Sphaerodactylus care help needed

[Keri]

Hi all.
I'm looking for someone to chat with about sphaero care, I'm trying to sort through caresheets on the internet and getting a bit of conflicting advice and I want to do things properly. I also am not positive on the species I have maybe s. elegans (I don't think it looks quite right) or s. sabanus (seems to fit better)

The gecko is currently being housed in a 5g tank with a bunch of fake plants and a branch on paper towel. In quarantine FAR away from my other reptiles as it is wc. The paper towel is a precaution that I usually take with new pets to ensure they are pooping normally (overnight I see 2 tiny little ones from this guy so that's a positive!) but I will take it out and replace it with cocofibre if that is better.

He was originally given to me as an anole species and I had purchased a 5.0 UVB bulb for over the terrarium but I read on here that UVB is not beneficial for sphaeros? And that it can actually harm them? Is that all species? I don't currently have it on the tank, and I won't put it on until I hear otherwise.

I have a couple of tiny crickets in the tank with him that I think are borderline too big but I live a ferry ride and couple hour's drive from the big city (Vancouver) and I got the smallest I could from the pet store. I am also going to go to Vancouver tomorrow to pick up some pinheads. I could order in a fruit fly culture, I've done them before but I will need a finer-meshed lid. I put some mashed banana in the tank in a little bowl and have both clark's diet and repashy available if that would be of interest to him?

I have also been spraying the cage and have seen him drinking. Is tap water ok? I don't have hard water here and use tap water for spraying my crestie cages.

I was only given this gecko yesterday and it was a bit of a surprise, normally I would research a species BEFORE jumping in and buying one so any help would be greatly appreciated! It was a stowaway from the island of Saba.

A photo

 

[hexentanz]

I agree that it is probably S. sabanus, especially more so since it was found where you said.

I too get conflicting information about UVB. Some people have told me they do not need it since they prefer shade and it can kill them, while others tell me no more than 2.0% UVB. Your best bet is to contact Dendrolophel from zwerggeckos.com as he is quite knowledgeable when it comes to Sphaeros.

 

[Keri]

I agree that it is probably S. sabanus, especially more so since it was found where you said.

I too get conflicting information about UVB. Some people have told me they do not need it since they prefer shade and it can kill them, while others tell me no more than 2.0% UVB. Your best bet is to contact Dendrolophel from zwerggeckos.com as he is quite knowledgeable when it comes to Sphaeros.

Thank you, I have emailed them as well and am awaiting a reply I'm going to the big city today to pick some stuff up.

 

[Yann]

Hi!!

I have a 2.0 UVB light for about 11 months now and my Sphaero are doing just fine.

I have never tried to give fruits or rephasy to Sphaero as I thought they are strictly insectivor...
I gibe fruit flies when I haven't any micro crickets...but I read that fruit flies are not as good food as micro crickets could be!!
Cheers
Yann

 

[hexentanz]

Thank you, I have emailed them as well and am awaiting a reply I'm going to the big city today to pick some stuff up.

No problem and I forgot to mention earlier, that I am using 2.0% Narva Bio-Vital UVB with no issue and I would not personally ever go any higher myself.

I can second Yann's choice with the fruit diets. I had some take the Repashy, but I think they just did it more for the moisture aspect because as soon as I added in some little caps for collection of water they used these instead and never touched the Repashy ever again.

 

[Keri]

Ok, I will get a 2.0 UV bulb tomorrow, thank you. I don't see him going to the fruit mixture but I make it up anyways for mycresties and at least the crickets I put in there can eat it I did manage to find some pinhead crickets in Vancouver today so that's good I put the pinhead crickets in a dish to keep them somewhat contained, till they figure it out, with some food.

Here is a pic from tonight, still cannot get over how small this little guy is...


The leaf he is sitting on is about an inch and a half across.

 

[Yann]

Hi!!

No need to put the cricket in a dish...they are good hunters...;-)
it looks very beautiful
Cheers
Yann

 

[Keri]

I watched him run out and eat two crickets last night so I am happy He's so fast!

