Yellow headed dwarf geckos - Lygodactylus luteopicturatus

[Brat]

Does anybody keep these?
I'm quite interested in getting some but I'm struggling to find information on husbandry on the net.

Main things being;

• Food
• Viv size
• Heating/lighting requirements

etc..


Can anyone help? Thanks

[Brat]

Oooh I've come across a caresheet that someone has written on an American forum, but if anyone keeping them has advice, it's welcome

L. luteopicturatus in captivity
A good size of a terrarium for this species is 30*30*40 cm (l*w*h). The geckos are strongly territorial, because placing two Lygodactylus species next to each other, so that they can see each other causes stress. I noticed this when I placed the pair of L. luteopicturatus next to a single male L. kimhowelli. The males were displaying and stressing continuously. For the rest of the males, I separated the geckos. In the terrariums I used natural cork bark walls, for both the back and sides of the terrariums. I did this to enlarge their living area, and to prevent fights with geckos in the enclosures next to them. The enclosures are furnished with bamboo pipes, branches and some Sansevieria plants. Bromeliad plants are also doing well in these kind of enclosures. The bottom of the enclosures is covered with a layer of crushed shells. This has two functions, the most important is that the shells are light coloured, and therefore reflect a lot of light, which makes the enclosure as a whole brighter, and the animals more beautiful. Next to that, the shells contain a lot of calcium, which the geckos can use by licking/eating them, and store the calcium for production of bones and egg shells.

The temperature in the enclosures varies between 25-33 degrees at day and 18-22 degrees at night. This temperature is reached by using halogen spots. This spot is turned on for about 4 hours a day. To create as much light as possible, there are 2 T5 TL bulbs on top of the enclosures, which light for 14 hours in summer and 8 hours in winter. I spray the enclosures every night to increase the humidity at night. The spraying also helps to decrease the temperature in the night.

The geckos are easy feeders. They eat almost anything which is small enough to fit in their mouths: small crickets, drosophila, small waxworms, small ****roaches. In summer, my animals also get insects from outside, which I catch in nature areas. Next to these insects, the geckos get also 1-2 times a week a lid f a soda bottle, filled with special “Phelsuma porridge”. All insects I feed are dusted with vitamin powder. In the enclosures there’s always a small lid with calciumpowder, mainly the females make use of this.

Breeding L. luteopicturatus
The species is not difficult to breed. The females lay every two weeks a pair (sometimes a single egg, but usually two glued together) of eggs. These eggs are deposited in bamboo pipes, or in the armpits of the Sansevieria plants. The eggs have a strong shell, with a diameter of 5-6 mm. At a constant temperature of 27 degrees, the eggs hatch in 80 days, when the temperature fluctuates (day 28 degrees, night 20 degrees) the eggs take about 100 days to hatch. The babies are very small, total length is 26-27 mm, and are pretty vulnerable. Raising them works best in relatively large terrariums. I keep them in enclosures of 15*30*30 cm, with 2-3 babies per enclosure. In the beginning I tried to raise them in cricket boxes, but that’s not possible, the climate in those small boxes is too difficult to create. As food, small crickets (hatchlings), drosophila and springtails (Collembola) are suitable. The babies need food daily, and are very vulnerable for drying out. Spraying once a day, better even twice a day is necessary. The babies of this species are, in contradiction to babies of L. kimhowelli which are fully coloured, completely brown coloured. They reach the adult colours in about 4 months. Raising the babies is the bottleneck in breeding this species, and that’s probably also the reason this species is not bred very often.

[Brat]

No-one have any?

[chameleonpaul]

There are generally a few german caresheets, use google translator.
They need UV just like day geckos.
They are active so prefere a medium sized vertical orianated viv.
Small watt basking spot light.
As for food, just small crickets really.

[Brat]

Thanks

Just found a bit more too, didn't realise Faith kept them..

Originally Posted by Faith

They need UV for a start
Temps i keep mine at 90F with a cool end of 84F
Humidity needs to be quite high as they are leaf drinkers and will take water by licking the leaves.
They dont need much space tbh and i wouldnt even be tempted to handle them lol they are far to fast.
Also a sticky foot gecko.
Adults grow to about 3 ins max and they lay 2 eggs at a ime but if you get them to breed in captivity then give me a shout ive got an egg incubating atm from the female.
Sexing is done visually via the colours males habe bright yellow heads and i mean bright lol
Pics of mine
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizar...ed-geckos.html


Male





Female

[jaykickboxer]

they sell em in coldblooded might gets myself a pair they look realy good, this hobbys working out sooo expensive just orderd a mack snow albino het raptor,raptor and red eyed enigma,as well as a outcross

[Brat]

Lol you're hooked Jay..
The yellow heads are so tiny and cute! I have a viv spare now too, so tempting to get one..

[jaykickboxer]

yeh i no the ones in coldblooded are about 2cms at the minute ud probably lose em u needs some stenos,not trying to sell u any as ive sold all the ones i wanted too there just wicked to watch

[Brat]

Yeah I like Steno's.. Not seen any round here though, they're very cute!