My Uroplatus Phantasticus pair
- Thread starter antalaotra
- Start date
antalaotra
Member
Thank you, Steve Balogh bred them, he's got healthy, beautiful stock and he doesn't sell tiny babies!
bugboy
Established Member
Gorgeous animals! UUUUGH you're killing me with these pictures haha, I was going to pick up a male at a show last week. There's been a local breeder there for the past 2 years, and I was finally going to pull the trigger. Sure enough, he gave up his table; just my luck haha. Does this guy have any available right now? Does he have a website? Reasonable price? I've got the Uroplatus itch now haha, I was so ready and sooo let down.
Do you keep any other Uroplatus? Like I said, I've got the itch haha. I have a pair of U. sikorae at the moment that I bought in January, and they're quickly becoming favorites in my collection. They are a lot easier than what I was expecting, but they are also captive bred by a respectable breeder. They're slamming crickets every night and have grown a good inch or two in the last 3 months. Let me know if you wanna see pics haha. Speaking of pics, do you have a full shot of your enclosure? I'd like to see how you've set it up. Would also be curious as to your supplementation schedule. Thanks in advance and good luck to you!
Do you keep any other Uroplatus? Like I said, I've got the itch haha. I have a pair of U. sikorae at the moment that I bought in January, and they're quickly becoming favorites in my collection. They are a lot easier than what I was expecting, but they are also captive bred by a respectable breeder. They're slamming crickets every night and have grown a good inch or two in the last 3 months. Let me know if you wanna see pics haha. Speaking of pics, do you have a full shot of your enclosure? I'd like to see how you've set it up. Would also be curious as to your supplementation schedule. Thanks in advance and good luck to you!
antalaotra
Member
antalaotra
Member
If you guys are interested Steve's e mail is [email protected], tell him you got his email from Anna, I had permission to give his e mail out and His stock is %100 top notch, he's a very busy guy so be patient 
bugboy
Established Member
If I had to guess I'd say the fully brown one is the female, the 'fancier' one is the male? I think I see a bulge haha, and the tail looks to be more indented than the 'female', but I could be wrong.
Melissa, I'll take some pics tomorrow if I get the chance. I have some pics when I first bought them but they do no justice to how they look when sleeping during the day haha. As for their enclosures, I keep them in large Kritter Keepers with paper towel substrate. A live plant in each one to keep the humidity up, and I spray them down once a night. A few twigs and one larger branch to sleep on, that's all that seems to keep them happy. I do want to set them up in a naturalistic vivarium with lots of live plants and such, but for now they seem to be happy. Plus I had some issues keeping them together (the female would eat all of the food leaving nothing for him, sounds familiar to how humans work yeah? just kidding haha) and would like to grow them up for a little while until they are ready to go together. I bought them from Kevin Smith at North Star Herps. Captive bred, first generation from wild caught, and unrelated, I could not pass them up haha.
Anna, thanks for the e-mail address, I'll definitely get in touch with him. And thanks for the tank shots, they look great! Did you make the background or did you buy it? I've wanted to try a custom background, so if you did make it I'd appreciate any info regarding how you went about making it. Still waiting on your supplementation schedule! haha....let me know what you are using and how often.
-Brian
Melissa, I'll take some pics tomorrow if I get the chance. I have some pics when I first bought them but they do no justice to how they look when sleeping during the day haha. As for their enclosures, I keep them in large Kritter Keepers with paper towel substrate. A live plant in each one to keep the humidity up, and I spray them down once a night. A few twigs and one larger branch to sleep on, that's all that seems to keep them happy. I do want to set them up in a naturalistic vivarium with lots of live plants and such, but for now they seem to be happy. Plus I had some issues keeping them together (the female would eat all of the food leaving nothing for him, sounds familiar to how humans work yeah? just kidding haha) and would like to grow them up for a little while until they are ready to go together. I bought them from Kevin Smith at North Star Herps. Captive bred, first generation from wild caught, and unrelated, I could not pass them up haha.
