Sherron ~ You have definitely comes along way with Li'i. Just look at the first photos you sent at the beginning of these threads.
Sounds like you may have moved her to the ten gallon tank? What is the usual temperature in her cage? If you have not already done so, get some kind of a mister to spray her cage at least once a day to make certain she stays hydrated. Geckos lap rain from leaves, et cetera. Some kind of soil substrate -- a potted plant -- coconut fiber potting medium on the floor of her cage, all would help keep the ambient humidity higher than leaves, branches, sticks alone. But all are important to make her a comfortable habitat. Stay away from sand just in case of ingestion. Most sands, no matter how fine, have silica granules -- pointy -- which could impact a gecko over time if ingested. There is one sand (Jurassic Playsand from Utah) that has quartz granules -- smooth, but I had one of my mature northern velvet geckos prolapse on that and she was about 6.5" from snout to tail tip. It was not a pretty sight (total prolapsed rectum) but after a middle-of-the-night ER visit and prophylactic care (post me for the care) for a couple months after that, she did recover and is alive today. Have you located the Rep Cal with D3. If she is getting sunlight filtered through plastic or glass and not direct sun rays she needs the calcium with D3. I particularly like the Rep Cal brand...pink label. You are doing a commendable job! Elizabeth > > > > > Aloha, Sorry for being so long in update, but we've been having lots of computer & mail problems I've been trying to solve. :( Well, we have finally gotten all the old skin off her tail. Her tail is a little bent underneath, but not black, thank goodness! I tried to hold her down while Dennis worked on her tail, but she just twisted violently back & forth until she worked herself free ... which only took seconds. Any little vestiges of skin will hopefully wear off as she moves about her aquarium. She does like to climb about quite a bit, although most of the time she seems to be searching for food. I am a little worried about her, though, as she seems to have developed problems climbing over the last 1-1/2 days. Her toes don't seem to "stick" as well as they used to. She will try climbing up a leaf or branch and she will just slide back down. Also, as you can see in the photo above, she seems to be having problems with elimination and debris seems to be accumulating around her tail. I also don't know if she is getting enough to eat, although I do see her searching for food and eating the little bugs. She even ate a fruit fly larva she ran across. But the not being able to "stick" and the elimination problems have me worried. I have never kept geckos in captivity before, so I am not real sure what to watch out for or even the best type of setup for them. Since they pretty much live all around our house, we don't have anything to control the temperature or humidity. Am I worrying over nothing or should I be concerned? Is there anything I should be doing for a hatchling, particularly a premature hatchling, to insure her healthy survival? Oh, the fruit fly place in Oregon (Ed's) also doesn't ship to Hawaii, so I am trying to see if there is some place on the Island of Oahu where I might be able to mail order them. There are at least a few more pet stores there. ;a0 I had read about the mourning geckos being parthenogenic, which I think is pretty cool. We kept honeybees in California and their females are parthenogenic, too; although they do have fertilized males, the drones. I would love to have a big gecko!! I always loved the photos of the marine iguanas -- now that would be a hefty handful! ;D Mahalo, Sherron <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> wrote: > Aloha, Sherron, Dennis, & Li'i ~ > > In my experience Day Geckos (if one can group them all) seem more > susceptible to stress than my other geckos. > > The gaping signals that Li'i is not having fun, now that she has energy to > tell you so. In this case I don't think it's a breathing thing. It's a > threat display...so you'd better get away (if you were not trying to > help)...ha, > ha, ha. > > What about a smooth padded surface to place Li'i on, maybe like a potholder > against a table? Press her against the surface gently while Dennis works on > her tail. Never had to work on a gecko as small as Li'i for extended stuff > like her tail. > > Do you know that Lepidodactylus lugubris are parthenogenetic? They don't > need males to reproduce. The babies are basically clones of the moms. I > have > seen them arch their backs like cats and have a go at each other kinda > sideways. Although I hold mine from time to time, and occasionally assist > with an > initial shed just gently, there's not much to hold. I really have not > purposely kept them on the loose. However, with a large captive population > (they > are like the Energizer Bunny...they keep going and going and going) > occasionally some get loose. A couple weeks ago I was running the water for > my bath > and all of a sudden one Ll appeared on the top of the faucet. The bad news > times are when I see one of the moms upsidedown on the screen lid with a > hatchling in her mouth. Now that's a one way street if I don't catch the > situation > in time. > > My favorite geckos for holding (and I do like to hold my geckos) are Oedura > castelnaui (northern velvet geckos) indigeous to Australia and my tailless > Rhacodactylus ciliatus (crested gecko) from Melody. The Ocs are nearly 7" > long > from snout to tail tip at maturity. And George (the crested) weighs about > 50 grams without his tail...a good handful. I wish you could keep these > geckos in Hawaii. I think you might really like them. > > I'm sorry that Sunshine Mealworms could not take you on right now. You > should be at the top of their list. Have you ever bred mealworms? I think > it is > not that hard. Hopefully Tracy has started a new thread about that. > > Mahalo, > Elizabeth ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gecko aka Sherron, Kailua Kona, Hawaii (on the Big Island of Hawaii) Homepage: <A HREF="http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron";>http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron</A> - <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> See our rats: <A HREF="http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html";>http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html</A> <BR><BR>**************<BR>Vote for your city's best dining and nightlife. 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