Begginer Gecko???

[Gecko]

Previous experience is a very valid question. Almost anything is easy if you have the right experience/knowledge. The big problem is most small lizards don't like being handled by large mammals.

A single item diet is in general not a good idea for a number of reasons. A lot of people do it, but I can think of quite a few reasons why a varied diet (as well as varied diet for the feeders) is good. I try and mix up the food every once and a while even with a staple or two.

Only thing I can think of off the top of my head might be Pictus geckos. Do those tolerate handleing?

 

[sportbike_rob]

IMO the best gecko for handleing is AFT's i can put mine on my bed during cleaning, clean the tank, clean all the hides, change his calcium, substrate and water...ect, and turn around and my AFT moves a whole 3 inches and is just chillin out watching me and wondering what the heck i am doing, lol. he will stay right in the palm of my hand and i can hand feed him (he even seems to take the cricket or mealie very gently to avoid biting me, and as soon as my fingers let go he chomps it down like a twinky.)

 

[Haroldo]

Ok so go tell all of the breeders out there that they have not and cannot feed a staple of mealies and sustain a collection of geckos long term on such a diet, especially those that have been doing this for YEARS

Any and all feeders are bad if not properly gutloaded, Id rather feed out a well gutloaded mealie or super worm than an empty cricket or a waxworm (crack for geckos).

I think you're missing the point here. Mainly that this is my opionion and much conclusion is based on the nutritional composition of mealworms. I don't care whos being doing what for years. As this hobby evolves, breeders and keepers have a responsibility to mature with it. Babyfood was the staple of Rhacodactylus for decades...now we know just how bad nutritionally it is for them (all least much of what is out there). There are simply better alternatives...

As far as quality of feeders, you are certainly mistaken if you think they are equal. Some feeders actually have quite a bit of nutritional value without special supplementation. For example, a "phoenix" worm is far more nutritional than a mealworm at base. Effectiveness of gutloading is a factor of the size of the gut being loaded and the quality of the gutload. Roaches (at least dubia and lateralis because I feed them) are better nutrionally than crickets (less chitin, more "meat"). The hiearchy proceeds... Crickets for example, have a stomach size smaller than the size of a pencil eraser. How much do you think is really accomplished with all this "specialized" gutloading. I for one, am just concerned about feeding them (feeders) a nice nutritionally balanced staple diet. I'm more concerned about supplementing the multitude of nutritionally inadequate feeders (commercially available and not). Something that is a consequence of my keeping of omnivarious species.

 

[Haroldo]

And Id like to ask you the same.......

I've kept and bred nearly 30 species of geckos alone! My experience is not on trial here but if you'd like to discuss this in a non-aggressive manner, I'm up for it...

 

[Haroldo]

Nor would I as a long term keeper of many different species......

BUT when a person comes here to ask for opinions and help choosing a new pet the first thing you should NOT do is try to discredit them or their experience, we all start somewhere and sometimes somewhere is with no experience at all and thank the powers above for the people that ask FIRST for help choosing an animal instead if buying one on a whim then asking why it died.

If he is given choices he can look up care sheets and/or ask for more help, information etc and find the best choice for him instead of an impulse buy from fear of asking that could end up with a poor buying decison.

I gave you questions for thought. Your original response. was unusual to say the least. I didn't attempt to do anything, except prompt some serious contemplation. There are over 700 sp. of KNOWN gecko species and many being discovered every year. Certainly not all of them are equally appropriate for everyone. For example, if someone asked the question looking for a gecko species that would only eat fruit, I could think of a few. But if they qualified that request by limiting the choices to something they could handle regularly and stayed relatively small. I would be hard-pressed to recommend anything without some understanding of their prior keeping experience. Most without considering the implications, would recommend Phelsuma. Just because a species meets some "Criterion" [even partially] doesn't mean its a good match for a keeper.

Care sheets?! Most of the care sheets [and books out there] aren't any good. Some of them are written by people that have never kept the species they've written about. The internet is free and some people feel the need to aggregate and distribute information even if its bad info. You'd be wise to take the time to consult breeders for REAL anecodotal information instead of relying on generic care sheets. I am however not saying BOOKS aren't good references, but the general idea of a care sheet is folly! Summarizing the experiences and idiosyncracies of a species in one page is curious to say the least. I've spent hours [literally!] talking about what some people consider mundane. Thinking the invaluable thoughts of keepers can be summed up in any simple form is perhaps one of the biggest fallacies in the hobby today. (Before I am assaulted on this point, I am actually excluding myself from the "Group of keepers" I am referring to, as I consider myself "underexperienced [as opposed to inexperienced]" in comparison with some of my role models. No names need to be mentioned...)

Given all this, I'm sure you'll do as you please. My only hope is that you go about it intelligently. Best wishes,
Harold

 

[Haroldo]

by the way anyone that would ask that question should have no problem giving an answer as well.

I actually would have probably said (if it were me), I have experience with A, B and C for this amount of time, and A may work for you and B may not and C is a bad idea.