Anna, thanks for the e-mail address, I'll definitely get in touch with him. And thanks for the tank shots, they look great! Did you make the background or did you buy it? I've wanted to try a custom background, so if you did make it I'd appreciate any info regarding how you went about making it. Still waiting on your supplementation schedule! haha....let me know what you are using and how often.
-Brian
antalaotra
Member
Correct, the reticulated one is the Male but the most common way to tell is the hemipenal bulge (Which in this species...it's well endowed ha ha) Supplementation is I feed every other day gut loaded crickets, every feeding is Calcium without D3, D3 once a month and herptivite once a week! So far so good, I worry about over supplementation with this species so maybe someone else will chime in!
antalaotra
Member
Oh, the backround is just an 18+24 Exoterra cut in half! Pretty simple enclosure but they seem happy!
bugboy
Established Member
WOW I was right!! cool haha....yeah, he certainly has quite the package hahaha. Thanks for the supplementation schedule, definitely something to consider. I'll be honest, I was expecting Calcium w/D3 to be an almost every feeding thing. Unless of course you are using a UVB bulb, are you? I've heard a lot of mixed opinions concerning the use of one. I don't use one on my Sikorae, and they've been growing and thriving regardless, so I assume it's just a matter of personal opinion and experience. For what it's worth, I've been using Miner-All Indoor, strictly, at about 3 or 4 times a week. That's about it, I haven't really seen a reason to add too much else, aside from maybe Herptivite once in a while. I do have Repashy's Calcium Plus on hand as well, but I've used it maybe once or twice. Is there supposedly a difference in supplementation between the two species? I'm still learning, so maybe you know something I don't; I would have assumed it would be the same. I'm meeting up with the breeder of my geckos at a reptile show on Sunday, and plan to pick his brain a bit as to how he does things. He does keep U. phantasticus as well, so I'll let you know what he says.
antalaotra
Member
I do use a 5.0 UVA/UVB on them, they are very sensitive to over supplementation so I opt to gut load the feeder insects verses excess supplementing! But, I have not bred my animals either, so going with what the breeder suggest is probably best! Gorgeous animals you have there and no worries I don't think you are hijacking my thread lol lol, love seeing pictures of critters
antalaotra
Member
Yes, I used Guitar strings to "Saw" in between the silicone and just have screen silicone in place, I plan on making it look nicer but it works for now! I have 18+24 Exo Terra's getting ready to plant and set them up for when the Phants mature, I'd like to eventually get a trio together so the Male isn't focused on just one female!
bugboy
Established Member
Thanks to both of you, I'm pretty pleased with them myself haha. They are a lot of fun, I love showing them to people and making them play "Find The Gecko" hahaha; the female is easy to spot, so I usually use the male. At one point I had him in an 8"x8"x12" Exo-Terra, a fairly small cage....it was absolutely hilarious watching people looking around and around the enclosure for the animal that was in front of their faces the entire time hahaha. The enclosures are nothing special (some may consider them unacceptable haha), but they seem to work, and I'm planning a naturalistic Exo-Terra for them when they grow up a bit.
So you ARE using UVB for them, interesting....I'll have to bring that up to my breeder and see what he's doing, maybe I don't have everything up to par. But then again, they've noticeably grown since I picked them up, so maybe I'm doing things fine? As for gutloading, I work at a pet store, so I'm able to throw in whatever I please and bring home freshly gutloaded insects. Makes both my parents and myself quite happy haha. But I still get nervous that they won't be getting enough nutrients, so I use the Miner-All fairly often. If something was wrong I'd think after 3 months they would either be noticeably suffering or already dead, maybe I'm wrong though? Every night they eat everything in a matter of minutes; haha, the female actually tried eating the bag I dust with the other night before the crickets even fell in the cage! We'll see what the breeder says, and I'll post here what he has to say.
Oh, and brilliant idea with the guitar strings, I never EVER would have thought of that haha. Do you think the 18"x24" Exo-Terra is necessary for them? I've spoken to a few breeders, they all use the 12"x18" size, with TRIOS, so curious if you know something I'm not aware of.
