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Went to a reptile expo yesterday to "look around" and while there my girlfriend fell in love with three little day geckos. I've had leos for over 10 years and equipment to set them up in so i purchased them for her. The seller claimed that they were Phelsuma standingi. But after doing some searching, i think that they are more likely Phelsuma madagascariensis. i want to make sure that i am caring for them properly. if anybody can help out and tell me exactly what these guys are, i'd appreciate it!

oh, the seller also stated that they can be kept at room temperature and they do not need any kind of additional heat source assuming the RT is at least 70 degrees and that they do not need any kind of UV.

again, thanks for any help you can provide!

Jason

That is a P. madagascarensis ssp. most likely grandis, it is not a standingi. The vendor you purchased it from is not very knowledgable about day geckos. First off 70f for daytime highs is a bit low for either species without a basking light. You will want a basking spot with a temp of about 85-95f with temps this cool. If you keep your herp room in the upper 70's (78 or so) to mid 80's you can get away without a basking light. As far as uv light goes... I raise both grandis and standingis and have for many years. I use florescent bulbs but not "uv" producing bulbs. I personally believe that the believe that if you really want uv from artificial light that theses tubes are absolutely useless for this purpose. I have successful raised bred and reproduced both species without these types of tubes just fine. I also live and fl and keep day geckos outside under the real thing and while I find that my egg production is a little bit better than inside under florescent lights it is not that much better for me to believe that uv-b is that signifigant inin their metabolisim of vitamin d-3. That said I have seen problems with day geckos raised inside in the absence of any florescent light so I would suggest using florescents but considering I get the cheapest 40 tubes I can find at wal-mart and have done so for years with excellent results you may want to save some money by not buying over-priced light tubes. You will do really good with these geckos you keep them in a well planted tank with humidity 70 to 80%. A lot of people like to use pothos and that is a good choice if you have little experience with planted vivariums but it will overtake a tank rather quickly so you will have to keep it trimmed back. Aglonema works good as do the bird's nest sanseverias which do not grow as large as the regular sanseverias. Some of the plants I like to use are Fittonia (a favorite and an excellent indicator for your humidity levels as these will wilt very quickly if your tank gets too dry.)Hemigraphis, pellonia as well as some of the ground orchids such as maccodes sp and Ludisia discolor. If you have all three you will want to separate them at least to a m/f pair and separate the third one. Sometimes (very rarely in my experience-even in 4'x4'x8' well planted outdoor cages.)1.2 trios do well but I once purchased such a trio that did well that way. Anyway...I hope that helps for now but I need to go for now so if you have any more questions just ask away and I'll answer them later

Thanks for all of the info. The vendor said that they were all females, but based on my experience with leopards and crested, they are way too young/small to properly sex. So I need to wait for that. The vivarium is very well planted and really is a nice setup. My girlfriend was really excited about her new pets and did a really good job with that! I do use fluorescent bulbs with all of my tanks but will be adding a basking lamp for these guys.

Thanks again for your help!

Years ago I used to have a table at the Daytona show back when it was still in Orlando. I was one of a small handful of people selling day geckos at that time so eventually Tim Tytle made it to my table to see what I had (nothing compared to what he does) and I got to talking with him about the sexing thing at a young age. He told me he could not sex them when they are that young (hatchling to 3-4 mos or so) In case you don't know who Tim Tytle is he is a giant in the world of Day geckos. If you read the late Sean Mckeown's book on Day geckos which is the bible of day gecko books (good little hint there) you will find Tim Tytle referenced throughout the book. Anyway considering his experience with day geckos if he can't sex young day geckos I'm not sure who really could acurately sex them.

you cant sex day geckos until they are almost sexually mature...but if you know the temps at which the eggs are incubated at, you can almost always be atleast 95% sure of the sex (as it is with most lizards and crocs.)