How to Raise Geckos? Technical Methods for Raising Geckos at Home
AbstractBuilding the enclosure: The gecko house should be built in a dry, well-ventilated, shady and quiet place. The rearing room and the activity area are connected, and the surroundings and top are enclosed with wire mesh. Feeding: Crickets, yellow mealworms, fly maggots and ground beetles are placed in dishes on the ground for the geckos to eat. Drinking water: Just place a small water dish in the rearing box, and the geckos will go and drink on their own. Breeding: Geckos generally mate and lay eggs for the first time in early May. Management: Pay attention to disease prevention, heat protection and cold resistance at ordinary times.
It is said that many people used to keep geckos at home. Anyway, I never have. So do you know how geckos should be raised? And how should geckos be raised at home? They are not like cats or dogs, which can be shut in a cage; they look like they are suited to crawling around freely. Now let us introduce the breeding techniques for geckos.
How to Raise Geckos
1. A new home for a small gecko: This is decided according to the size of the gecko. I directly use a plastic lunch box. The rearing box should be kept as dry as possible. You can lay soil on the bottom layer and put in some rough stones. Do not put in too many stones; it is enough if they can serve as hiding places for the gecko. In addition, it is best to place a few small stones separately, and they must be rough, because geckos need something rough to rub against when shedding their skin, and rough stones can help the gecko shed its skin.
2. The source of life, water: You can find a mineral water bottle or a drink bottle cap. There is no need to pour in too much; just put a little boiled water in the cap and place it on the bottom layer, and the gecko will go and drink when it is thirsty. The way geckos drink water is very cute, with their little tongues sticking out very long. The ones I took myself are not clear, so I will borrow pictures from the internet to show you.
3. Food is the first necessity: It generally does not matter if a gecko does not eat for 3-4 days. For adult geckos, it is recommended to feed things like crickets and cockroaches, and generally 7-8 of them will be enough to fill it up; for juvenile geckos, however, try not to feed crickets and cockroaches. The food given to juvenile geckos generally should not be bigger than the gecko's head; flies, mosquitoes, small spiders and the like are fine, and moths are also okay, but they must be small. I strongly recommend one feed for juvenile geckos, and that is moth flies! (See the picture below.) This thing is generally found in every home. I use a small plastic bottle to trap moth flies, mosquitoes and other insects, then shake them dizzy in the bottle and toss them in front of the gecko, and the gecko will swallow them. My small plastic bottle is the kind that used to hold cotton swabs. Of course, you do not necessarily have to use this kind of plastic bottle; other small plastic bottles are also fine. When feeding flying insects like flies, mosquitoes and moth flies, you must shake them dizzy in the bottle and throw them in front of the gecko, otherwise it will be very tiring for the gecko to catch them. Spoil it a little.
4. If the gecko you caught keeps refusing to eat and it is almost a week, please release it back where you caught it, because geckos really do sometimes refuse to start eating. The gecko I caught this year (see the picture below) had to be released in the end because it refused to eat. If you come across one that refuses to start eating, just let it go. Juvenile geckos start eating more easily than adult geckos, so I relatively recommend that everyone raise juvenile geckos.
Techniques for Raising Geckos at Home
1. Building the enclosure
The gecko house should be built in a dry, well-ventilated, shady and quiet place. The area depends on the scale of rearing. Generally it is 4 m long, 2.5 m wide and 2.2 m high, and each room can hold 400 geckos. Above the rearing room, a gecko activity area should be built, 1.2 m high, with the surroundings and top enclosed with wire mesh. The rearing room and the activity area are connected to make it easy for the geckos to go in and out. A 20-watt black light lamp is installed on top of the activity area to attract insects when turned on, and a funnel for catching insects is installed below. The insects fall through the funnel into the activity area for the geckos to eat. Clean water is placed in the room for the geckos to drink. A small water pool is provided for the geckos to bathe in. The four walls of the room are covered with a layer of straw paper, and several pieces of burlap are hung up, to make it easy for the geckos to lay eggs and hide.
2. Feeding
Gecko feed has these sources: trapped insects, artificial feed and artificial compound feed. In ordinary rearing, yellow mealworms, fly maggots and ground beetles are raised, and these nutrient-rich insects are placed in feeding dishes on the ground for the geckos to eat. When live food is in short supply, the geckos should be trained to eat artificial feed. Cook corn, rice, pumpkin, winter melon and so on, make them into a paste, and put them into feeding dishes. During the baiting period, do not feed insects and do not give drinking water, and when the geckos are hungry they will eat a large amount. The best time to feed is in the evening.
