Flying Gecko Care Sheet (Ptychozoon kuhli) Compliments of KeysReptiles.com Description: Flying geckos have long, serrated tails ending up in a dermal, oval-shaped fold. They also have skin folds along their flanks and limbs which help them to “glide” in the air while jumping from one branch to another. The eye has a brown iris and a vertical pupil, and is crossed by a dark stripe. The head is triangular and well set from the rest of the body, the feet are all webbed. Some individuals have a light-colored stripe on their backs, the overall color ranges from dark brown to light grey with a wavy pattern on the back. This species is a particularly cryptic one, being able to press against tree trunks, casting no shadow thanks to their large dermal folds and imitating bark with lichen-like growths. The underside can be creamy white, grey, dull brick red, or light brown but is always lighter-colored than the back. These are very fast and agile critters, always on the alert, and are escape artists, a point to consider during cleaning tasks and planning for the vivarium settings. Their bodies are very flat. The tail does not seem to break off easily and regenerated tails are quite rare even in wild-caught specimens. These geckos have strong claws and pads with setae enabling them to climb on the smoothest surfaces, just like flying squirrels do. Geographical range: Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thaïland, Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Java, Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak with all the neighboring islands. Climate and biotope: Flying geckos inhabit damp, dark and warm primary forests in their native range. These areas are subject to monsoon and very heavy rainfall, and humidity never drops very low. Temperatures under these latitudes can easily reach 90-95°F. They can also be found in plantations and are seldom seen in mountains above 3,000 feet. Human settlements attract them, especially where there are bright light sources at night which make all sort of bugs and insects gather. Temperatures never fall under 70°F throughout the year. There are three seasons: rainy season from May to October with high temps and continual and heavy rainfall, NE winds make the air drier and cooler from October to February, then for 2-3 months the rains start again with less intensity but temperatures increase. These geckos can be found above ground level on trunks but they can also reach the canopy, several tens of feet above the forest floor. Natural History: They spend the day under bark crevices or on tree trunks and actively forage for prey at night. They are not strictly nocturnal, from time to time I see my animals moving and even hunting for prey during daytime, but they are mostly active in the evening. They are strictly arboreal. This is a very active species, able to communicate through soft, creaking sounds, croaks, growls and very territorial. Even females can sometimes be aggressive with one another. For this reason they are best kept in pairs or, at most, trios. Handling: These geckos do not like at all being handled. First, they can easily escape your hands, second, they are able to bite you-it is not painful for the keeper but shows unnecessary stress that should be avoided. They are perfect display geckos, but not pets to be regularly handled. If ever one of your flying geckos escapes, slowly approach it, and try to entrap it under the palm of your hand, that usually works well. Heating and lighting: UVBs are not an absolute necessity. Lighting and heating aggregates work 12 hours a day all year long. The basking spot can be unusually warm for a gecko species: the basking area can safely reach 95°F (35°C) while the cool end will be in the low to mid 80's°F (26-30°C) during the day. Night temps should drop to 70-75°F (20-24°C) all year long. These critters like warm if not hot and wet atmospheres, and tend to shun away very bright light sources. Humidity: a daily, heavy spraying of the vivarium will be enough to ensure the correct moisture level for this species. Spraying should be reduced in the winter months to simulate the dry season. At night, a 80-95% moisture level is needed at all times if you do not want your animals to dehydrate or to have shedding troubles. Humidity can safely reach 60% at the driest point of the day, as it corresponds to the rainforest conditions. Feeding: ¾ inch (2cm) crickets dusted with a proper supplement once every other feeding will make a perfect diet. Flying geckos seem to prefer fast- moving prey items rather than worms or caterpillars, and my own geckos readily accept prey from tweezers. 2-6 crickets per adult animal every 3 days is a good feeding scheme. Juveniles shall be fed smaller crickets daily. Do not use vitamins with juveniles under 3 months of age. That would harm or even kill them. As an alternative, silkworms are sometimes accepted, small roaches are very much appreciated y the geckos, but they seem to ignore static prey such as baby locusts or wax worms, unless they are very hungry. Breeding: It occurs through spring and summer, and a drier and cooler period stimulates breeding, mating starts when temperatures and sprayings are increased. Males tend to be quite harsh when approaching females and you must carefully monitor your females which may get injured at that moment. After a month or so, it is easy to see when a female is about to lay eggs: They lay 2 white, hard-shelled eggs usually glued to a piece of bark or something similar onto the vivarium, sometimes in leaf axils of potted plants. These eggs should be removed with great care as they are extremely thin- shelled and fragile. Do not try to separate the eggs from one another; you would break them for sure. Incubation can be made in plastic boxes like the Kritter Keepers we have for sale, and placed inside the vivarium. The parents will eat the unprotected young as soon as they hatch if you do not protect the eggs in such a container. The box is filled with moist coconut substrate (Eco- Earth) and perlite , or ReptiBark and vermiculite, and eggs are left to incubate on the piece of wood they were stuck to. It takes about 75-85 days to get the first births at daily temps of 90°F and night temps as mentioned above. Rearing the young poses no particular problem as soon as you have a regular supply of very small live prey (wingless fruitflies, pinhead crickets). Email us ahead of time, and we will try to get these feeder insects for you and will email you back with prices and specifics. *Remember, if your gecko lays eggs and you are not ready to rear the young or cannot provide the proper care, contact us here at KeysReptiles and we will take the eggs/young from you, and perhaps give you a credit at our store! Recommended Enclosures: We recommend either the ReptiBreeze Enclosure on our Open-Air Enclosure Page, or the Reptarium by Apogee located on the same page in our online store. For more information or recommendations, don't hesitate to contact us by email - we can usually get back to you within a couple days. |
KeysReptiles.com
| You will find that each flying gecko has its own personality. When you have a female and male, you can enjoy their mating behavior. |
| Here are the flaps that run from chin to tail on the flying gecko, just like flying squirrels! |
| Flying Gecko Care Sheet |
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| These geckos don't enjoy being handled. It should be avoided unless necessary. Their bite will hurt a bit, buy won't be serious. |
| These geckos are very thin, delicate, and flat to whatever surface they are attached to. |
Try to give your flying geckos some plants to hide in and around. This will reduce their stress. Our artificial plants won't mold or harbor bacteria! |
| Notice the two adhesive eggs stuck to the fabric of our Reptarium enclusure in the top, right corner! |
| Flying geckos have a beautiful and variant camoflauge to disguise themselves on trees and mosses. |
| Our affordable ReptiBreeze cage is perfect for Flying Geckos. They can even climb upside down on this one! |
| We use these bird nests in the corners of our ReptiBreezes with moist coconut bedding inside for safe egg laying! |
