Anyone for Madagascan Giant Day Geckos?

The Boarder Man

Is anybody interested in having some geckos? I have a breeding pair, 2 babies and one that's a year old. They're bright green with red spots as adults and the babies have smaller more complicated markings.
They're very easy to keep once your set up and are ideal starter reptiles, they are also active during the day unlike most geckos. I havn't decided on any price range yet. Any deal will be open to barter; all I can say is it will be alot cheaper than any shop. I'm just looking for interest at the moment.
Pictures of adults:
http://www.reptilecentre.com/l/geckosg.html
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=1&did=128865
Pictures of juveniles:
http://www.reptiledepot.com/geckos.html
General info:
http://www.reptilepark.com.au/animals.asp?catID=13&ID=93
http://www.eriezoo.org/giant_day_gecko.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Madagascar%20day%20gecko

Hellrazer

I might be interested since I cant get rid of the stuff below.
Let me know when you decide on prices etc.
Richie

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=280850

tallus

The Boarder Man wrote:

Is anybody interested in having some geckos? I have a breeding pair, 2 babies and one that's a year old. They're bright green with red spots as adults and the babies have smaller more complicated markings.
They're very easy to keep once your set up and are ideal starter reptiles, they are also active during the day unlike most geckos. I havn't decided on any price range yet. Any deal will be open to barter; all I can say is it will be alot cheaper than any shop. I'm just looking for interest at the moment.
Pictures of adults:
http://www.reptilecentre.com/l/geckosg.html
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=1&did=128865
Pictures of juveniles:
http://www.reptiledepot.com/geckos.html
General info:
http://www.reptilepark.com.au/animals.asp?catID=13&ID=93
http://www.eriezoo.org/giant_day_gecko.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Madagascar%20day%20gecko

My understanding was that people dont sell animals of any type on here, but I may be wrong there, and secondly you forgot to mention that it's expensive to properly house that species of phelsuma, I kept and bred a very similar species a number of years back. the are quite specialised, Ie: they need UV lighting, correct ambient temp, a fairly tall tank/vivarium as they grow quite large and are arboreal. UV lamps are also quite expensive and dont last too long (9 months ?) and as most of the phelsuma species are endangered I think they deserve to be treated with a bit more respect and responsibility. They certainly are NOT an ideal starter gecko sorry if you feel like I'm spoiling your thread but you ought to be a bit more up front, at the very least the Gecko's deserve it.

The Boarder Man

To first guy:
I'm open to suggestions. Make an offer, and say what you want and I'll think about it.
To second person:
If your right about not selling animals on here, then I do apologise, I hadn't noticed it in any of the rules. Secondly I stand by everything I said in the original post. You will need a tank, lamp, UV light and heat mat, but the tank is the only really significant cost. (I've mostly just built/converted my own, so I've never had to endure that cost, if your up to it I'd advise this as you get exactly what you need and shop tanks are way over-priced). Once your set up it really isn't that expensive. (I have no job and very little money but get by.) Thirdly as far as reptiles go, these are exceptionally easy to keep, one of my links accurately describes it as a hardy pet. I did say starter reptile not gecko. Most geckos are far too boring and nocturnal. (I'm not too serious in that comment, so don't get pissed off). My breeding pair seem perfectly happy if their success is anything to go by. If you doubt my word, go talk to Ben in Reptile Haven (near Christchurch, beside City Council HQ); actually just go talk to him anyway, he's a great guy and certainly knows his reptiles. With regards to phelsuma being endangered; I believe you can get away with that as a general comment though I'm not sure if it applies to this species. (I doubt it, as they seem to be common pets acroos the globe). Though if anyone is interested in a re-introduction program and has a way to get to Madagascar I'd be happy to lend my support as I have no problem breeding them. As a last point I figure anyone searching for lizards won't find my original post, hence the title. Also if I'm not supposed to sell animals here, and someone knows this for a fact, could they please confirm it for me.

Hellrazer

Boarder man--"Technically" selling animals is not allowed here but Ive let it slip in the past.I dont have a problem personally with animal sales but Im not about to let the place become a free for all ie puppies etc.One off sales as far as Im concerned are ok.You do sound like you know youre stuff regarding the Geckos.
I m a good customer of Bens in Reptile Haven hence the reason I posted.I have all the equipment needed to house these reptiles including UV bulbs etc.
Ive a spare 3x2x2 tank sitting here looking at me and I need something to fill it.
One small problem I do have is if the animals are endangered.Do you have the relevant Cites certs for these animals?I know that Ben does supply Cites certs for all endangered species he sells.

Tallus---The question of selling animals here has not been fully answered.You also sound knowledgeable about these animals and I do appreciate your comments on the caring of them.

The Boarder Man

I really don't think they're endangered. I just got a few to start with from this guy who had quite a few (and much more besides). I don't have any certs. I'm sure Ben would have mentioned it to me if I needed them. I used to give ones I had no space for to Ben, but he can't sell them as fast as I can provide them. I wouldn't like to be undercutting Ben's business, I'm just aiming for a wider audience who can't afford a normal shop price. It seems stupid for them not to have a proper home due to a price tag.

tallus

I dont think they are on the c.i.t.i.e.s. listing just yet, but the natural habitat of a lot of Phelsuma sp are under threat, I have never heard of them being sold with papers either , Ben is well above board in that respect, been dealing with him for about ten years, going back to teh time he had a place in mother redcaps market with Thomas McEleron. I never kept the above species, but the general care and husbandry doesn't change a lot between them, I bred phelsuma linneata chloroscellus (not sure of the spelling) and phelsuma standingi. tho it's a good few years since I kept them I got out of it as a hobby when I had an accident over 6 years back. At the moment I have a Grey Parrot, cat, 2 spiders and 2 tortoises.
Sorry if I sounded a bit bitchy man, it wasn't my intention:/.
I'd agree that day geckos are spectacular pets and very interesting to observe , I had a glass vivarium made for the standings day geckos, and the Lined day geckos, Thomas McEleron of McEleron reptiles is a master at making them and for a pretty good price too. Pity I never took photos of my setup, but it was 10 years ago.

