Aloha, Elizabeth
Mahalo! I did finally manage to get them into a simple html file, so you
can view them a little more easily at
http://hale-pohaku.net/gecko_preemie.html. There are lots of photos, so
I didn't take the time to do thumbnails/enlargements, but if there are
any you want to see enlargements of I can add them. I do think she has
damage to some of her fingers & toes. :(
I usually name the day geckos based on their red patterns so that I can
remember them more easily. Or sometimes we name them based on where they
like to hang out -- so one of our old timers is named Boxy, since that
is where he first showed up -- hanging around one of our packing boxes
when we moved to Hawaii. Based on that, I should rename him "Microwave",
as that has become his current domain: he is the king of our kitchen and
the microwave is his throne! Boxy has a long story and I have tons of
photos of him. He is my "baby" and is a real sweetie. ;)
We are kind of waiting for a name to "come to us" on this little girl. I
kind of liked the name Mai, which is banana in Hawaiian (pronounced my
or mah-eye), as that is the first thing I actually saw her eat ... but
Dennis, my husband, didn't like that one. My photos label her Preemie,
but we don't actually call her that, of course, just sweetie or baby or
darling or honey or all those kinds of things. ;)
I think you are right on the tail skin for sure. I am worried that it is
shrinking and getting tight on her tail. And I don't think she is able
to reach the edge of it to work on it herself. I put a branch in her
cage as I thought she might actually like to climb on it, but she
avoided it in preference to climbing on the foliage instead. I haven't
tried rock, but I will look around for some flat pieces of rock that
might work, too. We have _lots_ of lava rock on our lot. We also have a
10-gallon glass aquarium with a screen lid if we need more room for her.
And I just bought one of those 12x18" Exo-Terra Explorarium screen
terrariums off eBay, although it would be easy to "lose" her inside it,
as it is darker than I expected.
I really got a scare yesterday!! I didn't have the flip-top lid on her
cage latched down yesterday as I was clipping wings on fruit flies and
putting them in her cage, so was just leaving it closed, but not
latched. I went to check on her and one of our little mourning geckos
was inside her cage, probably attracted by either the papaya or the
fruit flies as she had apparently not seen our little girl who was under
a leaf!! I nearly died!! I opened the lid and shooed the mourning gecko
out, and now I am always careful to be sure the lid is latched as well
as closed!! I always feed this particular little mourning gecko, but I
never expected her to crawl _inside_ a cage!!
Which reminds me, I meant to ask you about your three mourning geckos
you captured on Kauai ... Do you still live in Hawaii or did you move to
the mainland and take them with you? Are they still living? About how
long do they live in captivity? Do all of them get along with each
other? Do they ever fight? Did they interact with you a lot? Right now
I have three of them living in my kitchen in the window sill and my
orchid pot (they go back and forth). There is always papaya & water out
for them, plus I give them mealworms in the orchid pot. And right now
they have added fruit flies to their diet. I worry about them getting
enough bugs in the window, but I guess they must or they wouldn't have
moved in. I discovered them when I kept hearing this funny little
"tsk"ing noise and found a little one in the gutter of the lanai window
next to my laptop. She was the first one I started feeding mealworms to,
but I think she told everyone else, as we now have lots of them.
Sherron
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Aloha, Sherron ~
I thoroughly enjoyed your e-mails and photos this afternoon!!! I'll
check them out thoroughly at work after Field Day (if it doesn't rain)
or at the library. (GGA is a great resource!!) You both have come
along way with your little Gold Dust gecko. She looks *so much
better* than before. Has she a name?
I agree with Melody that she will probably need further human
assistance shedding that toe skin and her tail skin. After a short
break, I'd advise you to place her in the humidity chamber again
perhaps with something rougher than a paper towel to work on her tail
and toe. Do you keep anything a bit rough in her regular cage like a
twig, a small rough branch, or rock? From your photo those areas seem
to have retained more than a single shed and may be difficult for her
to remove on her own. Melody suggests peeling the tail skin down from
the vent towards the tip if I'm reading her correctly ;-} But I
realize the skin needs loosening first.
Keep us posted,
Elizabeth
In a message dated 6/5/08 5:15:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
As to the last bits of shedding, she might lose the extra skin on the
next shed. I've only gotten the tail skin off by peeling front to back,
like turning a cone inside out.
*Elizabeth**
~~~geckos make my heart sing (and dance)~~~
*
l l l
^^ /..\ ^^ /..\ ^^ ^^ /..\ ^^
l l ^^ llll \\\
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l l llll \\\
l l ~~ llll ///
~~ ( ~~ ) ~~ ~~ ( ~~
) ( )
( ) (
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lappert(a) robert(a) hubert(a)
17.50 yo r.i.p.
r.i.p.
(All */Lepidodactylus lugubris/*!)
**************
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--
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Gecko aka Sherron, Kailua Kona, Hawaii (on the Big Island of Hawaii)
Homepage: http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
See our rats: http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html
