While Chico the day gecko has already enjoyed much of your attention, this nameless young leopard gecko lady has kept very hidden until now. Along with Chico, she is one of the three geckos I adopted two months ago.

Unfortunately, the previous owner was not in the mental state to offer them species-appropriate accommodation. He kept two leopard geckos in a terrarium together with a day gecko. Actually, his supervisors should have taken care of it, whether that's okay.

The surprise was big, because my friend and I didn't know anything about the leopard geckos. But the good thing is that I have 22 years of experience keeping this species.

At first there was a huge shock because it seemed like only one leopard gecko was alive. Both were in a large sea shell, looking out. But this girl looked like she'd been dead for weeks. To play dead believably, she shut her eyes tight, opened her mouth a little, and contracted her body.

When I got the male out of the sea shell, she authentically fell inside and disappeared. When I first heard a noise, I thought I had just imagined it. Dead geckos don't make sounds!

What a feeling when she suddenly looked alive and beautiful out of the sea shell!

Like all my animals, she is a very beautiful sight. Nothing is known about her age and origin, but she looks to me like a young animal of about one or two years. As soon as I have a few nice photos of the male, I will of course also show him to you. 🥰

Banana Joe passed away in April. He has lived with me since 2002. At that time I was 16 years old. Banana Joe wasn't seen very often, he kept his wild nature to the end. If you had to grab him, he often responded with a bite and a loud crackle. I just really liked his incorruptible nature about him. All the more enriching were the moments when he showed himself, or when you could hear from the loudly vibrating tail that he was presenting his special advantages to a female. In 2017, he became a father to five girls. His daughter Nameless still lives with me, the other "Banana Shakes" got new owners. Like her father, Nameless is a rather shy animal and she is a beautiful living memory. I really wished that Banana Joe would stay with me for many more years, but he has reached a good age and I am grateful for the time together.

One of my 2016 offspring 🥰

In temperature-dependent sex determination, the sex of the offspring is not determined by chromosomes, but by the temperature in the nest. This makes it easy to breed leopard geckos of the desired sexes.

A few baby photos of my leopard gecko offspring from 2016 😄❤️

They start with a banded pattern, which gradually turns into a dot pattern.

Berenike 😄❤️

Instagram recently doesn't work that good. As always when they implement new features. I just found this capture too cute but couldn't upload it as wanted... but here it is 🤍

Loki and Berenike and a golden pot of zophobas. While Loki easily catches her meal, Berenike seems to be a bit confused. She doesn't hunt but walks around looking for something. She's actually looking for prey. You can see the same hunting behavior in my post # 330, which you can also find on my website megagroundsloth.de by searching for "lunatic gila monster".
There I also explain the social behavior. Berenike doesn't like fighting and she can hear the other zophobas outside. So she prefers to look for them. In the middle of the video you can "see" Nameless catching a worm from the left. She slowly sneaked to the pot and waited for a good moment. She twitched with tension. When I finished the recording, she was startled and gone in a flash. Arsinoë just climbs around in the background.

We want sunshine and warmth!
🌞🌡️

Luckily, spring is coming.
My leopard geckos ended their winter rest 10 days ago. On Monday they move back into the big terrarium.

I have made a few improvements to the terrarium. You can also look forward to a live cam, which will be available on my website soon.

In the photo you can see me together with Nameless.🤍

Loki runs outside in her pajamas as soon as she hears that an isopod is in the neighborhood.🤍

A reptile that hugs you is only looking for your warmth or tries to eat you.

Kleptothermy, theft of warmth, is a form of thermoregulation. It occurs in a wide variety of animal species, including human. For example when we cuddle up because it's cold.

Reptiles* cannot create body heat themselves. Their metabolism is dependent on external heat sources.

When your reptile hugs it body against you, it certainly feels safe. But it doesn't do it out of affection, but because you are warm.

It's still a nice feeling.

You should always keep in mind, that it's better for the animal not to take it out of the terrarium.

My leopard geckos are about to winter rest. I initiate a near-natural rest at a temperature of around 12°C.
It's important to get an accurate picture of the animals health beforehand. This includes taking fecal samples, scanning the body for abnormalities and assessing the strength of the animal.

*From a cladistic point of view, which is the scientific standard today, the reptiles as a monophyletic taxon, i.e. as a natural (complete) descent group (Reptilia as clade), should at least also contain the birds, which are warm-blooded.

Banana Joe, as fit as twenty years ago. Only better looking. 💪