# Goniurosaurus Lichtenfelderi



## carlos18 (Oct 30, 2006)

(One of the species of chinese cave gecko) Any caresheets on these?? I know the general way on how to keep them,i just like to know if anybody else's methods are different.Thanks.

Carl


----------



## ukgeckos (Apr 11, 2007)

there are loads of caresheets on these, just type it into google or take a look at geckosunlimited.com they have all the knowledge in the world!


----------



## PSGeckos (Jul 15, 2007)

*cave geckos*

*General care sheet and brief overview of the genus GONIUROSAURUS *
*(BARBOUR, 1908)* 

Common name: 
Cave gecko 

Scientific names: 
Goniurosaurus kuroiwae (NAMIYE, 1912) 
Goniurosaurus splendens (NAKAMURA & UENO, 1959) 
Goniurosaurus orientalis (MAKI, 1930) 
Goniurosaurus yamashinae (OKADA, 1936) 
Goniurosaurus toyamai (GRISMER, OTA & TANAKA, 1994) 
Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi (MOCQUARD, 1897) 
Goniurosaurus hainanensis (BARBOUR, 1908) 
Goniurosaurus luii (GRISMER, VIETS & BOYLE, 1999) 
Goniurosaurus araneus (GRISMER, VIETS & BOYLE, 1999) 
Goniurosaurus bawanglingensis (GRISMER, HAITAO, ORLOV & ANANJEVA, 2002) 

Introduction: 
The eyelash geckos of the genus Goniurosaurus currently contain 10 species. They occur in wet and rocky montane forests of the tropical and subtropical east and southeast Asia. 
Their distribution ranges from northeast Vietnam over adjacent southern China, Hainan island up to the Ryukyu Archipelago, with it’s main Island Okinawa in the southern part of Japan, where they inhabit 10 different islands only. 
Since 1999 only 2 species (G. kuroiwae and G. lichtenfelderi) with 7 subspecies were known. 
After numerous findings of new species, GRISMER revised the whole genus and upgraded the subspecies status to full species status according to their biogeographical relationships and morphological divergences. 
He currently differentiates 3 subgroups within the genus: 

_Luii_ group - containing the three species G. araneus (Vietnam), G. luii (China) and G. bawanglingensis (China). 

_Lichtenfelderi_ group - containing the two species G. lichtenfelderi (China) and G. hainanensis (China). 

_Kuroiwae_ group - with the five species G. splendens, G. kuroiwae, G. orientalis, G. yamashinae and G. toyamai. All species of that group are endemic to Japan. 

Habitat: 
The geckos live in wet montane forests, parks and rocky outcrops with high humidity, often related to very small rivers, montane streams and other moving bodies of water. 
We have mostly found them sitting on vertical rocks and at the lower levels of tree trunks as well as close to the entrance of caves at riverbanks. 
They spend the daytime in caves, crevices, under rocks and other humid hiding places waiting for complete darkness to come out for hunting. We have observed in the wild that they prefer temperatures of minimum 20 °C at night to become active. 

Description: 
All Goniurosaurus species are nocturnal ground dwelling geckos that are also perfect climbers. 
They are mid-sized geckos that can reach about 15-18 cm total length. Only the geckos of the _luii_ group grow up to 20 cm and more. 
Their colouration consists of bright yellow, orange, violet or pink banded patterns on a dark brown to black ground colour, depending on the species. This contrasting colouration, especially in juveniles, can be quite “shocking” and makes them one of the most beautiful geckos in our hobby. 
Typical for almost all species is a reddish iris colouration, that is only missing in Goniurosaurus yamashinae. Their iris is golden coloured. 

Sexing: 
Adult males of all species of Goniurosaurus can be easily distinguished from females by having large hemipenal bulges and enlarged cloacal spurs. 
Sexual maturity will be reached at an age of approximately 12 to 15 month in captivity, depending on keeping conditions. 

