This little
green day gecko hatched prematurely on May 13, either on her own or when
another gecko dislodged her and her sibling's eggs from their position at the
top of our guest bathroom window. Both eggs broke open, but the other egg was
at least a week away from hatching and the embryonic gecko died, much to its
mother's dismay. She sat for hours in the window staring at her broken egg with
the little embryo.
We found the other sibling of the pair at the bottom of the window; a dusky
gray, barely alive & moving only feebly. It is the tiniest day gecko hatchling
we have ever seen! Not much over 1/2" with arms & legs so thin we didn't
dare try to pick her up, so slid a piece of paper underneath her. We placed
her on a wet tissue, put her in a Trader Joe's edamame box with holes punched
in the lid & a little papaya, and hoped for the best.
She was still alive the next morning and wanted out desperately. Against my
better judgment, I took her out to my usual release point for hatchlings out
in the helekonia, but once she got to the top and looked out at the big wide
world, she turned around and went back into her little box. So I added some
branches & leaves to her new home along with some tiny little bugs I gathered off dead
leaves from our orchid tree. We named her Liʻi (pronounced lee-ee), Hawaiian for small, since she was the smallest little Gold Dust Day Gecko we had ever seen!
Each day I would take her box with me, with the
top removed, so she could see the sun, and she often would wiggle to the top
and look out. We noticed that her back right leg did not seem to work quite
right and the toes seemed clumped together. She would often lurch while trying
to walk. She also was still covered in a grayish "egg skin" that most
of the hatchlings shed soon after hatching, although it was split in several
places.
We never
actually saw her eat, but she obviously did since she was active and continued
to survive. On May 26, we moved her to a bigger box so she could have more room. Unfortunately, the morning of May 31 we found her gray & lethargic.
When I opened her box, she crawled out onto my hand and was cold and clammy.
We also noticed that the "egg skin" had formed a thick, multiple band layer
around her head that was working down towards her throat. It was also around
her arms, legs and tail, as well as on her belly and partially on her back. Some of
her back was clear, but the rest of it really looked tight and like it was constricting
her movements.
On the
advice from members of the Global
Gecko Association's (GGA) Gecko
List, we put Liʻi in a humidity chamber (aka sweat box, sauna, hot box) to help loosen the old skin she should have already molted in order to make it
easier to try to remove it with moistened Q-tips and tweezers.
The mama watched over the broken eggs for hours, just staring, with her nose close to the shells. The preemie survived, barely. Her sibling did not. (5/13/08 @12:54pm)
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Liʻi's first photo. We set her up in a small TJ's edamame box, about 3.5"x3.5" at the base. It was more than enough room for her since she was so tiny! (
5/18/08 @7:45pm)
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I took her outside with me when I collected new leaves and bugs for her, and she would struggle to the top edge of the box to survey her surroundings or just sit in the sunshine.
(5/23/08 @3:42pm)
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Liʻi on top edge of the edamame box. She is very alert & interested in us.
(5/23/08 @3:43pm)
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Liʻi on edge of edamame box, keeping an eye on us.
(5/23/08 @3:46pm)
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Moved her to a larger 7.5"x5" container so she would have more space to play. She likes honeysuckle leaves & blossoms, red ti, knotweed (she climbs it like a ladder), and helekonia to sleep in.(5/26/08 @4:04pm)
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Same photo, close-up. You can see her fingers
and toes, but they are all covered with the old skin, as is most of her body.
(5/26/08 @4:04pm)
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Yesterday she was lethargic, cold &
clammy.
The unshed skin has bunched up and formed a multi-layer
ring around her neck. The old skin has pulled up and tightened,
and seems to be hampering the movement of her arms and legs. She
tends to lurch her whole body to move rather than actually walk.(6/1/08
@12:20pm)
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Close-up of old skin around neck.
(6/1/08 @12:20pm)
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We tried to loosen the skin ring around her neck with a little water, but it was pretty tight. And she is so tiny we can't actually hold onto her, so it is difficult to get any real "traction" on her.(6/1/08 @12:33pm)
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A rare quiet moment when she isn't racing around.(6/1/08 @12:34pm)
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Steam bath #1: At the suggestion of members
of the GGA, we placed her in a humidity chamber on a damp washcloth
to try to soften the old skin and make it easier to remove with
Q-tips and tweezers. Notice how tight the skin ring looks around
her head and the skin on her arms, legs and tail. (6/2/08 @7:46am)
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She doesn't like this at all! She kept trying to go up the sides the whole time, but of course she just slid back down due to the moisture on the inside. But that didn't stop her; her little feet were going like crazy!
