The General Care of the White Lined Gecko
(Gekko Vittatus)
Written by Wayne Shipley owner of Gekko Gecko's Place! Thanx Gekko!
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History:

In the wild these geckos are found in the Indo Australian archipelago. They are a part of the Gekko family, which means that they are closely related to the Tokay gecko (head of the Gekko family). Among herpers they have come to be know as “Skunk” or “white line” geckos.

Characteristics:

Skunk geckos come in three main colors, a dark brown, a pale green and a tan color. All of these geckos have a white stripe that starts on both sides of the head, connects at the neck and runs down the back to the base of the tail. The tail consists of several broad white bands. They have beautiful golden eyes, and very slender bodies (not as heavy as a tokay) they also have the lammel pads on their feet enabling them to climb up walls. These geckos are usually fully-grown at 9-10 inches. Unlike their tokay cousins they are not very aggressive, and are quite calm. Like most geckos, they are nocturnal.

Housing:

Since skunk geckos love to climb, a tall terrarium is better than a long or wide one. Your tank should have a secure top, since they can climb walls they can easily get to it. A minimum of a 10 gallon for a pair. A screen top provides good ventilation for your geckos. They can be kept in groups of one male and up to 3 or 4 females. Never put more than one male in the same enclosure as they will fight to the death. Your gecko will need lots of hiding spots in the tank to escape the light, you can go for a natural look and use rock caves , bark, sticks… or you can just use margarine containers and boxes. I prefer the natural look myself. Whatever your setup you should have some green plants in the tank. They keep the humidity up and also provide a natural feel and look. As a substrate I prefer cypress bark mulch. It helps the humidity and once again I like the natural look (I’m sure the geckos do too). But you can also use dry newspaper, or Astroturf. You should clean your tank often, about every 1-2 months. Hygiene is good.

Feeding:

As a staple diet for your skunks you should provide them with crickets. 4-5 crickets every day, or 6-7 every other day works well. You should dust your crickets with calcium and vitamins every other meal. Do NOT feed insects from outside your house, as they can carry pesticides and other bad things. This is not always true, but is it worth the chance? Skunks also enjoy nectar mixtures. These are easy and cheap to make, here is the recipe. :

Mix some baby food (peach or banana) with a little honey a small amount of water and some calcium. Your gecko will love it. Feed this 2-3 times a week.

They also like meal worms and wax worms, you should feed these every once and a while as a treat. Because they are so high in fat they should not be fed as a staple diet. You should provide your gecko with a small dish of water, change this every day.

Heating:

Skunk geckos prefer it HOT and HUMID. During the day the temp should be around 82-85, in the night you can let the temp drop to the low 70s. You can achieve this by using an under the tank heating pad (human kind works fine) under ½ the tank. And have a heat lamp on top of the screen. You should create a warm side and a cool side in your tank. And provide hiding spots in both. At night when your geckos are active you will want to watch them, to be able to see them in the dark you can use a red or a blue incandescent light bulb. This will also provide some heat.

You should have around a 65-70% humidity level in the tank. Having green plants in the tank and using cypress bark mulch help keep this up. You can also cut a piece of plastic to cover half of the lid to hold moisture in. It is also very important that you mist the tank 2-3 times a day, this will definitely keep the humidity up and your geckos will also drink the water off the side of the glass.

Miscellaneous:

Give your geckos some private time, they need to get away from nosey humans during some point in the day.

Try to avoid handling them, they are more of a “show pet’.

The plants in the tank must be safe and non-toxic to your gecko. Some safe plants are dracaena, snake plants, and small rubber trees.

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