Care Guide - Mourning geckos

Can they be Cohabilitated?

Yes they should always be cohabitated for there wellbeing, they get on very well with each other and have a dominance heirachy between memebers of a terrarium.

What size do they get? -

Morning Geckos get to around 9-10cm in length, they are a very small gecko compared to alot of other geckos within the hobby right now.

When will i see them?

Morning geckos are Cathemeral which means they go through irregualr periods of activity, i have personally noticed they will go through phases throughout the day of chirping at each other but not moving very much and then during the evening gernally starting at 7-8pm they will wander around the glass and be more active into the late hours of the night.

Costs to keep

How much will it roughly cost you to keep an individual Mourning gecko well including the setup and ongoing costs, this does not include unexpected vet bills or the rising cost of products over time.

Distribution -

They have a very large distribution but are really know for being found in south asia countries specifically indonisian and other counties spanning the south pacific region. They are on the IUCN list as least concern as there populations are stable so that and there distribution make them an easy animal to obtain.

Image captured from iNaturalist

Rating - (Ease of care) - Very easy- ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Setup Requirements - 

The beauty of this species is that you can start of really small and upgrade to a medium sized enclosure, Glass terrariums are ideal for these guys as the galss walls make perfect viewing angles to abserving where your geckos are before you open it up to feed them. I personally advise to get a terrarium that is top opening if it is a smaller terrarium as it is alot easier to see everything going on above than to the side at the smaller end and these Geckos are know to be excellent escape artists. You can start off with a 20x20x30cm glass terrarium for 3 of these and work up to 45x45x60. There is no limit though, if you wanted to go bigger then thats fantastic. Just make sure to plant and decor heavely to fill out the spaces as these Geckos love to hide and rest during the day.

Substrate options and decor -

You want a substrate that can hold humidity well and distribute it through the day, my personal recomendation is to use a coco coir and Sedge peat mix 40:60, the sedge peat is fantastic at retaining water in a compact space and the coco coir is brilliant at holding the humidity in a more arated mixture so i have found that the humidity can stay and release for a good amount of time before having to spray it. This mix is also fantastic for live plants as the pet is full of nutrients that the plants can use to grow and the softer coco coir allows the more humid loving pants to root really well and thrive. You can also use crestie life which is very similar in holding water aswell a bit more expensive but is more eco friendly than Sedge peat mix. The depth of the substrate should be atleast 3-5 inchs.

When selecting decor make sure to have a mix of tightly packed spaces for the Geckos to hide, you can either go for live plants or artifical ones, depending on if you want to go more natural looking. You can use wood and sticks aswell either from outside and decontaminated or buy them which is the more safe approach. Also some hiding rocks near the bottom of the enclosure are a good decor item they will centantly hide between cracks, Here are some decor items below.

Heating and lighting- 

They dont need that much heat overall, they bask at around 26-30c which you can easly achieve with an 8w uvb which i will discuss in a moment, nearer the bottom of there enclosure keep it to around 20c. Maintaining these tempratures within this range will ensure the Geckos can digest there food appropriatly.

UVB does not need to be strong you can use a t5 8w strip on the top with a UVI range of 1.0-3.0, I would personally avoid a uvb bulb hood fixtures as these bulbs do not dissapate the UV very well.

Below is the Average High and Low Temperature in Weligama in South of Sri Lanka in part of the Mourning geckos range and as you can see there isnt much of a difference between day and night time as far as tempratures are concerened so really we should be keeping them at the lowest of around 24c maybe a little lower 21-22c to take into account hinding spaces that have a lower ambient tempratures, and a basking spot of no more than 30c. There isnt much to say about seasons as ther is little change between them.

Diet and nutrition -

Diets for Mourning geckos are very simple but require regular feedings and mistings below is the list of foods they require

• Small crickets (as adults only on occasion)
• Fruitflies  both small and bigger
• Calci worms
• Crested Gecko Diet
• Fruits (Can dust these and place at the bottom of a bioactive enclosure for inverts to munch on aswell)

Feed them once every other day, I would make there diet a majority of insects 3 times a week and keep crested gecko diet in there enclosure 2 days a week. Make sure to remove Crested gecko diet after 24 hours as it will mold quick.

