Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i went to my local pet store and found they are selling wild-caught gold dust day geckos, and all of them appear to be in great shape. Unfortunatly, the animals are stuffed in a ten gallon tank without any lighting. room temp is in the 80s, but still, the cage is small and the big male is bullying the smaller males. i want to save one, but here is the catch; they are $50 a piece! Is that reasonable? seems like a lot to pay for gold dusts, especilly wild-caught. I have an empty 15 gallon high that would be great for them.

That sound like a bad situation, if they are going to sell animals they need to see to their needs better than that. As for the price I think they sould be a little cheaper maybe in the $35-$40 range. Gold Dust are a common captive bred Phelsuma and I think you would be better off buying CB.

it sucks, the big male has the two smaller males cornered in a piece of hollowed-out driftwood. I want to set up a nice tank with bamboo, snakeplants, plus the uv light and basking lamp. all that would not be expensive, i have the tank and lid, plus substrates and all i would need is a uv light and basking light fixture-but then blow $50 on a single male? plus, i'd be supporting the sale of wild-caught animals kept under bad conditions.

I wouldn't pay that for a small Phelsuma, especially not a wild-caught animal. I've heard others complain about this high price issue with the smaller species of day geckos. In the past few years, they have become very expensive unless you get them directly from a breeder or at a herp expo/show. The most I'd pay for a gold dust day gecko is $25, even if it is captive-bred.