Finally got my Garg!

[CWilson13]

Hey all! This thread is a lot late but I finally remembered to start it. Sometime in late February I got my little Rhacodactylus auriculatus! As some of you know, I fell in love with these the first time I saw them. As much as I wanted to get one from either a member here or from Mike at DragonTown, I never did make the leap coverlaugh and buy one.
Right before my birthday, knowing I wouldn't be told "No" by my wife, b-day after all, I went ahead and got one from the store I buy crickets at. So far "he" has done very well. I'm not sure how to sex Gargs yet, plus I don't handle him much because he is so small. Partially because he doesn't get handled often, he still has his tail. No regrowth! Until I'm able to get him less afraid of me, and figure out if "he" is male or female, we call him "The baby" Now for the part where I check to see if I'm being a good Garg caretaker;

I have him in an Exo Terra Nano Tall (8*8*12") for now. I'm using paper towels as substrate. There is a small plastic plant that he loves I to hide in, and I kept the styrofoam insert in for aesthetic.
He gets fed Pangea every other day. I bought one of each variety they offer, the 2oz bags, right away. Once or twice a week I offer 2 calcium dusted crickets. Though it is sometimes difficult to tell if he ate any of the Pangea, he definitely has grown a little since he first came home. He also gets misted each day since it has been so dry lately. His temperature ranges from 70-75 at night to no warmer than 83 during the day.
Funny thing, going back to the handling, when he first came home and I was moving him into the Nano, he wasn't thrilled and actually bit me! It of course reminded me of [MENTION=51448]amsdadtodd[/MENTION] and our conversations about getting bitten by our Geckos :coverlaugh:

So, if you've read this far, thank you for putting up with my ramblings! Any input or corrections on my husbandry would be most appreciated! Here are a few photos of "The Baby" sorry they aren't the best, he is very shy.
Fired "up"


Fired "down"

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Welcome to GU, Baby Garg!

Better late than never, Cory! Sometimes the birthday presents we buy for ourselves are the BEST. You certainly have a varied menagerie! :cheer: AND you're feeding your new gecko a varied diet.

How much does he weigh?

Are all the Pangea diets you bought Complete Diets? I've seen some out there that aren't.

 

[CWilson13]

Welcome to GU, Baby Garg!

Better late than never, Cory! Sometimes the birthday presents we buy for ourselves are the BEST. You certainly have a varied menagerie! :cheer: AND you're feeding your new gecko a varied diet.

How much does he weigh?

Are all the Pangea diets you bought Complete Diets? I've seen some out there that aren't.

Thanks! He is very skittish still so confining him to be weighed has been difficult. I'll include a photo of the Pangea, they all say they are complete, but I'm not 100% sure that's true. His favorite seems to be the one with insects.
Including the cat, we now have 13 animals :shock: 16 if you include the sometimes beastly children :coverlaugh: 7 tarantulas, 2 Leos, 1 Garg, 1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, and 1 Ball python. The only downside to them all is how little time I have for anything else. Which, aside from checking in here or the Arachno forum, is actually perfect for me. In fact, if I had more room I'd probably have even more :biggrin:
I have been spending around 10 minutes or so 2-3x a week trying to socialize the baby though. He definitely isn't a graceful one, his leaps are quite comical in fact. He does always stick the landing however. His tiny size worries me with handling, between that, his leaps, and his deceptive speed, I worry he may escape or get hurt. So all handling is done low to the floor and I keep his home near by.
Here is the Pangea photo, along with today's photos of him.


He has been up at the top for a few hours, all fired down and relaxed.

 

[acpart]

Looking good!

Aliza

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

WOW, Cory! Thanks for ALL!

:scratchhead: You must be quite organized. 13 (16) animals is almost a zoo!

The "complete" label on Pangea's packaging is just what I was looking for.

 

[CWilson13]

WOW, Cory! Thanks for ALL!

:scratchhead: You must be quite organized. 13 (16) animals is almost a zoo!

The "complete" label on Pangea's packaging is just what I was looking for.

Good to know I chose well for his food. Talking to the breeders I've met definitely helped. Especially Mike from DragonTown. His Gargs are absolutely beautiful, I figured I'd better do exactly as he does and says for my own.
I have a somewhat chaotic organized setup. Fortunately it has worked out very well thus far. I don't think anyone else would be able to take over for me without rearranging the routines :lol: The fun part of it all though, other than directly caring for the animals, is showing the kids how to do all of this. Knowing that I'm raising 3 people who will have open minds and hearts for ALL types of animals. Not just the ones with fur.

 

[CWilson13]

So, apparently my little one never got the memo that Gargs aren't as good of climbers as Crested. Not sure why, but certain photos get turned sideways with this new phone.



Also, probably​ a dumb question, but as many of you know, I like to err on the side of caution. Are hornworms ok to feed Gargoyles? I picked some up for the Leo's and possibly the tarantulas, but didn't want to leave him out of the treats.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

So, apparently my little one never got the memo that Gargs aren't as good of climbers as Crested. Not sure why, but certain photos get turned sideways with this new phone.
View attachment 41487
View attachment 41488

Also, probably​ a dumb question, but as many of you know, I like to err on the side of caution. Are hornworms ok to feed Gargoyles? I picked some up for the Leo's and possibly the tarantulas, but didn't want to leave him out of the treats.

