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Frog eye Gecko (Teratoscincus przeswalskii) Care Sheet
Frog-eyed geckos are medium sized, nocturnal, terrestrial burrowing geckos from a desert environment in Central Asia. They have neat scales that look more like fish scales than reptile scales, which they can rattle when frightened!
**NOTE-We no longer work with this species but hope to again in the future.
Life span: estimate 20 years in captivity
Size: 6 inches nose to tail tip
Appearance: Przewalskii frog eyed geckos have very large greenish colored eyes, and a curious personality. While they do not like to be held, they do like to see what you are up to and will frequently come running out of their burrows to observe you. They also should not be picked up directly as their skin is very sensitive and will dislodge in pieces even from light handling. They have a grey to tan base color with brown or dark grey spotted markings on their backs. Their toes have small fringes on each one to aid in moving sand while digging.
Captive Care:
-Cage: These geckos can get very food aggressive, therefore we suggest no smaller than a 20 gallon horizontally oriented cage for a pair. These animals are fully terrestrial and like to burrow so they should be provided ample ground space. They also need extremely low humidity, a screen top is the best way to accomplish this.
-Decor: A simple setup is the easiest option for these animals. Being burrowers any plants or heavy fixtures like rocks need to be protected or very securely placed within the tank. We keep all of our cacti and succulents planted to prevent the animals from digging into the roots and killing the plants. Any rocks used should always be unmovable by the animals and in a secure (no wobbling!) position when there is no substrate in the enclosure. You cannot rely on substrate to hold rocks in place as the animals will easily dig and move the substrate around. Rocks and other rough surfaces aid in shedding, and plants add aesthetic value without added humidity if they are desert species. We have successfully kept prickly pear cacti and milky cacti with our pair.
-Temperature: Day time temperature for these geckos should be an ambient temp of 80-85*F, and drop to 72-76*F at night. They should also be provided a hot spot at 95-100*F, we prefer to use basking lights to accomplish this heat gradient.
-Lighting: While these animals are nocturnal, they do occasionally bask, and heat is very important to them. We offer UVB lighting on 12 hours a day for regular light, and a spotlight heat bulb 10 hours a day aimed specifically at slate rock slabs in the center of the tank. This heats the rocks up slowly throughout the day as they would in nature, giving the animals the opportunity to lay their bellies on them before they cool down at night to aid in digestion.
-Substrate: non-silica based sand is a perfect substrate for these burrowers, but other types of clay based sands may be even better due to the added mold-ability of the clay.
-Water: Like many desert species frog eye geckos are not accustomed to frequently encountering standing bowls of water. They tend to kick their substrate into the water when it is offered, and we have personally never seen ours use the water dish we provided for the first month we had them. Instead we mist the cacti as needed (most only need water once every week or two) and mist the areas around the animals burrows once a week. Most of the time the geckos simply run and hide from the water, but occasionally they will poke their noses out and lap up the droplets. Misting should not soak the cage, you should only put enough water on to make the top inch of substrate, in the spot you are watering, wet.
-Feeding: Frog eyes are voracious and frequently aggressive feeders. They will tackle prey of many sizes and types, and even attempt to swallow prey too large for them. They should never be offered anything larger than 3/4 the width of their heads to allow proper swallowing and digestion. We have sustained our pair on meal worms, meal beetles, dubia roaches, moths, wax worms and occasionally crickets (our female does not like crickets, the male eats them on occasion). They should be fed once every other day, as many prey items they can eat in 5 minutes. The best time to feed them is right before dusk as they are still warm and waking up for the night.
-Breeding: This species does need to be put into hibernation to breed, suggested duration of at least 3 months at 50-60*F. Mating takes place at the beginning of the year while you slowly raise temperatures back up to the 90's. The eggs are laid in clutches of 2 with up to 4 clutches a year. Females will frequently eat the substrate in their cage in search of calcium so they should be provided extra calcium in a dish to help (we pulverize egg shells and mix this in with the sand substrate). The eggs are extremely fragile and very sensitive to humidity and should be incubated without moisture or humidity at 82-84*F.
