HerpTime

Say hello to my little friends 😆 with the help of some Timberline 3 day old crickets and some TLC, these itty bitty Cameroon dwarf geckos (Lygodactylus conraui) will be growing super fast. It still blows my mind that animals this small seem to have so much awareness and curiosity straight out of the egg. I’ll upgrade them out of these deli cups within a month or so, but at this size the name of the game is keeping a close eye to see any problems early on, and keeping good proximity to food; in anything larger than this cup there could be issues locating lunch. As I mentioned, little creatures can be intimidating… but with proper planning and supplies, they tend to thrive quickly!

I moved all my reptiles to a new facility, and @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. hooked it up with a ton of new enclosures! All the anoles got upgraded to larger enclosures, but one problem… I had to move the animals over quickly, so they are set up pretty minimalistic and not fancy, planted, or pretty! (You can see more about my move in a long form video I just posted on YT@HerpTime) This first enclosure is a bit of an experiment, using a new method for making a quick background, and trying out a strategy to easily collect eggs. Even if the egg collection idea doesn’t work, the Anolis grahami going in this enclosure never bother their babies. What do you all think: how should I do the rest of these new Zoo Med enclosures so that they’re planted and naturalistic, while still work for breeding? It’s all one big experiment, so any suggestions will be considered! Thanks for watching!

How to make a micro gecko enclosure! This quick video tutorial is the basic way to set up an enclosure for most any species of Sphaerodactylus or Gonatodes. This 12x12x12 @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. enclosure is a great size for the “largest” species of micro geckos. The same steps in this video can be applied to deli cups, jars, and smaller enclosures for baby geckos that don’t need all this space. The cork tube can be skipped, but at the least, some cork and/or leaves are essential! Make sure whatever enclosure you use, you seal up any holes or gaps that a geckos can escape. Ideal temps to keep most micros at will be 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Avoid long dips below 70. For misting, I recommend every other day. You’ll want to mist the half of the enclosure with the plant (ideally same area where the sphagnum moss is) and leave the other half relatively dry. This way the geckos have a humidity gradient. You may notice I didn’t include a drainage layer… this is because the soil should never be saturated, and should dry out somewhat in-between mistings. Your goal is to mist just enough for the plant, and for the geckos to drink droplets of water. The ambient humidity should hover between 50-70%. Feeding appropriate sized insects can happen on the days you don’t mist. It’s a must to feed only live insects, as most Sphaeros will not eat premade gecko diets, and even if they do it is not sustainable long term. Dusting insects with calcium with d3 and vitamins is important as well, especially for growing juveniles and breeding females. This set up style is just one of many ways to create a micro gecko enclosure, but it is a tried and true method that has worked for many species I have kept! Feel free to experiment and make an enclosure the way you like… just remember the important parts: 2:1 soil/sand mix, layers of bark and/or large leaves, 75-85f, 50-70% humidity, mist lightly 3x a week, feeding lightly 3x a week… and you should have success keeping micro geckos!

Geckos galore 🦎 so many babies are hatching this time of year and every day is a new surprise in the incubator. For the tropical micros I incubate using wet vermiculite and a bottle cap of dry sphagnum (I have also used dry sand). This way the eggs have a humid environment without being in direct contact with moisture. For the desert micros, just leaving them in dry sand is perfectly enough. From here, they’ll get set up, fed and watered, and eventually find new homes once they put on some more size. If you enjoy these mystery gecko incubation unboxings, let me know and I can keep making them as there’s always something hatching around here at HerpTime!

Feeding and breeding, couldn’t do it without my bugs from Timberline 🦗 By far the most time consuming regular task is feeding. But it’s beyond necessary… not only for their survival (duh, lol) but for successfully producing offspring. Many factors go into making sure the bugs are going to benefit the animals. One is that Timberline’s vita bugs come “preloaded” with vitamins A and E. Beyond that, offering nutritious vegetables for the crickets to eat before being fed off (gutloading) is extremely important so the crickets aren’t just “empty shells”. And lastly, dusting with ZooMed vitamins and calcium are essential to make sure the lizards are not only getting what they need, but replenishes resources they use to lay eggs. It’s also fun to just sit back, and enjoy watching the lizards hunt down their tiny meals. I hope you enjoy watching them as well!

Can you believe there’s 4 different geckos in this video? The mossy leaf tail is the ultimate master of camouflage and a true marvel of nature. A fantastic species to keep in the terrarium, captive bred individuals like these from @Bion_terrarium_center prove to make for robust and rewarding lizards. And with so many resources for keeping and breeding different leaf tail geckos from RHJ including the “Guide from RHF: Leaf-Tailed Geckos” which is easily accessible online, it’s easier than ever to learn and prepare before taking the plunge into caring for these unique creatures. Their patreon is also a great source of information on leaf tails, as I’m also trying to learn as much as I set out on my journey of keeping and hopefully breeding the awesome genus. I hope I was able to share something cool with you in this video, and peak your interest in these living branch mimics!

Unboxing some new additions from @Bion_terrarium_center! I’ve always loved Uroplatus geckos and have only dabbled, but I finally am going to work on breeding these beautiful satanic leaf tail geckos (Uroplatus fantasticus). Not only are these captive bred in Ukraine, but according to official CITES statistics, BION is the second largest exporter in the world of captive bred leaf tail geckos. Supporting captive breeding efforts of animals is so important to relieve pressure on wild populations and being able to supply healthy animals that would otherwise be much less common; thats what I and so many others in the world wide reptile community try to do. The Responsible Herpetoculture Journal is a great way this captive breeding information is shared on a world wide level. It has tons of professional and informative content on herpetology and herpetoculture created by an international editorial board; definitely worth reading and subscribing if you can. I know I have put the information in it to use, and excited that BION sent me a few extra copies with my new geckos! The new geckos have gone in simple quarantine enclosures to be monitored after their long journey, but stay tuned as I share my journey of building them enclosures, caring for them, and hopefully hatching some of my own! #gecko #unboxing

My lizard is pregnant! The Sri Lankan pygmy lizard (cophotis dumbara) is an amazing mini dragon that actually gives live birth, up to a dozen babies at a time! I’ve had a few pairs for a couple months now and have finally got around to setting them up in their permanent enclosures at the new HerpTime HQ. I really love the @Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. cork tile background I used because it is just so easy, looks fantastic, and hopefully some of the ficus I planted will grow up it and make it a living wall! I actually made a more in depth video on the cork background, as well as 2 other backgrounds on the HerpTime YT if you want to go check that out after this video. Crossing my fingers to find some healthy baby Pygmy lizards running around this enclosure any day now, and I’ll update you all when it happens. So stay tuned, because it’s always HerpTime!

When you hatch early and you watch your sibling struggle lol. Baby electric blue day geckos (Lygodactylus williamsi) hatching out of their eggs. A female electric blue will lay 2 eggs at a time, glueing them to a surface. After several weeks, the eggs will hatch around the same time. You can see the one on the right hatched before the left. Even at only a an hour or so old, the hatched gecko was very curious to see what was going on with its sibling hatching! A cool little interaction to catch on camera.