Hey Luis, I noticed you said fimbriatus has to be one of your favorites of all species to keep and wondered if you'd expand on that more. Did you mean of all leaf-tails, geckos, ALL species?? I've never owned a gecko to this day but I think am very close to getting my first. I'm stuck between
Phelsumas and
Uroplatus, which, of course means I'll probably end up with both sooner than later. Of the leaf-tails I've of course been interested in
U. phantasticus but also really like
U. fimbriatus and
U. henkeli. Could you offer any advice or anecdotes that would swing me towards fimbies over the others? How often are ch or cb Uroplatus available?
Great photos, by the way. But, you already knew that.
Thanks everyone!
Kent,
I'm working on a care sheet for the Uroplatus species I'm working with. Right now we have fimbriatus, phantasticus, lineatus and now henkeli (just came home from Daytona, so I'm not ready to give advice on those yet
).
Of the other three I have to say that regarding behavior, nothing beats the phantasticus. But they come with a price. They are much more fragile than the larger groups. Care must be taken to ensure humidity stays up and temps stay down, around 75-77. I've found they don't like it as wet as some sources may suggest but much like chameleons, they drink from leaves and require a good misting to ensure they stay hydrated. In my opinion, I don't know if there's anything that can prepare you for phantasticus husbandry other than sheer intuition at first.
Fimbriatus are in a group of 3 other species, henkeli and two species of sikorae ssp. Henkeli can look nearly identical to fimbriatus while the sikorae tend to be much more textured and cryptic looking. Outside of general appearance differences, all four species behave rather similarly. Active at night with little regard to any shame. They are very animated when hunting and
never shy from giving you a show. All three fimbriatus ate from tongs from the first day and have been the most forgiving of the other two we're working with.
Now lineatus are, in my opinion, an absolutely stunning gecko. They are the most unique Uroplatus in that they are in a group unto their own, with no other species sharing similar features. Lineatus aren't difficult to keep, but they do tend to require a bit more "settling in" than the fimbriatus. For instance, while the fimbriatus took food their first night here, the lineatus took about a week to start eating anything, let alone eating in front of me. They start off very shy, often hiding if you come around, but after a month or two they've become accustomed to me staring quietly from a chair a few feet away. They aren't as animated as the fimbriatus. They hunt and walk around and such, but don't have as much character as the fimbriatus.
The majority of species require similar enclosures, adjusting cage size relative to species. Henkeli and fimbriatus are on the larger end and I house 1.2 trios in 2'x2'x4' screen cages. The same we use for our chameleons.
The phantasticus require more of a planted vivarium, very much like pygmy chameleons. Care should be taken for ground cover. Wet sphagnum moss is a definite no no. I found that out the hard way.
It would be a good idea to get into phelsuma first, so you can understand the dynamics of planted vivaria and such, then venture into phantasticus. The larger species is really hit or miss depending on your experience with herps in general.
I hope this wasn't too disjointed. It's been a long day in Daytona.
Luis
