Christinus marmoratus

Southern Marbled Gecko at Higgins, ACT

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Identification history

	Christinus marmoratus	1 Jan 2018	wombey
	Christinus marmoratus	1 Jan 2018	AlisonMilton

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User's notes

I found this poor little guy in my spare room stuck to a moth trap. It was still alive so after a painstaking hour or so I managed to free it but unfortunately couldn't prevent its little toes from becoming stuck together. Consequently I found it couldn't climb walls etc. I kept it a few days catching moths for it but it didn't seem to be eating them. I debated on letting it go but feared it wouldn't be able to climb walls to catch food. in the end I let it go where I found it: in the spare room figuring that it could find a grip on the carpet (and the carpet may eventually wear the glue from its feet) and it might find more moths to feed on (I have a carpet moth plague). I'm please to report I found it still alive a few days later. I also spotted a second one outside my back door a few days prior.

1 comment

WillO wrote:

2 Jan 2018

What you could try if it happens again is to put some clean cooking oil on each of the feet. Leave for an hour or so and then with warm water and your fingers gently wriggle the toes to free them. Those fly sticky traps used to be used to catch lizards during reptile surveys and that is how we freed the lizards from the trap. The geckos are probably seeing a stuck moth and going over to capture it. The skin might come free next time the lizard sheds its skin but in the meantime the lack of climbing ability means it will probably not survive. WillO

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