Creature Feature: Chinese Cave Geckos.

Reptile keeping is an addiction. Once you have kept one snake/lizard/turtle, the next move is usually to find another one. Things with scales are deceptively easy to keep, requiring food only once every few days and looking stunning on top of that.

So, a while back, I found an awesome gecko seller at my usual reptile place. This was the same guy who had microgeckos, which I did an entry on a while back. While flipping through the snaps I had taken on my phone, I decided it was time for another gecko. Geckos are just that awesome.



Meet the leopard gecko's evil cousin, the Chinese cave gecko (Goniurosaurus luii). The first specimens came from Hainan, China, in 1996. The locality given is northern Vietnam - close enough. They eat insects, just like leo geckos. As adults, they get up to 9 inches in length - buy your tanks accordingly.

First of all, these things look wicked. Aesthetics are, honestly, the main reason a beginning herper would want to get into them.  The stripes. Those evil red eyes. The dark skin. There is no way to think of anyone who owns this lizard as anything but a badass. Anyone can handle a leopard gecko, but see someone with a cave gecko and you know that person is more hardcore than someone with a leo from Petco.




Chinese cave geckos are the next step up from the leos everybody knows and loves. They require humidity of 60-80% (which leos do not, being desert lizards). Also, they love to climb, meaning that one will have to buy and clean lots of decor. Oh, and no, they do not like being handled. They are the polar opposite of the leopard gecko despite looking a lot alike and being related.

Chinese cave geckos are by no means common in the reptile trade, but you will not have to go all the way to China to get one. Look online for a reliable breeder and care sheets. These are fairly fragile lizards. Despite looking like punky leo geckos, they are really timid animals!

Creature Feature: Crested Gecko.

Has anyone else ever noticed the strange double standard going on between lizards and snakes? Bring a snake into a room, and people will run away screaming. Bring a lizard into the room, and people might actually pet it. Sure, there are some people who hate both, but lizards are generally more accepted than snakes...even though chameleons are the embodiments of Satan in Madagascar and there is a gecko called "satanic."



This is not that gecko. It is, however, one of the cutest lizards in existence.

The New Caledonian Crested Gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus) is native to, umm, New Caledonia, a group of French-speaking islands off the coast of Australia. They are small lizards that get only slightly bigger than a human hand when fully grown. As per their name, they have a crest that runs across their large eyes and down their backs. They are nocturnal; some owners have even noticed their pets getting brighter colors at night. Unlike most geckos, which are carnivores, cresties are omnivorous - a trait that pet keepers have been keen to take advantage of.

From thegeckospot.net.

Like several other sorts of geckos, cresties have special pads on their toes and tails that let them 'stick' to almost any surface. These areas are covered with smalls hairs called setae. Through van der Waals bonds, the same type of bonding that binds chlorine molecules together, the gecko can scale any surface. Just in case, it also has small claws to help it grab on to any gaps. This is not quite unique to the crestie, but still fascinating.

What is truly weird about these geckos is that, until 1994, they were thought extinct. Then, suddenly, several of them were found after a tropical storm. We guess that whatever power that is has a weakness for cute lizards. Of all things, the biggest threat to these geckos is an introduced species of ant. (That bugger is really worth an entry in itself.) How's that for a braintwist?



Despite being on the endangered species list, cresties have quite a presence in the exotic pet trade. Enough of them got out before the banhammer came down on their exportation. They now come in a variety of colors, have specialized diets, and are so common that even big box pet stores like Petco sometimes carry them. They are, however, pricey compared to leopard geckos and bearded dragons, especially when one gets into high-end morphs. Said morphs may not even show up until the gecko has matured. The price more than compensates for the amiable nature of these lizards, which is just...D'AWWWW!

Creature Feature: Tokay Gecko.

Geckos are already pretty darn weird. They are the only lizards that make any sort of noise besides hissing. They can walk on walls thanks to special pads on their feet. They have eyes that stare into your soul as they tell you how to save money on car insurance. (In that case, it's usually in a good way.)

The only way to make them weirder? Give them chicken pox:


No PhotoShopping required.

The Tokay gecko's scientific name is Gekko gecko. That's right, this colorful little fellow is what gave all geckos their scientific and common names; it has all their superpowers and then some. Strangely, this one's probably the last lizard people picture when they hear the word 'gecko,' even though it looks pretty trippy for a lizard. Yes, that is their natural coloration; several morphs have nonetheless been developed in captivity.

Tokay geckos are native to many parts of Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. The lore around them varies depending on whom you ask, but some places realize that these geckos eat far more dangerous invertebrates such as centipedes and scorpions. More recently, they have also taken up residence in Texas, Hawaii, Belize and Florida as an invasive species. (Given all the reptile issues that Florida has, I STILL wonder why they host a GIANT REPTILE SHOW there every year. No offense, I LOVE reptiles, but the whole python ban thing was basically Florida's problem.)

Geckos got their name from the sounds that the Tokay gecko makes. As I said earlier, geckos are the only sort of lizard that make any noise besides hissing; geckos make clicky little sounds like this:



They are also vicious little biters. Once they bite down on, say, your hand, they do not let go for up to an hour. Tokays have been dubbed the "pitbulls" of the reptile world for their nasty, nasty bites. Holding the gecko in cold water and putting a bit of vinegar on the gecko's nose are both valid methods of getting these nippy critters off.



Yeah, I wouldn't ask these guys for car insurance if I were you.

Creature Feature: Satanic Leaf-Tail Gecko.

You didn't think that this whole week was going to be filled with cute fuzzy things, did you? Madagascar also has quite a few awesome Pokemo- I mean reptiles.



The model for Treecko was an actual creature called a leaf-tailed gecko. Three leaf-tailed gecko species are native to Madagascar; the fourth leaf-tailed species is native to Australia. You know, that other weird island.

All leaf-tailed geckos have flattened tails, leading to the generic name Uroplatus - literally, 'flat tail.' This leaf tail can be shorter or longer depending on the species. Some individuals even have notches in their tails that make them further resemble dead leaves.

Only one of the species endemic to Madagascar is called "satanic."



The Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko (Uroplatus phantasticus) is also known as the 'fantastic' or 'mythical' leaf-tailed gecko. Science acknowledges that these creatures are amazing right there in the name, and rightfully so: These geckos blend in so well that it is almost impossible to tell them apart from dead leaves. They are MASTERS of camouflage.


I will get one and name him Waldo.

So, why are they called "Satanic?" Probably the eyes.


Seriously, show one off around a Jehovah's Witness.

This does not, of course, keep people from keeping them. Would you let a silly thing like laws stop you from keeping one of the few lizards that comes in purple?

(On a completely unrelated note, expect this lizard to show up in a Lady Gaga video. THEN, expect the Illuminati buffs to pick on the gecko for being Satan.)