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Does anyone know the best time of day and year to find banded geckos? I've been looking for some time now, and I've haven't seen one. I've heard that they could be found in old rundown shacks and under human debri. Is this true?

>>Does anyone know the best time of day and year to find banded geckos?

I've found them in the West (CA, NV, AZ) March - June on the roads; you can also find them under cover earlier and later than that. I don't know what the best time of year is but late spring/early summer seem to be good. Some people say evenings after it rains are good.

If you're looking for them out and about, road cruising after sunset works well.

I've been looking for some time now, and I've haven't seen one.

I'm still looking for TX banded geckos since I've never found one in the wild, even though they're very common! I've already found a Big Bend gecko (C. reticulatus) which are supposed to be "rare."

I've heard that they could be found in old rundown shacks and under human debri. Is this true?

Yes. Reptiles Magazine had an article several years ago titled "Trash Heap Treasures" which talked about looking through dump sites for geckos. This is a link to that article.

Make sure you check the laws for your state of interest--CA has some messed-up herp laws, for example.

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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

Thanks.. All I found last year were desert night lizards.
Maybe this year will be different with all the rain we had.
I've check the guidelines for CA... The only thing I'm not too clear about is that a "permit" is needed for the C. switaki species. I'm assuming they're referring to a special permit and not a regular fishing license.

>>Thanks.. All I found last year were desert night lizards.

I'm jealous. I'd like to find some of those eventually...I guess I'm into most American Southwest herps, but the "little lizards" in particular.

>>I've check the guidelines for CA... The only thing I'm not too clear about is that a "permit" is needed for the C. switaki species. I'm assuming they're referring to a special permit and not a regular fishing license.

I'll have to recheck CA's regs, but you're pretty much limited to 2 of any species except for a select few which are favored as feeder lizards, so you're technically prohibited from doing anything like captive breeding which would take pressure off wild populations (since there's such a high demand for banded geckos?). I'm pretty sure switaki is off-limits unless you have a scientific permit or similar.

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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

There's a limit of two for banded geckos in CA. A few that come in mind with a limit of 25, are desert night lizard, side blotches and certain sceloporous. But, the guideline states a total of 25 in the aggregate. What exactly do they mean with that? Is this a total of individual allowed to posses of a specific species in that list(sideblotch, for example)whether collected or captive breed? Or a total of lizards allowed to posses in that group/list of lizards?

>>There's a limit of two for banded geckos in CA. A few that come in mind with a limit of 25, are desert night lizard, side blotches and certain sceloporous. But, the guideline states a total of 25 in the aggregate. What exactly do they mean with that? Is this a total of individual allowed to posses of a specific species in that list(sideblotch, for example)whether collected or captive breed? Or a total of lizards allowed to posses in that group/list of lizards?

"In the aggregate" means of the species listed, you can have a grand total of 25 specimens mixed-and-matched from the list, i.e. 5 skinks, 17 fence lizards, and 3 side-blotches, or 8 night lizards, 8 side blotches, 9 skinks, etc. It matters not whether they're captive-bred or wild-caught (because fish & game officials can't tell the difference).

This higher limit for certain species is a concession made to snake keepers who collect these common lizards to feed to their lizard-eating snakes...I got this from CA herp keepers who were around when the laws were being written. So basically, it's OK to catch 25 of these lizards, feed them to snakes, go out and catch 25 more, and so on; but heaven forbid you take 2 geckos and breed them (putting you over the limit).

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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

The laws in CA could be a bit tricky. I've collected a handful of sideblotches/s. occidentalis before to feed my lizard eating lizards. I've always wondered whether I was doing something wrong as I collected these. Do you think I'm still breaking some law, because I'm feeding them to lizards instead to snakes? he, he.

I don't remember where I've read this from, but it's my understanding that one could keep a low number(I don't remember the quantity) of captive breed and any excess must be donated to a licensed institute, giving off as a gift or be destroyed. I'll try to back track where I got this from.

I have found them in AZ by road cruising (at night) around golf courses. They seem to be attracted to the water they use to water the grass (makes sense). They are small so keep your eyes peeled.

Good luck,

Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps

Hi.
With a Ca. freshwater fishing licence, you are limited to 2 bandeds, switakis are off limits(as some of the others said).
With the fishing licence you are not supposed to breed them intentionally, however unintentionally produced babies(like from a w.c. gravid fm) must be gifted to a sutible person in 45 days.
Now there is also a non- commercial permit available that lets you keep higher numbers of certain Ca. native reptiles and breed them, but for non-comercial (non-profit) use only. Here is a link to the regulations. Page 3 describes the commercial and non commercial permits. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/pdffiles/fg1502.pdf