Keeping Mourning Geckos with Dart Frogs

An Exception to the Rule

The frequently asked question of “are there any other species that I can put in with my dart frogs” is typically responded to with no for a multitude of reasons - namely, aggression variances, disease transmission, and food discrepancies. This, however, isn't true for one of our favorite gecko species at Josh’s frogs: the Mourning Gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris). The Mourning gecko is a small species of gecko that reaches an adult length of about 4 inches and is very slender. They are a parthenogenetic species, which means that males are virtually non existent and these geckos will periodically lay eggs that are clones of themselves. These eggs will hatch after about 3 months at room temperature and continue the cycle once they reach maturity in 6-8 months.

Habitat

Mourning geckos are very widespread and have populations on land masses all over the Pacific ocean and have been introduced to North and South America. These tenacious geckos easily colonize a new environment - this holds true for your vivarium, as well! Mourning geckos don’t need a large amount of space, living comfortably in a 10 gallon aquarium. When paired with dart frogs, however, bigger is definitely better. You will want to allow for a humidity gradient within the tank. This can be provided with the 24”-36” tanks from Exo Terra and ZooMed . These tanks will allow for the high humidity dart frogs need (80-100%) and let lower humidity mourning geckos need (60-80%). Mourning geckos will spend a majority of the day time hiding in the top part of the tank, whereas the dart frogs will spend most of their time on or near the ground. The geckos will become more active during the night when the dart frogs hunker down and become less active, minimizing interaction time.

Feeding

Adult mourning geckos and dart frogs can survive on dusted hydei fruit flies or ⅛” crickets . Make sure to dust all prey items with a quality vitamin/mineral supplement. We alternate between RepCal Calcium with D3, RepCal Herptivite, and Repashy Calcium Plus. They will not be able to outcompete each other if enough food is supplied. We recommend two feedings on feeding days; one in the morning and one at night, to ensure everyone is getting enough food. Feed Repashy or Pangea Crested Gecko Diet in a small container (1 to 2 oz) once a week or so. I'd like to mention dart frog species not suitable to be kept with mourning geckos, mostly because of size. Thumbnail dart frogs and similarly sized frogs are small enough as juveniles that an adult mourning gecko may think see it as a nice little snack. I would also not recommend housing dart frog froglets (less than 6 months of age) with mourning geckos. If you’re someone who loves to see diversity in tanks and you already have a dart frog tank set up, then adding a mourning gecko into the mix may be able to satisfy that itch![button-green url="https://www.joshsfrogs.com/instantsearchplus/result/?q=mourning%20gecko" target="_self" position="left"]Buy a mourning gecko [/button-green]

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