Longevity: 
I am currently keeping a group of Goniurosaurus splendens that I have been received as adult animals in 1995. These geckos still produce large numbers of fertile eggs, so I would say 10-15 years for the smaller species could be reached in captivity easily. Larger species like specimen of the _luii_ group will probably get much older. 

Housing: 
I usually keep pairs or groups of 1.2 geckos, in naturalistic decorated glass terrariums with the size of 50x50x75 cm (length x depth x height), together. I use California pine tree bark as substrate (usually used for orchids, that does not allow mould growth when soaked with water), lots of cork bark flats and tubes to climb and hide and an inverted flat ceramic flower pot for shelter. 
Living plants like _Ficus pumila _or _Scindapsus aureus _and a nest box, filled with a mixture of moist peat and sand, complete the set-up. 
Watering the plants and the inverted flower pot every other day is necessary to keep the humidity level up to about 60-80 % and to keep the shelters moist. 
Light will be provided with a 20 W daylight fluorescent tube for the plants and a 40 W spot light that heats the enclosure selectively up to about 25-28 °C at daytime. Cooler areas on the ground should be provided. The night time temperature is about 20-22 °C. Light is turned on for about 12 hours in summer and 8-10 hours in winter. UV light is not required. 
Note: High temperatures of 30 °C and more for a short period in summer connected with moist hiding places do not do any harm to the geckos, but the same temperatures without humid hiding places will kill them quickly. 
*Moisture is absolutely key for keeping any Goniurosaurus species !* 
Misting is not necessarily required under the described keeping conditions. 
All Goniurosaurus I have been keeping are very shy and cautious. Handling is very hard and causes a lot of stress, so they shouldn’t be taken out of their enclosure if not necessary. 

Goniurosaurus enclosures 








Goniurosaurus housing 









Diet: 
Food should be provided twice a week in little amounts of 3-4 prey items each. First choice should be all kinds of crickets, roaches and sometimes wax worms, mostly recommended for females during the breeding season. Feeder insects should be dusted with vitamin and calcium supplements each feeding. All prey items should be appropriately sized. Crickets should be served without hind limbs, to prevent them from getting rid of the supplements too quickly. 
A water dish with fresh water is provided all the time. Fluid vitamins should be served in the water dish once a week. 

Breeding: 
Like all other eyelash geckos, Goniurosaurus species usually lay 2 soft shelled eggs per clutch. Depending on the females condition they can produce up to 4 clutches per season. Breeding season usually occurs from late May to early September in my gecko room. 
The eggs should be incubated in containers with moist perlite or vermiculite and will hatch in about 70-80 days at incubation temperatures of approximately 26-28 °C. Lower temperatures results a higher percentage of females, higher temperatures results males. 

Juvenile raising: 
Hatchlings should be removed out of the incubating container after they have done their first shed only. That usually happens within the first hours of life. Getting stuck in their first shedding may cause death if not manually removed. Healthy hatchlings will do that on their own. 
I raise my Goniurosaurus hatchlings in little plastic containers with a moist peat substrate and an inverted flat ceramic flower pot for shelter only. This simple set-up helps a lot to observe and to clean them regularly. They will be fed like the adults. 
The small geckos can be kept in little groups of 2-4 specimen together until their sexes can be distinguished. That normally happens after about 6-10 month. Afterwards the males have to be separated from the females to prevent premature breeding. 

Juvenile Goniurosaurus kuroiwae 








Juvenile raising container 









Conservation: 
Due to habitat destruction and massive legal and illegal collections, especially of the recently discovered species like Goniurosaurus luii and araneus, all species are vulnerable to being endangered in the wild. All Japanese forms are strictly protected and therefore still very rare in captive collections. 
Because of these reasons, Goniurosaurus species should be kept by experienced keepers only. Saving those wonderful creatures for future work in captivity should be our first target. 



Hope this helps


----------



## carlos18 (Oct 30, 2006)

Thanks PSgeckos that's really helpful : victory:

Mine all look like this,still yet to find out what they are exactly lol,I put lichtenfelderi because that's what i was told,but i they maybe hainanensis.


----------

