- Home
- InchByInch Art
- Rhacodactylus Geckos
-
Other Herps
- Malaysian Bowfingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus elok)
- Leopard Gecko (Eublepharus macularius)
- Smooth Knob tailed gecko (Nephrurus levis levis)
- Frog eye Gecko (Teratoscincus przewalskii)
- Green Arboreal alligator lizard (Abronia graminea)
- Bauer's Chameleon Gecko (Eurydactylodes agricolae)
- Pygmy Panther Gecko(Paroedura androyensis)
- Japanese Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus orientalis)
- Waxy Monkey Tree Frog (Phyllomedusa sauvagei)
- Spider Gecko (Agamura persica)
- Helmeted Gecko (Tarentola chazalia)
- Thick-tailed gecko (Nephrurus milii)
- Web-footed gecko (Pachydactylus rangei)
- Chelonians
- Habitats and Vivaria
- Herpin'
- Blog
- Videos
- Links
- Contact
Malaysian Bowfingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus elok) Care sheet
Malaysian Bowfingered geckos are a partially arboreal (50-70% of time spent in branches), medium sized, slender gecko with interesting patterns and amazing tails. They do not take up much room, and display unique behaviors. They are not easily found in the pet trade, and most adults offered are wild caught. Hopefully over the next few years there will be more interest in breeding these geckos in captivity and allow relief to wild populations.
**NOTE-We no longer work with this species
Life span: Unknown, still researching, estimate at least 10 years in captivity.
Size: 2.5-3.5 inches long nose to tail tip. Females can be up to 50% larger than males.
Appearance: Their background dorsal coloration changes to lighter beige, yellow, or pink in daylight, and is darker browns and oranges in the dark. They also have diamond band shaped markings outlined in black with darker tan or brown coloration in the centers, these markings extend from base of head all the way down onto the tail where they become straight bands instead of diamonds. Their bellies are grey to white with light white or cream dappling; the coloration abruptly changes to a grey or tan coloration on their sides. They are thin and long bodied with spiky thin tails that are normally held in a curled position. When frightened these geckos may aggressively posture with their mouths wide open and waving their long tails stretched above them.
Captive Care:
-Cage: minimum 5 gallons per animal. We keep our pair together at all times in a 10-gallon tall tank. This allows ample ground area for the female to burrow or hide, while still giving the male a lot of branches to climb on. Males tend to be more arboreal than females, so this dynamic setup works best for keeping both together.
-Décor: Eloks like curling up in dead leaves and perching on branches that are not much thinner than their width. Lots of vines and leaves (real or fake, real will provide more humidity but will eventually decompose and need to be replaced) should be provided with loose moss or leaves on the ground for hiding. We have successfully used oak and maple branches with leaves still attached for climbing décor in our habitats.
-Temp: In our experience, adult eloks tend to prefer their enclosures warmer and drier that some other cyrtodactylus species. They like a gradient between 72 for a low and 82-84 for a high. We suggest letting them cool in the low to mid 70’s for a rest period before breeding adults. Juveniles are comfortable kept and grow in the upper 70’s.
-Lighting: We do not use any special lighting on our animals, but have noticed in the past that exposure to light makes their skin change to a lighter color. They are nocturnal animals though they will move around a bit during the day, so they do not require external light. However vitamin D3 should be offered if not providing light as this assists the geckos in processing calcium.
-Substrate: We use a coco fiber bottom substrate with loose clumps of sphagnum moss and dead dried leaves to provide humid easily accessible places to hide, and lay eggs.
-Water: Water dishes are not necessary, but may be used to help keep humidity levels up. We did not notice ours using the water dish we provided and our humidity remained stable due to a only partial screened lid, so we currently only provide water from misting. We have observed and discussed this particular care requirement with other knowledgeable keepers. The males seem to dislike water (sometimes squeaks and hides!), where females tend to enjoy it. We have noticed much more activity and healthier behaviors from our animals when males are only misted every other day. Females enjoy being watered at least once a day, and juveniles should be offered water no less than once a day. The ideal cage humidity is 40-50%.
-Feeding: For their small size these geckos are voracious eaters. We offer 3 to 4 prey items per animal 3 times a week, the females are offered food 5 days a week when gravid. Acceptable prey items are: crickets, moths, wax worms, small roaches, and flies. Prey should not be more than ¾ the width of the animals head. These are very fast animals, and will readily learn to eat from tweezers or straight out of your hand. Because they are such voracious eaters it is suggested they be watched while feeding if kept in pairs or groups to prevent fighting. Prey items should be dusted with vitamins once a week, twice if breeding females.
-Breeding: These animals should not be bred without properly preparing the females calcium levels for egg laying. One suggestion we have been told is to offer small garden snails as food items to the female as the shells are natural sources of calcium. It is normal for female eloks to be considerably larger than the males, if your female is still as small as your male, it is best to wait at least another 3 months to see if she grows any larger. In our experience males tend to be disinterested in females if the humidity and watering frequency is too high. Eloks also seem to be triggered into breeding by increasing the temperature. Cut back watering of your pair to once every other day and allow humidity to drop to 40%. While lowering your humidity, increase temperatures to 82*F. These modifications should be made over a period of two weeks, and should create the right environment for your animals to begin breeding. Elok bellies are very thin and their skin is nearly transparent. A few weeks after breeding you will begin to see two very round eggs forming in the female’s belly (photo of ours below). Over the next week the female will begin spending more and more time burying herself in the substrate. She will then lay her clutch of two eggs in what she decides is the safest location. After the female has moved away from the eggs, you may carefully remove them to an incubator. Incubation can accomplished by placing the clutch on dry sand or coco fiber inside a deli cup. This cup should then be placed in a larger container with 1:1 weight ratio of perlite to water. Incubate eggs at 75-80*F and around 65-70% humidity, but do not allow the eggs to come into direct contact with water (don’t let condensation droplets fall on them!) you want the eggs to be humid not wet. If eggs are incubated closer to 80 degrees they will hatch sooner. The average hatch time seems to be around 3 months, but varies greatly by temperature and humidity. Some breeders feel that slowly increasing the humidity to around 90% in the last 30 days of incubation helps the eggs incubate faster. We have not seen a mention of any female laying more than 3 clutches a year, but information is difficult to find on the captive care of this species. If you have experience to the contrary, please feel free to let us know your input!
