That Reptile Blog – Reptile, Amphibian and Exotic Pet Care and Information

Please see Part I of this article for more on bent-toed geckos (Genus Cyrtodactylus; C. louisiadensis and C. irianjayaensis).

UVB and Calcium
Although nocturnal, assume that bent-toed geckos require UVB radiation (others in the genus seem prone to metabolic bone disease). As these lizards generally do not bask at very high temperatures, a fluorescent bulb is preferable. Among florescent models, the Zoo Med 10.0 Bulb  has been shown to consistently deliver the highest UVB output.

To cover all bases until we learn more, I suggest adding extra calcium (along with Vitamin D3) to all food offered. A high calcium supplement can easily be fashioned by mixing Reptivite and Zoo Med Repti Calcium  together in a 1:1 ratio. While this step has not specifically been proven necessary, it has served me well in similar situations.

Snails as a Calcium Source
Many arboreal geckos, Cyrtodactylus included, relish snails, and these seem to be an important source of calcium in the wild.

You can use small garden or aquarium snails, or smaller individuals of those species typically sold for human consumption (i.e. the grapevine snail, Helix pomatia). All can be rather easily reared at home, with the aquatic species being, in general, more prolific.

If you would like to raise your own snails, I suggest the large freshwater snails commonly sold as apple snails in pet stores. They are quite interesting in their own right, so don’t be surprised if you wind up paying them quite a bit of attention! Apple snails lay orange egg cases just above the water line; these are produced year-round, with more being laid as food intake increases. Apple snails feed ravenously, and do well on a diet of Spirulina disks and kale, romaine and other greens. They should also be provided with a piece of cuttlebone  (discard the metal holder provided for use with cage birds) as a calcium source. The young fall into the water upon hatching and grow rapidly.

Any of the small aquatic snails commonly found among aquarium plants can be bred and used as a food source as well.

Most terrestrial snails do not breed quite as rapidly as do apple snails, and temperate species need a cool period (a refrigerator works well) of 2-4 weeks at 38-40 F if they are to reproduce. Most feed readily upon tropical fish flakes, fruit, vegetables and cuttlebone.

Diet
Roaches stimulate most geckos to feed; many also respond with enthusiasm to moths, beetles and other wild caught insects. Please see my article on Raising Orange-Spotted Roaches  for more information.

I believe it to be very important to offer a variety of invertebrates to bent-toed geckos. If at all possible, try to collect local insects…the Zoo Med Bug Napper is very useful to have on hand.

Leave food in the terrarium overnight, and offer grubs, mealworms, wax worms and the like in cups suspended above ground as opposed to releasing them in the terrarium.

Further Reading
Providing reptiles with a varied diet is always important, but never more so than when dealing with bent-toed geckos and other little-studied species. Please see my article Collecting Live food for Reptiles and Amphibians for some tips on providing your lizard with wild-caught invertebrates.

Image referenced from Wikipedia and originally posted by W.A. Djatmiko. Image is NOT the Giant Bent-toed Gecko, but a related species, Cyrtodactylus marmoratus.

Please see Part I of this article for background information on substrate and food related intestinal impactions, including some interesting stories from the field.

Substrates for Aquatic Animals
Surinam toads, mata-mata turtles, axolotls, mudpuppies and other wide-mouthed aquatic animals that utilize suction (the flow of water into the gaping mouth) to capture prey quite frequently swallow gravel in the course of feeding.

If you do not care for the look of a bare-bottomed aquarium, our life-like Cypress Mat is well worth considering as a bottom-covering. It cannot be swallowed, is easily rinsed, and many animals will nestle down into it as a shelter. I suggest leaving a bit of the aquarium’s bottom uncovered by the mat until you can determine where your animals prefer to remain.

Sinking driftwood and Mopani wood are also safe to use, and will go a long way in improving your aquarium’s appearance.

Shelters for Burrowing and Aquatic Animals
Artificial and wood-based caves and hideaways are often accepted as substitute shelters by burrowing animals; plastic models are fine for use in aquariums as well. If so inclined, you might also enjoy using novelty decorations and shelters for pets prone to ingesting gravel and sand.

Cork bark pieces and rolls make fine shelters for terrestrial herps, and may be wedged against the aquarium’s sides to form an underwater retreat as well.

Hagen Silk Plants  are an excellent option for African bullfrogs, marine toads and other large animals that prefer to back into vegetation or moss as opposed to using a cave. These plants are equipped with suction cups, and when arranged to hang down to the terrarium’s floor they provide a naturalistic retreat. They can be used in a similar fashion under water – Surinam toads in particular prefer this arrangement to a cave.

Tong-Feeding and Separate Feeding Enclosures
Training your pets to feed from tongs will also go a long way in avoiding substrate-swallowing problems. Use plastic tongs for animals with a vigorous feeding response and reserve metal tongs for those that feed gingerly or accept large food items.

Well-acclimated reptiles and amphibians often feed eagerly even after being transported to a separate feeding container. Transferring such animals to a bare-bottomed plastic terrarium or similar enclosure is a useful feeding option.

Further Reading
The Manuel of Exotic Pet Practice’s entry on intestinal impactions is posted here.

Please see Part I of this article for further information.Last time we took a look at the amazing diversity of tiny invertebrates that inhabit leaf litter, and their importance as food for small terrarium animals such as poison frogs, dwarf leaf chameleons, and young frogs, lizards, mantids and scorpions.

Collecting Leaf Litter Invertebrates
As mentioned in Part I of this article, the springtails, ants, mites, millipedes and other creatures inhabiting a single acre of fallen leaves can add up to an astonishing 3 tons in weight! So how do we harvest all of this free food?

