Gecko Time: L. williamsi - Learning from Failure

The true story of how I failed with 7 L. williamsi hatchlings in my first season of trying to breed them, and my plans to have more success next year: L. williamsi: Learning from Failures | Gecko Time

Aliza

Sorry to read about your trials, Aliza, but it was good to share the story. I hope you'll have better luck next time.

I read through the article you wrote. It's great to see people not being afraid to post how things went wrong, so others may learn. I hope I can provide some tips for you.

Back in the day when they were going for around $350.00 a pair (about a year or two before they dropped dramatically) I bought a group of L. williamsi. I'm from AZ, but our winters do get cold at times and I've never had too much of an issue with the heat as long as the ambient temps stayed anywhere from 68-78F. We have a dryer climate in the area that I live, but I feel that trying to supply too much humidity can be just as bad, if not worse. After about 5 months, they started laying for me. I had to house females separate because they seemed pretty aggressive, lol. The males I had to remove as well, after breeding, because the females would chase them. This was even in larger habitats. However, I see people with several specimens together and everybody seems to get along just fine.

My first set of eggs, I left in the cage with a female. I placed the plastic cup over the eggs on the glass and incubated them in the cage... and that failed. They hatched, but it was when I went on vacation and my friend popped the container off to inspect the eggs and then didnt glue it back tight enough, allowing the babies to escape and I imagine consumed by the mother.
My second time I was able to do everything myself and the babies hatched and did well. The approach I took was simple and similar to Phelsuma hatchlings. I went to the store and bought several of those plastic cookie/pasta/food storage jars. I cut out a square section int he lid and placed mesh over it and a few tiny holes on the sides of the container for better ventilation. Inside them I put some fake plastic plants where it didn't over crowd the container, but provided coverage. I also had put a few tiiiiny cork tube pieces. For substrate I used coco-fiber and leaf litter on top (to help encourage springtails to grow). I got those by breaking them off larger cork tubes. Some of the containers had small plants in them that I had purchased for $.99 USD and were sitting in my window so I decided to put them to better use. I would set the water bottle on the finest mist and spray it down once if the substrate didn't look saturated, but i never let it get super dry. The containers were placed on a desk in my room with a fluorescent fixture that I placed under the cabinets and used it for lighting. As for food, I would toss in fruit flies, pin heads, peach baby food (be careful not to use big globs), and I imagine they also ate whatever springtails they felt like. I know it sounds bad, but I really didn't offer any vitamin supplements until they were a few months older. Oh, and the temperatures fluctuated in the room anywhere from 65F at night and sometimes up to 80F during the day.

That's pretty much the method I used. I got the container idea from an image I saw on google while doing an image search for Phelsuma. It may not work well for you, but I hope it is some help. I no longer work with this species and regret getting rid of my group, but I definitely plan on grabbing a few within a year or so. Best of luck to ya! They are an amazing and smart gecko!