Juergen and interested,
you, if anyone, should understand precisely what I am talking about with
animals not faring well during transport. How many times have we seen
disasters with international shipments during the cold months in Europe? I
recently sent a person a box of geckos during WARM weather via Delta
airlines. The animals arrived at the destination rather cold (??) and one
of the animals died from the cold, whereas the other was very lethargic and
quite cold to the touch. Needless to say, the animals may not have been
placed in the correct "atmospherically controlled" compartment, because the
animals became cold at 32,000 feet! Why else would animals get too cold
when the outside temps are 80-85 F.?
<< Also there is a reason this gecko is nocturnal: they just cant deal with
the heat and dryness during the day.Its like the knobtails of australia.>>
There is another reason this gecko is nocturnal: 95% of the geckos on the
face of this planet are also. They have adapted to fill niches which
essentially no other vertebrates have. Sure they "dodge" some of the heat,
but that is a secondary advantage, as many tropical nocturnal geckos do not
appreciate a significant drop in temperatures between day and night.
Plenty of other lizards (and some geckos for that matter) endure quite hot
temps (including Nephrurus). But like many animals they have their temp.
ranges in which they operate more efficiently. I have seen Saurodactylus,
Tropiocolotes, and many other gex under stones no larger than a medium
sized book laying in desert flats in which the surface temps are around 140
F. during the day! They live. I have seen certain Coleonyx in nature
(including large and small species) that endure drought, despite preferring
more humid conditions. Most of these other deserticolus geckos are also
nocturnal, and in fact are also members of the Eublepharinae (like the
Hemi. taylori). However, we might be comparing apples to grapefruits.
What we do know is that some species when subjected to the rigors of
stress while being collected, kept in inadequate quarters until shipped,
and then subjected to overly cold conditions during transport - frequently
refuse all food in captivity and live off of their fat reserves until they
slowly wither away. I may be wrong of course, but my experience with this
is far from being limited (unfortunately!).
<< So I do not really believe in the "freeze to death " theory .Cold
conditions in reptiles normally only slow down the metabolism with no
harm and desertous specs can often deal with very low ranges, because
its getting sometimes quite cold in this areas.>>
Have you ever tried hibernating Nephrurus too cold (ie. temps at 47-54 F.)
for a couple of weeks? The survivability of the species diminishes
considerably. In some deserts it is true that conditions get quite cold.
Palmatogecko is reported as "being active" at 3 C.! But Somalia,
regardless of what most deserts are, is located on the equator. Simply do
an internet search for the weather patterns of this country. It's hot
there, not cold. So, perhaps if they are cold, and not adapted to it, they
are "damaged"?
With animals subjected to overheating/dehydration, my experience dictates
that they die within hours, become completely immobile, and certainly do
not live for months under this condition. But I have seen geckos which
live for months which seemed to have endured cold condition, whereby some
internal organ was irreparably damaged (kidneys or lungs damaged or partly
froze, something crystallized, who knows - could not afford several
expensive autopsies! I was more interested in finding the cure!) and
thereby eliminated the animal's appetite. I have watched these animals
drink water, but that will not bring them around.
Your experience with the C. namaquensis is interesting (and an interesting
species!), but does not "hold water" (dehydrated) when talking about
Somalian geckos. Plus, Somalia does receive more than it's fair share of
rain annually. It is hot and frequently very humid there. Does anyone
actually believe that the collector (s) walked around with a damned shovel
in the middle of nowhere digging for Hemitheconyx taylori - a species
hitherto uncollected? I doubt it. They must have inadvertently
encountered the species while looking for Xenagama, or while using torches
at night. How else would they have known where to "dig" if they had never
collected the species before? I tried using shovels in the desert years
ago, and found out it sucks, the ground is too hard, rocks and slab rocks,
and too much desert to dig for such little critters!!!!! The animals were
active and during the active season (ie. THE XENAGAMA WERE GRAVID), meaning
NIX the "cold in Somalia" theory! Or even cold at night. Heat loving
Xenagama's do not breed when there is any hint of cold. Things were
hopping in Somalia at that time, or the X's would not be breeding and the
collectors there collecting!
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: Juergen Pietschmann [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2001 3:01 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [Gecko] Hemitheconyx taylori
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Jon! You genius!
Just call him Jon "know it all" Boone :-))
> When I first heard of the "hibernation" I instantly thought of the
> little
> Xenagamas which did extremely well. And they were shipped under the
> same
> conditions. Furthermore, I would expect a nocturnal deserticulous
> animal to
> be more cold tolerant than a diurnal one! Could it have been
> dehydration?
so maybe Mr. Boone is right that its not a hibernation,but that the
animals probably hide during hotter and drier month could also be a
reason.
Also there is a reason this gecko is nocturnal: they just cant deal with
the heat and dryness during the day.Its like the knobtails of australia.
So I do not really believe in the "freeze to death " theory .Cold
conditions in reptiles normally only slow down the metabolism with no
harm and desertous specs can often deal with very low ranges, because
its getting sometimes quite cold in this areas.
I more believe to too warm and too dry transport conditions.Lack of
humidity in some specs often leads to irreparable kidney failures within
a short time and this is what kills them long time:
See many examples with chams,P.masobe e.g......
We just had an example last time as an reptile dealer nearly killed
Cham. namaquensis because: "a desert spec needs no water".As we could
get ahold of them some were laying on there sides ,after proper
rehydration we could save 95 % of them (these chams, normally little
devils if you come too close with the hand, in fact where drinking just
out of the box from an syringe without shyness , so desperately the
wanted water)
exporters and too often importers too dont care too much on the
hydration needs of the animals and also in the planes you have terrible
low humidity,which even inflicts sensitive passengers.
>
>
> Xenagamas eat plants, that's normally enough water for deserticulous
> agamids,
> but the geckoes? Isn't this what happens to emerald tree boas? They
> don't
> get enough water between collection and export and their livers get
> screwed.
>
> Certainly though, Crossobamon fit into this list.
>
> Anyone, any thoughts?
>
> --Daniel
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