3. Breeding
For gecko breeding stock, you can buy gecko breeders weighing about 150 g from a gecko breeding farm, or you can catch them in the wild in the mountains. Geckos generally resume activity in April and mate and lay eggs for the first time in early May. During gecko breeding, males and females are mixed in a ratio of 5:1 and allowed to mate freely. Males and females can be identified by everting the cloaca; male geckos have a triangular protrusion in the cloaca. Two eggs are laid at a time, and 3 to 4 clutches are laid per year. When gecko eggs are laid they have soft shells, and they only harden after being exposed to the air for half an hour. Gecko eggs rely on natural temperatures above 30°C for incubation, and the incubation period is 50 to 60 days. When a small gecko hatches, its body length is 7 to 8 mm. After 3 to 5 days, it can find food on its own. Within one week, feed it some rice soup, sugar water and skimmed milk powder, and after one week you can feed it some cooked mashed egg yolk, small insects and so on, and transfer it in good time to a small gecko house for rearing to prevent it from being harmed by male geckos. After one month, they can be raised together as a group. After one year of growth, a gecko reaches a body weight of 150 to 200 g.
4. Management
Besides feeding in good time and supplying water, you should also pay attention to disease prevention, heat protection and cold resistance. Disinfectants must be highly effective ones with a mild odor, such as Baidusha. The rearing density is preferably 40 to 50 geckos per sq m. Handle them gently during operations to avoid disturbing the geckos and to minimize their stress as much as possible. In summer, water can be sprayed inside and outside the house, wet gauze can be hung at the air inlet to dissipate heat, ventilation should be increased, and the roof should be covered with a thick layer of grass for shade and wetted. In winter, geckos enter a hibernation state, so pay attention to cold resistance and warmth, such as tightly closing doors and windows, thickening the cloth pieces on the walls, and reducing water dishes.
Points to Note When Raising Geckos
1. Lighting: Most geckos are nocturnal animals and do not need much ultraviolet light. Geckos generally do not need fluorescent lamps for rearing either, because most geckos are nocturnal animals. But some people also use fluorescent lamps to provide a natural day-night environment. Just think: although they will not be active during the day, it can still let them know that daytime is the time to rest. Be sure to provide a cave for them to hide in, otherwise it will cause them great stress.
2. Food: The main food of geckos is insects (such as crickets, breadworms and so on). For adults, small mice can sometimes be given to supplement protein.
3. Cage: The gecko rearing box does not need to be very tall, because they do not like climbing upward very much, but it is still best to use a ventilated top cover.
4. Other: Geckos generally absorb the water they need from food. Just place a small water dish in the rearing box and they will go and drink on their own. You can also lightly spray water on the walls of the rearing box. Lightly spray water once a day inside the rearing box to maintain humidity, which can prevent difficulty in shedding caused by insufficient humidity. Placing moss in the cave can also increase humidity.
The Rearing Environment for Geckos
1. Gecko rearing does not require much ultraviolet light. Geckos generally do not need fluorescent lamps for rearing either, because most geckos are nocturnal animals. But some people also use fluorescent lamps to provide a natural day-night environment. Just think: although they will not be active during the day, it can still let them know that daytime is the time to rest. Be sure to provide a cave for the geckos to hide in, otherwise it will cause the geckos great stress.
2. The main food of geckos is insects (such as crickets, breadworms and so on). Adult geckos can be given small mice to supplement protein. The gecko rearing box does not need to be very tall, because geckos do not like climbing upward very much, but it is still best to use a ventilated top cover.
3. Geckos generally absorb the water they need from food. Just place a small water dish in the rearing box and they will go and drink on their own. You can also lightly spray water on the walls of the rearing box. Lightly spray water once a day inside the gecko rearing box to maintain humidity, which can prevent difficulty in shedding caused by insufficient humidity. Placing moss in the cave can also increase humidity. Geckos grow faster under roof tiles.
After reading the above home version of gecko breeding techniques, are many people eager to try and go to the pet market to buy a gecko to raise? However, in the spirit of being responsible for life, if it is only a passing interest, then it is better not to raise one. If you really want to take good care of it, then raise one.