A technique borrowed from professional entomologists (insect scientists) works quite well. Simply place a handful of leaf litter into a funnel, suspend the funnel over a jar and position a 100 watt bulb about 6 inches above the leaves. The heat will drive the resident invertebrates down the funnel and into the jar. A damp paper towel placed at the bottom of the collecting jar will assure that the more delicate animals survive.

Using Wild-Caught Invertebrates
Remove potentially dangerous animals such as biting ants and centipedes, and dispense the rest to your poison frogs, baby anoles and other such creatures. Their reactions to this novel food will convince you of its worth – most terrarium animals become noticeably excited and feed ravenously each time they are presented with novel prey species.

Use Petri dishes if you prefer to keep your pets’ meals confined to one area. Springtails, sowbugs and others may colonize the terrarium substrate if allowed to disperse, which is also useful in some cases. You can also place small piles of leaves directly into the terrarium (after checking for dangerous species) – its great fun to watch frogs and other creatures search through them for tasty snacks.

Zoo Experiences
Others far more inventive than I came up with this technique, but I have long championed it in my articles and books…usually without much luck! Even among my zoo co-workers, my pleas fell on deaf (if amused!) ears.

So, upon touring several zoos in Japan recently I was thrilled to learn that several keepers, after reading about the topic in a book that I wrote some years back (Newts and Salamanders, which for some reason is popular in Japan), tried it out. Their results were so positive that the technique is now a regular part of the husbandry regime in several collections!

Trapping Tiny, Flying Insects
The Zoo Med Bug Napper, a very effective insect trap that I rely upon throughout the warmer months, will attract tiny gnats, moths, beetles and flies along with larger insects. These too make fine foods for your smaller pets.

Further Reading…Meadow Plankton
“Meadow plankton” is a term given to the myriads of insects and other invertebrates that can be gathered by sweeping a net through tall grass in fields and in overgrown areas along roads, farm edges, parks, etc. These creatures can also be fed to smaller reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Please look for my future article on this topic.

Until then, a partial species list of insects that might be encountered in a typical temperate zone meadow, along with other information, is available on the website of the Invertebrate Conservation Trust.

Please see Part I of this article for information on our prepared box turtle diets.

Natural Food Animals
Live mealworms, waxworms or earthworms mixed into canned or pelleted food should encourage your turtle to take a bite. Earthworms are a box turtle favorite and a highly nutritious food in their own right…they can comprise 25% or so of the diet. An occasional pre-killed pink mouse is usually a great hit with box turtles, but is not a necessity.

Canned Snails and Insects
Canned insects and invertebrates offer an excellent means of increasing dietary variety while adding to the attractiveness of commercial turtle foods. Box turtles avidly consume snails and slugs in the wild…canned snails are nearly always well-accepted by pets. Canned silkworms, grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms should also be offered.

Fruits and Vegetables
Commercial diets should also be supplemented with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including apples, pears, berries of all kinds (berries are a favorite, but should form only a part of your pet’s salad), cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms and others. Sweet potatoes are usually a favorite. Avoid bananas, as turtles often eat these to the exclusion of all else, and they are not a natural food item.

Vitamins, Minerals and UVB Light
A vitamin/mineral supplement should be provided once weekly for adults, three times weekly for youngsters.

Box turtles should always be provided with a source of UVB radiation (via a fluorescent or mercury vapor bulb ) so that they can properly utilize the calcium that is contained in their diets. Please see my article on Reptisun UVB lamps  for further information.

Wood Turtles

Wood turtles can be fed as described above; although some individuals can be picky feeders, they tend to accept a wider range of foods than do most box turtles.

Further Reading
Please see my article Providing a Balanced Diet to Reptile and Amphibian Pets for further information on reptile and amphibian nutrition.

You can read about ongoing field research projects involving box and wood turtles in the Northeastern USA at http://www.turtleconservationproject.org/projects.html.

Everyone associates the poison or “dart” frogs (Family Dendrobatidae) with skin toxins, but it is to the slow, seemingly benign newts and salamanders that we should really pay heed. In many cases their toxins are far more virulent and, unlike those of the poison frogs, they are produced internally and are not dependent upon diet for their existence (in other words, the toxins do not decline after a time in captivity, as is the case for poison frogs!).

One of Earth’s Most Toxic Creatures
Over 200 compounds, some of which are medically significant, have been isolated from newt and salamander skins. Western North America’s rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) possesses what may very well be the salamander world’s most powerful secretions…a single adult packs enough to kill 25,000 mice. More than one person (usually male, drunk and involved in some sort of “initiation” or dare), has suffered fatal consequences after swallowing a rough-skinned newt.

Skin secretions entering tiny cuts have rendered researcher’s limbs numb for hours, and a scientist who rubbed his eyes after touching a “woodland salamander” (I cannot recall the species, but belonging to the red-backed/slimy salamander group) wandered about blind for nearly 3 days before being rescued.

Toxins vs. Eel
Although the California newt’s (Taricha torosa) toxins pale in comparison to those of its rough-skinned cousin, they are not to be trifled with. I kept a California newt with an American eel for 17 years. The eel, a voracious predator that would as soon latch onto my hand as anything else, never once molested its seemingly defenseless tank-mate.

Next time I’ll relate an encounter I generated as a foolish 13 year old working in a pet store, which clearly illustrates the toxicity of even the most familiar of North American newts.

Further Reading
You can read more about the natural history and toxicity of the rough-skinned newt at http://www.amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Taricha&where-species=granulosa&account=amphibiaweb

California Newt Image referenced from Wikipedia Commons and originally posted by Justin Johnsen