Meet my new frog-eyed friends.
Click image to enlarge Athena the frog-eyed gecko in her hide. |
 Athena the frog-eyed gecko is smiling for this picture. |
 Athena and Rex, the frog-eyed geckos. As you can see, Rex is a bit plumper than Athena. |
 Don’t they make a cute couple? |
Today I’d like to introduce you to two interesting new members of my ever-growing family. I came across my first frog-eyed gecko at a reptile show in mid-November and jumped at the chance to own one. My attention was immediately drawn to her because of the peculiar way she was standing, somewhat cat-like, her entire body held high with her back end up in the air. She had big, bright eyes and beautiful fish-like scaled skin. I fell in love, took her home, and named her Athena.
Athena the frog-eyed gecko has done great from the start and is one of the most enthusiastic eaters that I have ever seen. While hunting, she often stands with her tail straight up in the air, and then races after crickets and pounces on them, once she catches them her tail swishes back and forth just like a cat. Athena is tame and will eat from my hand, but I don’t handle her unless necessary, and am very careful when I do, because frog-eyed geckos have very delicate skin. They are more of a “look but don’t touch” kind of pet.
At a recent local reptile show, I stumbled upon a male frog-eyed gecko, a bit plumper than Athena, but that looked just as charming. I had my pair! The breeder warned me that he was a feisty one, and that this particular frog-eyed gecko had run and squeaked at him when he tried to catch him that morning.
When I got home, I tried to get him out of his container and into the terrarium. He was quite defensive and snarky. He inflated his throat and twisted his body, looking like an eel out of water. He did everything he could to get at my fingers, even jumping as high as he could to try and bite me. I decided to name my feisty new frog-eyed gecko Rex.
Rex has been perfectly friendly to Athena, and the two frog-eyed geckos get along well, which is all that mattered to me, and I assume he will get used to me in time. But, now I have an even bigger problem … getting sleep!
Rex is so much louder than Athena ever was, and is up every night, and into the early morning, doing what I can only assume is trying to dig a tunnel to China. Frog-eyed geckos are nocturnal and like to burrow, so I knew that they would be active and making some noise, but Athena was never that loud, so I didn’t expect Rex to be so obnoxious. I may have to move their cage out of my bedroom and as far away as possible … perhaps the next town over. It reminds me of when I had a Tokay gecko when I was a kid that would keep me up all night with its very loud barking.
Other than the volume at night, these guys are fascinating to watch in action, and have great, entertaining qualities. Now all I need is some earplugs!
-The Toad Talker
