Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I've had a pair of golden geckos for a couple months and I have some questions about them.
First, the male gecko concerns me sometimes. He occassionally retreats to the bottom of the enclosure and just lays there. His coloration darkens dramatically during this period also. Then he'll go back to normal for a few weeks, with normal coloration, climbing around, etc. But eventually he'll again do the bottom of the tank thing for a day or so. What is the deal here?
Second, I have never seen either gecko eat. I know they must be eating because they are both still alive, but I don't feel like they are thriving. I offer them plenty of crickets and baby food, but I never see them eat it. The baby food I'm not so worried about because I see big chunks of it missing, but I feel like there are always crickets in the cage. I am not sure if they are eating crickets at all, cause a lot of times the crickets will hide in the plants and die, so it looks like they've been eaten but when I clean the cage I find out they haven't been. It is also nearly impossible for me to dust the crickets with vitamins/calcium, since they geckos don't eat them quick enough and the powder wipes off. I have been gutloading the crickets with special cricket food to help with this however. It is weird I don't see them eat, because I had goldens before I went to college and they ate voraciously right in front of me. Any ideas/suggestions?
I mist the geckos 2-3 times a day, keeping the humidity at about 60% average. The tank is 18" W by 18" W by 24" H, and it has two snake plants in it. I have a vita light for the plants and a 40 watt red bulb for the geckos. I heard that covering the cage on three sides with paper will make the geckos feel more secure, and I am thinking of trying this. Also, I have recently ordered a 2' by 2' by 4' aluminum screen cage from LLLreptile, so hopefully this will help them.

Please help me make my lizards thrive!

Thanks,

Jeff

First, find a different care sheet. If all they are eating is plain baby food they are well on their way to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, none more worse than metabolic bone disease.

There are a few complete diets out there, I would suggest T-Rex's Meal Replacement Powders, MRPs, first. We have always had excellent luck with theirs. A quick internet search will give you tons of options and you could use the little bottles of crested gecko MRP, found in EVERY chain pet store in a pinch or until a general powder is shipped. There are instructions on how to transition the geckos from straight food onto MRP on the bottles/bags themselves.

The behavior of your male is one of high stress perhaps. Is he housed with a female I hope? Is there any size difference? There could be bullying going on. I would be best to separate them at least until you can be sure both are eating and thriving. Good luck.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Rereading your thread I would add some fake plants or more leafy plants in order to give the geckos more security. Snake plants are good for climbing, but not much in the way of hiding. This could also contribute to the stress levels. Covering the enclosure is fine too, but more leaves will help a lot.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

The male is actually bigger than the other gecko, which I do think is a female. He is bigger, more brightly colored, and there are two fleshy bulges at the base of his tail, which makes me think he must be a male. I am going to look into getting more plants with some big leafy coverage. I have never heard of that diet, I will have to look into it.

Thanks for your reply,

Jeff

Hello--
Goldens make nice captives. Lots of places to hide and feel concealed is key to a happy golden gecko. Leafy plants, slabs of driftwood, decorative hide boxes--they use it all. Don't forget vertical concealment--vines across and up the sides of the tank for security.

My experience is that they do best as lone display animals. When kept in pairs or more, they become territorial. One may hog the prime heat gradients, physically chasing/attacking another who intrudes. Or, bullying another into a stressful existence in a corner. Quite frankly, your enclosure seems very small for two. I've kept pairs in 55 gallon tanks w/screen tops and plenty of hides with less than terrific results.

I've had my current lone golden for about six years. He accepts super worms and lobster roaches off of forcepts instead of feeding crickets and hoping that he eats. At first the movement of the insects attracted him. It only took patience on my part until he grabbed them. Now he waits at the top of the tank near the screen to be fed--quite the pig! Ever since I first acquired him he would eat dusted wax worms out of a small dish--gecko candy! He adores a chunk of fresh mango, or a smidge of baby food from the same dish at other times.

Best of luck!
rgds,
althea

Ugh finding info on these geckos is frustrating. I have read the book on Tokays by McKeon and Zaworski, which also covers Goldens. In that book they say a pair of goldens can be comfortably housed in a 20 gallon, which obviously seems not to be the case. They don't say anything about goldens not being able to be housed together.
Then I read a bunch of care sheets and I feel like they all contradict each other. One says these geckos don't need high humidity; others say they need high humidity; some say not to feed fruits/baby food because goldens can become addicted; others say to offer fruit foods at least twice a week.
Bottom line is that I bought goldens b/c I think they are under-appreciated and beautiful, and I would really like to breed them. I am definetly going to upgrade them to the big cage I have coming, because I agree my cage is too small.
Does anyone know of any breeders who have a lot of experience with goldens?

Thanks for all your feedback,

Jeff

Why not begin by talking with tokay breeders? The folks on the Tokay forum might be able to steer you in the right direction since the two species are similar. I only had success with a random egg hatching in an enclosure, so all I did was standard husbandry. Actually I didn't even know about the egg until I saw a baby gecko. As you see in my above post, turned out to be a nice looking golden.

Best of luck!
rgds,
althea

I thought I'd posted a pic of the baby as an adult, but it seems that I didn't. Both pics are of my current golden, who is a wild caught. When I find the pics of the other, I will post them.

rgds,
althea

Hi, I do breed Gekko ulikovskii regularily. (and G. geckko, siamensis, grossmanni, monarchus, vittatus). Just today, a new ulikovskii hatched out. If you have any specific Qs, just email to ingo.kober@merck.de

Ingo

Ok, I know now what my geckos are eating: banana baby food and mealworms. That's it. Whenever I put mealworms in a dish and put them in the tank there are always a bunch missing the next morning. Whenever I put in baby food there is a bunch missing the next morning. But whenever I put crickets in they are always untouched. And they never touch the real banana I put in either. I think my geckos are addicted to baby food and mealworms. Is there any way to get them to eat crickets and regular fruit? Some 12 step program? lol.

Thanks

Well, I've never had this problem with my golden gecko, but when my crested gecko came to me, he'd never eaten any meal replacement powders before and wasn't interested in them. I think the procedures that work on a crestie would work on a golden.

I've had success mixing up some MRP with the baby food, and then gradually lowering the ratio of baby food in the mixture. I started out mixing them half and half, and my gecko ate it eagerly - just as if it was pure baby food. Currently, he's eating the MRP with just a bit of baby food added for flavoring, and soon I'll cut it out entirely. It just takes a bit of patience.

As for getting them onto crickets, I'm not sure. I'm still pretty new to geckos myself! I'm sure others on here will have better advice.
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1.0 Okeetee corn snake - Valis
0.1 Snow corn snake - Orlando
1.0 Crested gecko - Lampkin
1.0 Golden gecko - Nosferatu
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