> Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 17:36:46 -0400
> From: Melody Hartley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> I just discovered an injured Phelsuma mad-mad female. I think the male
> was in a mating mood and she was not. She has two raw areas -- no skin
> -- on the side of her belly. Each area is about half the size of a
> dime, so this is pretty substantial for an ~8" gecko. They are
> separated now -- I took her mate out and left her in the familiar tank,
> for less stress on her. But what should I do to treat the bites?? She
> is 2-3 years old, pretty healthy overall, has a nice plump tail, but
> this looks bad!!
I'm just a beginner at this, but from my one (1) experience with
fighting Phelsumas, I can tell you that these guys have an amazing
ability to heal up even when large chunks of skin are torn off. I'm
raising a couple of P.m.grandis, and when I realized they were both
males, I knew they would have to be separated, but they were getting
along just fine and I thought I would have some warning. Well, about 3
weeks ago, when these guys were about 5 months old, I got up one
morning and misted them and they looked just fine. I had breakfast and
came back with some fruit for them and one looked like he had been
rubbed over a vegetable grater! I removed the aggressor (Cain) and a
few days later gave him to a friend who was looking for a mate for an
adult female. Cain bred the female the same day (is this precocious?)
after tearing a few strips off her. She tore a few strips off him, and
now they are doing well together. My friend has been breeding herps
for about 25 years and says that day geckos are just into "kinky
violent sex". He also told me that when he got his first day geckos
many years ago, the supplier didn't realize how loosely attached the
skin is and when he caught them, one virtually leapt out of its skin!
He told me that the poor thing looked like a peeled banana, but
recovered with no problems and regrew a new skin. It seems that like
the Seychelles Ailuronyx geckos, Phelsumas can 'jump out of their
skins' to escape predators and grow new ones.
Meanwhile, over the past 3 weeks or so, Abel (the victim) has healed up
with no problems, even one spot where it looked like muscle was exposed
over his ribs. The new patches started out pink, but are now gray-green.
Otherwise they look like normal skin except the scales are a little smaller.
He's been hiding a lot though - I don't know whether he is nervous without
another gecko to help him detect danger, or if he is afraid that Cain is
going to come back for a rematch.
So between their predator escape strategies and their S&M proclivities,
these little guys seem to be well adapted to healing some appalling
skin damage. I think catching her would just add stress, and anything
applied to the open wounds could be absorbed too readily into the system
and cause poisoning.
If I (and my friend) are out to lunch on this advice, I hope someone will
correct me.
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