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Hi there,
My name is Robbert, my first post on here, and I am dealing with a difficult situation with my halmahera gecko.
Bit of background about me:
As a teenager I kept leopard geckos successfully, as well as a tortoise. This had to be given up due to a move abroad a number of years ago.
I have experience in keeping all sorts of fish as well, and always do my due diligence.
(I want to stress this - as I am already feeling like a failure with this species)
Background on the purchase:
I bought two of these beautiful geckos at a tradeshow in Conroe.
While initially I was planning on buying crested geckos or gargoyles, I had read about halmaheras, and their similarities in needs to the prior mentioned geckos.
(other than the RV and the preference of having a warmer spot in the terrarium)
I bought a couple, understanding they were captive bred.
The male was/is a solid 9 inches, that lost his tail before, but had fully regrown before I bought him.
The female, who I lost recently, was 5-6 inches.
Setup:
18x18x36 glass terrarium, with a screen top. Bioactive with dwarf isopods, isopods, lawn shrimp and springtails.
Plenty of cork and wood to hide in, as well as a lot of live plants.
Lighting is a biodude full spectrum light
Temperature is 74F in most of the terrarium, as well as a small ceramic heat emitter (40w) to create a heated area in the top. This turns off at night.
There is also a small heating pad at the bottom, opposite of the ceramic heater, which is connected to a thermostat, set at 74F.
The latter I setup because, even though we live in Houston, our springs can be chilly at night.
Humidity is 85-95% in the morning, to 65-70% in the afternoon, and up to 85-95% at night.
I have a mister, but mist the terrarium manually to ensure all plants are watered/humidity is maintained.
Water is filtered (by Britta) and de-chlorinated.
Food/water:
Pangea and Rapeshi, as well as feeder insects as a snack.
Water provided through misting and a water bowl on the ground and halfway up the back. (these animals will come to the bottom to drink)
Initial concerns:
The geckos were extremely skittish. Even though halmaheras are known to be skittish, they were borderline suicidal at times. Even after a month or two of leaving them alone to adjust.
The male escaped at some point while cleaning, and he bit me viciously, almost like a Tokay.
Our female started to deteriorate quite rapidly after those two months, I'd only seen her eat once every so often. (in a matter of a few weeks (noticeably)
After the female's passing, my fears were confirmed that these geckos may have been wild caught, and not captive bred.
The male would eat every once in a while, including licking honey off a chop stick (done no more than once every two weeks).
Neither have shown interest in super worms or meal worms though.
Current concern:
Since the male now also has started to get worse, I decided to take him to a vet that also is knowledgeable on reptiles.
Initial testing showed no obvious signs, even though they did agree that this male appeared to be wild caught.
I placed him in a smaller tank (12x12x18) to have more "control" on him, and collect fecal matter.
So we proceeded with fecal matter testing, x-rays and (a failed) blood test.
I was worried about parasites, but all came back was that he has a vitamin deficiency. I am aware of this issue, as he is not eating!
The vet wants to go for a daily hand feeding with additional calcium, but given the fact he gets extremely stressed while handling, I don't think this is the right avenue.
After he came home, I was able to hand feed him with a chopstick, and food on the end of it.
After a few dabs on his nose, he started to lick it off the skewer.
Now when I try to do this, he will try to run out of the terrarium, instead of eat the food.
My thoughts on my new attempted approach:
I am going to try and entice him with crickets. Even though a lot points out they can live without insect feeders, and he has not shown interest in live food so far, I hope this will get him to eat.
(since crickets are a different shape)
I am also placing fernwood in the large terrarium to keep the humidity above 70% at all times.
Please let me know if you have any tips on how to help him, as I don't know what else to do anymore.
Best regards,
Robbert
My name is Robbert, my first post on here, and I am dealing with a difficult situation with my halmahera gecko.
Bit of background about me:
As a teenager I kept leopard geckos successfully, as well as a tortoise. This had to be given up due to a move abroad a number of years ago.
I have experience in keeping all sorts of fish as well, and always do my due diligence.
(I want to stress this - as I am already feeling like a failure with this species)
Background on the purchase:
I bought two of these beautiful geckos at a tradeshow in Conroe.
While initially I was planning on buying crested geckos or gargoyles, I had read about halmaheras, and their similarities in needs to the prior mentioned geckos.
(other than the RV and the preference of having a warmer spot in the terrarium)
I bought a couple, understanding they were captive bred.
The male was/is a solid 9 inches, that lost his tail before, but had fully regrown before I bought him.
The female, who I lost recently, was 5-6 inches.
Setup:
18x18x36 glass terrarium, with a screen top. Bioactive with dwarf isopods, isopods, lawn shrimp and springtails.
Plenty of cork and wood to hide in, as well as a lot of live plants.
Lighting is a biodude full spectrum light
Temperature is 74F in most of the terrarium, as well as a small ceramic heat emitter (40w) to create a heated area in the top. This turns off at night.
There is also a small heating pad at the bottom, opposite of the ceramic heater, which is connected to a thermostat, set at 74F.
The latter I setup because, even though we live in Houston, our springs can be chilly at night.
Humidity is 85-95% in the morning, to 65-70% in the afternoon, and up to 85-95% at night.
I have a mister, but mist the terrarium manually to ensure all plants are watered/humidity is maintained.
Water is filtered (by Britta) and de-chlorinated.
Food/water:
Pangea and Rapeshi, as well as feeder insects as a snack.
Water provided through misting and a water bowl on the ground and halfway up the back. (these animals will come to the bottom to drink)
Initial concerns:
The geckos were extremely skittish. Even though halmaheras are known to be skittish, they were borderline suicidal at times. Even after a month or two of leaving them alone to adjust.
The male escaped at some point while cleaning, and he bit me viciously, almost like a Tokay.
Our female started to deteriorate quite rapidly after those two months, I'd only seen her eat once every so often. (in a matter of a few weeks (noticeably)
After the female's passing, my fears were confirmed that these geckos may have been wild caught, and not captive bred.
The male would eat every once in a while, including licking honey off a chop stick (done no more than once every two weeks).
Neither have shown interest in super worms or meal worms though.
Current concern:
Since the male now also has started to get worse, I decided to take him to a vet that also is knowledgeable on reptiles.
Initial testing showed no obvious signs, even though they did agree that this male appeared to be wild caught.
I placed him in a smaller tank (12x12x18) to have more "control" on him, and collect fecal matter.
So we proceeded with fecal matter testing, x-rays and (a failed) blood test.
I was worried about parasites, but all came back was that he has a vitamin deficiency. I am aware of this issue, as he is not eating!
The vet wants to go for a daily hand feeding with additional calcium, but given the fact he gets extremely stressed while handling, I don't think this is the right avenue.
After he came home, I was able to hand feed him with a chopstick, and food on the end of it.
After a few dabs on his nose, he started to lick it off the skewer.
Now when I try to do this, he will try to run out of the terrarium, instead of eat the food.
My thoughts on my new attempted approach:
I am going to try and entice him with crickets. Even though a lot points out they can live without insect feeders, and he has not shown interest in live food so far, I hope this will get him to eat.
(since crickets are a different shape)
I am also placing fernwood in the large terrarium to keep the humidity above 70% at all times.
Please let me know if you have any tips on how to help him, as I don't know what else to do anymore.
Best regards,
Robbert
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