Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

A neighbor of mine thinks she wants to house 1 or 2 geckos in the small greenhouse attached to her home. This greenhouse is glassed in, south facing, and will range in temp from 65 nights to over 90 F on sunny days with relatively high humidity. I suggested screening off a section so the geckos can be fed, found, and checked on more easily. I am not sure what species to suggest, but from talking to her think she prefers arboreal, nocturnal (the glass is not low iron so not much UVB will get through and we have a lot of rainy cloudy weather here), and large enough to be found easily. She's not an experienced keeper, so I don't want to saddle her with something specialized or expensive. In winter the greenhouse will be too cold, so she'll house them in a terrarium indoors. She likes the look of the crested, but I think those daytime temps are too high. Any suggestions? Experience doing this? Bad idea?

Many thanks!

Tokays sound like a good canidate to me. Big, blue, nocturnal, not too delicate.
Man, if I had a greenhouse... oh well, we won't go there .

I thought so, but I know she'll be concerned about their fierceness. Does this vary by sex, handling, etc? I confess I know very little about them. Big, beautiful but the few I've met were pretty nasty. What's the best care info source out there?

I didn't know she wanted to HOLD them... I thought she just wanted to LOOK at them...
The only geckos that are really decent to hold probably wouldn't do so great in a greenhouse... 90 is too hot for cresteds, leopards and fat tails stay on the ground... that sort of thing.

well she needs to make sure her geckos cant escape the green house. the smaller the species the more difficult it can be. if it is not escape proof i recomend just and indoor cage.

I suggested designing a screen enclosure within the greenhouse itself for just that reason. That is the plan and will be fairly simple. As for holding, I agree that she probably can't have it all. I do know she'll have to catch and house it in an indoor terrarium for winter, and that means more daily care, interaction, cleaning, etc. A very aggressive gecko might be a problem for her. But, I offered to take it for the winter as I am not that worried about handling. I suspect I'll suggest the Tokay as it seems to meet almost all her wants, and make sure she's OK with their temperment. Thanks very much for all your help folks!

Maybe geckos wouldnt be a great choice, there are many differnt lizards that would thrive in that sort of enviroment, and still be very handable. Such a lizard might be a chinese water dragon. Just a thought.