Chondrodactylus turneri

[EvanWJones]

Hello everyone
I'm from Canada, I own a 1.1. Chondrodactylus turneri and I'm trying to do the most natural setup as possible
The problem is, it's actually proving to be difficult to settle on a idea due to lack of artistic inspiration for a South East African landscape/climate. I want to have it being more than just a tank with sand, rocks, hides and geckos in it. I want it to be the closest I can get to "natural" or "bio-active".

That being said, I'm wondering when people are out in the wild, where are they found hiding typically? For example do they spend most of the day hiding under bark or in rock crevices? Are they crepuscular or purely nocturnal? When does the breeding season starts and are there environmental conditions that trigger it or is it just seasonal change? What kinda of UV levels are experienced there? Are they're any possible plants that would do well in this setup?

I know it's a lot of questions, I've thought of this for a while and only recently discovered this website. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I look forward to reading the replies.

[Ruan Stander]

Hi Evan,

This is a very common species in my part of the world. They are found mainly on the ground and on rocky outcrops. Mostly they are found hiding in rock crevices. They are mainly nocturnal, but I have found them at dusk and dawn on numerous occasions.

Breeding is triggered by seasonal change. Dry winters and wet summers. Some winter days get into the 20's (degrees celsius) with average summer days in the high 20's-low 30's. Night time temperatures in summer range from mid twenties to as low as 14 degrees in the early morning hours.

[immaculate geckos]

Hi I am still familiar with the old scientific name pachydactylus bibronii turneri but seems it was changed in 2005 to Chrondrodactylus turneri

that is quite a novel idea sounds like a great project.
please send me a pic when you are done.
I will try and add information regarding geology and vegetation for now here is a bit about your geckos location and preferred habitat as well as the biomes it is found in.

found on the African continent north of the tropic of Capricorn all the way up to Tanzania.

in South Africa it is confined to the northwestern regions in largely arid habitats extending into Savannah in East Africa

inhabits rock outcrops hollow trees and old houses

Biomes.. Savannah ,Dessert,Succulent Karoo, Nama-Karoo

I suggest picking a biome and starting from there. To me the succulent Karoo would work the best for your plans.

[immaculate geckos]

have a look at these :
http://www.sanparks.org/images/parks/ta ... atures.jpg

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=Turne ... MrhVhcM%3A

http://geogypsytraveler.com/wp-content/ ... 24x864.jpg

http://www.plantzafrica.com/vegetation/ ... ofpass.jpg

the succulent karro is characterised by lots of suckulents requiring full sunlight so you would need good light and seems to have mainly Quartzite outcrops that the geckos could inhabit.

[EvanWJones]

Thank you for the help so far first of all!
I have a friend who will be making me a custom naturalistic looking background for this set up. And I am going to try to base it off of the Succulent Karro biome. It looks very visually stimulating which I am a fan of personally.
Now how would be the best way to build my substrate base? Will the plants be able to survive without a huge drainage layer beneath the substrate? Should I use anything else besides sand or gravel on the bottom? And lastly does anyone have a website where I could order some of the natural & non toxic plants for this build?

[Westley Price]

Following on what IG said, this species occurs in all those different biomes due to the fact that it is probably one of our local species with the widest distribution.

This makes it difficult to say what triggers the breeding season. In the part of Namibia where I am now they are probably the most common gecko and we have VERY little rain with the bulk of the rain in the winter months. So this differs completely from what Predator was saying.

I most often find this species on the roads at night, but during active herping they are found under rock flakes, often vertical rock flakes. This means that they hide under the rock flakes/in rock cracks during the day and venture quite far from their "dens" at night to hunt on the substrate.

I have found them to be purely nocturnal, but again their habits might differ across such a large distribution.

[Ruan Stander]

They are found south of the tropic of Capricorn as well.

Westley do you know if any species with such wide distributions actually breed at different times of the year in different locations ? For example the turneri, or the Bitis in Limpopo and those in the Cape provinces, where the rainfall patterns are pretty much the other way around ?

[Westley Price]

No idea Predator.

I would guess that they would breed at roughly same time of the year, but there might simply be different triggers to getting them to mate.

With regards to C. turneri specifically, one must remember that often geckos breed year round, laying multiple clutches of eggs per year. Maybe in the north eastern side of RSA where you actually have a winter, they only breed during the warmer months, whereas here, where winter is just a faint fantasy, they breed all year round.

[Ruan Stander]

Haha yes they definitely don't breed year-round up here.

[immaculate geckos]

hey Evan. I would use gravel for drainage with sand on top. to be honest I am not that clued up on the plant side I will try do some more research but the following link sells plants indigenous to South Africa and export bulbs abroad perhaps they can point you in the right direction for plant species of the succulent Karoo and how to go about importing them. http://www.simplyindigenous.co.za/

[immaculate geckos]

you will definately be looking for aloes of some kind keep them small by potting them try these links
http://home.shop.ebay.com/Yard-Garden-Ou...

http://home.shop.ebay.com/Yard-Garden-Ou...

Update Edit: I just browsed on the Amazon.com website, and guess what? They sell aloe vera plants too. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?u...