Leaf tail in trouble!!!!!!

[GeckoJosh]

Hi guys
Iv just bought a phyllurus platurus pair and im worried bout the female
She refuses to go into her hide and has remained in the open today and seems docile
she also has had a bad shed and has mites
My question is should i treat her for the shed and mites or should i not put her through more stress
She laid eggs recently and started sloughing about a week ago according to the breeder
any advice (* i will be giving her lots of cal)
iv put her enclosure in a quiet place and have misted her 3 times in the past 24 hours
Also do these gecko tend to shed in one or 2 pieces like Oedura or do they shed more like beardys?

 

[GeckoJosh]

please guys im very worried

 

[Grunter023]

someone with more experience might be able to help you but I think I have heard in the past that this species of gecko has those orange mites on them all the time and they are harmless to them and any other reptile. I think they prefer a rainforest type setup with some branches so they can get up off the ground and not on sand like other desert species. But as I said its only more a guess and someone with more experience will probably be able to give you a correct answer.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Its natural habitat is caves, rocky outcrops, exfoliating rock and sand stone areas, so i cant see the problem with using sand
Thanks though
Yeah i know the mites are harmless but so are alot of other parasites as long as the animal is in good health (which this one isnt) so need to know if they are a problem?

 

[xylomelum]

Gday
the red mites suggest that it is wild caught and not captive breed, hmmm
they can be removed with tweezers and should be they will eventually weaken her in captivity, mine prefer a more arboreal habitat, have old fence pallings in the cage and they hang out near the top most of the time, I avoid sand for compaction reasons, I dont heat mine at all and they seem to resent hot weather, mine always shed in patches
good luck with them they are a great little gecko
Xylo

 

[GeckoJosh]

Gday
the red mites suggest that it is wild caught and not captive breed, hmmm
they can be removed with tweezers and should be they will eventually weaken her in captivity, mine prefer a more arboreal habitat, have old fence pallings in the cage and they hang out near the top most of the time, I avoid sand for compaction reasons, I dont heat mine at all and they seem to resent hot weather, mine always shed in patches
good luck with them they are a great little gecko
Xylo

My thoughts exactly regarding the WC
The purchase was done legally at my end so i cant do much about it now
What do u use for a substrate?
I use washed river sand with my other geckos, this is the first time iv used a finer grade sand like in the pic
It has been hot do u think its could cause this docile behavior?
Do urs use hides?
And does the sloughing usually last for a week or more?

 

[jinin]

PM sent....

 

[coastal-shagg]

hey mine always shed in spots, also had those lil orange mites, once i purchased them i was told they were proably wild caught. anyway. mine never used a hide they were always just on the other side of rocks and stuff so they were out in the open but you couldnt see em ( does that make sense?) mine were always quiet docile, but not a night as they were pretty active looking for food. each time they shed it took at least a few days.

hope that helped

here was my enclosure if that helps any?!

 

[GeckoJosh]

Thanks coastal shagg
that did take away most of my concerns
What is that substrate?

 

[AUSGECKO]

I use coco peat for substrate, Mine hide behind artificial plants and strips of bark up against the back of the tank (I have an artificial background) Dab some olive oil on the mites with a cotton bud and they should fall off in a couple of days, repeat if necessary.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Thanks Gecks
Looks like Shagg uses that as well
Iv got some around for my frogs so ill change it tonight
do u keep it moist?

 

[coastal-shagg]

hey yea i used just normal soil as substrate, used coco peat moss for the walls. looks pretty good i wreckon as a first job.

 

[lynfrog]

i have a pair and they hang out on the top of the backing or on the mesh of the roof. i have some heat under the base, none at the top so that may bewhy.
i use a sand and coir mix with mine, as with most of my geckos- more sand for desert species, more coir for others.
they come from sydney sandstone country, so dont need it excessively moist like a rainforest species might.
i have gotten geckos from very well respected breeders with red mite, and they and thought nothing of it. so i never bothered to treat it.
hope that helps, lyn

 

[GeckoJosh]

Thanks lyn

 

[feathers]

My Sydney leaf tails very rarely hide at all. They rely on their camoflage to hope you don't notice them. As they are from the Sydney area they require no heat if you are in this area, in fact will die if too hot. In the wild they hide well down in crevaces or under well sheltered bark to escape the heat of the day so be careful with providing heat. The eggs also will hatch with no heated incubation in Sydney, so keep them cooler rather than place them in an incubator.

Sheding happens differently with each one I have. Two will shed almost in one piece, but the others do it piece by piece. They do like to get into or very near the water bowl near shed time. Also I usually find them down on the sand at some time during the night plus one or two will sleep down there on the moist sand at shed time. Try to get rid of the mites as they will always be a nuisance to them if it is a fussy girl. Best to leave her to settle for a few days, feed her up and then tackle the mites after a week or so - especially if you suspect they are wild caught. Stress is very incidious!

They are not great movers and shakers in the gecko world but do have great personality and are feisty little guys with big ideas on how their world should be run. i love them and think that their camoflage and hunting is spectacular.

Heather

 

[JasonL]

Good advice Feathers.. When designing your enclosure for them you should think about how they live, as they spend most of their time on sandstone, they are specialist of this environment and are specifically designed to live on it, ie, they are climbers, thus if your enclosure is set up correctly you should not really have to worry a whole lot about substrates. Sandstone keeps them cool as well, you usually only find them on cold to cool sandstone areas, esp around wet areas, never on outcrops that are openly exposed to full sunlight ( unless there are cold crevices ect that they can escape to during the day). Your enclosure should be designed with plenty of cold rough verticle surfaces, you can acheive this by mixing sand with paint and doing several coats of your enclosure walls and by using beca bricks as hide areas ( they are ideal).

 

[GeckoJosh]

Thanks Jason

 

[GeckoJosh]

New pic