New pet Gecko ( G.Dubia ) hatchling

[kingofnobbys]

Proof we have a breeding group of G.Dubia (native geckos) in the house. ( At least one of each gender , and they like living with us.

Found this cute little hatchling in my kitchen sink ( at diner time ) , it there for a drink ( often a few droplets of water left in the sink ).

Scooped up and promptly deposited in an empty cricket tub , and given Godzilla's house and wee water hole ( a few drops of water in it as I don't it drowning in the little petridish ). Was very chill in my hand ( calm ) and settled in the little tub very quickly , was thirsty , had good drink.
Much smaller than Godzilla was where we found him, I think maybe only a week or two old (?) , likely a few more around so we are keeping an eye out for them , mum and dad have been in good voice til about last week ( churping at us when we do something that disturbs them ).

Might be more eggs in there but I don't want to disturb them or upset the adults more than necessary while essentially disassembling everything to find eggs that might not be there.

Will be checking each evening from now on , if there are more eggs , they'll be hatching and I'll spot the hatchlings .

I think I've got a little female , but not entirely sure and I don't want to risk stressing "her" more than necessary.

So what do reckon ?


Fortunately I just got a delivery of media and small crickets yesterday , and I was able to get a few v-small smalls for her , she can probably handle 5mm crickets.
Polished off one of the small-small crickets I gave it. Still 2 in the tub, I expect they'll vanish before we get for breakfast.


Ordered some small mealworms , small BSFL and pinhead crickets for her and to build her up while I'm deciding if I'll make a pet of her , and in case more hatchlings show up so I've got suitable sized feeders for them.

Seems to be very interested in me, the tub is on the coffee table on top of superworm tub, not trying to hide from me , spent all night exploring and frequently stopped to look at me. Likes being ontop the little house made from bottle lid (that I made for Godzilla) and keeping an eye on me.

She's a cute little thing.

 

[WinFam01]

Aww.
I find it interesting that 'dubia' is in the name of a reptile. ?
I'm guessing these little creatures you have are not too unlike when we find a little turtle in our yard and keep it as a pet. (Which we did not).

 

[kingofnobbys]

Went though my latest cricket consignment and found enough pin head and slightly larger crickets to keep it ( her ? ) fed til my order of mini mealworms, mini BSFL and pinhead crickets arrives on Monday or Tuesday.

Seems to have settled in OK in the little tub , very active tonight , even eaten a couple of teeny weeny crickets .

on side of tub

with a medium sized mealworm ( her pet or maybe the gecko is wteh worm's pet )

closeup of colours and patterns

 

[kingofnobbys]

Godzilla II (the gecko) is settling in nicely and has proven to be a voracious hunter and very food orientated , keeps me amused in the evenings when she is catching her pinhead crickets, she doesn't mind extra small mealworms and extra small bsfl either .

She's fattening up and doing plenty of little poos.

She's taming up nicely, readily takes droplets of water from my finger tips now and lets me pet her on the head without scurrying away.
Has already learnt I am the food giver, I get the pinhead cricket tub, and bug vaccum and dusting mini-tub and she is over and watching me almost immediately.

Hardly hides from me, seems to like to watch TV in the evening ( is transfixed by it ). He has a hide ,but prefers to sleep on top of it and hardly ever goes under it to nap (very strange little gecko).

 

[CooperDragon]

Will be good to have a crew of them set up in your house to take care of the bugs for you =)

 

[kingofnobbys]

I believe there are at least 2 in the kitchen, 2 in our main bedroom, and 2 in the study , they don't churp unless it's to talk to each other.

Godzilla2 is little charmer and keeps me amused in the evenings when she's really active.

I'm misting her twice a day to keep her well hydrated , she seems to really enjoy the experience and licks her self dry and the walls of the tub too.

I put a little bit of paper towel under her house this afternoon, and she likes it under there now, I guess it makes it a bit more cozy and dark in there , she's in there now but I can still see her looking at me , I think she's discovered the crickets like to hide in there as she's often seen chewing under there..

