Cricket Contest

[Amanda Stauffer]

My tiny little girlfriends (Mourning Geckos) enjoy chasing bugs around and giving them small crickets would save the isopods and other CUC from getting hunted and eaten

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[Zoodulcis]

Adorable, and very tiny. I believe you are the first forum member to post their Mourning Geckos. Will they get much bigger?

[Amanda Stauffer]

Not much, no. When they hatch they’re about 1.5 inches and full grown is about 3. My “momma” I’ve had for a year now and the oldest hatchling is 2 months and youngest is maybe a week. So far I have a total of 6. In the image I just added is “momma”

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[Zoodulcis]

Man…they are small. A really precious. What made you decide on this species of gecko as pets?

[Amanda Stauffer]

We found them at a reptile show out here in PA and were easy to research and very interesting. They can be very delicate things, but they can be hearty. They can live between 10 and 15 years that are known to us as long as there aren’t any issues. I love watching them interact with each other and we are planning on making a bigger bioactive for them since there are so many hatching out now. Surprisingly they are one of the only species recommended to mix with other species, which would be dart frogs. I’d have to research on them before buying any of i wanted to though.

[Zoodulcis]

This reply is on the beardie. Quite a tale you have to tell. Sad but it sounds like it’s going to have a happy ending. I bet his preference for squishy things is a holdover from the MBD. It can really devastate their teeth and jaws. His mouth may still be sore. Hopefully in a year or even less, that will have diminished considerably.

[Amanda Stauffer]

He seems happy and active for the most part! He does climb over small things and can get around, just has trouble climbing things, but no real issues getting down

[Zoodulcis]

OK, now back to geckos. Are these little guys in with dart frogs now?

[Amanda Stauffer]

haha no, not yet. Was thinking about it, but not until later. I want a different tank set up for that and this one is only a 10 gal holding momma and 4 hatchlings. #5 is in a container. She decided it would be fun to hunt for bugs under the substrate netting and make me fish her out twice in one weekend. She’s now in a pet carrier for the time being 🤣 she is the one who is actually posted in this picture we are commenting on. Here’s one of her under the layer as an attachment

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[Zoodulcis]

Oh the naughty wench. What kind of substrate is that?

[Amanda Stauffer]

I got it from NEHERPS, along with everything needed except CUC! Great place and I shopped around. It consists of tree feen fiber, coir, fine/med grade charcoal, chopped sphagnum moss, and fine grade orchid bark. They also sent the stone for the wet layer, oak leaves, and the separation screen for the sub kit. plus the kit to put the flora in and I picked 5 plants and some cork. I think all in all it was around 100 for a 10gal. I’d have to double check.

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[Amanda Stauffer]

$105 USD with taxes! And had a few more items than I listed

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[Amanda Stauffer]

5 plants, cork board background, 1 gallon bag of cork pieces

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[Amanda Stauffer]

Bulb, plant mounting kit, bulkhead kit

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[Amanda Stauffer]

And the substrate kit that came with the “dirt”, screen, and stones for a 10 gal mourning gecko viv.

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[Zoodulcis]

So all in all, you are pretty happy with it and feel it was a good value?

[Amanda Stauffer]

Very much so. When I make a bigger enclosure for them I’m probably going to go back to them.

[Zoodulcis]

Often best to stick with a product you can trust, unless someone you know personally makes a really compelling argument for something else that they have used. When do you think you will be providing them with a bigger space?

[Amanda Stauffer]

Planning sometime within this year. It was going to be sooner, because I wanted to rearrange gecks and make another shelving unit to free up some space, but this whole pandemic thing threw us off with plans. We were supposed to find another rental and move by the end of April (bc our landlords want to sell the house since it’s too much for them) and we haven’t even done that. I’ve also been out of work and not collecting unemployment, so the less money spent the better. With the hatchlings being so little, I can always relocate them to smaller, individual spaces until I can release them into bigger ones. It shouldn’t cost more than $200 for everything and that’s at a high guesstimate. It cost me about that much to build a 6 shelf, 30 gal each, housing unit for the leos. I shouldn’t think it would cost much more than that to flip a tank for the mourning gecks

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