White lined geckos

[Burium]

Can anyone give me some more information on them? We saw a few in a pet store today, but I will not buy from pet store. Especially if they have white lined, tokay, and I think a bibiron in the same enclosure with a smiling (?) tree frog, and anoles. I found the white lines to be amazing in colors and such but I could use more info on housing, care, and feeding. Any help and any pushes in the right direction for help would be great. Thanks!!

Kelly

[DragnDrop]

White Lined geckos (Gekko vittatus) are in the Tokay family, and sometimes called skunk geckos because of the white line down their backs. They're not as vocal or 'assertive' as tokays, but you can see the similarities if you study them a while. Being in the Gekko family, it's no surprise that they are vocal, though not near as loud as some of the other Gekko members like the tokays, and the hands down winners -- Gekko smithii. Vittatus get to approximately 8-10" (20-25 cm) TL. They'll eat all kinds of insects and also a fair bit of soft or mashed fruit (once or twice a week you can give them some of what you're feeding your cresties :) . Humidity should be around 70-80% for the most part, preferably higher at night, and let it dry out a bit during the day to help prevent mold and fungus growth. I've seen care sheets saying you an keep a pair in a 10 gallon tank, but I find that's a bit cramped. I'd say nothing less than 15 gallons for a pair, preferably 20 so they can get some 'personal space'. They're quite social, but not THAT social like tokays, they do like a bit of elbow room. Daytime temps around 80-85F (26.5 - 29.5 C) dropping to 70-72F (21-22 C) overnight. They don't specifically need UV-B light if you supply Vitamin D3 via their diet, but it won't hurt any if you do us UV lights. They are egg gluers, so there's not much hope of removing the eggs for incubation, they'll probably be on the glass near the basking light. The parents will guard the eggs and can be trusted with the babies for the first few weeks. Unlike tokays who live in family groups and guard their young for months, vitattus will only put up with their young for a few weeks, maybe 2 months, before they send them packing and out into the world. Trying to catch the babies can be a challenge, you might find an irate parent attached to your fingers, but at least their bite isn't like a tokay or smithii.

If you've thought tokays would be nice to have, but don't want any geckos as assertive as they are, then you'll probably like the vitattus - they are a good compromise.

[Burium]

Thanks for the info. I've thought about tokay's (here they are called Tokhed) but I was a bit leary of their reps. Now I just need to convince my hubby. ;)

Kelly

[latazyo]

you can use your judgement with a good visual inspection of the specimens...if they're beautiful (as you said) and look healthy then why not consider the purchase...of course pet store prices are usually high, but so are breeders, so that's not really an issue

unless of course you have issues with this pet store...which also happens

[JeffT]

Im not sure if I would buy animals from a store that has THAT many different species of reptiles and anphibs in one tank, your almost asking for a parasite. However if you dont find any elsewhere then maybe you could get a hold of some dewormer or something and pick up an animal. Good luck