 

[WinFam01]

Is this usual over there, to just have them hanging out in homes?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Is this usual over there, to just have them hanging out in homes?

No not at all unheard of , even in big cities ( esp the newer suburbs and suburbs near creeks, rivers, and bushland and natural parks , and near still existing farms). The further north you live the more common geckos are , and they are frequently found in and around homes ( and take full advantage of the insects drawn to lit windows , and outdoor lighting and indoor lighting ), a lot of people will have a resident colony of wild geckos living inside their homes without being aware they are there ( they will mistake the geckos chirping for birds, possums, bats, frogs and even mice ) and might not even notice the geckos because they aren't looking for them or looking at the lights and outsides of lit up windows, meanwhile the resident wild geckos get about making use of the nice warm and safe humans'' homes and learn the hours the humans keep and only come out when the resident humans are in bed.

When we were living in Port Hedland ( far NW = Pilbara coast ) we had several geckos in the apartment who were great moth and insect hunters , often taking on moths who were near as big as they were , even had a few fly off holding onto a moth they wanted to eat.



We also get skinks and dragons and frogs , in my case I regularly have wild water skinks move in and take up residence in my home ( I encourage them to stay by leaving a water dish for them and tossing them the occasional meal worm or cricket ).

I've had encounters with about 4 species of geckos , 7 species of skink , 3 species of dragon, one lace monitor , and 3 or 4 species of frog just in my own yard.

The water skinks, delicate skinks, and geckos are most likely to visit indoors . I have had a wild bluetongue on my front patio when it's sunny to bask , my pet tame captive bred eastern bluetongues get very excited when this happens if they are on the floor and spot it through the window or screen door. The water dragon shows up there sometimes too.

In summer I have warn guests not to leave open bags on the floor, as very inquisitive wild skinks find an open hang bag or shoulder bag or shopping bag irresistible .

 

[kingofnobbys]

Drinks from my finger tip .

Does plenty of tiny poos ( white dots with small back dots In them ), so I guess she's eating .

Had her out (she's so tiny and delicate I was scared I'd hurt her , so I wanted til she was on bit of gum tree leaf and lifted her out onto my tummy on that and gave her some gentle nudges to crawl off ), warms up fast on my shirt and was soon crawling about. Seemed reluctant to go back into her tub, but slipped a bit of paper towel under her and deposited her back in.

Her skin has been very pale the last day or two. Now she's doing a lot rubbing on stuff tonight and I've spotted some loose skin on her back legs, back and snout - shed coming up .I think she must be growing.

She's a active little thing when she's had a feed , a drink and warmed up.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Godzilla in shed

 

[kingofnobbys]

Godzilla is still under my care and seems to be thriving and has adapted to captivity nicely, crawls out of the tub onto my finger most nights , and seems to really like being misted ( she's a very thirsty little gecko ) and I've even seen her visit the water dish to drink from it from off the top of her little hide.

Definitely got a tv addict , I ran an experiment on Godzilla when I noticed she was awake after diner and was looking at the tv.
I turned her tub around so she wasn't able to see the tv, result, she promptly crawled around the tub to a spot where she could see the tv.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Great ! !

Just received a new batch of pinhead crickets yesterday , and ordered a new pooter last night and Godzilla just escaped , leapt out onto the coffee table where I was misting her and putting some crickets in for her to eat .

From there she leapt to the floor and promptly vanished under the lounge before I could get a small up turned tub to put over her . I was too scared to grab her with my hand / fingers as she's so small and delicate and I feared hurting her by accident .

Not having much luck hanging onto these geckos .

 

[kingofnobbys]

The two geckos in the kitchen (Godzilla and mom) were churpy about 6pm and talking to each other from across the kitchen .

 

[CooperDragon]

I'd be hesitant to handle them much either given how small they are. Were you able to tempt them back with some of the new bugs?

 

[WinFam01]

It's crazy how tiny she still is.