Caring for a baby gecko?

[BocaJan]

From time to time we get geckos visiting us in the house and have had one with 1/2 a tail for awhile. Well, this morning when I moved the cricket bin there was a very very small one on the floor, not moving. I thought it was dead and when I went to remove it with a piece of paper towel it skittered. I put a cup over it and put it into a plastic shoe box with some plastic leaves. I shook a few fruit flies into the box and put a nylon stocking over the box to prevent the fruit flies from finding another place to roam.

My question: How do you keep a gecko other then letting it run around the house and what kind of habitat/lighting/food should it be given? I have looked around for the eggs because as we know there are always more then one and I can't locate them. So, I may be welcoming more.

Anyone???

Oh yeah, I live in Florida and these guys are all over the place which is why we get them into the house.

 

[jojackson]

Just wondering, why keep it? If its not injured, and they are common there, you can enjoy them anytime without the inconvenience of husbandry and the associated costs of feeding etc. The best place for a wild gecko is outside where it came from.

If its for the sake of personal intrest, to experience geckos as a pet, as a prelude to keeping geckos, then by all means, but be aware that you cant know its state of health, and if its a tiny species, feeding will be a bit of a pain.

That said, it being local means it should thrive without constant heating.
A small glass or timbre enclosure will do, if you want to provide heat, heating from above (if its a wall climber, indicating its arborial) or from below if not, via a heat mat or similar under one corner.

Provide no substrate except paper towel, for ease of cleaning and to minimise impaction risk (I keep baby gex without substrate until they are about half grown, after which, whatever appeals to you, keeping in mind insects types your offering and how well they hide). Flat dark hides suit them well. You should provide min of 2, one over the heat, one on the cool, so it can satisfy its need to hide and still thermoregulate.

They tend not to bother with still water sources like bowls, especially WC, but you should always provide a flatish bowl of water. Gex drink from dew and rain, so misting the enclosure sides every other morning or/and night, provides opportunity to hydrate.
A small, prefrably darkened tub or container with a low cut entrance, filled with moist moss, provides a humid microclimate for the gecko to utilise before and during sheds and to lay eggs when gravid. Otherwise the enclosure is kept dry and well ventilated.

Many keepers, myself included, provide a flat bowl or lid with calcium/vitamins powder (with or without D3) which geckos tend to lick. This is in addition to occasional dusting of insects. Whilst geckos do get mbd, in nocturnal species this is very uncommon.

Other than basic furniture, plants, branches etc thats about it, unless you free roam small insects. If you do free roam, provide a hide/feeder for the insects, this can be as simple as a tiolet roll core. Inside, provide a peice of fresh carrot and perhaps some daily greens. This keeps insects pretty much localised (mostly) and makes them an easy target for hunting gex !

You could try bowl feeding but my personal exp is that they really like to hunt. Try a variety of foods from very small crickets, very small roaches (may be better in a bowl)
but watch carefully for scats indicating its eating. Tiny geckos can starve very quickly.
They spend almost all walking hours stalking enough small insects to sustain their growth.
You could try tiny worms also, though these need to be contained somehow, whilst still allowing the tiny gecko easy passage into and out of the bowl.
People have claimed successes offering pureed fruit baby foods aswell, though I have not tried this myself.

A health geckos eyes should be shiny and slightly protruding, skin should smooth on the body and the tail should be plump without wrinkling. A sure sign of starvation is concavities noticible on the sides of the head.

Have Fun!

P.S. The need of UV lighting is debatable, but its logical to assume that diurnal species would get some amount of uv exposure, so it certainly cant hurt. I think lighting the tank of a truely nocturnal species is not nessesary and a waste of time since they only emerge in darkness. Bare in mind some species considered nocturnal are actually also crepuscular, in which case they would get get some exposure also.

If in doubt, try to have the species properly identified and research its behaviours.