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Housing
You can house your animals in a beautiful planted vivarium
or make a basic setting with potted plants. A plant that I
always use is a snake plant (Sansevieria, Bromeliads,
Dracena and other tropical plants). Day geckos often
chose to lay there eggs in between the leaves of these plants.
Both setups have their advantages, the naturalistic will make
the gecko feel "at home", bringing out the true
natural behaviour of this species. Whereas the basic setup
can help the gecko in finding its food more easier and quicker
and also aids the keeper as it is much easier to clean out.
It is best to house a single pair of Phelsuma per enclosure.
You can keep groups of one male with several females per enclosure,
but this last combination is only possible with a few species.
Some species that can be kept in groups are; borbonica,
cepediana, guimbeaui, klemmeri
and ornata. It is possible, if the enclosure is large
enough, to keep most of the smaller species together with
Poison Frogs.
Most day geckos require a vertically oriented enclosure with
many tall plants and branches of bamboo to climb on. A nice
size enclosure for the small species of around 12x12x24in
(LxWxH) is fine, and for the larger species 16x16x32in.
It is also important to provide proper ventilation in the
enclosure while keeping humidity levels of 50-85%. Humidity
can be increased by misting warm water. It is best to do this
daily. The Day geckos will lap up the droplets, but its also
a good idea to put a small water dish in the enclosure, perhaps
even elevate it. |
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A
naturalistic looking setup consisting of many
live plants and real wood decor. |
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A
basic setup for Phelsuma species, furnished
with a potted live plant, substrate and several
bamboo and wooden branches for climbing |
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The temperature during the day should be between 26 and 32
C° and drop at night to around 18 - 22 C°. You should
use a thermometer to monitor the different temperature levels
in the enclosure, it’s best to measure the temperature
in different places. There are digital thermometers that record
the highest and lowest temperature by means of a probe, I
highly recommend these. Temperatures that are to high or low
can lead to stressing your geckos and even fatalities
Day geckos need a proper light in their enclosures. You can
use a fluorescent tube in combination with a basking spot.
It is best to use full-spectrum lights. These are also known
as UV (Ultra Violet) lights. These replicate the natural sunlight,
which also provides Vitamin D3. This is used by geckos to
synthesize calcium
I put the lights directly on top of the enclosures. |
Because of the
high temperatures in my Phelsuma Room I cannot give each enclosure
a basking spot. You can leave the lights on for 12-14 hours
a day. It is best you leave the lights on for a shorter period
during the winter. These periods can be controlled with a
"plug in" timer.
For substrate you can use soil, gravel or orchid bark. |
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