Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Purchased four of these gems at a local pet store the other night. They couldn't tell me anything about them except that they arrived at the store on the 19th of June. It's my understanding that the two species most commonly imported are S. petrii and S. stenodactylus but how do you tell the two apart? What do you think mine are? Also, anyone know of any literature published about these geckos? They are very interesting. Thanks for your time,

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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

n/p

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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

n/p

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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

n/p

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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

Hey Devin.

They look like petrii to me. If they stay under 3 inches; most likely petrii.

Nice geckos anyhow. Their chirping at night is very nice.

Heres my female Petrii.

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/15226MVC-003F.JPG

Those are most definitely S. sthenodactylus. Where did you get them? Can you get more? I have been looking for some females of that subspecies for the longest time. Do you have any females you can part with or would you be interested in a breeding loan? If not, can you tell me what name they were listed under at the pet store and the name & phone number of the pet store you bought them at so I can call them and try to get ahold of some for myself? I am looking for some females to breed with my hypo high yellow male and cannot seem to locate any females from this subspecies.

Please let me know, thank you!

Andy Ghertner
Captive Bred Geckos
http://captivebredgeckos.com

Hi Andy,

I purchased the four from a midwest pet store chain called Pet World. Their phone number is 608-278-7999 The geckos were labelled as Dwarf Sand Geckos, were $14.99 and arrived at the store on June 19th. They had what looked to be either 4 or 5 males and 1 or 2 females. I took the female(s) and left 2 males at the store. The store is not a place I've done business with in years and not one I'd recomend in general but I couldn't pass these beauties up. To give you an idea of the quality of the store, the only deli cups they had to put the geckos in were used ones with blood stains on them (probably old snake feeding containers.) I actually asked what dealer the geckos came from but the reptile manager wasn't in and he was the one who would know. I was in there a month earlier to see their shipment of mantella frogs and the manager said that they had been ordering from Xtreme Reptiles so you could try giving them a call.

How can you tell sthenodactylus and petrii apart? I'd like to give my geckos a closer exam to make sure you are correct. Thanks for your time and good luck with the sthenodactylus hunt,
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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com

Devin:

Thanks so much for the info. I will have to give them a call. The sthenos seem to be labelled as "Israeli Dune Geckos," "Micro Geckos," and "Dwarf Sand Geckos" when they are available in pet stores, and they are $14.99-$29.99 each.

The differences between the sthenos and the petrii are so distinct that I can tell just by looking at the photos...you don't even need to look more closely. To the untrained eye, the biggest differences are the snout (your animals exhibit the "pig nose", the tail thickness (petrii tails look like malnourished toothpicks), and the banding/coloration (petrii tend to have a white dot & dash pattern that the sthenos don't have). On their own, it may be more difficult to tell them apart, but once you see photos of one of each subspecies laying next to each other, there is no question about it.

I am away on business for the week but next week I will try sending you photos of each subspecies so you can see what I'm talking about. In the meantime try to find me some females and I'll pay you for the animals, shipping, and even a finders fee!

Andy Ghertner
Captive Bred Geckos
http://captivebredgeckos.com

>>How can you tell sthenodactylus and petrii apart? I'd like to give my geckos a closer exam to make sure you are correct. Thanks for your time and good luck with the sthenodactylus hunt,
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>>Devin Edmonds
>>devin@amphibiancare.com
>>www.amphibiancare.com

n/p
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Devin Edmonds
devin@amphibiancare.com
www.amphibiancare.com