the puppy dog of geckos [dial up warning]

[bleeding_sarcasm]

Leachies! [rhacodactylus leachianus or New Caledonian Giant gecko]
thought i would post a few updated pics of my trio.
leachie female #1



leachie female #2





and our male

[Wrecka]

wow
looks like a dinosaur

[bleeding_sarcasm]

yea, i imagine they sound like them too [loudest geckos ever]

[dhonaker]

has some of the coolest eyes i have ever seen

[bleeding_sarcasm]

thank you, rhacodactylus, the whole genus have very cool eyes, not as cool as uroplatus, but close

[scarlettrose2006]

oh WOW, more then WOW !!!

Can you tell us more about it? I know..."google" and all that, but I would love to hear your personal observations, storys, info...

Those are just to cool !!!

[HisssssyFit]

wow how big is he? Great looking critter

[bleeding_sarcasm]

my largest one [female #1] is 145g. and ~9 inches TL [total length] and they are not yet full grown. mine [island e form] probably will max out around ~175g.

rhacodactylus are arboreal geckos endemic to new caledonia [a french province], a small group of islands north east of austrialia. new caledonia is fairly isolated, and almost all of the plant species and animals are endemic to new caledonia, meaning they dont occur anywhere else in the world. Rhacodactylus have lamelle [spelling?] and claws that allow them to climb any surface, including glass. they also have prehensile tails that have a toe pad at the tip to help them cling/grasp things. all can regenerate their tails except for ciliatus. They eat fruit, insects, small vertebrate and in some cases, certin plants. i feed mine fruit mash, crickets, roaches, and supplament with the occasional pinky.

there are 6 major species of rhacodactylus, ciliatus [crested geckos]



auriculatus [gargoyle geckos]



sarasinorum [slender prehensile tail gecko
chahoua [mossy prehensile tail gecko] of which there is a pine isle and mainland locales. they are also the second largest species of rhacodactylus.
leachianus [giant geckos] [leachianus leachianus and leachianus henkeli]
and trachyrhynchus [rough snouted prehensile tail gecko] of which there are both a greater, and lesser form. these are.. incredibly rare, and the only live-baring rhacodactylus

leachianus are particularly interesting, not only being the largest of the rhacodactylus, are locale-specific, meaning they are found on different islands, and specific areas, all over new caledonia, however, each locale, have evolved differently, with different coloring/pattern and size. R. leachianus henkeli, or henkels giant geckos, are the smaller form, found on the surrounding islands, R. leachianus leachianus or grande terres, are the largest form [one of the largest gecko species in the world], found on the mainland/grande terre, they average about 300+g.

they come from a really moderate climate, where temperatures range between 65 and 85. they are nocturnal and incredibly vocal. at night when the florescent lights turn off, they come off and hiss and bark and chatter, and its.. amazing. as far as breeding goes, leachianus are very selective, and may pair for life, if they are paired with an animal they dont like, they will try, and probably succeed in killing eachother. it takes 2-3 years for them to reach sexual maturity. ciliatus and auriculatus do fine in harem groups, tho auriculatus have a reputation for being more agressive. my next addition will be sarasinorum, which most people say look like house geckos, or crested geckos without crests, but pictures dont really do this species justice. i hear they are the most aware/active of the rhacodactylus, and will watch you walk around the room, and be out of their cage if you turn your head for half a second.

uh.. i dont know what other kind of information youre interested in knowing...
ive seen my female auriculatus psudo coppulate and produce infertile eggs. same with my ciliatus, might be a dominance thing. rhacs do well in naturalistic vivs, and in mixed species vivs. as long as theyre adults, of similar size and dont inhabit the same niche. theyre also canibalistic, will eat the babies, smaller animals etc.

here is one of the inhabitants of my mixed-species viv, and i plan to get more, along with a few pink-tongued skinks

here are a few of the enclosures



tho they are nocturnal, i supplament them with both calcium, multi-vitamin and repti-sun 10.0 bulbs. i also take my leachies out into a reptitarium for a few hours in the sun on nice days once a week or so.

[VoodooChile]

All I can say is IMPRESSIVE!
Love the Vivarium! Best one Ive seen so far (no offense guys..LOL)
I'd love to do something similar for my Water dragon, very natural.
Great Geckos too! Every time I see pics of a Crestie I want one even more, but that will have to wait for a long time..Maybe after my Water Dragon and my Beardie are grown, I can look into a Crested.