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Few questions concerning new flying gecko

Posted By:

nwnumber1qt

In Relation To:

Ronin

Hi I'm new to the forum. Although I have had some experience with husbandry of geckos (tokay, day, etc.) in a research facility, I recently just purchased my first gecko this week at my local herp show. I bought a flying gecko (Ptychozoon kuhli) and I was just wondering a little bit about diet. He appears to be an older juvenile (not full grown yet), and I've only had experience in feeding adult geckos. He's a bit thin especially in the pelvis and I was just wondering if I should try to add some higher fat items to his diet. Since Sunday, I've been feeding him 3-4 1/4" crickets every night. He seems to be eating the crickets for the most part, but wouldn't touch the sweet potato or peach baby food I gave him. I didn't know if it would be bad to maybe try some worms (higher in fat) maybe once a week to try to help him put on a little weight. I am also going to try the Gerber Apples and Chicken baby food. Also, I am planning to dust the crickets w/ calcium 2x a week, but I have heard that using supplements in juveniles can be harmful, so how young is too young for supplements?

Secondly, after inspecting him thoroughly, I did find 1 mite under the skin flap on his side. I know if there is 1, then there are usually more. I used a q-tip dipped in peroxide to remove the mite, as we do at the facility. After that I also did a preventative swabbing under all the flaps, around the ears, cloaca, and between the toes. I also bleached his cage, and all cage furniture.

My question is this, I plan to keep cleaning out his cage every 2 days, and if I inspect him daily and find no mites, how long until I can determine that he is mite free and can stop cleaning the cage so frequently?

I appreciate any help you can give me.


Points:	100
Topics:	General Health , Skin , Feeding
Tags:	Gecko, Nutrition, Ptychozoon
Administrative:	Show/Hide

Accepted Answer

11/21/2008 12:19:43 AM

FyreFocks

Buy Provent a Mite. Its the best thing for mites.

My experience with flying geckos have all been horrible, short lived ones. They are almost all wild caught and the best way to confirm this is the mites. They're red right? Theres always more than one. His size and build are also good indicators. He probably hasnt eaten much since the transfer from wherever they come from.

Ive never fed them anything outside of crickets. Depending on how often you feed him, which should probably be 2-3 times a week, i would dust the food every other feeding. You can try worms for fat or you could try the manufactured Gargoyle Gecko Diet (its slightly higher in most nutrients than the Crested diet is). Either way, you should not use baby food.

Im a bit weary of husbandry since its been years since ive kept one, but you should shoot for low end temps around 78 and high end temps around 85. These worked best for me. Humidity might be around 40%. They are nocturnal so you dont need UV of any sort. Give them vertical space and plenty of things to hide behind. Getting this right will be the first step in getting him comfortable enough to want to eat.

I dont have the literature on this species that i used to so i might be off, anyone can feel free to correct me. But i hope ive helped you in some way.

Member Comment

11/21/2008 8:03:31 AM

JohnJohn

I have no experience with this particular species. My only experience with wild-caught animals is with my collared lizards. Acclimating wild-caught animals can be a pain, but also a joy when finally everything starts to work out well. But it can really take time and my opinion is that you have to be very very diligent with wild-caught animals. If they eat....eat anything at all.....then that is half the battle. My approach is to feed wild-caught lizards a wide variety of foods if that is appropriate to the species. That way you find out whatever they are accustomed too and will eat. Try meal worms and wax worms. Wax worms are a lot of fat and should not be the staple.

More importantly, get the mites under control. Be very diligent about that. Also, you may need to think about internal parasites. If you have a good Herp Vet around it might be worth it to have a fecal sample checked and maybe a quick visit to the vet for a treatment for internal parasites.

My collared lizards got off to a slow start as they acclimated to captivity, but they are doing well after constant attention to diet, hydration, temps, etc. etc..

Member Comment

11/22/2008 1:56:22 AM

Joseph Jenkins

looks like ur doin good, if he's eatin 3-4 crickets a night , then he'll gain the weight back in no time, just dust the crickets once a week, and u'll be fine.

As far as mites, i would go with nate and use provent-a-mite, its the best stuff out there.

Author Comment

11/22/2008 9:06:47 PM

nwnumber1qt

So today I decided to do a little preventative cage cleaning to ensure I'm getting rid of mites faster than they can multiply. I took my lil guy out and placed him in a container while i cleaned his cage, and then I used some ZooMed Mite off stuff as well. After thoroughly cleaning the cage and accessories, it was his turn. I examined him pretty well, and didn't find any more mites, but I wanted to be proactive. I was a lil nervous about misting the Mite off all over him, so instead I moistened a cotton swab and ran it under all of his skin folds, around the cloaca,etc. About 2 minutes later, he kind of started doing a head twitch thing. I've see some of the tokays in our research lab do this when we place cotton bags over their head to keep them from biting while we perform necessary medical care, etc to them. However, I was a little concerned due to this immediately following the mite off application. He was acting very lethargic, breathing rate was up, and he wasn't really trying to bite as he normally would. I kind of freaked, so I used a spray bottle to mist him off, and when I still wasn't sure that i had cleaned him off, I filled a small tub with a bit of warm water and let him bite my finger so I could dunk his body while keeping his head above the water. This seemed to warm him up a little, but once I put him back into the cage, he was still a bit lethargic and he had changed colors to where his dorsal stripe and tail were very pale. It wasn't until I had misted the cage to the point of soaking (he was drenched), that he climbed up on some leaves and started drinking. I'm going to check on him in the morning and see if he's eaten and any more active?

Does anyone have any sort of explanation as to what have caused this? I want to think it was just stress, as ZooMed's website says mite off is completely nontoxic to most vertebrates. Could my gecko have a bad reaction to the Mite Off just as people and other verts have allergies or sensitivities to specific things-I know this is a possibility (my degree specialty is in Micobiology and Immunology), so I'm more or so asking if anyone has actually had an experience with an animal having an abnormal sensitivity to something that was unlikely?

Thanks in advance!

Member Comment

11/22/2008 9:38:06 PM

FyreFocks

A negative reaction is a possability. General stress is also a possability. I very highly doubt that hes captive bred so i think anything you do to/for him is going to upset him.

Member Comment

10/4/2010 2:19:05 PM

dalvers63

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