Mediterranean gecko!

[GingerC]

The other day, I found a juvenile Mediterranean house gecko with a regrown tail. I've been wanting a gecko for quite a while, and they're invasive to my area, so I put it in a large cookie jar for lack of more suitable housing.

I figured it would be too stressed out to eat, but the day after I caught it I offered two crickets for good measure. The gecko happily munched them down! I've also left a container of small mealworms in the enclosure, which it hasn't taken an interest in, and I've been misting lightly in the evenings so it can drink off the walls.

I'm definitely going to keep it, and I've read all the caresheets I can find, but I still have some questions for people who have any experience with them. I think I know enough about geckos that I could do well enough just winging it, but really, does anyone keep these?

I need to know what would be an appropriate substrate, temperature, how much/how often to feed, lifespan, and whether they can be housed communally.

 

[schmiggle]

Pics? Pics pics pics?

 

[GingerC]

Pics? Pics pics pics?

I'll see if I can get some when I move her into her new enclosure. ^-^

 

[Matttoadman]

My wife and I collected 7 young Mediterranean geckos Hemidactylus turcicus over two years ago. We put them in an exoterra medium tall. Lots of pothos vines and branches to climb on. We keep it humid and warm. There are only two left. I would find them dying on the floor with their toes stuck in shed or missing. Even with soaking the coco fiber, misting to run off twice a day and choaked with plants it clearly wasn't humid enough. They are very shy.

 

[GingerC]

@Mattoadman

I live in the desert, and despite the dry conditions, they're thriving anyway. Are you sure it wasn't another issue, like too much humidity or overcrowding or something? I don't know much about the shedding process in lizards, but I do know that water can create greater friction between some surfaces, and I'm also pretty sure they're not supposed to die from bad sheds.

Some people help their geckos get the old shed off their toes by placing them on a wet towel for an interval and then either taking it off or let the gecko manage itself. Might be a bit hard with such a small lizard, though.

I have read about people who tame their Mediterranean geckos to the point where they can be handled, but as far as mine goes, it'd be a milestone just for it to stop fleeing whenever I reach my hand down to drop crickets. I can agree that they're mostly hands-off pets.

 

[Matttoadman]

I had read that they needed high humidity. Mine were collected in Louisiana. I think the problem was they are so dreadfully shy that by the time I found them with shed problems they had starved. Apparently a med. gecko that can't climb is dead. We tried to remove the old skin from ones toes. It died in my hand. It was very active prior. I am guessing it was a crowding issue. It might have been a bunch of males that fought each other. You never saw them.