A Detailed Guide to Gecko Farming Techniques and Scientific Feeding Management Methods
The gecko, scientifically known as Gekko gecko, also called the fairy toad, Duoge, Ha Crab and other names, is a reptile of the family Gekkonidae and genus Gekko. In Taiwan, China it is called the great house gecko. Its body length can reach more than 30 cm, and its head is longer than its tail. In China it is distributed in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places. It is a national second-class protected animal and has very high medicinal value. Let us take a look at gecko farming techniques below!
The Living Habits of Geckos
Geckos live in tropical and southern subtropical limestone areas with growing vegetation, often gathering in groups of several or living alone in cliff caves, crevices or tree holes of rocky hills, and sometimes they also move around the eaves and walls of people's homes. Their hearing is relatively strong, but their eyesight is poor during the day, and they fear strong light stimulation, with their pupils often closing into a vertical slit. They come out at night to move about and forage. Their food consists mainly of various moving insects, including mole crickets, grasshoppers, moths, cicadas, mealworms and silkworm moths, and they do not eat dead insects or food, but after artificial domestication they can also be released for rearing. In the process of artificially farming Gekko gecko, the principle of mainly animal-based insects supplemented by plant-based insects should be followed, otherwise it easily leads to malnutrition and disease in Gekko gecko.
Site Construction for Geckos
1. Rearing boxes: In places rich in insect sources, choose a ventilated, cool and clean single-story house or building as the rearing room, and set up several rearing boxes indoors. The rearing boxes are generally made by modifying old small wooden packing crates, with dimensions of 50×40×30 cm. Half of the box surface is sealed with plastic window screening or iron window screening, and the other half is fitted with a wooden board as a movable box lid, with a small hole opened in the lid for putting in feed. The rearing box must be tight and free of gaps, so as to prevent the insects put in from escaping. Cabinet-style rearing boxes can also be used, with dimensions of 50×30×25 cm. Their upper part is made of wooden boards, the upper half of the front wall is sealed with iron screening, and the lower half is a movable wooden board door. To adapt to the living habits of geckos, the front can be covered with green cloth, and sealed with thick cardboard in late autumn to defend against cold wind invasion.
2. Rearing houses: Choose to build them beside forests, by hillsides and in fields with abundant insect sources. The size of the area depends on the scale of rearing. Generally, it is 4 m long, 3 m wide and 3 m high. A gecko activity area is built on the top or at the back of the rearing house. The roof height is 1.2-1.5 m, and it is enclosed all around with wire mesh. The rearing house and the activity area are connected, making it convenient for geckos to enter and exit. The rearing house has a working door for the entry and exit of keepers. The activity area built behind the rearing house can form a suite with the rearing house. The top of the activity area is enclosed with wire mesh, so that geckos can see the dew but cannot escape. In order to prevent geckos from cannibalizing each other, large and small geckos must be raised in separate houses, and additional rearing houses must be built for small geckos.
3. Rockery rearing: This rearing method uses artificial simulation of the natural conditions of rocky hills to build a rearing house enclosed with wire mesh. The rockery should be built beside a village, by a field or at the foot of a hill where insect sources are abundant. It is generally built of limestone, and several small chambers are stacked inside the rockery, with many crevices and stone holes left in the chamber walls for easy observation, serving as places for geckos to hide during the day and overwinter in winter. The crevices inside the chambers connect with the crevices on the outer periphery of the rockery, making it convenient for geckos to enter and exit. A water pool and a play pool need to be built inside the house, and insect-attracting black light lamps installed. Flowers and plants are planted on and around the rockery, such as Sijichun, jasmine, Murraya paniculata, Paris polyphylla and other plants that geckos like.
4. Release sites: At present there are two types, solitary hill release and isolated island release.
① Solitary hill release: In gecko-producing areas, choose a single rocky hill near a village, with luxuriant vegetation and flat surroundings, as the release site for geckos. Build a 1.5 m high wall around the foot of the rocky hill, and place on the wall ""-shaped cement products 60 cm long, 50 cm high, 40 cm wide and 2-2.5 cm thick, with dry fine river sand piled inside. The sand should be packed tight on the inside and loose on the outside, and formed into a 50° slope, thus forming a defense line to prevent geckos from escaping. Build some natural caves inside the rocky hill, so that geckos can enter and hide, for ease of rearing and observation. In addition, install several black light lamps in different directions on the rocky hill to attract insects for geckos to eat. The release quantity can be determined according to the size of the hill and the insect source situation.