So you ARE using UVB for them, interesting....I'll have to bring that up to my breeder and see what he's doing, maybe I don't have everything up to par. But then again, they've noticeably grown since I picked them up, so maybe I'm doing things fine? As for gutloading, I work at a pet store, so I'm able to throw in whatever I please and bring home freshly gutloaded insects. Makes both my parents and myself quite happy haha. But I still get nervous that they won't be getting enough nutrients, so I use the Miner-All fairly often. If something was wrong I'd think after 3 months they would either be noticeably suffering or already dead, maybe I'm wrong though? Every night they eat everything in a matter of minutes; haha, the female actually tried eating the bag I dust with the other night before the crickets even fell in the cage! We'll see what the breeder says, and I'll post here what he has to say.
Oh, and brilliant idea with the guitar strings, I never EVER would have thought of that haha. Do you think the 18"x24" Exo-Terra is necessary for them? I've spoken to a few breeders, they all use the 12"x18" size, with TRIOS, so curious if you know something I'm not aware of.
antalaotra
Member
I think it's a matter of personal opinion, like I said I have never bred my animals so, I'm just experimenting! I'm more comfortable allowing them to bask under a light, (which they clearly do) then supplementation with Vit D which can build up to toxic levels in sensitive animals! As far as enclosure size, I just feel that a larger space will make them more secure and comfortable and give them space to explore and stretch! The bigger and better the enclosure the happier the animal, Again, personal opinion only! These two are my first Uroplatus species, so, I'm by no means an expert! I've always been fascinated by them and after several years of reading and talking to breeders I decided to take the plunge! I probably should have started with a heartier Uroplatus but I've worked with sensitive Montane chameleons successfully in the past and the breeder assured me I would do fine with them!
bugboy
Established Member
Sorry for the late reply! Been pretty busy the past few days haha.
I get where you're coming from concerning UVB as well as enclosure size, both points make plenty of sense. I always try to give my animals as much space as they need; when I tell people about the size of my chameleon cages (standard 2'x2'x4') they get wide-eyed and confused haha, until I mention that every inch of the enclosures are used.
I'm a big believer in "getting what you want, not what's hardier/cheaper", so no judgement there! If you love it enough, you'll do just fine. I too have always loved this species, yet I also fell in love with the U. sikorae when I saw them first hand....like I said, I've got the Uroplatus itch haha. I've also been looking into Lineatus and Fimbriatus, but first I need to make more space in my room haha.
And I promised to refer what the breeder told me Sunday at the show. He also uses a UVB bulb, and doesn't supplement often. Though he said when he does, he uses Miner-All Indoor and Herptivite. When I told him I didn't have a UVB bulb present, he mentioned that another breeder (who was there when I bought my pair in January) doesn't use UVB on his animals, and does very well regardless. We agreed that it may not be necessary, but it couldn't hurt to use. There's still so much to learn about these animals and it seems everyone has a different way of doing it with success (much like chameleons haha). Please keep us updated with your progress and future enclosures!
I get where you're coming from concerning UVB as well as enclosure size, both points make plenty of sense. I always try to give my animals as much space as they need; when I tell people about the size of my chameleon cages (standard 2'x2'x4') they get wide-eyed and confused haha, until I mention that every inch of the enclosures are used.
I'm a big believer in "getting what you want, not what's hardier/cheaper", so no judgement there! If you love it enough, you'll do just fine. I too have always loved this species, yet I also fell in love with the U. sikorae when I saw them first hand....like I said, I've got the Uroplatus itch haha. I've also been looking into Lineatus and Fimbriatus, but first I need to make more space in my room haha.
And I promised to refer what the breeder told me Sunday at the show. He also uses a UVB bulb, and doesn't supplement often. Though he said when he does, he uses Miner-All Indoor and Herptivite. When I told him I didn't have a UVB bulb present, he mentioned that another breeder (who was there when I bought my pair in January) doesn't use UVB on his animals, and does very well regardless. We agreed that it may not be necessary, but it couldn't hurt to use. There's still so much to learn about these animals and it seems everyone has a different way of doing it with success (much like chameleons haha). Please keep us updated with your progress and future enclosures!
