Hi Folks,
as I posted this mail about one week ago, and it did not pop up on the list,
I guess my picture attachments cancelled the whole mail ... is there a
limit on file-size in the attachments? Anyway, here is it again - without the
pictures - and those of you, who would like to see the pictures should
contact me directly and will be send the pictures offlist, OK? So here I go:
> Can you tell us more about how you keep these geckos? From the little
> I've read, they live on tree trunks, one male to several females, and
> the males are very aggressive. But it looks like you have two males
> there - I thought the striped ones were male.
I have L. kimhowelli for some years now, and I think they are great animals
as they are very colorful, small, day-active and tolerant. My groups are a few
WCs and many CBs - as I breed them very succesfully, I mainly have CBs
currently :-)
(-> see picture of the tiny kimhowelli hatchling - the metal plate it sits on
has
about 1mm spaces - total lenght is an average of 1cm when born ... and a
mating kimhowelli-pair)
I bought them as "angularis", and was told that the males have the stripes
and the females are without stripes. That was all I got for information. We
kept them that way for a while, and were wondering about the behavior of the
animals - the striped ones got along well with each other, but not with the
unstriped ones. Then one day the unstriped-ones mated ... so we got a first-
hand clue that we had different species here ;-)
I then contacted a well-known Lygodactylus-specialist (Dr. B. Röll, she wrote
some articles on Lygodactylus in the german "Sauria"), and finally got all
the information I needed. She told me that they were "kimhowelli", as found
in the french type-desription, and that she could give me a CB-male for my
apparently two females. The unstriped-one were found out to be "picturatus",
and we separated the two species. See attachment for the clear differences -
if you know to look for them:
- L. kimhowelli almost never loses it´s markings - it will rather darken it,
while
L. picturatus (males) will change from brownish grey to bright yellow (head)
and blue (back and tail)
(-> see pictures of the picturatus male and female)
- L. kimhowelli has very distinctive markings, while picturatus has not such
straight and deep-black stripes. They look rather "stone-washed" ;-)
(-> see picture of the nice male CB-adult sideview)
- L. kimhowelli have a sort of butterfly-shaped yellow mark on the head - the
picturatus almost never have anything like it
Both species show a kind of sexual dichromatism - picturatus males are bright
blue and yellow, while the females stay rather grey-brown (notice that a
stressed
male picturatus will look like a female). Kimhowelli males are looking
identical
on the upside, but have an deep black throat and a more yellow underbelly
instead of the orange one the females have. Hemipenis bulges can be seen with
both species clearly ... on adult males. Pores are well visible, too.
(-> see the picture of a subadult male underbelly and the underbelly of a
still very
young female. Note the interesting toe-structures as well)
> do you have a reference for a type-description for Lygodactylus kimhowellii?
I think she gave me a copy, but we moved last year and I don´t know where
it might be ... sorry. I only remember it was in french.
> Are all these names valid species but not the one you have, or are they
> just incorrect names for L. kimhowelli?
They are supposed to be valid names. If you seek more information ...
look here - you will be astonished by the numbers you find there:
http://zeta.embl-heidelberg.de:8000/srs5bin/cgi-bin/wgetz?%5BREPTILIA-Species:
Lygodactylus*%5D
> Information on social behaviour, and temperature/humidity/lighting/space
> requirements would be appreciated.
Well, they are small and can adapt to smaller housings as well - but they
do like it large ;-) I keep them as (and together with) Phelsumas, so that´s
all there is to it - perhaps they can tolerate dryer setups. I keep them in
groups with one male and several females, which will lay very small eggs
as double-clutch freely into bamboo or other plants / holes. The young
will be eated when caught, and the Phelsuma think that kimhowelli eggs
are a good source for calcium and food ... so I incubate them extra. They
get along well with many other reptiles - except other Lygodactylus. I keep
them together with P. ornata, P.guimbeaui, P. v-nigra and P. inexpectata -
so far no losses. I would not mix them with P. cepediana, P. lineata or
other more agressive Phelsumas - I tried it and the kimhowellis lost tails :-(
Even klemmeri was no success - perhaps coloration is too similar.
> I've seen them here in Canada too. I think they may be from Tanzania.
They are - and this is what it looks like at the shops ;-) (->HCH-picture)
As they are sold very cheap I cannot compete with the dealers and stick
to most of my CBs ... or give them to friends who know the worth of CBs
- so if anyone want´s some ... ;-) Imports are often heavily infested with
parasites and might not live very long - but they are hardy overall.
OK, I guess you are know filled in enough ;-)
By the way, I still seek L. conraui or another one of the green Lygos
very hard - my sources sadly cannot get me any :-( Got any clues
or connections ...?
Hartmut
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