New Hemidactylus fasciata

[Lunar Gecko]

I have a 1.2 CBB coming in this week. Took me forever to track that down. Nobody seems to have any anymore. Anyways I'm looking for a good care sheet for them. Looked here and did not see one, maybe thats because of the name confusion? Anyways, I want to know about the temps. Seems to be a lot of different ideas about this. Some care sheets say 85f basking and others say 90-100f. That seems a tad odd to me. Also do people bermate or cool them for the winter and if so how long and what temps?
Any pictures of tanks?
Thanks for any input.

 

[danscantle]

That seems hot to me. Perhaps there's some confusion with the name? Are you getting the West African banded gecko, Hemidactylus fasciatus, or the Pakistani viper gecko, Hemidactylus imbricatus, which was formerly classified as Teratolepis fasciata?

 

[Lunar Gecko]

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thats what Im getting.

 

[danscantle]

That's H. imbricatus. Hot and dry, keep them warm over all with a hot spot approaching 100.

 

[kaikara]

So much confusion with the scientific names. Common name viper or carrot tailed geckos is easier though. I am breeding them this year. I have a 1.3 group.

I think that 85 is too low for the hot spot. You would be better at 90-95. Ambient I keep around 80. I use an UTH that covers 1/3 of base and a 20 watt halogen light to bump air temps.

I keep the trio in a 2'L x1' wide which is plenty for them. I use pieces of slate to create different levels as well as some pieces of cork bark and terra cotta dishes for hides. I create a humid hide under the pieces of slate using sand and some moss which normally doubles as the laying site. I also very lightly spray the one corner occasionally to create some droplets to drink. I also keep small water bottle lid of calcium and water in there for them to access.

I don't heat cycle them to induce breeding. You have to be very careful with females and males together though. Males can sexually mature pretty early - 5-6 months. You don't want females breeding at that age. If you are getting mature animals females are very prolific and will just about keep laying forever if allowed. This can cause them to have poor health or shorten their lives. I usually separate my male after they begin laying and leave him separated until the following year.

Hatchlings I keep in a rack on paper towel. With same temp setup as adults. at that size you have to be careful that they don't dehydrate so spray the one corner nightly to keep up hydration. Keep calcium and very small water dish in each rub. They grow very fast and eat lots. I had 12 hatchlings at one point and was easily going through 250 appropriate sized crickets a week.

Some other notes they climb well but their setae on their toes isn't fully developed like a day gecko. If you have a background that is rough in texture they could probably get up it but I don't think they can climb glass unless it is really dirty. I have mine in a tank and one time saw one inching there way up the corner on the bead of silicone. So make sure you have a secure top. Also for their size they can take on pretty largish sized prey items.

I think they are great little geckos. Having a great time breeding them this year. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[kaikara]

Couple pics to give an idea of size at hatching.

here is the male from the trio.

 

[Lunar Gecko]

Thanks. I have mine in my rack for now. 28qt sweater box on pt but they have two hides with a mix of sand and soil in them. Also some cork bark and some paper towel roll. My heat is 90f at the back wall. I hope thats fine. If not I'll move them into a ten gallon.

 

[kaikara]

When I first setup my rack for my hatchlings I played with the temps and I found if I went to the higher end for the hot spot they would spend most of their time in the cool hide. If I kept it between 90-95 they seemed to be use both about the same amount. So i went with the lower temps.

As for the adults they seem to like the heat more. Their hot spot is 95 and they are on the hot side or in the hot hides most of the day. It could also be that there is more fluctuation in ambient air temps in a tank then in a rack where it will be more constant.