Homophis wahlbergii Juvenile

[Mehelya]

Well, spent a weekend looking after a farm about 60K's from my hometown. The whole weekend was drizzling, cold, and really not herp-friendly weather. Needless to say, I did manage to find this chap, thanks to my girlfriend seeing it scuttle across the kombuis floor. Think it's a juvenile male. Time was about 21h30, temps were between 10 and 15 degrees.

Without further ado, here is the little beastie...


I will upload some more photos as soon as I have gone through to see which ones are clear. These chaps are fast, and strangely aggressive when confronted! Their black mouths are quite intimidating, and I have to admit their bite was worse than I thought, even though it didn't break skin.

Enjoy!

[Westley Price]

A beautiful gecko which I am yet to see in the field (or in a cage for that matter).

I understand they make very good pets and grow to a nice, convenient size, making care of CB babies easier.

I often wonder why KZN guys dont bother keeping this species, but rather keep smaller, harder to care for species.

Thanx for the post!

[Rhoptropus]

Lovely shot! Thanks for sharing!
-A

[Fooble]

Wes i've kept them for some time. They do get quite tame and calm down nicely in captive conditions.
The eggs of these geckos take abnormally long to hatch though not the standard 60-90 days with some Chondrodactylus or Pachydactylus.
I know Froot had some that took something crazy like 10 months to hatch!

[Mehelya]

Ok, Wes, I admit it... These chaps are currently in temporary cages, while I am having their final enclosures built today. I don't like taking WC, but these are just not available in the trade from what I know and have seen.

When I saw these chaps, and decided to try keeping/breeding them , I stumbled across a major block that I think has put many people off... The fact that there is next to no information about their captive husbandry/breeding. AND I hope that I have a pair here!?

Thank you to Fooble, and kfc223 for all the info that I needed to organise their setup, and needs in captivity.

They are absolutely stunning animals, and I have also heard that they can become quite habituated to human interaction. and they do grow quite big as well. Adults average out at 10-12cm, with the females generally being the larger of the sexes.

I have been throwing in roaches, moths, and a cricket. And they seem to be quite intriguing hunters. They seem to use speed, as well as ambush techniques to waylay their prey. Would anyone care to guess at what their staple diet is, so that I can offer them the best food items. Is calcium dusting also necessary? Like I said, there is next to no information on these chaps in captivity.

Here are some more pics. Will post again, once I have their final enclosures set up, and they are settled in.

Juvenile male


Adult female


Enjoy, and will keep you updated on the progress!

[LanceJeffery]

These are fairly common in the hoedspruit area and we infact kept a adult female at khamai while i worked there. We fed her mostly crickets/roaches although she readily snapped down the occasional superworm and even pinks. I must say she seemed to exceptionally well on that diet.

[LanceJeffery]

We kept an adult female while i worked at Khamai. Fed her mostly crickets/roaches and fed the occasional pink. She did extremely well on this diet. In my experience they are extremely voracious predators and will have a go at almost anything.

[rolandslf]

Nice one Rian. I hope the Juvi is a male, and that you get to breed them.

[Mehelya]

LanceJeffery, I will agree that they go for anything... Including fingers...

Roland, they both seem to be female, so I will be looking for a male. But yes, I will be breeding them, as soon as everything with them is sorted out. These are also ther first geckos I am keeping, so we'll see what level they are as far as all this is concerned.

Thanks for the comments and feedback chaps.

[Bushviper]

They love moths so look into cultivating wax worms and wax moths. The eggs take between 10 and 12 months to hatch at room temperatures. The babies are very easy to raise as they eat anything that moves. If you have a secure snake room you can also release a pair in there and have them living semi wild. They will come down when you call them and eat off tweezers. It does take a long time to get them to trust you. A nesting site high up on the wall and a spot where you can leave food for them will also help them remain tame and ensure they are fed properly. Add calcium to the food regularly. You can have a sprinkler over a pot plant which you run for a few minutes each week and they will drink from that. A water bowl next to the food bowl is also a good idea in summer.

[Mehelya]

BV, thanks for that. I have been doing a bit of question asking. The permanent enclosures should be ready tomorrow, or tuesday at the latest. I am going for natural setup, and am collecting any moths I find. I have been getting stares lately, while chasing moths around street lights in the early evening.

Wax worms/moths... They are the ones that attack bee hives, if I am correct? I will see where I can source some of those, and look into cultivation methods for them. Once the cacti in my garden start blooming, we should be getting some serious moths coming around. some of them are monsters.

Calcium dusting will be done regularly.

Thanks for all the input guys, much appreciated. Now, I just need to find a male...