Hello there, New owner with a few questions

Hello Geckoforum,
I am stefan I recently has adopted a gecko who name is Diablo from my friends girlfriend who had to many animals to take care of. She was gonna just let him out in the wild (we live in Ohio) and then give the cage to her friend who had a gecko as well. I being a big softy for animals told her I'll take care of him. So now i have him. I have only a couple questions thou. She nor I know what kind he is. He small maybe no bigger then 5-6 inches from head to tail, he is a darker green with orange spots and he has a white and yellow under bottom. Second his cage is getting pretty nasty with his poop. MY friends Gf was able to like get Diablo to stay his cage when she cleaned his cage but when i tried he got out i lucky got him back in but haven't cleaned his cage yet. He lives in a 12x12x12 exo-terra cage he has everything he needs in his cage he has squidward hut from spongebob in his cage he usually is in there he has leaves and branches. I feed him 2-3 crickets daily and mist his cage everyday, Lastly He only has a lamp which doesn't really give off heat so i have a heater in my room to keep him warm so what would be a good heater for his cage.

Thank you for reading this and thank you if you gave feedback.

Hello Stefan, and welcome. From your description, it sounds like a Day Gecko of some sort... possibly a Gold Dust??? Once you find out what kind of gecko he is, it'll make it much easier for someone to help you out with your questions. Do you have, or can you get, a picture of Diablo? If so, post it here, and I'm sure someone can help. Best of luck, and again, welcome.

Welcome to GF. Glad you took the lizard! Please do tell your friend not to ever release pet reptiles to the wild. There are options, look for an animal rescue or even give away on craigslist. Not only is it is against the law to release non-native animals, but also gives herp hobbyists a bad rep and lawmakers ammo. If you can post a photo, we can better help you with your questions.

From what I can see from the two types you put on her looks like a day gecko.
this was the best I could do haha he always run away soon as i get close to his cage.

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh313/communist72/?action=view&current=IMAG0112.jpg

It almost looks like a Malaysian Golden Gecko. But, again, I can't tell. DOH!!! Sorry. Hopefully, someone else will be able to help you.

And, yeah, like Laney said: It's never a good idea to release a non-native species into the wild. It's devastating to the animal, and the eco-system. The Florida Everglades(and surround areas) is a perfect example of this.

I thought golden too, we really need a clear shot to confirm.

Welcome to the forum.

hi guys it's me again. I haven't been able to get any more photos of him because he hes been hiding in his hut every time i walk in my room i can see him when i walk in but soon as i walk in he runs into his hut. I guess Im S.O.L haha thank you guys though for what info you could give me. I don't wanna but I'm probably just gonna try and clean his cage with him

do I see blue around his eyes? Definitely try to get some better pictures if you can. Definitely not a golden gecko either, based upon sheer appearance of body and shape of toe pads. It does look like some species of day gecko (Phelsuma), possibly a really ugly (sorry ) gold dust (Phelsuma laticauda) or maybe a dull day gecko (Phelsuma dubia).

TokayKeeper said:

do I see blue around his eyes? Definitely try to get some better pictures if you can. Definitely not a golden gecko either, based upon sheer appearance of body and shape of toe pads. It does look like some species of day gecko (Phelsuma), possibly a really ugly (sorry ) gold dust (Phelsuma laticauda) or maybe a dull day gecko (Phelsuma dubia).

Click to expand...

lol i don't think hes ugly i think hes beautiful and i was able to catch a few more pictures with some coaxing of crickets.

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh313/communist72/?action=view&current=IMAG0114.jpg

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh313/communist72/?action=view&current=IMAG0115.jpg

lol...

Sorry, when I referred to ugly I just meant not colored up. Sometimes gold dust day geckos can take on a quite dull appearance. Nonetheless, he/she is definitely a day gecko species. With some nice clear, sharp photos of the body someone or myself should be able to tell you which species. Based upon these 2 new pics I'm still leaning towards a gold dust or a dull day gecko.

