L.williamsi (Electric Blue Day Geckos)

[JonRich]

Figured i'd make a thread for them here since the enclosure is finished and the focus is now on the animals inside it.

Well after researching and searching for almost a year. I finally got a bit serious about trying to source a pair of these beautiful geckos.

Well turns out they were under my nose the whole time. I had a friend that was breeding them (Laurie). But she got rid of her group some months back ( or so i thought). Well on a whim i contacted her and she offered some offspring from her group. I ended up with 4 (1.1.2).

Started building an enclosure for them. Went with a 18" x18" x 24" ExoTerra.
This is the build thread incase you were curious
https://www.chameleonforums.com/natural-forest-floor-terrarium-testing-build-84013/

And the L.williamsi
The Kids!

Sub-adult male

Sub-Adult male and what i'd hope to be a female in the background.

Peek-a-boo

Lygodactylus williamsi! First successful feeding video. - YouTube

The King of the Castle (had a fresh shed this morning and has shown a ton more blue than when he first arrived)

This i believe to be a female, haven't been able to get her/him on the glass to see it's vent to confirm yet.

The kids. Hoping to get either 2 females or a 1.1 pair out of them.

 

[JonRich]

Now comes the task of IDing the sex of these geckos since they are fairly young and hard to sex.
I have 2 that are a bit older and would hope to get a 1.1 pair.

In the absence of a dominant male the lessor will brighten up and take on the role ( in a matter of days , in some cases hours). So in a few weeks once I set up another ExoTerra, I will split the group and see if that triggers a change to dominant or remains a true female.

For now they are all gettin along just fine with zero aggression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UluWqkS3vw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[JonRich]

It seems everyone is on a female hunt! I have two 2 month old L.williamsi. I am hoping to get at least one female out the bunch.

I am currently setting up another ExoTerra of the same size for a 2nd group. So if the males (pending the "female" is actually a male) start to fight i will pull one and relocate him to the other enclosure. Just waiting for another Selva kit and plants.

Right now i'm also looking to get an unrelated female , since this group are siblings.

I have taken extraaaaa measures in sealing this ExoTerra. My goal is to keep fruitflies in , lol. Check the build thread to see what i did with the background and one of the swing out doors.

 

[JonRich]

I have a large colony of B.dubia roaches and figured it would be a shame if these guys didn't/coundn't eat them, lol

Well i picked through the bin to find the smallest nymphs i could find (they were more than likely under a week old).

Well i was mainly aiming for the 2 larger williamsi, but one of the bolder hatchlings jumped in headfirst and snatched one up:yikes:. Took him some time and banging it around ,but he finally ate it. After seeing that i don't think i will offer any more. I just don't want them eating something that takes them that long to swallow and might be a choking risk. Maybe if i catch a female dubia giving birth and can offer the fresh, soft, white nymphs.

After that i went with plan B and dumped in about 100 flightless fruit flies and sent them on a crazy skavenger hunt!
My group of L.williamsi hunting fruit flies. - YouTube

A little tongue action. I have been spiking there fruit babyfood with Calcium twice a week and it looks like they can't tell the difference.

They are now really cumfortable and don't seem to even notice me while i'm cleaning the ExoTerra or changing out food.
L.williamsi eating fruit babyfood! - YouTube

 

[JonRich]

This group is doing really well and look to be really happy. They ALL eat like pigs and every week or so someone is shedding.

I just finished another enclosure and seems i did so justtt in time. My "she-male" is a confirmed male and he is starting to turn blue and there is a bit of posturing. I will be taking one out tomorrow.

As always, video. Target handfeeding some small B.dubias to the adults. Wish dubias was a bitt smaller when born, but they are the only roach i trust in my home. I actually cut the dubias in 2 parts to feed to the small 2 williamsi.
Hand feeding by Adult male L.williamsi day geckos! - YouTube

 

[absolutbill]

They are gorgeous - best of luck with your breeding project!

 

[laurie]

Jon i am so glad you have them. I do make some good decisions. Now you just need to sent me soon bamboo, I love how it looks and the kids like it. You are doing just great.

 

[Olimpia]

They look awesome and the tank looks great! I'm glad you're having fun with yours, I can't ever find mine from Laurie! lol The tank is too big and I'll see one every so often, maybe when I throw food in if I'm lucky. May have to move them to a smaller tank as well.

Great job with the tank design!

 

[JonRich]

Jon i am so glad you have them. I do make some good decisions. Now you just need to sent me soon bamboo, I love how it looks and the kids like it. You are doing just great.

I'll get you the in contact with the kid for the bamboo. I'm all out of mine and what I have left I promised to a forum member . Just been sorta swamped to get it shipped to him. They are super fun, especially when feeding time comes around. They usually launge around basking , once they hear the ExoTerra door lock "click" open they ALL run down to the front. Crazy thing is THEY LOVEEE dubias. Like it has gotten to the point where they have started to ignore the fruit flies in the enclosure untill they they damn near walk into their mouths. But they will do backflips and fight for dubias. Lol it's funny to watch how active it gets when I offer them. I just monitor closely with the juveniles to avoid the choking risk.

They look awesome and the tank looks great! I'm glad you're having fun with yours, I can't ever find mine from Laurie! lol The tank is too big and I'll see one every so often, maybe when I throw food in if I'm lucky. May have to move them to a smaller tank as well.

Great job with the tank design!

