Satanic Leaf Geckos

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 01:22 PM

I am thinking of getting a pair of Uroplatus phantasticus.
Has anyone dealt with them before?

pikachu · 05-05-04, 01:32 PM

awesome animals!
ive got a bunch, plan to be breeding by next year, or even this year if i can find a big enough female for one of my boys!
high humidity, low temp.
mine hate temps above 75, they thrive in the mid 60's to low 70's
my U.ebenui tolerate mid 70's a bit better but prefer it lower.
they love hanging upsidedown on driftwood waiting for the right cricket to walk by!
goodluck!

manville · 05-05-04, 01:35 PM

I want one pretty bad too but shipping is expensive

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 01:42 PM

How much would a pair cost?

beth wallbank · 05-05-04, 01:52 PM

Kahane has some..contact him. He too is available on this site. Check out his site in the classifieds

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 02:16 PM

Cool, I replied to his ad on kingsnake and I messaged him on here. I'm just waiting for the reply. These geckos look very fragile, do they get stressed easily?

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 02:21 PM

Oh and what are their larger cousins called?

spidergecko · 05-05-04, 02:27 PM

The "problem" I find with them is that you don't really get to see them too often. Mine spend their time either under the leaf litter or hidden in the leaves of the live plants I keep with them. At night they are really active. Wanna see pics of mine?
Look HERE !

I don't know about fragile. They don't seem much different than other geckos I keep. You just have to make sure you are religious about spraying the enclosure to maintain humidity. You might need to do it as much as 3 times a day!

sara · 05-05-04, 02:46 PM

They are highly specialized and cryptic little geckos, so without a proper environment and plenty of hiding spots they do get stressed out very easily. Keep in mind that they developed such a distinctive appearance for the sole purpose of going unnoticed...
I would definitely consider them to be a "look, but don't touch if you can help it" type gecko.

I guess the larger cousins you are referring to would be U. ebanaui. They are slightly larger with very small tails. (although there are long-tailed u. ebenaui). These are also very neat looking geckos and seem to be more readily available up here.

If you are really serious about Uroplatus you should talk to Neil Meister, his knowledge and animals are excellent.

This is a pretty good thread on husbandry and general info:
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showt...t=phantasticus

JeffT · 05-05-04, 05:07 PM

ive seen a CB pair go for over $350, deffinately would like some though.

Invictus · 05-05-04, 07:11 PM

These guys are, and have been for some time, #1 on my "to get" list for lizards. Just don't have the money at the moment....

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 07:31 PM

Do you think they'll be the next leopard gecko, or crested gecko in popularity?

JeffT · 05-05-04, 07:51 PM

I hope to god not, they are far to delicate to be treated like that and really arnt for handeling. Plus they are quite hard to breed, that why there is so minimal CB animals.

little_dragon_ · 05-05-04, 08:04 PM

I don't mean handling them..what I mean is are they going to explode in to popularity

spidergecko · 05-05-04, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by little_dragon_
Do you think they'll be the next leopard gecko, or crested gecko in popularity?

I can count the number of CB breeders in Canada on one hand (actually, 1 finger right now). If you look on k i n gsnake.c o m, you will find almost no breeders; they are all WC.

Anyone can breed leos. You just take one male and one female and wait. People try breeding satanics for years but fail at some point between copulation and week 1 of life. Normally I could see people exploiting the variations in satanics but because they are so varied, I can't see why people would focus on one trait. Who wants to see an albino satanic? That goes agaist the whole reason of keeping them. They are a great gecko to "show off" because of this variation but it's not cool when your new gecko looks just like Billy's down the street. With leos, the normals look sort of the same. People would exploit a small difference in colour and make a small orange spot on a tail into a big orange tail (then charge you 100x the value for a gecko whose mother is also his sister, daughter, grandmother, and aunt).

There are a lot of people interested in satanics and the whole uroplatus genus but there are fewer people actually keeping them than it might appear. Even fewer producing viable offspring regularly. That's why I have no plans on breeding mine. Whatever happens happens.