**NOTE-We no longer work with this species
Life span: Unknown, still researching, estimate at least 10 years in captivity.
Size: 2.5-3.5 inches long nose to tail tip. Females can be up to 50% larger than males.
Appearance: Their background dorsal coloration changes to lighter beige, yellow, or pink in daylight, and is darker browns and oranges in the dark. They also have diamond band shaped markings outlined in black with darker tan or brown coloration in the centers, these markings extend from base of head all the way down onto the tail where they become straight bands instead of diamonds. Their bellies are grey to white with light white or cream dappling; the coloration abruptly changes to a grey or tan coloration on their sides. They are thin and long bodied with spiky thin tails that are normally held in a curled position. When frightened these geckos may aggressively posture with their mouths wide open and waving their long tails stretched above them.
Captive Care:
-Cage: minimum 5 gallons per animal. We keep our pair together at all times in a 10-gallon tall tank. This allows ample ground area for the female to burrow or hide, while still giving the male a lot of branches to climb on. Males tend to be more arboreal than females, so this dynamic setup works best for keeping both together.
-Décor: Eloks like curling up in dead leaves and perching on branches that are not much thinner than their width. Lots of vines and leaves (real or fake, real will provide more humidity but will eventually decompose and need to be replaced) should be provided with loose moss or leaves on the ground for hiding. We have successfully used oak and maple branches with leaves still attached for climbing décor in our habitats.
-Temp: In our experience, adult eloks tend to prefer their enclosures warmer and drier that some other cyrtodactylus species. They like a gradient between 72 for a low and 82-84 for a high. We suggest letting them cool in the low to mid 70’s for a rest period before breeding adults. Juveniles are comfortable kept and grow in the upper 70’s.
-Lighting: We do not use any special lighting on our animals, but have noticed in the past that exposure to light makes their skin change to a lighter color. They are nocturnal animals though they will move around a bit during the day, so they do not require external light. However vitamin D3 should be offered if not providing light as this assists the geckos in processing calcium.
-Substrate: We use a coco fiber bottom substrate with loose clumps of sphagnum moss and dead dried leaves to provide humid easily accessible places to hide, and lay eggs.
-Water: Water dishes are not necessary, but may be used to help keep humidity levels up. We did not notice ours using the water dish we provided and our humidity remained stable due to a only partial screened lid, so we currently only provide water from misting. We have observed and discussed this particular care requirement with other knowledgeable keepers. The males seem to dislike water (sometimes squeaks and hides!), where females tend to enjoy it. We have noticed much more activity and healthier behaviors from our animals when males are only misted every other day. Females enjoy being watered at least once a day, and juveniles should be offered water no less than once a day. The ideal cage humidity is 40-50%.
-Feeding: For their small size these geckos are voracious eaters. We offer 3 to 4 prey items per animal 3 times a week, the females are offered food 5 days a week when gravid. Acceptable prey items are: crickets, moths, wax worms, small roaches, and flies. Prey should not be more than ¾ the width of the animals head. These are very fast animals, and will readily learn to eat from tweezers or straight out of your hand. Because they are such voracious eaters it is suggested they be watched while feeding if kept in pairs or groups to prevent fighting. Prey items should be dusted with vitamins once a week, twice if breeding females.
-Breeding: These animals should not be bred without properly preparing the females calcium levels for egg laying. One suggestion we have been told is to offer small garden snails as food items to the female as the shells are natural sources of calcium. It is normal for female eloks to be considerably larger than the males, if your female is still as small as your male, it is best to wait at least another 3 months to see if she grows any larger. In our experience males tend to be disinterested in females if the humidity and watering frequency is too high. Eloks also seem to be triggered into breeding by increasing the temperature. Cut back watering of your pair to once every other day and allow humidity to drop to 40%. While lowering your humidity, increase temperatures to 82*F. These modifications should be made over a period of two weeks, and should create the right environment for your animals to begin breeding. Elok bellies are very thin and their skin is nearly transparent. A few weeks after breeding you will begin to see two very round eggs forming in the female’s belly (photo of ours below). Over the next week the female will begin spending more and more time burying herself in the substrate. She will then lay her clutch of two eggs in what she decides is the safest location. After the female has moved away from the eggs, you may carefully remove them to an incubator. Incubation can accomplished by placing the clutch on dry sand or coco fiber inside a deli cup. This cup should then be placed in a larger container with 1:1 weight ratio of perlite to water. Incubate eggs at 75-80*F and around 65-70% humidity, but do not allow the eggs to come into direct contact with water (don’t let condensation droplets fall on them!) you want the eggs to be humid not wet. If eggs are incubated closer to 80 degrees they will hatch sooner. The average hatch time seems to be around 3 months, but varies greatly by temperature and humidity. Some breeders feel that slowly increasing the humidity to around 90% in the last 30 days of incubation helps the eggs incubate faster. We have not seen a mention of any female laying more than 3 clutches a year, but information is difficult to find on the captive care of this species. If you have experience to the contrary, please feel free to let us know your input!