Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All
first post, nice site!
so I got 2 geckos on sunday from my local pet store, they got sent home with me... They are very very skinny and we are not even positive on the species, they are supposed to be frog-eyes. I have friends who work there and they trusted me to fix these little guys, because I've helped with a bunch of their animals (I go in and hand feed baby birds and take care of their hermit crabs - but thats all for fun)
I have never kept geckos before, I've had many other herps and planned on getting geckos someday, but healthy ones with more pre-planning.
so now I have 2 geckos that arent eating much (2-3 small crickets, I just put in mixed fruit baby food and meal-worms tonight- no luck yet) Im pretty sure at least one is drinking, as I have seen one at the water dish a few times, and I cannot tell them apart yet. They are currently living in a 10 gallon tank with eco-earth substrate (what they were in at the store), 2 hidey holes & false plants, I have a 25w black light and a 25w blue light for night and a 50w and 80w bulb at day they are at about 82 daytime temp and 74ish nighttime temp.
so Can anyone tell me if they are in fact frog-eyes here is the pic
http://files.photojerk.com/tatsmaru/gecko.JPG
and what I should try for feeding and change for better houseing?? I have an appointment to take them into the vet next wednesday unless the have a sooner opening.
(and again I would normally do this with better planning but I just couldnt leave them there...)
thankyou!

-kelly

Your animal is Stenodactylus petrii.You are not keeping it hot enough.90-95 in the hottest part of the cage.You should also keep it on sand,its more natural.1/2 inch crickets.It is a female and in ok health for an import but she could improve.There has been a great deal of confusion over the years about this particular gecko,but it is definately S.petrii.

by the way don't bother taking your geckos to a vet.It would be a waste of your time and money.If you don't believe me just ask youre vet to identify the species and ask how much education he received treating them in vet school.your animal isn't even sick just stressed from bad care and importation.

Thankyou, I looked up info on the petrii geckos, and they do look so much more like my guys, I knew they were not the frog eyes- but I didnt know what they were. I just added a heat pad to the side of the tank, and will switch them off of the eco earth when its time to clean to avoid the extra stress, they love digging into the ground so I dont want to switch them off of a burrowable substrate.
I got wax worms and the repti-aide to gut load the wax worms with tonight, is 1 each then crix, good or should I just keep going with wax worms until they arent intrested?
(and I guess I wont worry about the vet for now)
thank you again!
-kelly

I believe that its more stressful not to change their substrate and keep them on something so unnatural. they live on sand not ecoearth. good luck

Those are Steno-petrii i have 3 of them
mine are on sand in a ten gallon with an udertank heater
the tail is suposed to be that skinny so dont worry about that.
my first one wouldnt eat for a long time , hydration was the problem mist the tank at night so they can drink off the walls
and i found they eat better when i drop in one criket at a time mine seems to be easily scared buy the crix and one of mine prefers that i hold his cricket for him. their not for handling but a think their farley easy to take care of once you getting them eating. mine eat 1-3 crix a night probably about half inch size
i have pictures of mine near the bottom of this page
Herps

Hi again and thankyou for the help and suggestions!
my guys are doing much better now, one is eating crix and the other hasnt been observed eating a cricket yet (I drop in the crix then cover the tank back up with its towel and come back in an hour) the first one eats crix right in front of me as soon as i drop them in, and they've been consuming 4 a night. the other skinnier one who's pic I posted has chosen her prefered method of eating is strawberry-apple-bannana babyfood pixed with repti-aid (1tbs babyfood to one scoop repti-aid) licked off of my finger she has 3 dips of the finger a night, she stresses (shakes/sways) at the sight of tweezers syringes or chopsticks (i tried a few things :X) but follows my fingers around the tank now !!! both have completely refused waxworms and mealworms.

here's another pic (now with both of them) the plant in front has been removed, and I was going to take out the vine but they were climbing in it so it stays.

-thanks again!
-kelly

oops!

i have a pair of females like that, ones a chow hound and eats every cricket she can get her mouth on. and the others more skittish and eats sporadicaly. she eats better if she doesn know im there and when its dark. she's sldo been eating better since i moved her in with my male. the tank is heated with a UTH and its on the bottom shoulf so its not to bright in there i think she likes it better.

well I've fixed up their new container, and they have both started to put on weight and are behaving much less "freaked out" now.
they come out and walk along the edge of the viv in the evening and climb in their vine alot. I've also named them now Qoz and Zibar sudan words for sand.
thankyou all for the help, my geckos owe you their lives!