Ha ha ha, about climbing! I sometimes see my 5.5 yo Cyrtodactylus peguensis zebraicus male upside down on the screen top too. He has vines that he uses for his "ladder".

I know that butterworms cause severe facial burns to cresties.

Maybe your garg will like hornworms?

 

[CWilson13]

Ha ha ha, about climbing! I sometimes see my 5.5 yo Cyrtodactylus peguensis zebraicus male upside down on the screen top too. He has vines that he uses for his "ladder".

I know that butterworms cause severe facial burns to cresties.

Maybe your garg will like hornworms?

Thank you! I had forgotten that about butterworms and Cresties. That's one feeder I've not tried though. Only see them in bait shops out here so I never bothered.
I will offer a small one tomorrow to the baby. I know Apollo loves them, Arya seems indifferent to them however. Only the large tarantula has had a hornworm so far, and those will eat anything they can :shock:

The baby stayed up on the top for a couple hours, I think he fell asleep :coverlaugh: I did make a bit of progress with him the other day though! When I got his new food for him, he was up on the background, I slowly held the food under him to see his reaction. He actually started to eat even though my giant hand was right there with the food :yahoo: Didn't even flinch, just lapped up a bit and then stopped. When I moved to put the food in it's usual spot, he watched but still didn't react like he was scared. Even stayed fired down the entire time.

 

[NicKtheGreeK1997]

I noticed a slightly kinky tail, what supplement schedule do you use?

 

[CWilson13]

I noticed a slightly kinky tail, what supplement schedule do you use?

Not sure where you're seeing a kinky tail, but he eats Pangea, varieties stated above, along with between 4-6 small crickets lightly dusted with calcium per week.

 

[NicKtheGreeK1997]

Do you provide calcium with or without D3?

 

[CWilson13]

Zoo med with D3

 

[CWilson13]

Yet again I disappeared on everyone. Sorry about that :? To make a long story short I have 23 animals to care for, 3 kids, a wife, and work 40+hrs a weeks so forum time has been pretty limited. Hopefully everyone that remembers me and the "babies" is still around and doing Well!

I figured an update along with a plea for help was a long time coming. My Gargoyle is still doing well, albeit in a look but don't touch manner. As always I have some photos of him/her to share. The request for help is to determine the sex of the baby. I have tried looking online but I just can't seem to settle on either. Any help would be most appreciated.


Now that we have looked at the undercarriage, here are some other photos. The last one is all the further I have made it in getting the baby to accept me. :biggrin: of course food had to be involved.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

You've been "out of sight", Cory, but never "out of my mind"!

How old is your baby garg?

I'm not comfortable sexing gargs. I hope someone will stop by who is.

 

[CWilson13]

You've been "out of sight", Cory, but never "out of my mind"!

How old is your baby garg?

I'm not comfortable sexing gargs. I hope someone will stop by who is.

Thank you Elizabeth! It's good to be remembered, I have thought of you, and all those babies you have now, quite a few times but I always get caught up in something and forget to email you or come back here.
Hopefully the beach life is still treating you well! The baby is, I'm just guessing now, probably close to 10 months old. I got him/her back in February and s/he was quite small. Small enough that just one hand made a nice little cave for the 6in transfer to the exoterra. Now, well there'd be tail and face peeking out either side.

 

[NicKtheGreeK1997]

I do see a bulge developing (even though a pic from the rear would be better) so my guess is that you have a male gargoyle. And a high end red striped, that is!

 

[CWilson13]

I do see a bulge developing (even though a pic from the rear would be better) so my guess is that you have a male gargoyle. And a high end red striped, that is!

Thank you! I got lucky getting the photo of the underside at all but I will keep an eye out for other photo opportunities just in case. It's quite a drastic change from being fired up/down. Down there is that nice red Orange striping on the cream colored body. Fired up is a nice rich brown with a more Orange than red striping.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thank you Elizabeth! It's good to be remembered, I have thought of you, and all those babies you have now, quite a few times but I always get caught up in something and forget to email you or come back here.
Hopefully the beach life is still treating you well! The baby is, I'm just guessing now, probably close to 10 months old. I got him/her back in February and s/he was quite small. Small enough that just one hand made a nice little cave for the 6in transfer to the exoterra. Now, well there'd be tail and face peeking out either side.

You're welcome, Cory! There are 15 hatchling and juvie chirpers, all housed individually! The Valentine "guys" weigh 7.0 grams. I need to figure out where the extra peeps are coming from (males). :scratchhead:

My "he's" grown!

I love beach life! We had many days without rain last summer. Now it's raining! Sometimes it rains cats and geckos for 5 minutes, and suddenly the sun returns! A couple days ago we even had some hail. :shock: I was "caught" midway between town and home. Covered my backpack with its "raincoat" as I waited on the porch of a restaurant.

 

[Cloppy]

You can sex gargs by looking at their vent, and the males will have a pronounced bulge, the bulge will be absent in the females.