Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a couple of questions....i saw the huge caledonian or however u spell it huge gecko...thats crazy...i have leoapards...and im not used to seeing such a massive gecko...i was wondering about their temperaments, ease of care, growth rates, breedability etc etc...also

WHAT IS SKIN SLOUGHING?...from what ive read in posts it seems like a bad thing..at first i thought it was shedding...then i though tthat all herps shed so what in the world is skin sloughing..so far..the connotaion i got from the posts is that its somewhat like tail droping except its skin..which i have no clue why or how a gecko would do that...and want further clarification...and also if it isn't too much...what geckos do this horrid thing and whats a good beginner arboreal species besides cresteds ...thanks!
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Rhacodactylus leachianus is the New Caledonian Giant Gecko and is species that will drop its tail as a defense mechanism. R. leachianus is not a "skin sloughing" species. Leachianus are expensive and can be temperamental/territorial...and a bite from a large one can be painful.

Gehyra vorax, a large "skin sloughing" gecko species, is also found on New Caledonia, and it even looks somewhat like Rhacodactylus leachianus. Their looks are where it stops, though, as Gehyra are not even closely related to Rhacodactylus. Gehyra are in the subfamily Gekkonidae, whereas Rhacodactylus are in the Diplodactylinae subfamily. They're more flighty than most Rhacodactylus and being a skin sloughing species, they don't make much of a pet, especially if you wish to be able to handle your gecko with any regularity.

Skin sloughing is a defensive behavior, similar to tail autotomization (dropping) and is employed by several other species. The Fish Scaled Gecko (not sure of the latin name off the top of my head) is one of them.

As for beginner arboreal geckos go, I think Cresteds are (by far and away) the best choice, in terms of ease of care, ease of breeding, temperament and colors/patterns, but there are also Gargoyle Geckos. The only potential problem with Gargoyles is that babies and juveniles must be housed individually or they will fight and lose tails...and even eat their cage mates if the size difference is great enough. As far as other Rhacodactylus go, there are some that are just as easy to keep, but they're expensive and don't breed quite as readily.

Check out my website for a lot of detailed info on Cresteds. Any information there can be directly applied to Gargoyles as well.
Click here to go to my Crested Gecko section.

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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com