At 01:46 PM 12/15/00 -0800, Julie Bergman wrote:
>Laura Ricketts wrote:
> > I also have a crocodile gecko (Tarentola mauretanicus)
> > and I have been keeping "it" on calci-sand for over a
> > year now. It's about 4" long, don't know it's age or
> > sex... My daughter bought it from a pet store, then
> > lost interest in it... I ended up adopting it! I
> > can't find much information about them, except they
> > like basically the same environment as leos. Any
> > information about them, their maintenance and care,
> > etc. would be greatly appreciated.
[...]
>I don't work with Tarentola, others here may have.
I missed this the first time through. I've kept _Tarentola_ and have a
good friend who's a hobbyist breeder (of _T. annularis_, not _mauritanica_,
but the two are nigh-identical). I think they're really neat geckos, in a
very standoffish way.
You really can't go wrong. J.L. Cloudsley-Thompson did some research,
before the era of strict ethical standards, in which he withheld food and
water from _Tarentola_ (again _annularis_, I think---whichever species he
had running around his office in Khartoum) for long periods to see how they
would cope---he was unable to create any problems by starving them, and if
I remember aright, he had one survive without food *or* *water* for
somewhat over THREE MONTHS. Tough, tough, tough, tough, tough lizards.
They like it hot and dry and shelter-y, can move really fast, may bite, and
seem not to care which way is up. The only care sheet I could find is at
<http://www.gecko.force9.co.uk/moorish.html>.
My friend says her _annularis_ females develop mild MBD during breeding
season if they don't have UV lights. This is one of the few cases I know
of where a nocturnal species seems to need UV.
NT
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