Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently received an e-mail from a member of my Illinois State Herp Club. He is asking my opinion about this alligator gecko he recently obtained. My knowledge is by far "snake centered" and my opinion on this matter would be strickly on lizard and gecko knowledge I have and not indivually the specific animal he has. I am quite aware he has some problems in there to work on and some things he must correct. However, until now I was only aware of an alligator lizard and a croc. gecko. Can this forum please help him? I will be sending him an e-mail to check here and get an account asap. Thank you. (here is a copy of his e-mail)

"hey, this is matt h. from herp club. I have obtained a "new" alligator
gecko from my uncle, as he is moving and doesnt want to take it with him.
hes mostly sure its male, i know it's at least 2 years old, maybe 3, and I
have'nt been able to find very much info on al. geckos online. I have
settled for similar info for now on crocodile geckos, but i wanted your
opinion on it. He currently has no tail, and is a nervous reck.
Apparently, he was kept in a big tank with another male when bough. one of
his back feet was bitten off 2 yrs ago, and he was rarely taken out. i mean
rarely...my uncle had this mix of substrate going that he read up on, layers
of dirt, charcoal, mulch, etc. it would supposedly take care of the waste,
so he only changed the massive(50gal) tank like 1-2 times a year. and thta
was the only time this litttle guy was taken out. he was also only fed 3-4
mealworms like, 12 times a week, he said whenever he remembered...so this
guy is looking malnourished, he'll never reach his full potential size now,
hes kinda small(about 2-3 inches), and he is extremely paranoid about
people. he has not eaten since i brought him home, although i keep a small
dish of mealworms and a few dusted crickets in there with him. i have a
heat lamp and all, mulch sub. for moisture, and i mist the tank at least
couple time a day. he has water dish too, but i dont see him move much, and
i have kept count on all food, he hasnt touched it. im not sure what to do,
i have no experience force-feeding a lizard, and i have a hard time trying
to get him out. i've only tried a couple times since hes been here, both
pretty unsuccessful. he just bites a lot (expected, no big deal), but he
freaks when someone even moves past the tank... should i still try to take
him out , any tips on feeding, is my housing right?...he has a moist corner
with that stagnant moss of watever, and hiding area..but other than that, im
not sure wat to do. should i leave him be? if i do, i think he may starve
himself. either that or he's just so used to eating so little his body just
doesnt crave food except 1-2 time a week ya know. anyways, sorry about the
lengthy email, you are just the only one i could think of to ask at this
time, besides a few pet stores, but the probly wouldnt know much...if you
have any ideas, i would definitely appreciate them. hope you had a great
thanksgiving, and i will at least see ya on wed. later"

I'd say it's probably a croc, I certainly have never heard of an alligator gecko. My main thing to say is that he needs to stop handling it. Not all things like handling and with the stress of the move this is undoubtedly too much for the gecko. Some species will always bite when you take them out (I don't know how tame croc geckos normally are to be honest), but he really needs to give it time to get adjusted and make sure there's lots of hides for it. Perhaps crix or some other insect would stimulate him to eat.

It would be a big help to get a physical description of the animal (color, pattern, is it spiky looking or smooth, etc.)

If we assume for the moment, based solely on the name, that it is a crocodile gecko Tarentola mauretanica, then it needs a hot dry enclosure rather than a humid one. First thing I would do would be put it in a dry 10 gal with a secure lid, paper towel substrate, a hide box on each end, and a shallow water dish. 85 degrees daytime on the hot end, 75 on the cool end, with a 10 degree drop at night. The hide box on the hot end should be kept slightly moist with a light misting once a day. If you can put the tank somewhere where there's not many people walking by, and cover the back and sides of the tank, that would help too.

If it's not T. mauretanica (God knows, it could be almost anything!) then the setup I mentioned might not be optimum, but it should give an adequate temp. range for the gecko to be comfortable.

Don't let the uneaten crickets roam around the cage, they will pester the gecko and stress him even further. The dish of mealworms is a good idea to place in there instead of crix. He might not eat with you watching, he might not eat at all for quite a while, what with the prior poor enclosure and now a change of habitat. If you can, monitor his weight weekly, but don't try to force feed him unless he's definitely losing weight quickly. The paper towels should make it easy to see whether he's defecated or not. Definitely wouldn't hurt to get a fecal sample to the vet to check for parasites or disease.

See if you can't get a pic posted, that would be a big help. In the meantime, do a web search for pictures of Crocodile Gecko, Moorish Gecko, or Tarentola mauretanica, maybe that will help i.d. this gecko.

Good luck.
-----
Chris

1.0.1 Coleonyx variegatus
1.0.0 Gekko vittatus
1.0.0 Eublepharis macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus

Terrestrial? Who you calling terrestrial?!!

Thank you. My guess was croc gecko as well since I was doubting he had an alligator lizad. But who knows and I was also taking into consideration it may be something I am not aware of. We have a member in the club that will do a fecal for him so that will get taken care of. I hope he is reading this as well. As far as caging changes I would have told him the same thing. I have not seen the gecko or lizard so I cannot say. I told him yo get an account and I hope he does so for the sake of the animal. Once again I thank both posters so far and I hope to hear more and a response from him.