadn't sold that much so he would have to wait. He asked if I would have them at the next show and I told him I wasn't sure but if I still needed the money than I probably would. Well, a month later, the morning of the show I was going in to pack them up and I see two eggs sitting on the sand and a little digging revealed two more so I decided to keep them. I got to the show and I wasn't even done unpacking my stuff and he was there with a $100.00 bill in hand. he looked very disappointed when I told him I decided to keep them. That was 8 babies ago with 6 more eggs in the incubator and who knows how many in the tank. Three of the last 4 babies hatched out in the tank with the adults. They are such cool geckos I might have to keep a few of my female babies and see if I can't find a nice young male and get another group going.

Good luck with yours

 

[tryme]

Yeah deffinately there so facinating in their own way.

 

[Steve905]

I've raised maybe 25 juvies to adulthood. They are one of my favorite little geckos. I've hatched eggs out in an incubator at 83-84 degrees and I've let them hatch in the tank. I really don't do alot for them except feed dusted pinhead crickets and phoenix worms. I use quite alot of the worms due to their high calcium content and I believe it helps the females not crash. I raise them up communally and with out much fanfair. I currently have @ 15 of them in a 10 gal. tank with about 2" of sand. I mist them directly and that seems to bring out the amorus behavior between the male and females..(Rape is more like it!) Good luck! Be REALLY careful with the eggs. They are tissue paper thin. Thats why I leave them in the tank unless they get dug up by accident by a gecko.

 

[tryme]

Yeah i'm leaving mine in there burried under some cork bark any way and I wouldn't risk loosing out on these guys! In your experience how long do they take to hatch around those temps? my temps are always around 28C

 

[Banshee]

Raising Steno hatchlings

I have successfully raised at least 20 or so hatchlings. I have kept them on repti-sand desert sand from day one, and I've had no problems at all. These guys instinctively dig from the time they hatch, so I think it's better not to interrupt nature. I've always kept them in same-sized groups. So I basically have acrylic sheets cut and use them as dividers in a large tank. That saves on a lot of lighting and space. I only seperate them if they're having difficulty feeding. Even then, I just pull them out to eat. It's been my observation that they do better in groups. If they are seperated, and then hear the other guys chirping, they seem to go nuts trying to find each other. I've only lost one so far, and he seemed to have hatched a bit early. I don't advocate feeding fruit flies. Mainly because of the lesser nutritional value. I always use crickets, and make sure to gut-load and dust. I will admit that I've spent some time snapping back legs off of the crickets if a hatchling is having more problems catching them. I have a LOT of tiny tweezers.:biggrin: