ok. i keep the grand majority of my gex in my bedroom (i have phantasticus, pietschmanni, and crested geckos). apart from when i play music in my room (softly, i am always considerate of my animals' sensitivity), there is usually a near-silence. last night it got a lil too warm in the room for me, so i turned on the fan, turned out the lights, and tried to go back to sleep. the fan created a considerable amount of noise, but not excessive. it was probably loud enough to where i could no longer hear my geckos crawl around their tanks, but still loud enough for me to hear vocalization.
so after turning on the fan, i tried to go back to sleep. perhaps it was coincidence, but almost immediately afterwards, there was quite a bit of vocalization coming from my pietschmanni. now i have been trying my best to get these guys breeding since i got them earlier this year, and rarely heard any vocalization. suddenly, at least one of them was making quite a bit of noise, enough to make me wonder....
is noise a necessary part of the life of these geckos? the more deeply i thought about it, the more i thought that this could be true. when i think of tropical forests, i think of a constant buzz in the air due to whatever weather there may be, not to mention the multitudes of insects and animals found in forests. basically, i couldnt think of a silent tropical forest, unless it had been devoid of life.
furthermore, i took the consideration of the presence of noise (perhaps 'ambient noise' even) to mask one's exact location, to an extent. for example, an animal's location would (supposedly) be easier to distinguish in a more silent area than if there were some type of noise in the area. now as we know with the beautiful camouflage that is found in many uroplatus, among countless other animals, predator avoidance can be a key to survival. perhaps the buzz of a living forest is a natural part of the life of some species of uroplatus. taking that further, the fact that many geckos, including uroplatus, are vocal - perhaps the surrounding noises are, in essence, a type of mask to courting geckos using their voices.
now i understand that one observation of increased vocal communication between pietschmanni due to increased ambient noise is nowhere close to substantiating the idea, but does anyone else think this idea is too far-fetched? to me, it makes sense that these geckos would be more vocal in the presence of other noises, for the simple fact that there is this huge, predator-like being sharing space with them (me, of course) almost every day. the increased noise in the room provides some sort of auditory 'cover' to hide under, should they be in the right 'mood,' so to speak, to reproduce.
now i apologize if this doesnt make sense to many. im just a zoology student and suddenly many things i learned in the past few years began running through my head last night. i would love to experiment with the idea, although the difficulty would be obvious for the fact i have nowhere near the amount of subjects to experiment with, not to mention im still an undergrad. for now, im going to experiment a little in a not-so-scientific way, and see if the increased vocalization remains. i also welcome anyone else's comments, suggestions, and questions as well, because this case have obviously intrigued me! it would be awesome to find a way to set up a better breeding background for my geckos, and im sure there are many others who would to try things aimed at increasing the reproductive success of their wild-caught uroplatus!