Example rota - 

M - Fruit flies

T -  Off day

W - Crested gecko diet

T-  Fruit flies

F- Off day

S- Fruit flies

S- Crested gecko diet

You can impliment some of the other foods in this rota aswell, there is no need to be strict with it just monitor how they are doing and judge what you personally would like to do, vary there diet and you will have happy healthy geckos.

You can provide a shallow water bowl at the substrate level, you can fill it up when you mist and it will evaporate over the day, the geckos drink of leaves and i have spotted them using the bowl aswell so its just an extra thing to include for additional access to water when it dries of the leaves during the day.

Misting is required with this species everyday at a minimum once a day, Not loads but just enough to keep the humidity stable throughout the day and the substrate almost damp to the touch.

Humidity requirements - Generally Misting is required with this species everyday at a minimum once a day, Not to much but just enough to keep the humidity stable throughout the day and the substrate almost damp to the touch. i would say between 70-90%. If we look at the data from weather spark below in Sri lanka we can see that most days are muggy opressive and misterable in terms of humidity so this lines up with the suggested humidity, the rainfall they experience is between two highs that are experienced at a lower peak in april through june at around every other day and a higher peak in november of 4 out of every 7 days. I will say as there species cover such a range they are adaptable to there enviroments so missing a strict misting plan isnt detrimental in the long run.

Behaviours -

Suprisingly for how small this species is they display a lot of different behaviors not just between each other but enviromentally aswell.

On the social side of the spectrum they are a very social species and even have a pecking order between each of them. They use chirping to communicate with each other. You can visually observe this through watching them communicate with each other through tail wagging and chirping, they will also fight each other for certain areas of the enclosure.

During the night time i have observed massive colour changes compared to the day, During the day i have had one of my Geckos be almost pitch black and then at night change into a compleatly different looking Gecko being almost a what specled green pattern, im not sure if this is because of the light or darkness or just a stress response for something but it does seem to line up with a day and night cycle.

Day and night Cycle - As alot of there range inhabits south east asia and pacific islands there overall day and night cycle will change per region so keeping a 12 hour on and off cycle daily will be efficient at keeping these geckos happy. I will give one example of a day and night cycle throughout the year in part of there range below in south Sri Lanka in a place called Weligama. As you can see there isnt much of a difference overall in daylight hours from summer to winter.

Common health issues - 

MBD -  Caused by lack of uvb and d3 supplimentations can make the animal grow poorly and cause defomities, can be avoided with proper UVb and diet.

Shedding issues -  Usually caused by prolonged periods of low humidity, having a decent misting schedule will reduce this problem.

Cleaning -

These are probably one of the more difficult species of animal to clean down there enclosures, they are so small and so fast that while you are spot cleaning it is imperative to keep an eye on where they are to avoid any unwanted escapes. This is where i advise to keep a bioactive enclosure with a variety of creatres to keep the enclosure cleaner for longer.

If you are going to clear the while enclosure out i would suggest going into a bathroom with the terrarium and seal any gaps in vents in the room while undergoing the process, put the plug int he bath or shower ect and use the tub as a method to watch any unwanted escapes, have a plastic cup for each of your animals to hand incase in the work case event they are escape out of the terrarium.

Carefully pull out each peice of decor from the substrate and clean as nessisary, they do like to defacate over the bottom few centremeters of the decor in an enclosure. Use aeach cup to put the Geckos in as you come across them. Once empty clean the vivarium out with soap, antibac or d10 and clean again with water after 5 minutes to remove any additional resudue left from the antibac/d10 mixture.

You can then put new substrate in and put the decor back in, followed by the geckos.

This is the big reason i have given them an extra two stars for difficulty because if you are not prepared to deal with this these are most likely not the exotic pet for you.

Brumation - 

No brumation period is experienced with this Gecko due to there stable climate tempratures in the ranges they inhabit.

Avalability -

You will not struggle to find these and they will not cost you much due to there parthnagenic nature , you can usually pick up one for £10-15 but it is imperative to keep these in groups as they are a very social species , ive seen deals on 3 for £25 so depending on where you shop you can get some brilliant deals. Even though these guys are cheap it is important to realise that these are living creatures just like any other species on this site and you should responsibly buy them ad have a plan for the eggs that they will produce when kept in a group of 3 or more.

This being said they are used quite commonly in the hobby as feeders for some snake species so some people keep them purly to feed there snakes.

References-

Gallery -

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