(6/2/08 @7:52am)
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Her underbelly view as she tries climbing the walls. Not a pretty sight. She has a lot of darkened old skin on her belly, and her left fingers and right toes look very dark.
(6/2/08 @8:00am)
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She is actually making a little progress up the wall. She worked her way all around the enclosure. Let me out!
(6/2/08 @8:48am)
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Close-up of prior photo. You can see how wet she is; no wonder she hates it!
(6/2/08 @8:48am)
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Humidity chamber setup for stream baths.
(6/2/08 @9:05am)
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Another belly shot. We are quite concerned about the black areas on the left fingers, right toes & tail tip. (6/2/08 @10:41am)
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Another belly shot. (6/2/08 @10:44am)
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The skin does look like it might be softening up. (6/2/08 @10:46am)
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1st session with Q-tips & tweezers
to try to remove the old dead skin. You can see how tiny she is
on Dennis' index finger. We can't hold her down; we're afraid we
might break those pencil-lead thin arms & legs! (6/2/08 @11:55am)
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She's a fast moving target!! Makes it hard to grab a tiny roll of skin with tweezers that are far bigger than she is!
(6/2/08 @11:56am)
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Steam bath session #2. We did loosen up some skin; you can see the loose stuff on her left arm, webbed to her belly, and also to her back & tail.
(6/2/08 @12:32pm)
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More loose skin on her right arm and leg. (6/2/08 @12:33pm)
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Another belly shot showing the skin wrapping from her arms and across her belly. She still hates the steam bath treatment! (
6/3/08 @10:25am)
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Another try with Q-tips & tweezers to
remove the old dead skin. Hey, she's actually a nice green underneath!
(6/3/08 @10:34am)
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One way to stop the probing -- jump on the Q-tip! Hey, let's take
a ride! (6/3/08 @10:34am)
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Whups! No fair! You can still see those sticky threads of skin on her hands. (6/3/08 @10:35am)
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She's being such a good girl ... for a few seconds, anyway. (6/3/08 @10:37am)
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Her right arm is clear down to the forearm, but still attached under the belly to the other side. (6/3/08 @10:39am)
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Rub, rub, rub. (6/3/08 @10:39am)
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(6/3/08 @10:39am)
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Got hold of the dead skin with the tweezers ...
(6/3/08 @10:41am)
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... and she twists and turns like a pretzel!!
(6/3/08 @10:41am)
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Working on the right arm again.
(6/3/08 @10:42am)
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He grips the skin near the top of her left arm ...
(6/3/08 @10:42am)
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... and pulls gently ...
(6/3/08 @10:42am)
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... and down it comes!!
(6/3/08 @10:43am)
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Now it's just on her delicate little hand & fingers.
(6/3/08 @10:43am)
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More Q-tips to moisten the hand.
(6/3/08 @10:44am)
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And more ...
(6/3/08 @10:44am)
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She's tired of this; time for a ride!
(6/3/08 @10:45am)
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Really tired; she needs a respite, so back to the steam bath for a while.
(6/3/08 @10:45am)
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Steam Bath Session #3. Oops! We didn't realize the old skin was effectively tying her legs together! She just sat under her leaf this time.
(6/3/08 @11:11am)
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Need to work on the legs this time, as the skin is dragging and getting caught up.
(6/3/08 @11:43am)
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Just about have it off her right leg.
(6/3/08 @11:43am)
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Look! She actually has fingers & toes!! Her right leg, the damaged one, actually looks much better now that the skin is off.
(6/3/08 @11:44am)
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She also seems to be able to use her right leg and foot more easily with the old skin gone.
(6/3/08 @11:45am)
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Trying to work on the tail skin ...
(6/3/08 @11:45am)
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... but she's not fond of her tail being touched! And she is fast!
(6/3/08 @11:46am)
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There she goes again! Leave my tail alone!
(6/3/08 @11:47am)
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One more try ... before we gave up for the day.
(6/3/08 @11:47am)
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Back in her house, she seems to be able to climb more easily without the old skin on her arms & legs — and she does love to climb!
(6/4/08 @8:40am)
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Relaxing the next morning after a breakfast of de-winged fruit flies & tiny little bugs from the garden. She has a white patch on her left finger, one on her right foot, and the old skin on her tail — otherwise, she is looking nice & green & healthy.
(6/4/08 @9:27am)
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Another view of her tail with the dead skin. (6/4/08 @9:32am)
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A view from the underbelly. (6/4/08 @5:06pm)
Click for larger image
(opens in new window)
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Liʻi on my finger, looking out the door ... (6/4/08 @5:40pm)
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... and hopefully towards a long & happy life. (6/4/08 @5:40pm)
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But it was not to be. Liʻi died just one day short of a month old. I still miss her very much.