② Isolated island rearing: Choose a small isolated island surrounded by water, and the island should have vegetation and stone hill caves for geckos to hide in. Install black light lamps in places where geckos move about to attract insects, so as to supplement gecko feed. Because the release environment of the gecko release method is very similar to the gecko's original growing environment conditions. When feed is sufficient, geckos develop relatively quickly, but it is not convenient for observation, inspection and capture.
Gecko Rearing Methods
1. Box rearing: For rearing boxes modified from wooden crates, put 15-20 geckos per box, and for cabinet-style rearing boxes, put 6-10 per box. From May to October, the rearing boxes (cabinets) should be placed in dark and ventilated places indoors. For indoor box rearing, since black light lamps cannot be used to attract insects at night, feed generally must be given once a day, and during the peak feeding period from July to September, feed once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
2. House rearing: The feed for house-reared geckos is mainly attracting wild insects. If a rearing house is built in the field, pesticides should not be sprayed around the rearing house, or black light lamps must not be turned on to attract insects within 2 days after spraying, so as to avoid geckos being poisoned by eating insects carrying pesticides. Several hemp sheets can be hung on the four walls inside the house, making it convenient for geckos to hide during the day and lay eggs. Fresh water is placed in the house for geckos to drink, and a water pool is set up for geckos to play in on hot days. Generally each room can raise 200-300 geckos. In seasons with abundant insect sources, using black light lamps to attract insects every night can basically meet the geckos' need for feed. In seasons with few insect sources, feed must be provided 1-2 times a day. After hatching, small geckos can forage immediately, and some small insects should be fed to them every day for consumption. In peak insect seasons, black light lamps can be turned on to attract insects, while in off-seasons feed should be given 1-2 times a day.
Gecko Rearing Management
1. Feeding: During the gecko activity period, except on rainy days, black light lamps must be turned on every evening to attract insects and provide feed. When natural insects are insufficient, artificially reared insects should be fed. In particular, adults and young geckos before hibernation must be fed enough feed to make them robust and ensure they safely pass the winter. In addition, the drinking water and pool water for geckos must be changed frequently to keep them clean.
2. Cleaning the site: For indoor box rearing, house rearing and rockery rearing, the sites are relatively small and should be cleaned frequently. The feces excreted by geckos and leftover feed should be removed in time, so that geckos grow and reproduce under relatively clean conditions and the occurrence of disease is reduced.
3. Temperature control: After the beginning of winter, promptly thicken the hemp sheets hung on the walls and close the doors and windows tightly. If the temperature drops below 10℃, heating should be added indoors or a 100-watt ever-burning electric lamp lit to raise the indoor temperature, so that geckos can safely pass the winter. When the temperature rises above 30℃ in summer, in addition to opening doors and windows for ventilation, water should be sprayed indoors to lower the temperature, or water sprayed on the geckos' bodies several times a day. At the same time, the pool should often be filled with water, so that geckos can enter the pool to cool down.
4. Protecting egg clutches: Male geckos have the habit of eating eggs, and other animals will also damage gecko eggs. During the egg-laying period, inspections should be made frequently, and when egg clutches are found to have been laid, they should be promptly covered with iron wire mesh for protection.
5. Strengthening inspection: Through many years of trial rearing, some gecko diseases have been discovered, and there are not yet good methods to cure these diseases. In order to prevent disease transmission, frequent inspections must be made, and diseased geckos (often found with rotting mouth corners, weak crawling, falling from walls to the ground, etc.) should be isolated and treated in time.
Harvesting and Processing of Geckos
1. Harvesting: From April to September each year is the season for gecko activity and reproduction, and also the period for catching geckos. In gecko distribution areas, observe the crevices on rocky hill cliffs and around and below tree holes. If gecko feces are found, the following methods can be used to catch them:
① Use a thin bamboo pole about 1 m long, tie a small tuft of messy hair to the top, extend it into the hole and keep shaking it. The gecko mistakes it for a flying insect or enemy and bites the hair in one bite. At this time pull the bamboo pole outward, and the gecko is pulled out of the hole entrance, and immediately capture it.
② Use a 1 m long iron wire, bend one end into a hook, extend it into the hole, and when it hooks the gecko's eye socket or lower jaw, pull it out of the hole to capture it.
③ At night, in places where geckos often move about, shine a flashlight on them and capture them.
2. Processing: The captured geckos should be placed in a small iron cage or bamboo basket and kept tightly closed for preservation. For the captured gecko, use a knife to cut open the abdomen, remove the internal organs, wipe the blood dry (do not wash with water), prop it open with thin bamboo slices and flat bamboo strips, fix it, tie the tail with sandpaper to avoid breaking it, and then dry it over a gentle fire. Combine those of the same size into a pair and it is done.