Do you have any experience with any of those? I may be able to help you more if you can give me more info.

But oh well, trying to be helpful and noncondescending is a lost art to some.

Well that's a difference of strategy in prose. Just because I answered in a manner that was not akin to your way of saying things, doesn't mean what or more importantly, HOW I said it was problematic.

I honestly don't see where your contribution was sooo great. Recommending Phelsuma for a person that wants to feed their gecko mostly [or only] mealworms! You couldn't be further from a sensible reality. Generally, your posts have been inflammatory in response to a disillusioned sense of my attributed patronizing position and have provided little substance in regards to the original member's post.

I refuse to contribute any further to this silly off-topic discusion and would rather see if I can be of some REAL help to a fellow underexperienced herper...
-Harold

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

whatever, Im not being agressive.... the title of the thread says BEGINNER gecko so asking for experince when it is clearly state BEGINNER is still al ittle odd.

If you want to help him maybe you could make suggestions, that's what he asked for, suggestions of a BEGINNER gecko.

And day geckos are pretty cool animals, light, heat, incsects and fruit or baby food, not to difficult to care for.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Also your post have had nothing to do with the topic at all of helping him find an animal, YOU WENT TOPIC in your first post. You have not once suggested an animal for him, all you have done is try to ramble in a condescending way.

No wonder people are afraid to ask for help and go out and make poor buying decisions, they get more attacks than advise.

 

[Haroldo]

whatever, Im not being agressive.... the title of the thread says BEGINNER gecko so asking for experince when it is clearly state BEGINNER is still al ittle odd.

If you want to help him maybe you could make suggestions, that's what he asked for, suggestions of a BEGINNER gecko.

And day geckos are pretty cool animals, light, heat, incsects and fruit or baby food, not to difficult to care for.

Requesting a beginner species does not assert little to no experience. There is a "beginner" species in EVERY genus of geckos. Having experience with Eublepharis doesn't really prepare you to keep Phelsuma or really much of anything else. So in that sense, even a keeper of several species when venturing into a new genus, is effectively looking for a BEGINNER species. Get the idea?

Still seem to be missing my point, I asserted initially [and still maintain], that there is no species period that I could recommend that fits his/her criterion. What I am suggesting [and what many of the other posters in this thread seem to get] is that his criterion needs to be relaxed just a bit to perhaps exclude the whole "mealworm thing"...

I realize Phelsuma are great geckos. I've kept 7 sp. in the past and currently keep 6. Once again, you're playing into the folly of recommending an entire GENUS generically. I keep two subspecies of lineata, one subspecies of quadriocellata, one subspecies of guimbeaui, ornata, and comorensis. If you know anything about Phelsuma, you'd know immediately that guimbeaui and ornata are kept fairly infrequently in the hobby. You would also know that their care and husbandry regimens are a heck of alot more strict then say grandis. So yeah, some phelsuma ARE difficult to care for! They are over 60 species and subspecies of them and I resent the fact that you assert they are easy. (I suppose you've kept cepediana, inexpectata and the like...)Phelsuma in general have skin that tears easily. Most of them don't "enjoy" handling. The only ones I'd really recommend (out on a limb for the aforementioned criterion) would be standingi, grandis or kochi, and dubia. None of the ones I recommend are exceedingly difficult to keep, have been known to TOLERATE handling at some semi-regular pace, are not overly expensive to obtain, but feeding them a diet of primarily mealworms would be irresponsible in my book.

 

[Tokays_Unlimited]

Well as far as fan footed gecko's,that all depends on what you are considering Fan Footed gecko's.Again that is a common name that is tossed around with a few species.If it is Ptyodactylus guttatas or anything in that genus then they are flighty,but easy to keep.If you are talking about P.rangei then they are more docile and easy to keep.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Haroldo or whatever your name is get a life please! Im not going to keep this bull crap off topic posting you started going.

I did not generically suggest anything, if he had said yeah, maybe a day gecko I would have expanded to tell him maybe a standing, gold dust or a lined.

Keep on topic, suggest some animals for him or shut up.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Well as far as fan footed gecko's,that all depends on what you are considering Fan Footed gecko's.Again that is a common name that is tossed around with a few species.If it is Ptyodactylus guttatas or anything in that genus then they are flighty,but easy to keep.If you are talking about P.rangei then they are more docile and easy to keep.

As far as I know:
The p guttatus is a Fan toed gecko
The P rangei is a Nambian Web Footed Gecko
The P reggaz is a Giant Fan footed

I was referring to the Fan footed Ptyodactylus hasselquisti

 

[GoGo]

Okay, This thread has gone totally off track and i bet the person who originally made it is like, what happened to my advice in all this mess? Haroldo, stop trying to show off your knowledge because if your not going to help why bother being here? Dragonfly, IGNORE Haroldo and just help the person who asked for help. mrcsk8ter44445 wanted to know about a gecko (or lizard he said later on) on the beginner level that he could feed mainly mealworms and was not a leo, crestie or AFT.

