New Lygodactylus conradti

[WingedWolfPsion]

Bold as brass, engaging, and nice-looking, that's my assessment so far. ^_^
Here's the male.
He's a little dark here, but it was the best photo I could get before they went to bed.



Also from Switzer. I got a letter saying SYR had their best shipping day ever. The weather was finally warm enough for everyone to send out the animals, lol.

 

[hexentanz]

Ohh neat. Their patterns look a bit like pakenhami, I like that!

 

[combo_breaker]

looks great. what is the size?

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

Maybe an eensy bit larger than L. williamsi for the largest one, but pretty much the same size.

 

[combo_breaker]

nice, what is their personality like? Im guessing since its a lygo its the same as williamsi?

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

So far, it seems to be pretty similar. These conradti don't appear quite as aggressive as williamsi right now. They need a good month to settle in, though, so we'll see. They're just as fearless and bold as williamsi--perhaps more so, considering they just got here yesterday.

 

[combo_breaker]

I can tell the lady (linda?) over at switzer interacted with the willamisi a lot. She said they are in her office with them so that probably why but, he is has been really engaging from day one. He was eating feeders, and licking baby food out my hand until he was stuffed. But you weren't kidding when you said that they can really pack it in, he has been constantly eating baby food, and this morning I accidentally dumped around 12 dusted crickets into his viv, and I came back from work to only see 2 left, and he was still looking for food it seems. The lygo genus deff. has more character then phelsuma I noticed also.

I am also interested in looking into other lygo's, but I will let you make a care sheet or something first before I try .

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

Way to put the pressure on, lol. I'm just keeping them the same way I do my williamsi, right now. Just based on their behavior, I'm thinking about increasing the temperatures a little. They seem to be hugging the heat cord a lot.

 

[combo_breaker]

I guess the care would be the same huh? Maybe, maybe not, I understand that there is a type of lygo that lives in South America? That be interesting to keep. I be to afraid to mess with the temps/feeding habits to test how much they could go. I don't know if your doing that yet, but I guess you would have to, so you can get a perfect care formula. Good Luck.

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

So far, they love fruit flies, but they think silk worms may be yucky, and spit them out. They haven't touched the CGD, so I'm going to get peach babyfood for them and use the same trick I did with my williamsi (provided, of course, that they like the peaches). My first step is to get them established and get some weight on them--between the stress of importation and housing in large groups, most of my new lygos are pretty thin. (Just a few big dominant ones have good weight). That's typical for imports.
Once they're up to proper weight, I'll worry about switching around their living conditions, if it seems necessary.

One thing I noted about the williamsi, though, is from all reports, they're very hardy and adaptable, so figuring out what's optimal for them might be a challenge. They do well in a variety of different conditions. These guys are active, and eating and drinking and basking, so hopefully they'll recover in just a week or two, the way the williamsi did.

The dislike of silkworms came as a bit of a surprise. The williamsi will eat pretty much any bug I put in there. The angularis didn't like the silkies either. The kimhowelli just keep staring at them, but haven't tried them yet. I'll see if there are any left later on. lol

 

[combo_breaker]

I think I will hold off for a day, 2 days max, for adding feeders into the viv. From the look in the viv, there is only 2-3 crickets that are uneating, and I think thats because they hang out on the bottom of the viv. So i will just give it a day or 2 for them to hopefully make there way to where the gecko can see them. I will just make sure he has the baby food/calcium mix for those 2 days. He likes to hang off the top of the screen cage, and he looks like he might fall off from weight

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

Video of my conradti: YouTube - Lygodactylus conradti (Matschie's Dwarf Gecko) - 2

It's not hugely entertaining, but I thought some might find it interesting anyhow. lol
These little guys are so laid back. They're active, sure, but they don't really interact with each other much. In this vid, the little female sees the other female at the back of the tank. She arches her back just slightly, and slides away a bit...and that's all. lol

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

Here's a second vid. This one has some bug-eating. L. conradti do spend time running around the tank, and they can be quite active...but the activity is interspersed with these periods of stillness, as you can see. They'll just stop in position and sit there...then move again...then sit... lol
One of them stared at a fruit fly for like 2 minutes straight yesterday without a twitch, before deciding to go get it.
YouTube - Lygodactylus conradti (Matschie's Dwarf Gecko)

 

[combo_breaker]

behavior seems very similar to williamsi. they are a lygodactylus though . Interesting video.

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

Actually, they're different from williamsi in a lot of ways--social interaction is the biggest one. They really do virtually ignore one another.