Beginner in reptile keeping

[vdvok72]

Hi, I’m new to terrarium keeping. Three days ago I bought this small gecko. I also bought him this enclosure, which is about 35 × 25 × 20 cm. For now it’s only temporary — once he grows, I will definitely buy a larger one, at least 40 × 40 × 60 cm.





To be honest, I’m not completely sure what species he is. I think he might be some type of fan fingered gecko. I would really appreciate some basic information about him — what kind of setup he needs, whether UVB is necessary, and whether a 25 W bulb is enough for now. Under the bulb, the temperature on the stone is around 31 °C.





Should I add more hides and artificial plants to the enclosure? Is the substrate suitable? At the moment it’s a mixed substrate with coconut fiber/bark.





He isn’t eating much yet and stays hidden most of the time, which I understand since he is a nocturnal species. Will he become more active during the day over time?





I will be grateful for any advice or experience. Please be honest and tell me everything you know.


Thank you very much.

 

[acpart]

welcome to gecko keeping. I think it's likely that it's a fan footed gecko, though I have never kept that species. Here's a care sheet I found by doing a search: https://reptiledirect.com/fan-footed-gecko-care-sheet/
Your best bet is to do a search (feel free to use duckduckgo.com instead of google if you want to stay away from the big, rich, controlling your data companies) for "fan footed gecko care" which is how I found this care sheet. Try to read several care sheets. Sometimes the care advice is different but the advice that's pretty much the same across the care sheets is likely trustworthy. I see on the last picture there's a tub that says "300" on it. Did you pay $300 for it?!


Aliza

 

[vdvok72]

thank you very much for your reply, i did my research on sites like this, so i think, everything should be fine. some informations are a bit different though. the humidity has the most different answers, i’ll probably keep it at about 50%. for now, i have this 25w lamp without uvb, and i am giving him vitamin D3 together with his calcium, so you think, it’s enough, till i buy bigger enclosure when he grows a little and add low level uvb? i hope he’ll like his home and eventually starts to show himself more often. i paid 300 for him, but it’s not dollars, it’s czech crowns, so it’s like $15 at first, I just wanted to have a look at some reptiles, but i didn’t mean to buy one, nobody seemed interested in this lil guy, so i decided to give him the life he deserves.
thank you for your answer one more more time.
Vojtěch

 

[acpart]

Yes, vitamin D is fine if it doesn't have UV. Glad it wasn't $300. For that much they should have given you a care sheet! Good luck with the gecko.

Aliza