Catching Williamsi

[FLYGUY]

They are fast and not so easy to catch if you have to move them. I was wondering if anyone has a good method for capturing these guys without hurting them in any way or reducing the possibility of their tale becoming a separate entity... Just a funny story.

Each morning I feed them crickets before I head off to work. I am very careful to make sure these guys are not at the top of the tank when I lift the top.. I carefully opened the top and dumped out the crickets. Replaced the top and was ready to leave when I noticed one of the geckos was still on the glass at the top of tank.!!!! On the outside, not the inside.. I stood there motionless and as quietly as I could lifted the top. For whatever reason, this little guy just climbed up and went into the tank.. I figured he saw the crickets . I was lucky, he was stupid.! Not looking for a repeat performance, so now I spray the geckos to keep them of the top when I feed them... JERRY

 

[René]

Lucky you!

 

[clint545]

I've hear of Phelsuma keepers keeping a small fishing net handy to catch escapees.
The small mesh type for scooping up Goldfish, and Guppies.

 

['stoph]

Depends on the gecko but i can get 2 (female and male) of my 3 Williamsis to step on my hand without having them freak out - the third one (female) is the less dominant one and hides away by the smallest movement i make. If you want I'll make a video next week.

I've held 5 different Williamsi's in my hand so far without problem (2 of them were the realy skittish type - why I handled them? to remove mites and once to help with a retained shed)...yes they are fragile and you have to be careful with their tail but i can better judge movement or the pressure i exert on them when I'm using my hands instead of a fishnet or other tools. Also if they start to struggle just let them go and pick them up again. Most of the time I will let these guys run free over my arm.

Don't get me wrong here, I avoid the handling as much as possible and i don't encourage random handling.
These animals have cost me a lot of money and the last thing i want is a dropped tail or stressed out animals but i hear a lot of people beeing afraid of handling their animals while it could help them out in certain situations like escapees.

Oh yeah some good news - both females are gravid.

 

[Kevin McRae]

I find the best way to catch fast little geckos when they escape is a deli cup. Throw it over them when they are on the wall or on the ground. Works every time for me. Fish net didn't work to well for me, haha.

 

[Peter B]

when it doesn't work with the deli cup: in the wild i catch small lizzards with a fishing rod with a small noose at the end of it. Use thin cotton thread instead of nylon. When you do this in a deserd and someone sees you :shock: they think you're crazy but it works well :rofl::rofl:

 

['stoph]

Throw it over them when they are on the wall or on the ground. Works every time for me. Fish net didn't work to well for me,

I agree Deli cup works fine but once you need to get them out of a well planted viv or rock backgrounds things might get tricky.

I sure wanna see some pictures of that fishing rod with noose :shock: - i doubt I would try that technique on +100€ tiny gecko's.

 

[BlakeDeffenbaugh]

Like Clint said I always keep a big fish tank net around for catching any geckos that escape. .it helps A LOT.

 

[cliff_f]

Fish nets are the best. I keep them hanging in a few differents spots in my reptile room so I always have one handy.