Newbie Gecko questions

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fallenfeathers

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Hey there guys, I'm pretty new in the world of reptiles. I'm looking at getting my first reptile & the first species that stuck out to me was the smooth thick-tailed gecko. I have a few questions, they're probably really obvious but anyway... The first thing I haven't really found any proper info on is feeding, how often do I feel them & how big should the crickets be? (is there a general rule like with beardies?). I'd also like your opinions on enclosures... I have a 70L blue planet aquarium & I was wondering if it'd be suitable? the dimensions are 58 x 32 x 42.5cm. I'm just worried about it not having appropriate ventilation, the air vent is above the filter box which I don't think I'll be able to remove (I can post a pic if you guys would like?). If not should I attempt to remove the lid completely & make some kind of mesh lid? Another thing I was wondering about was can these guys be housed in pairs or groups?
Thanks in advance :eek:
 
I myself don't own gecko's, but as a general rule for pretty much all lizards, food items shouldn't be bigger than the space between their eyes

From what I've read on here over the years, that should be a big enough tank,
you might need to post pics for the ventilation question to answered properly.

You will get mixed opinions on housing them together, in the end its your choice but there is a risk of one becoming dominant and bullying/fighting with the other, which can result in missing tails/toes
 
Thanks! I didn't expect such a speedy reply. I'll try & get a few pics of the lid up tonight. I wasn't really planning on housing any together I was just curious, I should have guessed it would likely result in bullying.
 
Do you mean smooth knobtail? If you search on here, or google, "nephurus levi", you should find plenty of info. We don't keep them ourselves, but do keep other gecko species, and they are fine together. Geckos seem to be more sociable than other reptiles, but not sure if that's true for all gecko species.
 
It would depend on if you mean a Thicktailed gecko U.Milli or smooth knob tail N.Levis. the size would be fine for one of either species, but if there is little ventilation I would re do a lid for it.
the rest of the questions would depend on the actual sp. you mean =)
 
I myself don't own gecko's, but as a general rule for pretty much all lizards, food items shouldn't be bigger than the space between their eyes

Not such a big thing for geckos. Its been tested and proven that most geckos should be feed decent size food as to reduce swallowing too much substrate.

I feed my adult U.milii's large crickets, most would probably say this is too big (a little bigger then eye spacing) but i have had no issue and the geckos are very enthusiastic come feeding time. They arent so attracted to smaller prey which doesnt surprise me, these guys have a fair bit of power in there jaws and crush most prey on impact.


Rick
 
Yeah sorry guys meant to say knobtail! I'm just about to post photos of the lid of the tank now

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View attachment 308059View attachment 308060that's the vent, I'm thinking I might be able to drill some holes if the plastic isn't too thick. Ideally, how much ventilation should there be?

The pictures didnt work sorry.
But drilling plastic will end in cracks, a soldering iron is a much more efficient way to get clean ventilation holes.
Feeding is everyday (missing one or 2 is fine) dusting every second feed with calcium powder.
I would keep them separately as you risk injury and tail loss keeping them together, the tail grows back but never looks as good as the original.
 
They didn't? that's strange they worked for me... Oh well, it'll work out either way. When the time comes I'll test the humidity & if there's too much I'll alter it accordingly. Thanks for the help guys! :D

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Hey everyone just realized I forgot something! What kind of heating should I use? (Mat or cord?) & what wattage for my enclosure size? How is a cord installed? (just under the substrate?)
 
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