Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quick question, Does anyone keep crested geckos or any of the species of day geckos with their PDF's in their vivariums? Can or will they co-exist?

Thanks,
Nick

I have 2 Crested's and I don't keep them with my darts. Crested's like humidity, but would not do that well in the high levels that the darts are kept at.

Also, you would have to construct a tall enclosure and have ledges up high to feed the cresteds on because you wouldn't want them coming to the ground level and stressing out the darts. One thought.... wouldn't you worry about your Crested trying to eat a frog? Crested are stimulated by movement (crickets) and I could almost guarantee that catching a frog and seeing what it tasted like would cross a gecko's mind.

The general rule is don't mix; just enjoy each specie on it's own while your learn about it. Vivariums are very small compared with rainforests, so even if the different animals may co-exist together in a huge space, they may not do as well scaled down to a 40 gallon or so vivarium. In my experience, which is admittedly rather confined to indoors Idaho, the best thing to do is keep everything separate, at least until you are expert enough and have enough space and experience to manage a zoo. In the meantime, you can certainly enjoy the hobby of keeping the animals separately.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

Good points, but I always thought it would be cool to have one of those powdery green day geckos runnin around in a big terrarium with some blue frogs. Oh well, I'll just keep that picture in my head.

I think it depends. I know a guy who has a breeding pair of small day geckos (about 3 inches) in a 75G planted tank with 8 tincs. Everyone in the tank seems fine. The day geckos catch any pinheads or FF's that crawl to the top. They also go after the ones that climb up the glass that the frogs can't get.

The size of the environment is the key, IMO. This 75G gives plenty of room to get away if needed. Plus it's heavily planted too. I wonder sometimes if the two ever see each other anyway.

75 gallons doesn't seem like enough space to keep 8 tincs in, let alone with a gecko. D. tinctorius are very territorial, especially the females, and don't generally do well in groups as they mature. They do better paired and separated from others. They see each other, be sure of that. Every dart frog I've ever had climbs glass, either after fruit flies, or just for the "fun of it," if they are the more athletic thumbnails. The heavier ones such as galacs, tinks, leucomelas, and P. terribilis don't do it as much as adults, but I wouldn't leave the lid open, or you may find out how efficiently they can climb glass when you aren't looking. My four year old blue auratus still climb the glass every morning. They all, even the so-called terrestrial darts, will utilize every altitude of a vivarium, which being comparatively small, represents a only a few inches of how high "terrestrial" dart frogs will go off the ground in the wild.

I admit that I've never kept geckos at all, only had them drop off the ceiling into my soup in the tropics, but from what I've read, the darts require more humidity and different temperatures in general. At least until you have raised them successfully separately, I sure wouldn't advise mixing them.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus