Green eyed Gecko HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allanira

New member
I just got a pair of Green eyed Geckos. I have tried looking up a care sheet for them and there isnt one that goes into more detail than they are carnivores and they need between 65-75 degrees during the evening and 80 to 90 during the day, that they are nocturnal, and aggresive but beyond that there is nothing. Is there anyone out there that has experience with these geckos that can give me sone idea what to expect from them. I will admit that I didnt do any research on this species of gecko before getting them. I have done a lot of research of the madagascar giant day gecko but not this one. I also know that they were evidently wild caught but eating well. I didnt find this out till after I bought them and was standing there waiting for a friend to make their purchase. I dont want them to be too stressed by living in a "cage". The set up that I have is for the giant day gecko will it be ok for the green eyed gecko also? or do I need to make some changes. I want them to be as comfortable as can be. They are in a 55gal long aquarium with live plants. Its nice and humid in there with the planted side being in the 60 to 70 humidity range and temp at 80 to 90 during the day and the cooler water side is between 77 and 85 during the say at night it gets around 70 degrees. Please helping me to make these guys happy. Thanks in advance!!!!!

Allanira
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
Green-eyed geckos are Gekko smithii, though some older info might call them G. stentor. There's not much info around, but you can get some bits and pieces with a lot of patience and good Google searching. About 12 years ago when I had them, there was nothing, so I kept them the same was as tokays. They do get big, are very vocal, communal and take care of their young for a few weeks.
Sometimes G. siamensis is sold as G. smithii, so you should check to make sure which you have, but the care isn't much different.
 

Allanira

New member
these are grey with big green eyes. I have only heard one bark out of them and that was this morning. they are still hiding from everything. I really want to make them as comfortable as possible. If they breed thats a bonus I just thought they were really pretty when I saw them. I will try to get some pics on here of them in a few days. Hopefully they come out of hiding by then lol. Some of the info that the petshop told me is different from what I have seen on the internet so its just a matter of playing around till I find the right combo of stuff right? Or should I go ahead and start treating them like Tokay? Thanks again people. I really wasnt planning to get this species but now I have them to I wanna have them do great for me. I know they have eaten the crickets I put in last night with them so they are good eaters.
 

flavius

New member
Allanira, I have a breeding group of gecko smithii, I have mine in a viv 2.5ft wide by 3 ft high, by 18 inches deep. They are very communal, although males will bark at one another and there will be a dominate animal, if there is plenty of space, this should be no problem. This is a very shy forest species and I have large cork tubes from top to bottom of the viv, and birds nest ferns and ficus as decor. The viv is very well planted and this helps keep the humidity high. The heating is on a day and night stat, 85 in the day 78 at night. The viv is misted every evening, The viv recieves natural light, and as such is on a European day and night cycle, the viv has UV on for a couple of hours a day, primarily for the plants.

The smithii eat just about anything that moves, black and brown crickets, locust and moths.

The smithii are rarley seen in the daylight, and I only ever see them when I go into the reptile room late at night.

They are a beautiful, uncommon in English collections, however, you will rarely see them, they are very like tokays in habit, easy to breed if the husbandary requirements are correct, and show some degree of maternal interest.

Check out gecko nutaphandi..now there is a stunning animal,closely related to smithi...

Kind regards
 

Allanira

New member
Thanks for the info. I just really want to make them happy. They are starting to come out more at night. I fed them last night and they ate all 20 crickets I put in there. I need to go get more food for them lol. The female is the more adventurous of the 2. The male mainly stays hidden behind some ivy in there. I am watching them closely to see if anything is going wrong with them but so far seem to be doing ok. I have a quick question about them also. Do they soak while they are shedding or do they just shed and as long as the humidity is right they are ok with the shed? I have the humidity at 70 to 80 percent in there and am trying to make sure they are ok with that amount. Thanks again everyone.
 

flavius

New member
Thanks for the info. I just really want to make them happy. They are starting to come out more at night. I fed them last night and they ate all 20 crickets I put in there. I need to go get more food for them lol. The female is the more adventurous of the 2. The male mainly stays hidden behind some ivy in there. I am watching them closely to see if anything is going wrong with them but so far seem to be doing ok. I have a quick question about them also. Do they soak while they are shedding or do they just shed and as long as the humidity is right they are ok with the shed? I have the humidity at 70 to 80 percent in there and am trying to make sure they are ok with that amount. Thanks again everyone.