 

[GeckoStud]

Aside from all the pointless bickering...

I would suggest perhaps Chondrodactylus angulifer (Namibian Sand Gecko)
or maybe some of the Banded Gecko family. The latter of which I am not too familiar with. I do not also know how much they tolerate handling, just that their care isn't very demanding.

Have you considered other Rhacs? A gargoyle gecko would be a great gecko to consider if you'd like something a little different. Same care as cresteds, just as calm if not more so. (At least all the ones I have come into contact were.)

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Wow ummmm.... I think the thing with reptiles is... you won't find any "easy to take care of", that enjoy being handled, and have a simple diet. It seems that if a reptile has one of those traits, it most likely doesn't have any others. I think what you should do is see what means the most to you. Cheap habitat? Handling? and then compare the options that are high up on your priority. I think leos are the closest you can get to everything listed. And one thing in that mess over the last 3 pages I do agree with. You most likely need to expand out of the "only mealworms" category no matter what you choose. But like I said, you might get better ideas if you ask a question like "what lizards tolerate handling". Then once you get a list of those, find the ones you are interested in and compare habitats, then find ones you are still interested in and look at any other factors. Hope that made sense and helps a little...

 

[GeckoStud]

Wow ummmm.... I think the thing with reptiles is... you won't find any "easy to take care of", that enjoy being handled, and have a simple diet. It seems that if a reptile has one of those traits, it most likely doesn't have any others. I think what you should do is see what means the most to you. Cheap habitat? Handling? and then compare the options that are high up on your priority. I think leos are the closest you can get to everything listed. And one thing in that mess over the last 3 pages I do agree with. You most likely need to expand out of the "only mealworms" category no matter what you choose. But like I said, you might get better ideas if you ask a question like "what lizards tolerate handling". Then once you get a list of those, find the ones you are interested in and compare habitats, then find ones you are still interested in and look at any other factors. Hope that made sense and helps a little...

I can agree with this, especially on the varied diet aspect.

 

[Gecko]

Banded Geckos do not like to be handled . . .

 

[MichaelJ]

I don't think there exists such a gecko. Many might disagree, but I feel mealworms are one of the worst feeders to serve as a staple for most geckos. I'd say that none of the geckos [or lizards in general] mentioned in this thread would fare well longterm on such a diet. Why are you restricting the species to only eating mealworms? Also, what experience level do you have with keeping geckos (i.e. what keeping experience do you have and with what species?). I'd consider this all far more important when considering what species might be appropriate for someone. That's just my opinion though...

i'd say strongly disagree would be a better statement. Of course variety is best for any animal but meals worms, crickets, waxworms, and superworms are an excellent staple for many geckos - granted they are insectivorous.

Each of these contain large amounts of the essential nutrients, Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates, as well as many other healthy vitamins and minerals. As others stated gut loading is essential to make sure all levels are up to par because each worm can have different levels. But 90% of at least Leopard Gecko breeders and keepers use meal worms or superworms as a staple and throw in the others as treats.. Including Ron Tremper.


Personally, I think the best beginner Gecko as far as handling and maintenance is a Gargoyle Gecko. They are beautiful, like to be handled, are extremely low maintenance, eat baby food or crested gecko diet power mixed with water, and live for fifteen years or more. Altough somewhat expensive at times you truly get what you pay for..

 

[GeckoStud]

Personally, I think the best beginner Gecko as far as handling and maintenance is a Gargoyle Gecko. They are beautiful, like to be handled, are extremely low maintenance, eat baby food or crested gecko diet power mixed with water, and live for fifteen years or more. Altough somewhat expensive at times you truly get what you pay for..

I second that, granted I just recently got one, it is awesome. Really calm for a young gecko, especially when you consider how spazy other species can be.

 

[Haroldo]

i'd say strongly disagree would be a better statement. Of course variety is best for any animal but meals worms, crickets, waxworms, and superworms are an excellent staple for many geckos - granted they are insectivorous.

Each of these contain large amounts of the essential nutrients, Fat, Protein, Carbohydrates, as well as many other healthy vitamins and minerals. As others stated gut loading is essential to make sure all levels are up to par because each worm can have different levels. But 90% of at least Leopard Gecko breeders and keepers use meal worms or superworms as a staple and throw in the others as treats.. Including Ron Tremper.


Personally, I think the best beginner Gecko as far as handling and maintenance is a Gargoyle Gecko. They are beautiful, like to be handled, are extremely low maintenance, eat baby food or crested gecko diet power mixed with water, and live for fifteen years or more. Altough somewhat expensive at times you truly get what you pay for..

As far as R. auriculatus, I definitely agree that are great geckos to get for the aspiring reptile keeper. I got into them several years back and have only acquired more of them over the years. Definitely one of the most handeable geckos mentioned in this thread--though I do have a few, shall I say, "Jumpy" adults.
-Harold