Japanese Leopard Geckos

[little_dragon_]

My brother teaches English in Japan. After the holidays he brought back some pictures of my cresteds for his students to see. They thought they were really neat looking. One of his students parents breeds geckos and she wants to send me some Japanese Leopard geckos. I haven't been able to find any good sites with info on them.

Anyone have a good site?

[peterm15]

thats prob cause there are none.. personally i havent heard of them... it would be neat though.. maybe you can ask for some care tips from the breeder

[clint545]

just did a google search and didn't come up with much. I do recall seeing a bit of info on them on a few obscure sites, but that was quite a while ago..:( sorry that wasn't much help.

[little_dragon_]

I found an all japanese site, lol
here's the scientific names
Goniurosaurus Kuroiwae Kuroiwae, orientalis,splendens,toyamai,yamashinae

[clint545]

Whoa! I found one pic cool looking little guys!! Have you looked into what kind of paperwork you might need to get them over here?

[Double J]

If you are looking for images of strange gecko species... forget Google.... check out www.gekkota.com They have a rather extensive database of gecko photos.

Here is a link to some Goniurosaurus photos:

http://www.gekkota.com/html/goniurosaurus.html

Here is a link to the gecko photos page. Click on the sub-family, choose the letter of the genus, then the genus, and it then will give you a list of the species of that genus as well as photos.
Gekkoninae subfamily contains the most genera..... then of course things like leopards and Goniurosaurus are in the Eublepharinae sub-family.

For those who don't know.. I highly recommend joing the Global Gecko Association. Contact Neil Meister if you would like to join. You get newsletters and the GGA journal which contains some great articles and color photos of species you wouldn't normally come across.

[SnowSnake]

Aren't they japanese cave geckos?

[Jason Wakelin]

I kept and bred them for 3 years before selling off my adult pair. My wife brought them here from Japan for me. Anything in particular you would like to know, other than the fact that they are federally protected in Japan?

[peterm15]

but even if they are protected if ppl are breeding them doesnt that mean there still available in the industry

[Jason Wakelin]

I do occasionally see them for sale in the US and Germany, so the answer is yes.

[little_dragon_]

I'm not sure if I want them to send me some. I am well aware that they are federally protected in Japan. I haven't researched the paperwork yet. My brother sent me an email a couple hours ago mentioning his students will be emailing about japanese leopard geckos they want to send me. There are C.B breeders in Japan. I was looking for general care resources, behaviour, some background info just to see if I'm really interested in working with this species. Thanks for the sites!

[Double J]

Don't forget the costs involved in *legal* importation. You have to have an import/export license... do all kinds of legwork.... and if they are CITES, then that adds loads more hassle.... not to mention the shipping costs involved as well as your time. It would be cheaper for you to find them in Canada. I believe I have seen them at PCPC and Global Exotic pets. I am sure there are a few geckophiles in Canada somewhere breeding them. You will just have to do a little digging. I'll keep an eye out for ya, though it wouldn't surprise me if someone on here is working with them.

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I have a caresheet for Chinese Cave Geckos, which are basically the same as the Japanese Cave geckos. (I am currently trying to get some Japanese, but am on a year waiting list :O ) I did some research and that is the info I found on them.

http://www.freewebs.com/albertabredgeckos/geckocaresheets.htm#36505099

Hope it helps.

[Jason Wakelin]

I'm not sure about Port Credit, but the geckos that Rob had at Global were not Japanese, but Chinese Cave Dwelling Geckos (luii). I'm not so ignorant as to think that I am the only person who's ever had them in Canada. However while they were in my care I spent countless hours researching them. I also had my Japanese wife exhaust her contacts in Japan, for information on natural history and any breeders. I came up with a breeder in New York, one in Germany, and a couple in Japan (primarily Shin Sugiyama). They are now being bred by a couple of people in the US with limited success. They are a very fragile species in captivity, and the last I checked the hatchlings are almost impossible to raise. Obvdiously (sp?), some people are starting to figure out how to consistantly breed and raise them. But if you look at how incredibly beautiful (G.k.splendens) they are, and how many are available, it seems only too obvdious how difficult they are to work with. Note however, mine were wild caught.

Just my 2 cents,

Jason

[little_dragon_]

Your 2 cents is infinite wisdom towards these little geckos in my books :) Thank you for your input. It's so hard with the time different to communicate with my brother. It's his lunch break now and he reads all my long emails on his mobile phones, and responds one letter at a time. lol poor guy. I'm trying to figure out if they are actually japanese leopard geckos or the common "nihonyamori" the common wall gecko. I hope I have that right.

