Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few days ago I took my day gecko out of his terrarium to clean it, and I put him in a clear plastic container that used to house cookies with some airholes poked in it that I had rinsed out earlier. I hadn't thought of it at the time, but he must have gotten some of the residual oils from the cookies on his feet. Ever since I put him back inside his house he has been having trouble climbing the walls. I have read that oil is used on gecko traps in the wild to inhibit them from climbing out - does that mean the oil on his feet will eventually just come off by itself? It's heartbreaking to see him climb up the wall and slowly slide right back down. Could it be that I'm misdiagnosing the problem and maybe it doesn't have anything to do with oil at all? Any help would be much appreciated!

Geckos have self cleaning feet. It's a pretty remarkable system. Usually, the millions of spatulae on a gecko's feet create enough attractive force to hold them to the wall. These same forces (van der waals) will also pick up dirt. Bummer for the gecko right? Not so... There are so few hairs/spatulae sticking to each dirt particle that when the gecko walks along a clean surface the dirt is attracted to the wall rather than the foot. This removes all dirt and allows the gecko to regain its adhesion.

I've seen it many many times with dirt, chalk, etc. Grease I'm not so sure about however. Through enough running around, his feet should eventually clean themselves as per usual but could perhaps take slightly longer than with dirt. However, if the problem is still occurring after multiple days then something could be amiss. What sort of cage/substrate etc? Is he still having trouble?

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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

Thanks for replying! As you said, the oil seems have worn off by now. He's back to climbing around the walls, more actively than ever. We were also concerned because he had stopped eating for a couple of days, but maybe that was just due to the fact that he was so distraught at not being able to climb. Now he's back at it, terrorizing crickets like a good gecko. By the way, we have a 10-gallon glass tank with coconut fiber substrate. This is my first gecko - do you have any tips specifically on what to feed him other than crickets? I tried smearing a tiny bit of honey on the side of his wall and he seemed to like that. Should I definitely AVOID giving him anything that some people think is a good idea? I've read that baby food and mangoes can be a good treat...

Crickets are good as long as they are appropriately dusted and gut loaded as for any other species of lizard. In addition to insects Phelsuma sp will eat fruit and nectar in the wild. They will typically wait until fruit is overripe which can be sticky in your house, so baby food is a great alternative. Mango, peach, or banana baby food will be devoured by most day geckos. Place a small amount in a shallow dish within the cage and he will find it on his own. Ideally this should be in addition to the crickets rather than instead of them. I have also heard of breeders using the Repashy Crested Gecko Diet for day geckos but have never tried it myself.

Stick with gut loaded crickets and a little baby food here and there and you should have a happy gecko.
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lost in the jungle somewhere
Z

Our new day gecko has had the same problem in the new acrylic 35 gallon hexagon fish tank we got for him. We thought it might just be that the walls weren't completely clean so we wiped them down with warm water and a touch of vinegar - so far it seems to help a little but he's still slipping in places. Might it be related to a shedding issue?

Thanks, great forum!