Cold Blooded Chronicles
May 2007
Letter from the Editor
Guest Chat Announcements
Photo Contest
Crested Gecko Care Sheet
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From the Editor
It's been a crazy spring here at kingsnake. A new look to celebrate our 10th year of just hanging around. A phenomenal chat week. We would just like to take a moment to thank everyone who has been there with us for the wonderful ride.
Spring is just around the corner. Do you have any great field tips you can share with other members? From what I hear, the herps are out early this year and numbers are looking nice. Share your photos from the field in our photo gallery
http://gallery.kingsnake.com/?cat=557&thumb=1 or on our forums at
http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=149.
As always we do accept submissions for Cold Blooded Chronicles. Would you like to see your work published? Email me for details.
Guest chats are here! Once a month we will have one of our many leaders in the reptile industry here in chat to talk about what interests you. Who do you want to come next month? Email me with your suggestions.
Cindy
PHFaust
phfaust@pethobbyist.com
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GUEST CHATS
We have two special guest chats coming up this month. First up is Garrick DeMeyer of www.crestedgeckos.com on Sunday May 5th at 10 pm ET in the Reptile and Amphibian Chat room.
Garrick has had an avid interest in reptiles since childhood. His primary interest is breeding animals that make excellent pets. Geckos fill that spot quite nicely. Leopard, Cresties, Fat Tails, and Gargoyle geckos make up his primary animals, however he has had basically every type of gecko known to man. His newest addition to his gecko breeding project are the Leachies, which he started with about a year ago. Come and ask your Gecko related questions to Garrick in the Reptile and Amphibian chat room.
Learn why these little beauties make great pets for the beginner and the expert. To learn more about Garrick and his breeding projects before chat visit www.crestedgeckos.com. Hope to see you there!
Although not focused on herps, we're having another special chat this week we thought you'd like to know about.
When Menu Foods, back on March 16, announced its first recall of pet foods due to melamine contamination, the mainstream media was only briefly interested.
To a small group of bloggers, it was apparent from the first days that this story was much larger than most people thought. They began compiling data, comparing information, collecting personal stories, and digging for facts. Since then, there have been dozens of additional recalls, threats to the human health supply, a re-evaluation of international food safety standards, and a rising wave of frightened and angry pet owners.
PetHobbyist.com invites you to attend an online panel discussion with the bloggers who have been following the pet food crisis from the beginning, to discuss the story behind the recall, what's likely to happen next, and what pet owners can do to protect their pets now and in the future.
Joining us will be:
Gina Spadafori and Christie Keith of PetConnection.com
Ben Huh of Itchmo.com
Therese Kopiwoda of PetSitUSA.com and ThePetFoodList.com
Kim Duke of petfoodtracker.blogspot.com
(Note: Christie Keith is PetHobbyist.com director of community services, and Therese Kopiwoda heads up PetHobbyist.com's marketing department.)
The chat will be held on Tuesday, May 8 at 10 PM Eastern Time in the Auditorium. To receive a free email reminder of the special chat, sign up
here:
http://news.pethobbyist.com/index.cgi/archive/recall/
More information, and complete information on how to attend the chat, is
here:
http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews/index.php?/archives/50-Online-Panel-about-Pet-Food-Recall-May-8.html
Both our guest chats will be moderated.
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PHOTO CONTEST
We'll be starting a photo contest soon, and this month's topic will be Crested Geckos. We'll let you know the details soon, but in the meantime, we thought we'd share some info on the crested gecko.
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Crested Gecko Care Sheet
Stephanie Beiser
http://www.jsrhacs.com/
Crested Gecko
Rhacodactylus ciliatus
Size: 4-4.5" snout to vent; 7-9" total with tail
Lifespan: 10-15 years avarage
Temperature:
70-80 F (22-27 C) day
60-75 F (18-24 C) night
Humidity:
50-60% day
60-80% night
The crested gecko, a native of New Caledonia, was thought be extinct until it was “rediscovered” in the early 1990’s by two independent research groups. It is a medium sized, stocky gecko species with an average adult size of 7-9 inches in total length (including the tail). Almost all wild adult crested geckos are found without tails, and it is not an unusual occurrence for a captive animal to drop it’s tail seemingly without reason. This fact has no effect on the animals general health or ability to breed.
The crested gecko also belongs to the category of “wall climbing” geckos, having adhesive toe pads as well as a pad on the tip of the tail. They are also able to vocalize, with growls and barks being heard most often out of geckos being kept in groups, not as a single animal. Because of the short amount of time they have been kept as captive animals, an exact lifespan is not know, although most estimates are 15-20 years. They are now being captive bred in a wide array of colors and patterns.
The difference between adult males and females is made obvious by an enlarged hemipenal bulge on the males, and small preanal pores.Crested Geckos usually can not be accurately sexed until at least 4-5 months of age, and some may take much longer.
Basic Care:
Habitat: The cage setup for crested geckos can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Cresteds appreciate tall enclosures over lengthy ones, so 18, 20 tall, and 22 gallon aquariums work well for individual geckos. They can also be kept in secure screen cages of approximately the same dimensions. Pairs or trios of geckos can be kept in larger enclosures...29 and 40 tall gallon tanks work well for this purpose. These geckos are nocturnal, and as such should be provided with plenty of adequate hiding spaces for daytime retreat. Cages can be outfitted with branches, perches, and fake or live foliage. The substrate of choice for a low-maintenance setup is paper towel….for a more naturalistic cage, coconut fiber can be used (which also makes prime egg-laying material for breeding animals). No wood chips of any sort should ever be used. These geckos can be housed at room temperature unless your house stays fairly cool, in which case they -should be provided with a warmer basking are
a (~75-80 degrees). These geckos should be misted several times daily, and can also be provided with water in a shallow dish.
Diet: Crested geckos are frugivores, meaning they feed on fruits, nectars, and pollen, with the occasional insects. The captive diet should be as varied as possible….they can be fed calcium-supplemented fruit babyfoods, fresh pureed fruits (not including citrus fruits), as well as several commercial powdered diets (T-Rex/Repashy/Clarks) that are now available that you simply mix with water or fruit juice. Insects in the form of crickets, silkworms, or waxworms can be offered occasionally….hatchling and young geckos should be offered live prey more frequently than adult geckos.
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Cold Blooded Chronicles is copyright 2007 by PetHobbyist.com, unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
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