Crested Geckos (Rhacodactylus Cilliatus) are from New Caledonia. An island that is south east of Australia. These geckos also go by the names of "Eyelash Geckos". They are an arboreal species that were thought to be extinct in the wild until 1994 when a few were found on an offshore island (Isle of Pines). Luckily these guys have proven to be among the easiest of lizards to breed, and captive bred specimens are all over the pet trade now. These guys have became very popular for quite a few reasons.
1. They are "Room temperature" animals, meaning in most cases a heat source isn't required!
2. Since they are nocturnal they don't require expensive UVB bulbs.
3. They can be rasied insect free. There are now diets available that supply them with all of the needed requirements. These guys will also gladly take crickets as well as baby food.
4. They are tame, and don't mind the occasional handling of the animal.
5. There are sooooooo many different colors and morphs they are hard to determine one from another sometimes.
We got our first pair in the summer of 2000, and were instantly hooked. The second pair came about 4 months later although we sold the extra male, to give us a group of 1.2 ( Male . Female). Over the next two years we must have gotten 20 or so eggs although we didn't have any luck getting them to hatch. We felt as if we were doing something wrong, and eventually sold the group in the summer of 2002 keeping only a red baby we had purchased in 2001. Thinking maybe our male was infertile we decided to give it another shot. We ordered 2 babies from a well known "RED" line, and raised them up to adults although they turned out to be nothing spectacular we did get a male and a female out of it. We also picked up a harlequin female from a friend in the summer of 2003, and that's where our group stands today (1.3). To date we have hatched 30 babies! It seems as if the male was the problem in our earlier attempts, because these things breed like crazy. DEFINATELY one of our favorite animals here at S & M.
We are currently trying to put together a group of gargoyle geckos (Rhacodactylus Auriculatus). As the latin specifies these are in the same family as the crested geckos. These currently aren't as popular in the trade as the cresteds, but will be shortly we think. They are very similiar in requirements as the cresteds, but are a little shorter, and a little plumper!! They can change in color DRASTICALLY in a matter of minutes!! We'll try our hand at breeding these guys in 2005!
.JPG)
We just recently got another addition to our Rhacodactylus collection. It's Rhacodactylus Chahoua, and they are quickly becoming another one of the favorites here at SnM. We've got the Pine Island form, I can't wait until these guys start getting the pinks and greens!! We're hoping to produce them in 2007.