And never too late, but welcome to the forum.

AND....

going off his current caging and species needs, here's what you can do to heat it:

1. Go to Lowes or Home Depot, you're looking for these 2 items

2. I strongly recommend getting either a ZooMed Repti-Sun 5.0 or 10.0 tube fluorescent blub (these are UV bulbs) on his cage. I think those exo-terras come with a light hood for tube fluorescents. The only problem is that the Repti-Sun 5.0 comes in a 15 inch to 48 inch long tube and 10.0 only come in 18 inch to 48 inch bulbs. You can get the bulb at either bigappleherp.com or herpsupplies.com for $19.99 to $24.99. Since your cage is 12 x 12 x 12, you'll have to get a slightly bigger fixture for it.

3. Fixture options are an aqaurium light strip that takes either 15 or 18 inch tube fluorescent bulbs (petco or petsmart will carry these in their fish sections) or a Lights Of America undercabinet 18 inch fixture. The aquarium strips will direct light down into the tank, but can be expensive to purchase. The undercabinet fixture directs light down, but also out (you lose light) but only costs about $7 at the anti-christ currently known as wal-mart. I found a fixture that takes 15 inch bulbs somewhere, but I forget. So, I'd go with an 18 inch bulb and fixture. 18 inch is also a standard tube size and should be easy to replace bulbs and/or fixtures.

4. A grounded timer...can be found at petsmart in the fish section near the aquarium heaters and air pumps. Marineland Aquarium Light Timer Then get one of the "cheap" 5 or 6 outlet power strips from wal-mart, should run about $3-5...something like that.

5. An indoor/outdoor digital thermometer. You can get these at petsmart or radio shack for about $10. Petsmart has them in the fish and reptile sections.

Setup....

You'll possibly need to assemble the puck light's plug end. It's simple and the package will provide instructions. It can be difficult to tell which wire is the ground wire though, but if memory serves me correctly it will have a series of raised lines on it. Once assembled, plug the light into the Lutron dimmer. It is imperative you get that particular dimmer. They are designed to control lamps. Now that the light is plugged into the dimmer, plug the dimmer into the power strip. Position the puck light off-center somewhere on the top screen of the exo-terra. Best location would be on a high perch, you'll want that perch about 6 inches below the actual puck light.

It is imperative you get UV lighting on this gecko species as they are day active! Exo-terra does make their own UV lights, but I greatly prefer Repti-Suns over them -- I've tried both brands. Whatever fixture you go with, plug it into the power strip.

Set the timer to have the lights come on at sunrise and off at sunset. Plug the power stripe into the timer. Turn on power strip and lights. The puck light will be controlled by the dimmer's on/off slider switch. Place the digital thermometer's outdoor wire probe at the basking perch directly under the puck light. Start the puck light on at about 25% on the slider switch. Temps should be stable in about 10 minutes. You're looking for a basking temp of about 85-90°F. If slider at 25% is too much power to the puck, decrease slider position, if too low increase slider position. You'll want to increase and decrease slowly, it won't take much movement to get it set.

If you want, you can also check Lowes' garden center for small 4-6 ft lengths of bamboo stalks. You can cut these to fit into your exo-terra and use it as a basking perch. Lastly, get the book Day Geckos in Captivity by Greg and Leann Christenson (their website: http://www.daygecko.com/).

i think it is most deff a day gecko, i house goldies, and none have blue on the eyes or a green body

To help us out a little bit more to be absolutley sure, is there anyway you can look on the net at day geckos and find one that resembles yours?

Btw, i dont believe this guys will latch on to your finger, you are able to move some brush around to get the perfect shot.

Hi and Welcome!

hi guys it's me again. I haven't been able to get any more photos of him because he hes been hiding in his hut every time i walk in my room i can see him when i walk in but soon as i walk in he runs into his hut. I guess Im S.O.L haha thank you guys though for what info you could give me. I don't wanna but I'm probably just gonna try and clean his cage with him