Thanks Olimpia. How big is your enclosure? I find that they do very well in the 18x18x24 . But trust me there have been a few times where I though I had an escape. Then they would just pop up out of no where. I guess I gave them too many hiding options. I just can't wait to get an adult female in here and get some breeding activity going. I would really like to have eggs laid in the bamboo that I can remove and incubate seperatly. The plan is to incubate at lower temps to promote more females. The captive population in the US seems to hold more makes than females.

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks Olimpia. How big is your enclosure? I find that they do very well in the 18x18x24 . But trust me there have been a few times where I though I had an escape. Then they would just pop up out of no where. I guess I gave them too many hiding options. I just can't wait to get an adult female in here and get some breeding activity going. I would really like to have eggs laid in the bamboo that I can remove and incubate seperatly. The plan is to incubate at lower temps to promote more females. The captive population in the US seems to hold more makes than females.

It's like a 75gal tank! 4' x 2' x 18" or something like that.

 

[JonRich]

It's like a 75gal tank! 4' x 2' x 18" or something like that.

Wow! That's large! How many do you house in there?

 

[Wykd]

Awesome progress Jon!

"I'll get you the in contact with the kid for the bamboo."

Its been AGES since anyone called me kid! I was out with my daughter the otherday and ran into an old friend and he thought she was my granddaughter!

 

[JonRich]

Awesome progress Jon!

"I'll get you the in contact with the kid for the bamboo."

Its been AGES since anyone called me kid! I was out with my daughter the otherday and ran into an old friend and he thought she was my granddaughter!

lmaoooo. Its a NYC thing, i guess!!

"I'll get you the contact with the Grandfather for the bamboo" corrected! lmaoo

Laurie Wykd is the bamboo man!

 

[Zen Reptiles]

The Exo Terra Tanzania expedition had this to say about them which I did not find anywhere else:

The first bright blue male was spotted on a large Pandanus rabaiensis and once the preferred vegetation was determined it was fairly easy to locate the geckos. Lygodactylus williamsi is only found in the 2 - 5m shrub layer of the forest on Pandanus rabaiensis. The Pandanus palms are confined to certain areas and form patches within the forest. Lygodactylus williamsi is relatively common within its very limited range.

And another Lygodactylus spp they found prefered coconut palms. I think those new 'forest floor' vivariums would be ideal for Lygodactylus species: https://www.chameleonforums.com/quick-introduction-forest-floor-terrariums-85042/ so that's awesome you're using one. Just need to load it with palms.

We have had a few babies but none survived, and I have a friend who has had over 40 babies hatch and none survived. They are a very frustrating gecko to breed indeed!

Also, ours love bean weevils.

 

[JonRich]

The Exo Terra Tanzania expedition had this to say about them which I did not find anywhere else:



And another Lygodactylus spp they found prefered coconut palms. I think those new 'forest floor' vivariums would be ideal for Lygodactylus species: https://www.chameleonforums.com/quick-introduction-forest-floor-terrariums-85042/ so that's awesome you're using one. Just need to load it with palms.

We have had a few babies but none survived, and I have a friend who has had over 40 babies hatch and none survived. They are a very frustrating gecko to breed indeed!

Also, ours love bean weevils.

Yep. Exactly why i went with the Forest Floor kit. I have a Palm in there rite now that will eventually grow in. They roam EVERYTHING in the enclosure, but they mainly stick to the bamboo. The Pandanus rabaiensis once matured (this explains why only mature Pandanus forest/clusters are viable) throws out tube root-stalks like a Mangrove. I believe the L.williamsi live in and amongst the tube-roots. This may explain why bamboo works for them in captivity.

They babies are veryy small and most of what i have read states that they are lost from escapes. The people that do have luck raising them let them be in the same enclosure with the parents like Laurie has done. I will try a combo of this. What eggs i can remove will be incubated at lower temps to promote females ( there seems to be a lack of available females in captivity, unless everyone are holding on to their ladies).

I'll have two breeding groups in 2 similar 18x18x24 ExoTerras. I'll try some controlled things with one while leaving the other be.

 

[JonRich]

Took one of the males out today (the subordinate ) and placed him in his own terrarium. It's a 10g AGA converted to a vertical terrarium. Looks great , but I was a little concerned about ventilation. I have been monitoring the temps and humidity in it (without any livestock ) for the past week or so and it's been fine. My only concern is once misted the humidity spikes and hangs at about 80% for about 3-4 hours then tapers off. It also seems verrrry easy to overheat this thing too. It will eventually go to my job where it will be in a 24/7 AC room where I can control the temps a bit better with lighting.

The swap.
Relocated one of my male L.williamsi to another enclosure b - YouTube

 

[JonRich]

This is what the male's enclosure looks like. Its pretty much an extra 10g AGA i had laying around. I got my kit in from JungleBox.net last week and slapped it together.

I tossed some bamboo in it lastnight so he had a little bamboo highway to get around.

 

[JonRich]

Some hand feeding goodness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-HLNRB4-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUOTsmCd-DM

 

[JonRich]

Well as of today i have IDed the sex of all 4 of my L.williamsi.

ALL MALES!! lol

These things happen.But unfortunately i only have 2 enclosures to house Adult males, so 2 will have to be re-homed. Hopefully in a trade for a female.

wish me luck.

 

[twatts704]

Well as of today i have IDed the sex of all 4 of my L.williamsi.

ALL MALES!! lol

These things happen.But unfortunately i only have 2 enclosures to house Adult males, so 2 will have to be re-homed. Hopefully in a trade for a female.

wish me luck.

Going to another reptile show today. Its fairly small but I will look for a female for you.