Most gecko species reproduce sexually and both a male and female are required for successful breeding. But how are the sexes produced? How does a gecko egg “know” to produce a male or female hatchling? Answering these questions depends upon which species of gecko you are talking about, because geckos have come up with a variety of ways to determine sex.
Read More »Gecko Time has gotten many frantic requests for assistance from people whose geckos have escaped their cages ever since running the article Find an Escaped Gecko in January 2010. In addition to the understandable worry about re-locating a missing pet, there is usually tremendous concern about clutter in the house, cats, dogs and openings in walls or stairwells that will make the retrieval job more difficult. Even the miraculous story of one of my geckos found after 2 years sojourn somewhere in the house doesn’t seem to help people feel better. Though I can’t guarantee that a lost gecko can be found, I thought that a few more stories about miraculous gecko (and one non-gecko) finds might rekindle some hope.
Read More »Last year I spent 3 months carrying out nocturnal amphibian encounter surveys at varying elevations on Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. When the weather was suitable these surveys were carried out along a number of transects which represented a multitude of habitats on the mountain. Some of these were trails along rivers and others through varying densities of rainforest. One thing that I quickly learned is that due to the vast abundance of wildlife present at Mount Kinabalu National Park, I encountered much more than amphibians on these transects. The one group of animals that always brought a smile to my face when encountered were geckos and I’m going to share my experiences of them with you.
Read More »For years, the specter of the dreaded protozoan disease, cryptosporidiosis, has worried gecko owners. “Crypto” is highly contagious, incurable, hard to kill and ultimately fatal. A more detailed description is available in an article written in 2009 by Marcia McGuiness. Unfortunately, this devastating disease has invaded my gecko population here at Geckcessories.
Read More »For many years it seemed as if African Fat Tail geckos were simply drab cousins of the much more popular leopard geckos. With the advent of new morphs such as whiteout, zulu and oreo, the fat tail palette colors and patterns has exploded and their popularity has soared. Despite this, it was very difficult to find people willing and able to answer some of Gecko Time’s questions about them.
Read More »Are you considering raising multiple types of feeders? There are a few things you need to think about before trying to make sure you can provide all that the feeders need. Space is incredibly important; certain species will not only need different types of cages but different sizes as well.
Read More »The ancient Roman satirical playwright Juvenal declared in one of his plays “Give them bread and circuses!” (panem et circenses). His message was aimed at a Roman populace that cares only for the superficial entertainments of the age rather than engaging with the important issues of the time. You may take that politically wherever you want, but our perennial April contributor, Ben Bargen, is, as always, thinking about geckos.
Read More »In 2010 I wrote an article How to Sell Your Geckos in order to provide suggestions about venues for selling as well as recommendations for how sellers should approach the whole concept of selling an animal to someone as a pet. The contents of the article are still relevant, but the information needs to be updated due to two relatively recent developments: the increase in gecko breeders and the explosion of social media options.
Read More »The New Caledonian crested gecko or eyelash gecko (Correlophus ciliatus) is a species of gecko native to southern New Caledonia. This species was thought extinct until it was rediscovered on an private expedition by Robert Seipp and Friedrich Wilhelm Henkle in 1994. Though the export of wild crested geckos is now prohibited, biologists like Robert and Henkle exported several specimens for study before New Caledonia stopped issuing permits to export the species. From these specimens, different breeding lines were established both in Europe and the United States.
Read More »Crested geckos have been available in the hobby, not to mention in the annals of herpetologists, for slightly more than 20 years. Almost since they were introduced, crested geckos have exploded in popularity due to how easy it is to care for and breed them. Here is what three respected crested gecko breeders have to say about crested gecko genetics, breeding, housing and sales.
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