Exotic Animals part I

Hello all again ;)!
This time, I would like to present you my new hobby. Though the plans and dreams were already there for a long time, just about a year ago I decided to take care of it. Well, maybe not completely decided, because the decision was made for me but it doesn’t matter. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you leopard gecko;)

About Gecko
Eublepharis macularius is the Latin name of this species of lizards and it means ‘Spotted with real eyelids’. The term ‘spotted’ comes from the coloring of geckos which live in the wild.

This picture presents leopard gecko in the wild.

The last part of the original Latin name tells us that this lizard sleeps with closed eyes and it’s unique.

This picture presents sleeping leopard gecko.

Eublepharis gecko inhabits deserts and semi-arid mountainous areas of minor and central Asia.
Many times I have heard that ‘geckos are slippery’, sometimes it looks like they are, but in reality their body is covered with tiny scales which aren’t slippery. We can distinguish lots of color varieties, but many young leopards look almost the same. With age their coloration changes. This happens when the geckos grow while their skin doesn’t grow with them. Then they need to shed the old one. Under the old skin is already a new one, more colorful and intense, with slightly new patterns. During molting, gecko rubs on rough surfaces. Geckos eat their old skin after dumping to obtain proteins and vitamins that are needed for their growth. Some believe that they do it in order to remove the traces of their presence.

These movies show leopard gecko during the skin change known as molting.

Leopard geckos are typically small lizards. Hatchlings tend to measure from 6.5 to 8.4 cm in length and weighing about 3 grams while the adult geckos are about 20 to 27.5 cm in length and weigh from around 45 to 65 grams. The biggest one has more then 35 cm and weighs over 250gram (which is more than three times more than normal one). Before buying leopard gecko you should know that theses lizards live up to 20-25 years ;). Quite a lot :D.

This picture presents ‘Super Gian’ leopard.

Many of my friends ask me about geckos and they want to know if geckos are dangerous? I tell them that these lizards aren’t dangerous, they are calm.
Leopard Geckos are animals that have quite temperament but they aren’t dangerous. They can be nervous and aggressive only when disturbed. In these situations they usually escape or change they posture. Leopards look very funny when taking postures ;), whole its body is raised and in its eyes we can see irritation.

This movies present afraid leopard who tries to escape.

This picture presents funny posture of scared gecko.

Sometimes geckos open their snout and make strange noises. (As You can see in the picture on the top of presenation)

This movies present screaming leopard gecko

As I pointed earlier leopard geckos are calm and I’m sure that they can not do anything bad to people. But we can do something bad to them. When geckos are in danger - they can drop their tail.

This picture present leopard gecko without a tail

Picture of gecko tail after dropping

Tail dropping is a normal defense mechanism that helps the reptile escape.
When the lizard, drops its tail, the tail continues to wriggle and flop around (as seen in the videos below) to distract the predator, giving the gecko enough time to find safety place.



On this video we can see leopard gecko who just dropped its tail.

There is no need to worry when gecko lose its tail. After a week tail will grow back and after about forty days leopard tail regenerates completely.

Leopard gecko tail after 7 day’s

Leopard gecko tail after 31 day’s

Geckos are herd animals and they don’t like to live alone, therefore in breeding and in the wild they live in a harem, consisting of one male and several females. Keeping a male with one female may lead to death of a female and keeping male with male it’s not a good idea because then only the strongest will survive. These animals have strong territorial instinct which can be easily observed. Leopard geckos are ectothermic. They absorb warmth and energy from the sunlight during the day which accelerates the process of digestion. At night when it gets colder they are more active and then they hunt.
The incubation of young leopard is really interesting phenomenon. After about 4-5 weeks from copulation the female lays first two eggs. Only one copulation gives females possibility to lay from eight to twelve eggs. In captivity we need to move the eggs into a special incubator where will be in constant temperature. It should be done because if we leave eggs in the terrarium the chances of hatching are zero. We must be cautious with eggs because even a small twist can make the embryo die. After about two weeks we can shine a flashlight on the eggs to check if they are fertilized. If we can see the embryo we know that everything is ok.

This pictures show embryo of gecko

I just found a great movie. You must see it!!

Leopard gecko embryo moving.

Time of the egg incubation depends on the temperature at which they are held. It’s between 35-40 days (in 32,5 C degrees ) and 60-70 days (in 26-27C degrees). As you can see low temperature makes that incubation longer while high temperature makes that incubation faster. The process of gecko baby getting out takes up to 2 hours. As you can see in the videos below, this is amazing, isn’t it?



This films presents leopard gecko hatching.

In the following sections I would like to present something more about their uniqueness;)


Questions:
1.) Have you ever heard about geckos?
2.) What do You thing about lizards?
3.) Do you also think that lizards are slimy? If yes, why?
4.) What do You thing about movie with gecko embryo and hatching?
5.) Please, tell me did I make you interested in geckos enough? Maybe you would like to have one?
6.) What do You thing about keeping lizards at home?