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I know Probreeder is breeding them, but they have a long long waiting list :( but this is one of the only breeders I could find of the Japanese. Check out these links:

Japanese Splenden's Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus k. splendens)
http://www.probreeder.com/pages/collection/gks.htm

Japanese Kuroiwae's Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus k. kuroiwae)
http://www.probreeder.com/pages/collection/gkk.htm

Japanese Yamashinae's Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus k. yamashinae) (I'm in love with these guys!!!)
http://www.probreeder.com/pages/collection/gky.htm

They also have:

Chinese Leopard Gecko (Goniurosaurus luii)
http://www.probreeder.com/pages/collection/gl.htm

Chinese Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi hainanensis)
http://www.probreeder.com/pages/collection/glh.htm

Enjoy :) I'm waiting for my Chinese Cave geckos to arrive :D

[Double J]

Originally posted by Jason Wakelin
I'm not sure about Port Credit, but the geckos that Rob had at Global were not Japanese, but Chinese Cave Dwelling Geckos (luii).

Yep.. sorry.. I mean't that they geckos of the genus Goniurosaurus rather than Japanese ones specifically :)

[nimrodfiftyfour]

About importing them, it is not worth going through the trouble. It is NOT an easy thing to get, and to get it you first need a business liscence, which requires a tax id number. Not fun.

[Jason Wakelin]

Now the post I really wanted to make, I was rushed on the last one. The following applies only to the gecko Goniurosaurus kurowiae splendens, as it is the only species of Goniurosaurus that I've kept so far.

They prefer relatively cool habitats. Mine seemed most comfortable between the range of 68 - 73 F. Occasionally the temerature went below 68 but never too far and they seemed to be just fine, they were only a bit less active. 74 - 79 (or so) was the same as far as the activity. But, temperatures above 82 F saw periods of complete inactivity. These geckos went straight into hiding and would not eat. To be honest my cage very, very rarely hit 80, so there is nothing "scientific" about my findings.

Continuing with habitat, they need moisture. I did from time to time see them drink, but never from a dish (which was provided), only from spraying either plants or the side of the tank. What seemed much more important was the moisture content of their substrate. While I never let it get either "bone dry" or soaking wet, they would vary their resting places depending on which side of the scale it was on. Perfection seemed to be a noticibly moist substrate, wet enough it would clump up if you squeezed it, but not leak any water. This was accomplished with twice a day moderate (60 - 90 second long) mistings.

For substrate I used straight sterilized potting soil. Natural plants were used in a moderate amount, they covered approx. 45 -50 % of the cage floor of a 35 gallon tank, and reached a height of no more than half way to the top of the tank. Multiple hiding areas were provided with a choice of humidities, but temperatures did not vary much. Hiding areas also varied in the depth of the cage. With the shallowest, warmest, and driest being under a relatively weak heat lamp. The coolest, deepest, and most moist was buried to a depth of approx 5 inches. As I mentioned I did have a heat lamp, but it was for lighting and not heat. If I had ever seen them climb the plants under this lamp to bask, I would have upgraded this, but I never did. However they did climb in other areas. Other than plants, cork bark and clay pots were used as ground cover, for a total of approx. 85% of the complete surface area. I rarely saw them use the 15% of open space to travel from hide to hide. Obvidously no UTH's or hot rocks were used. That's about it for habitat, there may be better ways to set them up, I'm not too sure though. When I had them there was very little captive info, so I researched their natural history and tried as best as I could to duplicate it.

As far as diet, habits, breeding, and incubation, I could probably double the size of this post (if not triple) but It's already too big. If however you are getting them let me know and I'll fill you in. I will say this though. At the time I was breeding them I was getting fertile eggs that went almost full term (3 years of frustration). The person that I sold them too got a couple of hatchlings that died within a month or so. And the breeders I spoke with from Germany and Japan were having about an 80% mortality rate on hatchlings. I loved these geckos so much and have been offered more (from Japan), and some day I may get them. But for now they are too delicate for a ham fisted chef like me.

Good Luck
Jason

[wyz]

If you guys are interested we breed Luii (chinese) and Araneus (Vietnamese), should have many more this year.

http://www.wyzza.ca/page_dispo_cave.htm

[Tarzet]

I have been working with a colony of Chinese cave geckos for the last 5 years. Producing a few hatchlings per year. I have an adult male fs right now. I also have a group of Veitnamese cave geckos. I dont get many eggs from either group. But when I do my hatch rate is 100% so far. Hatchlings, treated the same as the adults do really well. They do not grow as quickly as a Leo though. I wouldnt even concider them a Leopard Gecko as their requirements are very different, as Jason has already explained :)

Here is pictures of some of my Chinese and Vietnamese Cave Geckos....
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/7VCG_pair.jpg
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/7CGG_pair.jpg

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

I believe those are Chinese Leopard geckos (Luii??), not caves (lichtenfelderi hainanensis), but very very nice nonetheless :) I have to wait till april-ish to get my Chinese Caves :( I hate waiting....

[little_dragon_]

Thanks for all the info guys!