Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im going to hawaiia in 2 months,gecko central.what do u think i will find???

i went to hawaii over the new year, and to my disappointment the place isnt crawling with geckos as you might think. as a matter of fact, the only geckos i found were small geckos i was unable to identify at the top of diamondhead crater (hiding in the cracks at the very top near the old lookout). didnt even see a single jackson's chameleon, which i was really hoping for. ive heard of day geckos being around there, but thats another thing i was unable to find. a friend of mine told me when he hunted for them a few years ago, he found them a lot in the palms.
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-Mike Martin
North Carolina

i lived in hawaii for 15 years and only recently moved to the mainland... as far as geckos go.. you can find tons of the little house geckos around.. i lived on hickam afb and our house was crawling with them.. the more exotics were day geckos and jacksons chameleons .. gold dust day geckos are usually found in banana trees, try more remote areas of the island.. (im speaking of oahu) .. jacksons chameleons can be found in the trees at the pali lookout, beyond the actual lookout point... go up there at night with a flashlight and you can see them sleeping in the trees and shrubs.. we used to go do that for fun... ive also heard that green and black dart frogs can be found. but have never seen them myself.. word of advice.. if you are planning on going hiking, have someone drop you off or take the bus rather than leave your car... a lot of breakins occur at hiking spots.. i had my car broken into at the judd memorial trail (also called the jackass ginger trail) ..

the only native species (all 6) of reptiles in the islands are sea turtles.. everything else has been introduced.
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

I go to Hawaii frequently. In my travels on the various islands I have seen day geckos, house geckos (several different varieties), several Jackson Chameleons (most being kept as pets), anoles, Coci Frogs. I am told there are populations of chinese softshell turtles and Auratus Dart Frogs but I have never seen any and of course those magnificent sea turtles.

Steve