Hellrazer

Can I ask what size these grow to?And what cage size would an adult need?
Richie

tallus

last one I had was one metre tall with a 50% wire mesh on top it was about 18" square , and had sliding front doors. I stuck a large heatmat to the outside of the glass and ran a pole across the top right under the mesh. I placed the uv lamp outside the viv on top of the mesh, but that was just the way I did it. Some uv lamps now can double as a heatlamp too, I used the old type strip light back then. they thrived in that setup.

The Boarder Man

Hey all. Sorry about delay. I've been quite busy (and still am so might be another few days untill I'm back again). I've just checked the CITES page. It's not very clear to me but I'd say tallus is right. Considering there's an export quota on them of 2000 it would seem unlikely that they're endangered.
I first knew Ben when he was at Mother Redcaps but don't know of Thomas McEleron; where's his shop? No insult taken from you tallus, we all enjoy a bit of frank discussion, my reply was a bit grumpy anyway (must have been the day in it).
To thee Hellrazer; thanks for not being too hung up on technicalities. Your 3x2x2 tank sounds big enough presuming I'm correct in my thinking that there's 12inches in a foot. (Ye old imperialists do so confuse me). Anyway, with regard to size, my adults are about 21cm/8inches in length from nose to end of tail. My year old is 17cm/6.5'' long. (This measurement surprised me, I didn't think it was anyway near to full adult length, I suppose the adults just look that much bigger due to being more bulky). The few weeks old baby is about 9cm/3.5 inches. Your tank should certainly be fine for the year old or for two younger ones for a medium term. I'm not really an expert in space requirements so tallus might have more to say on this. I should mention that they can be quite aggressive to each other if you are thinking of having more than one. In my experience; depending on space, food available and possibly sex, many juveniles will co-exist in peace, though this becomes less likely as they get bigger unless it happens to be one male and one female. I for one certainly can't sex them when their young. I'm not even sure if the females are that tolerant of other females, or it could just be that my conditions lend themselves to a higher occurence of males. (I know this can happen in other reptiles but I don't know if it applies to geckos).
Anyway enough rambling from me. Basically with the one tank, I'd either offer you the year old or one or both of the babies, presuming I get the newest baby fixed up okay (It still won't eat live food, I'm not feeding it for a few days so hopefully a bit of hunger will help the process. In case your wondering it has only eaten a bit of all fruit baby food so far which can be used to supplement the geckos diet though I wouldn't give them too much or too often.

tallus

Thomas has a place along the quays, if you walk own from fishamble street, and head right towards O'Connell Bridge and along the liffey wall on the south bank you wont have to walk far. Back then they had a shop called M+B reptiles, and before mother redcaps they had a place in Georges street arcade,that's when I first met both of them. Hellrazers tank sounds fine, and as far as I know those Gecko's are more or less fully grown and can breed after a year, so expect territorrial disputes if you have more than one male in the same enclosure. Normally they have a line of femoral pores on the underside of their back legs, and when they are in breeding condition they become more pronounced, but as I have said before.. you would be as well to investigate yourself, it's literally about 8 years since I kept them. As far as I know they grow to about 8" as adults. Been thinking about getting a few for myself ... damn it's addictive keeping reptiles.. one is never enough ... *trails off* ok bed time for moi

Hellrazer

Damn addictive is right.
At the minute Ive only a Beardie and a Sudan plated which share my 6 foot cage--quite happily.I did do a lot of research to see if certain species can be kept together and these 2 definately are great together.
Similar habitats in the wild although from different continents.
Same dietary and heat/uv requirements.
My problem is I want something thats not too common in the hobby over here.
My ideal species would be a Horned Mountain Dragon but theyre hard to come by over here.Theyre also a more temperate species requiring around 70f and need high humidity.
Im going to have a think about the Geckos before I go making an offer.
Cheers
Richie

tallus

If you see those Geckos I guarantee you will buy them Richie. They are spectacular, no photograph can do them justice, they have to be seen to believed

cooper_man

boarder man, i am very interested in getting a pair of geckos.

I currently have a 3ftX2ftX2ft acquarium that i want to change into a vivarium if you could point me in the right direction i would be very gratefull. Let me know asap.

The Boarder Man

Firstly to Hellrazer I say there's no worry from your point of view of me giving them to someone else first as there will always be more eggs which I can hatch if there's demand for them (what a great salesman I am).
To cooper man: If you really want a pair you may have to wait a while depending on if I can get a pair to happily live together. Unless you want my adult pair in which case you'd have to offer me a significant sum of money as they are rather prized pets from my point of view.
The thing is; I have the adult pair, the year-old and the 2 babies which are each on their own. Neither of the babies is properly housed at the moment which is why I need to get rid of something to free up some space. If for example someone took the year old, I could put the two babies in it's tank to see how they get on. Unless you (cooper man) want to take the risk yourself. Anyway got to go now. Thanks tallus for the pore info, I'll look, but doubt if that sort of thing is obvious in such young ones. If I had some definate home for unwanted ones, it would allow me just to keep bringing up babies untill I get a happy pair, but I don't have this service unfortunately.
Back soon.