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Care Sheet - Viper Gecko
Teratolepis fasciata
DescriptionViper geckos are a smalll nocturnal gecko from Pakistan. This terrestrial species grows to an adult size of between 3-4" and its colouration is made up of shades of brown with grey to white bands across its body, and with its distinctively shaped tail was sometimes given the name turnip tail gecko. In its natural range this gecko can be found in arid areas under rocks and in crevices and under fallen organic matter.
Viper geckos are best kept in small groups of, for example, a male and three females, and due to their small size do not require large enclosures - an 18"x10"x7" is ideal for a group of this size. Several substrates are suitable for these easy to care for geckos. We have had great sucess using sand for adults as well as babies, and have had no problems at all. In our enclosures we also have small upturned plant saucers with entrance holes cut into them for hides. We place one at the cool end as well as at the hot end. Also in there we include a few twigs as they do like to climb, and at the cool end we also have a small tupperware container with a hole in the top filled with damp soil/sand.
Being nocturnal, Viper geckos do not require UVB lighting, but should be provided with a seasonal varying photoperiod. We use 14 hours of light in the summer reduced to 10 hours in the winter. With our geckos heating is provided by a heat cable but a heat pad can also be used and this is placed under the enclosure covering no more than one third of the floor area. An ideal temperature at this end is 85/95°F, and this will also create the required thermal gradient so you get temperatures of around 75°F at the cool end.
Viper geckos are insectivorous and will consume crickets, mealworms, small hoppers and small roaches. All of these feeders should be of appropriate size and gutloaded before feeding them (see gutload sheet).
Supplementation is another important part of feeding your lizards but dosage rates will all depend on what you are actually feeding your lizards. The gutload I use for my livefood I make myself, made up of many different ingredients. It contains all necessary vitamins, minerals and amino acids, so I only need to supplement once or twice a week. Calcium is a very important part of the diet especially for growing young and laying females. I always have a bowlful available in the vivarium so its there when they need it. I use grated cuttlefish bone and they love to crunch on the small pieces when its first put in for them. This greatly improves their growth rate.
On occasions I also add in the vivarium wild insect sweepings from the garden. This creates a lot of interest with the lizards especially flying insects. This is another subject with some controversy because of the use of pesticides but my view is that if they are running around in your garden then they are probably not poisoned by pesticides; otherwise we would have no insect eating wildlife left. The choice is yours.
Viper geckos are prolific breeders and will continue to lay clutches of two hard shelled eggs every two to four weeks for much of the year so it is important to provide plenty of calcium to laying females or they will soon burn out. Obviously for breeding to happen you must have at least a pair at breedable age (this can be from 6 to 12 months). Sexing viper geckos is easier as the animal gets older but you should be able to start sexing them from as little as two to three months old, when males will start to show hemipenal bulges at the base of the tail.
When your geckos do lay their eggs these need to be transfered to an incubator. The way we incubate our eggs is to place them in a small dish of dry sand and then this dish is placed into another container which has a small layer of vermiculite or perlite that has a little water added to create a little humidity (ideally around 50%-60%). The other benefit to this method is when they hatch they run over the edge of the sand dish and drop down onto the perlite. Then they are unable to get back up to the other eggs, and there is no chance of them digging around and turning the other eggs that are incubating. At a temperature of 85 these eggs should hatch in around 50 days.
The hatchlings when born will be around 1" in total length. Best results for rearing these will be in a simple setup: sand or paper towel as substrate, which should be slightly misted daily for the first couple of weeks; a very shallow water bowl like a jam jar lid, calcium dish, and a crushed toilet roll tube as a hide. With these items in with them there will be few places for the livefood to hide so monitoring their food intake will be easier and more will be consumed. Food should not be offered until their third day as they will be living off the nutrients from the yolk sac and the uneaten food will just irritate them.