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 #2231071


Baja
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Any tips on how to take care of a panther gecko
07/30/11  03:56pm

 #2232117


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: Baja   In reference to Message Id: 2231071


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Sorry for taking so long. Did you do any research before getting it or is getting it still in limbo?


Panther geckos (better known as Pictus geckos), are small terrestrial geckos that live in the leaf litter of Madagascar. They are nocturnal, eat small insects, and are one of a rare amount of geckos that can be kept in a mutually small tank. Though for now I recommend getting a 10 gallon.

Like with almost all terrestrial geckos in the reptile business, it’s safer to keep it on solid substrate such as papertowel, repticarpet, slate, tile, or non-adhesive shelf liner. However I believe it can also be kept on *Bed a Beast if you so prefer. (*if possible, someone cite that.)

A tip with substrate is to avoid calci-sand, vita-sand, any other calcium-based substrates, and lizard litter (as it acts like shards of glass when ingested). Calcium sands are known for encouraging the lizard to eat it, then gumming up the system and killing it rather tragically.

Temps should be 85 to 90 on the warm side during the day, with a 10 degree drop at night. You can use light or UTH. Avoid heat rocks, as they pose a danger, and do not use human heat pads on lizard tanks due to fire hazard.

They eat primarily crickets, and can also be fed mealworms, silkworms, and waxworms as a treat. I would stay away from superworms and other larger insects.

Have hiding places. Since it naturally lives in leaf litter, it wouldn’t hurt to in-debt an area to your tank for dried leaves, crumbled paper, or fake leafage from the hobby store for it to hide around.



If you need to look up care sheets, then look for it under ’Pictus Gecko’, ’Madagascar Ground Gecko’, or ’Paroedura pictus’, then tack ’care sheet’ after it on google. Look up multiple care sheets, as some can be pretty bad.
08/07/11  07:58pm

 #2238157


Baja
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 2232117


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I know this is a late response because I am still deciding if I’m going to get one. I have one question, can you keep it in a 5 gallon enclosure for about four to five months while it’s growing up?
09/25/11  05:36pm

 #2238181


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: Baja   In reference to Message Id: 2238157


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Normally I’d say no, but I believe you theoretically could with a young pictus. However, it’ll be near impossible to get a decent temp gradient in a 5 gallon tank. Young lizards need good temps to heat up and cool off as they’re in that time of life where they grow the most; temps effect metabolism, young lizards have a generally faster metabolism than adults and they tend to eat more on average while growing up. Too low of a hot area and the lizard wont be able to metabolize food very well. Not a cool enough cool area and the lizard wont be able to cool down (resulting in dehydration and, if the hot side is also too hot, over-heating).
09/25/11  07:59pm

 #2238182


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 2238181


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Fixing a weird typo in there:

Sentence that needs to be fixed: Not a cool enough cool area and the lizard wont be able to cool down

Sentence in fixed form: Too hot of a cool area and the lizard wont be able to cool down.

There, that makes more sense.
09/25/11  08:01pm

 #2238184


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 2238182


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... It just occurred to me that the original sentence was fine. Ignore last post and this one. @#$% weird night.
09/25/11  08:02pm


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