**NOTE-We no longer work with this species but hope to again in the future.
Life span: estimate 20 years in captivity
Size: 6 inches nose to tail tip
Appearance: Przewalskii frog eyed geckos have very large greenish colored eyes, and a curious personality. While they do not like to be held, they do like to see what you are up to and will frequently come running out of their burrows to observe you. They also should not be picked up directly as their skin is very sensitive and will dislodge in pieces even from light handling. They have a grey to tan base color with brown or dark grey spotted markings on their backs. Their toes have small fringes on each one to aid in moving sand while digging.
Captive Care:
-Cage: These geckos can get very food aggressive, therefore we suggest no smaller than a 20 gallon horizontally oriented cage for a pair. These animals are fully terrestrial and like to burrow so they should be provided ample ground space. They also need extremely low humidity, a screen top is the best way to accomplish this.
-Decor: A simple setup is the easiest option for these animals. Being burrowers any plants or heavy fixtures like rocks need to be protected or very securely placed within the tank. We keep all of our cacti and succulents planted to prevent the animals from digging into the roots and killing the plants. Any rocks used should always be unmovable by the animals and in a secure (no wobbling!) position when there is no substrate in the enclosure. You cannot rely on substrate to hold rocks in place as the animals will easily dig and move the substrate around. Rocks and other rough surfaces aid in shedding, and plants add aesthetic value without added humidity if they are desert species. We have successfully kept prickly pear cacti and milky cacti with our pair.
-Temperature: Day time temperature for these geckos should be an ambient temp of 80-85*F, and drop to 72-76*F at night. They should also be provided a hot spot at 95-100*F, we prefer to use basking lights to accomplish this heat gradient.
-Lighting: While these animals are nocturnal, they do occasionally bask, and heat is very important to them. We offer UVB lighting on 12 hours a day for regular light, and a spotlight heat bulb 10 hours a day aimed specifically at slate rock slabs in the center of the tank. This heats the rocks up slowly throughout the day as they would in nature, giving the animals the opportunity to lay their bellies on them before they cool down at night to aid in digestion.
-Substrate: non-silica based sand is a perfect substrate for these burrowers, but other types of clay based sands may be even better due to the added mold-ability of the clay.
-Water: Like many desert species frog eye geckos are not accustomed to frequently encountering standing bowls of water. They tend to kick their substrate into the water when it is offered, and we have personally never seen ours use the water dish we provided for the first month we had them. Instead we mist the cacti as needed (most only need water once every week or two) and mist the areas around the animals burrows once a week. Most of the time the geckos simply run and hide from the water, but occasionally they will poke their noses out and lap up the droplets. Misting should not soak the cage, you should only put enough water on to make the top inch of substrate, in the spot you are watering, wet.
-Feeding: Frog eyes are voracious and frequently aggressive feeders. They will tackle prey of many sizes and types, and even attempt to swallow prey too large for them. They should never be offered anything larger than 3/4 the width of their heads to allow proper swallowing and digestion. We have sustained our pair on meal worms, meal beetles, dubia roaches, moths, wax worms and occasionally crickets (our female does not like crickets, the male eats them on occasion). They should be fed once every other day, as many prey items they can eat in 5 minutes. The best time to feed them is right before dusk as they are still warm and waking up for the night.
-Breeding: This species does need to be put into hibernation to breed, suggested duration of at least 3 months at 50-60*F. Mating takes place at the beginning of the year while you slowly raise temperatures back up to the 90's. The eggs are laid in clutches of 2 with up to 4 clutches a year. Females will frequently eat the substrate in their cage in search of calcium so they should be provided extra calcium in a dish to help (we pulverize egg shells and mix this in with the sand substrate). The eggs are extremely fragile and very sensitive to humidity and should be incubated without moisture or humidity at 82-84*F.