I have not personally seen any of the larger gecko species actively soak in their water bowl, they will however drink from a water bowl. If the humidity is high they should not have shedding problems.
 

Gexter

New member
Hello!

First of all congrats on your purchase! Green eyes are a very rewarding species to keep despite their common disposition. The set-up you have sounds more than adequate for a pair and in even some cases a trio. Care for these guys are very very similair to care for the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko). The temperature gradients you have are correct and I would use a flourescent UVB light so that your plants thrive as well as your geckos. Since they are adults, I would reccomend feeding 18-24 large size crickets 3 times a week. I would also offer treats such as silkworms, roaches, and rodents (live or frozen as they will often eat both). There have been some cases where I got my tokay geckos to eat a diet similair to the one many crested geckos enjoy. Repashy diets can be mixed with water and kept in shallow bowls but they often have scents that attract the animals being fed to them. They are an all in one diet so they offer everything a lizard would need to maintain its health. Often times they will breed willingly and I have often had success breeding them in pairs. In general, I would read up a bunch on the tokay gecko and fortunately this paritcular website has plenty of information on them to offer.

Simon
 

Ingo

New member
Why are you all so convinced, that they are smithii? Especially, if they are grey?
I do keep G. smithii, G. siamensis and Gehyra marginata and I bought the original animals of all three species as green eyed geckos -which they of course are.
Too me the description of a grey bodies green eyed gecko better fits siamensis or Gehyra marginata than smithii.
Also the care of siamensis IS different compared to that for smithii. Siamensis is a rock dweller, whereas smithii is a trwee dweller. But more importantly, siamensis need relatively cold and dry winters to reliably reproduce and even than they are much less prolific than smithii. Smithii needs a warm humid setup year round and can breed like crazy.
Thus, we need a pic to give a positive ID.

Best

Ingo
 
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billewicz

New member
Can they be handled at all?

So far to date, I only have imported G. smithi. They are flighty and in most cases, faster than the typical Tokay.

Maybe next year, after we have captive bred juvies to work with, we can see if they have any better tendency or tolerance for being handled.
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
I started with WC adults, all the way to 3 generations offspring. Even the 3rd generation was impossible to handle without getting bitten. They have good strong teeth and jaws, blood loss was the norm for me. I only handled them when necessary - like moving juvies to a different enclosure. Even if I wasn't going after the adults, they'd come charging and biting while I was trying to catch their young.

I would recommend leaving them alone unless you must touch them.
 

billewicz

New member
Now that you mentioned it, I did have a male come flying at me several times during his photo shoot. Some Tokay will do that once in a while, but not back to back reload and fire!
 

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
I started with WC adults, all the way to 3 generations offspring. Even the 3rd generation was impossible to handle without getting bitten. They have good strong teeth and jaws, blood loss was the norm for me. I only handled them when necessary - like moving juvies to a different enclosure. Even if I wasn't going after the adults, they'd come charging and biting while I was trying to catch their young.

I would recommend leaving them alone unless you must touch them.


Hilde it never ceases to surprise me the stuff you've worked with in the past.
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
20+ years of being surrounded by geckos gives you enough time to keep a lot of species.
 

billewicz

New member
20+ years of being surrounded by geckos gives you enough time to keep a lot of species.

Hey,

I hope no one minds too much but I asked this in another thread as well.

When you were breeding G. smithi, did you keep the eggs and offspring in with the parents?

We've seen that Tokay will not eat their own immature prodigy, but I'm looking to see if someone else has had the same experience with Green eyed.

Thanks and all the best,

Michael
 

Hilde

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, I left the eggs and hatchlings in with the parents. The eggs were glued to either a cave or glass, so there was no way to safely remove them. The parents (communal group, several males and females) would bask for a while, then go and sit on any eggs which weren't in the best (warmer) spots, which I assume was done to warm them up.
They protected the hatchlings for a while, until they were a few months old. Once I saw that the juvies were staying away from the main group, I'd remove them .... very carefully, because even then the adults sometimes attacked to protect their kids.
 

Ingo

New member
My smithii do care the same way for their offspring as tokays do. However, I have to remove the youngsters at the age of 5 months latest, otherwise, they are at risk to be killed. Never seen such dramatic things in tokays.

Best

Ingo
 
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