How do I get them to open their mouthes?

[Mettle]

I have 1.2 U. sikorae... but now I want to find out if they're U. s. sikorae or U. s. sameiti in preparation for future breeding.

I know the the inside of the mouth is the true indicator. But I have no idea what the best way of seeing this is.

Any trips?

I tried spraying them and watching while they lick their faces. Couldn't get a clear view. And I definitely don't want to hurt or stress them too much.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Hilde]

Don't laugh, and I'll tell you how I got my sikorae and henkeli to show me their tonsils.
I wore a brown/black/tan print fuzzy mitten, and held my hand about a foot or two away from the gecko, then used it to give then the 'open mouthed gape' while making a growling sound. In response to the predator, they'd open wide and hiss back. According to the person who suggested it to me, it also works with dark coloured socks. :coverlaugh:

 

[global]

you can lightly grasp the animal, so that it is restrained. then lighty graze both sides of the mouth with your fingers at the same time. Almost like a tickle - It pisses the gecko off to no end, but will get the mouth open for the task at hand. I had to do this a while back with fussy hemitheconyx that were losing weight.

 

[jadrig]

Yeah, like the previous poster said, this is the most sure way to go about it.

you have to firmly clinch your forefinger and thumb together without putting the pressure on the gecko.

You want to pin both of the gecko's front legs back, they will struggle to get atleast one leg free.

You have to wait until both front legs are pinned back...

Then you can tap either side of the geckos mouth lightly...

Dont use your fingers unless you are real confident with your hand speed.

These geckos can open their mouth's greater than 100 degrees with a quickness. Deceivingly powerful jaws!

I like to use my forceps or a small stick to tap the side of their mouth.

A few quick taps on one side usually always does the trick for sikorae or henkeli.

Its not too stressful if done quickly

doing it during the daytime with a lot of light would probably help out too.

 

[Mettle]

Thanks for the tips. I will be trying the sock/mitten technique out first and then will give the tapping/rubbing technique a go if it doesn't work out. Probably the easiest way to do it with the least amount of stress.

Much appreciated folks! I'm eager to find out what subspecies of geckos I have!

 

[crestedtimm]

I use the ol' tap em on the snout trick when I am picking out anaimals from the importers, so that I wind up with even pairs of both subspecies. They do eventually get fed up and clench down/ refuse to open their mouths.

Of your 3, good chance 1 is a diff. subspecies. Just a hunch,let us know!

And as long as you have had them for a while, and they are not in a bad state, I would not worry too much about restraining them for this purpose. Then again, trying the passive, predator imitation technique sounds like an interesting experiment!

Timm

 

[global]

yes

just ask the gecko to open its mouth. Or better yet, ask what species it is - it will chirp forth the answer.

 

[Mettle]

I tried both methods last night actually - the predator impersonation as well as the tapping of the mouth/snout- and neither worked for me! My geckos are too placid. I'll give it another go this weekend maybe. I really want to know now.

 

[lickyoureyeballs]

I think the idea of the sock puppet is great!! ha ha I'll have to try that next time

 

[Mettle]

I still haven't been able to get them to open their mouthes. How annoying! :-x

 

[durango95]

Mine open their mouth when i take a lot of pictures of them in daytime with blitz. They usually keep their mouth open for 5-10 minutes.

 

[Mettle]

I've tried the pictures and such before during the day simply because I wanted some pictures. However they've never opened their mouthes at me.

Maybe mine are just too calm and comfortable with me? Haha. Just my luck? :roll:

 

[Mettle]

I just wanted to update this thread and let everyone know that I finally got all three mossies to open their mouthes for me. I got the idea from someone who I watched force feed baby ball pythons last week. He used (cleaned) probes to get their mouthes open to get the food inside so I used a similar technique and sure enough their mouthes popped wide open!

It turns out I have 1.2 Uroplatus sikorae sikorae. :biggrin:

Thanks again for all the tips folks!

 

[siz]

That's awesome! When do you plan on breeding them?

 

[Mettle]

Definitely not this year. They are still too small from what I've been reading. So I will continue to fatten them up and grow them and hopefully by next year they will be good to go... I also hope to pick up a few more mossies in the mean time, maybe another 1.2 or 2.3 but it all depends on what's available.

I wouldn't mind getting a pair of U. sikorae sameiti in there...