 

[Yann]

Yes...they can be very fast when they need to!! ^^
Glad he found something to eat...don't forget to add complement with the crikets
Cheers
Yann

 

[Keri]

Yes...they can be very fast when they need to!! ^^
Glad he found something to eat...don't forget to add complement with the crikets
Cheers
Yann

Compliment? Food for the crickets? I put food in for them

 

[Yann]

Hi!!

No Ca powder, vitamines powder on the crickets when you feed them to your Sphaero!!
Cheers
Yann

 

[Keri]

Oh, yes, thank you I have Calcium powder but I have not used vitamin powder, I gutload the crickets well.

 

[Yann]

Ok perfect then!!
I dust crickets once in a while with vitamins instead Calcium, even if crickets are well gut loaded
Cheers
Yann

 

[Keri]

New pics from tonight, changed the cage around a bit, added cocofibre

Had to catch it for cage cleaning, SO fast! Used a highball glass and a piece of cardboard.

I have read that sexing some sphaeros is possible visually by checking for larger scales near where femoral pores are usually found but I'm not sure I see anything on this kid?

new setup

 

[hexentanz]

A few thoughts on the new enclosure:

1.) You should mix some sand/soil combo in with the coco material, because the coco fiber alone makes the terrarium too humid for Sphaeros. If you are lazy like me here, you can simply buy Terra Basis Soil from JBL, so you do not have to mix your own sand/soil combo.

2.) Cork! The tank is missing some cork bark. Sphaeros can be very shy animals, so having some cork tubes or pieces leaning on the rear and side walls and floor gives them some space to hide in. This way they feel less stressed.

3.) Egg laying spots. If you ever wish to breed your new found friend, she will need some places to lay eggs. Again I mention cork, some nice tall tubes or pieces with nice little crevices for them to go in and out of work well here. Also handy is to use some Japanese knotweed tubes, Sphaeros really seem to love these!


-----------

Thoughts on vitamin regimen:

Even if you gutload the hell out of your feeder insects, that is still only half the work. You still need both a calcium supplement and vitamin supplement in addition to gutloading.


------------

I am not exactly sure about the age of your gecko, but it looks to be fully grown so I would say you have a female there. :yahoo: Males have more of a shiny triangle like shape between their legs. This image shows it best, http://www.zwerggeckos.com/Sphaerod...caber/Sphaerodactylus_scaber_male_ventral.jpg

 

[Keri]

.... as a side note I can't believe how light it's gotten and how much the tail has grown since it got here!

 

[Keri]

Thanks fot your input Mareen!

Darnit! And the cocofibre looked so nice.... I'll get some "mix in" tomorrow.

I can't seem to find cork bark locally, but I will add more groundcover in the form of fake leaves temporarily until I can get some from the city... unless something like heat-sterilized birch bark would suffice?

I do calcium dust the insects that I feed though I'm not sure how much is still on them by the time she eats them? I'll add in some vitamin powder to the mix, I'm just leary to over supplement on the vitamins.

It's not really in the plans to breed her as I don't know of anyone working with this species here?

 

[hexentanz]

You might want to checkout some Canadian Reptile forums in search of cork. I do know of some companies which will ship there, but you need to buy massive bulk amounts, which is a waste if you have only one tank to work with.

You could try the birch bark temporarily (if sterilized properly), but from what I recall it breaks down really quickly. If you want to heat treat the bark in your home and own birds I would caution against heat treating in your oven because it is known to give off toxic odors harmful to birds.

Which supplement brands are you using?

 

[Keri]

I use Rep-Cal brand (and make sure it's within date)
I'm going to get some cork too - I haven't changed out the substrate yet because she seems to get so stressed when I have to contain her, I'll do it this weekend though, I have sand that I can mix in.

I did not know that about birch and birds, thank you, I knew about teflon but I don't currently own any birds. I like them but with my schedule I'm better with nocturnal pets

 

[Keri]

I have not been able to leave the sunshine coast to get to the city to find cork bark Hopefully soon. I am seeing it for sale online though and if I can't get out that way soon I'll go that route. In my internet "window shopping" I've come across dried magnolia leaves. We have magnolias here, could I heat-dry some leaves and add them to the tank? I'm sure she could hide in them as she is very small. I've also got some bamboo to add vertical hiding spots.