The native land of the spotted eublefar, characteristics of the external appearance, recommendations for maintenance, home care, lizard diseases, the purchase process, the price. "The taste and color - there are no comrades!" - this saying is widely known among different age groups. Often it is used when choosing various interior items or wardrobe items, but it can also serve as a weighty argument in choosing a pet.
It is safe to say that all people are different, they have different tastes, interests and preferences. Many of you have been to terrariums. When visiting such interesting places, everyone experiences different feelings and emotions: to some, its inhabitants may seem not very attractive and even rather disgusting, while someone experiences unspeakable pleasure looking at these original animals. In the event that you are a fan of such a detachment of animals as reptiles and would have quite serious intentions to acquire such a unique pet, you can be pleased. Every day and every hour, humanity overcomes more and more facets, and if exotic creatures not so long ago delighted our eyes only in enclosures of zoos or terrariums, then today it seems possible to settle some original and extraordinary animal in your house.
If you have an interest in reptiles, why not pay attention to such a creation of nature as the spotted eublefar. Due to its uniqueness and the fact that this is a very unusual animal, at first glance it may seem that keeping it at home is a hellish labor that requires supernatural efforts, but this is not at all the case. Of course, there are a number of requirements for caring for this spotted miracle, but after all, any home pupil will require attention and proper care on your part.
Choosing for yourself such a friend as eublefar, you will undoubtedly get an interesting companion, and with him a lot of new colors and sensations. This wonderful animal will very quickly win love and great interest in itself, both from you and from anyone who visits your home.
Natural habitat of spotted geese
The spotted leopard eublefar (Latin Eublepharis macularius) is a rather large lizard, which belongs to the Gecko family (Latin Gekkonidae) and to the genus Eublephars. But some sources say that this spotted animal belongs to the family of the same name, Eublepharidae (Latin Eublepharidae).
In its natural habitat, this beautiful lizard can be found in areas that are almost devoid of any vegetation - these are rocky mountain slopes, zones of dry or semi-dry steppe. South Iran, Iraq, India, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan venerate this exotic as its Fatherland; it can also be found in the lands of East or South-West Asia.
Description of the appearance of the Asian eublefar
If we talk about the appearance of this original gecko, then the description should begin with the parameters of the body. The length of the handsome body of the male, together with the tail, is about 27-30 cm, while the females are more miniature in size.
The skin is wrapped in scales, the morphology of which tends to change depending on the location.
The legs of a leopard lizard are of medium length: the front is longer than the hind. The scales on the forelegs of a gecko are uniform and flat; in the projection of the forearm there are so-called scaly protrusions, which outwardly resemble the dorsal tubercles of geckos. As for the hind legs, almost their entire surface is covered with conical tuberosities of various sizes. These representatives of lizards have claws on their paws, which consist of a lower, upper and two lateral plates. With the help of claws, these animals move easily on soft surfaces.
The muzzle of the spotted geese is covered with flat, rather large scales. By its structure, it is polygonal, completely heterogeneous, has a tendency to decrease, reaching the eye area. If you look closely at the upper eyelid of this animal, you can see several eyelash-like outgrowths. The scutes of the lips gradually decrease backward, only the scutes of the upper lip are smaller in comparison with the sublabial scutes.
The scaly back cover of this leopard reptile is relatively small and has a rounded-polygonal shape. Almost always it reduces its size, reaching the sides, with the help of this, the border between the dorsal and abdominal scales is clearly visualized. The tubercles located on the back of the lizard have a conical, less often spherical shape. The abdominal scales are large.
The tail is approximately three times shorter than the body of the eublephar, it has a characteristic swelling in the middle and a sharp end. The cover of the tail is represented by small rectangular-rounded scales, between it there are neatly small tubercles, which have a conical or spherical shape, the tubercles do not tend to come into contact with each other. Like many other lizards, the eublefar can lose its caudal process, in its place a new one grows, only smaller and less beautiful. The regenerated tail, covered with rectangular-oval scales, assembled in relatively regular rows, only the caudal tubercles are not observed.
A distinctive feature of this miracle of nature is the color of its body. The main color of the upper part is yellow with a lemon tint, which is more intense on the body. The entire surface of the spotted geese is covered with many specks of various shapes and sizes. Nature has given these decorations dark brown tones. Thanks to these inclusions, a kind of mesh ornament is formed on the head of this original animal. When the spots on the body pass, they tend to increase, and sometimes even merge with each other. Only a narrow line along the spine, connecting the back of the head and the sacral region, remains unadorned. The upper part of the limbs is also strewn with small dots, and the lower part is shaded in white colors. Young eublefar chicks in the colors of their body have a large percentage of white. Albino forms of the leopard lizard are also common.
Another adornment of this spotted reptile is its eyes. At first glance, they can be compared to the visual organ of a cat - convex, round and slightly elongated. Unlike most representatives of the large family of geckos, it is in the eublefar that movable eyelids are well developed, which gives this Asian eccentric an even more pretty exterior.
Tips for keeping eublefar at home
Before you bring a new friend, such as a leopard gecko, into your house, you should familiarize yourself with some rules for living this cute creature in your house:
- Home improvement. For a comfortable stay of your spotted geese, it will be necessary to construct a small terrarium. This does not mean that this structure should occupy half of your living space. It will be enough for the animal to make a small “house” - 30 × 30 × 30 cm, or 40 × 40 × 40 cm. In the event that you plan to keep two or three lizards, then it would be better to design a horizontal terrarium. The approximate volume, which is 50 × 30 × 30 cm, is also allowed for a vertical dwelling, only on the condition that its back wall will be made in such a way that your pet will freely move along it along its shelves and equipped shelters. If your pet has settled in your house from a very young age, then for a start it is better to use a smaller terrarium, and with the achievement of six months, the baby already has a desire to take walks through his possessions. There is an opinion that in more spacious conditions spotted eublefars grow and develop better.
- Temperature regime of your pet's possessions. For the reason that these leopard creatures are cold-blooded lizards by nature, they need warm conditions for good development and for digesting food. It is recommended to install heating at the bottom of their home. In almost every pet store, it is possible to purchase a thermocouple or thermal cord. By placing it in one of the corners of the terrarium, it will maintain the desired temperature values. A more budgetary option would be a conventional shoe dryer, it can be installed under the house of the eublefar or buried in the ground. The optimum temperature in the place where the heating device will be located must be maintained in the range from 27 to 33 degrees, it can be adjusted using the thickness of the soil layer or using a thermometer. If the room temperature does not drop below 21 degrees, then the heating devices can be turned off at night, but provided that there are no small cubs in the terrarium, they need round-the-clock heating.
- A secluded spot for spotted geese. Shelter decoration is an important part of a comfortable life for this cute little animal. Several such shelters should be made for him in different parts of his home: in a warmer location and where the temperature is coldest. Thus, your new friend will choose the place that he likes best. We must not forget about the wet chambers - this is the place where your pet will live during molting, to dive into a state of hypobiosis, and sometimes most of its active time. The humid chamber should only be installed in a warm corner and should never be forgotten.
- Floor covering. In the modern era, you can buy the necessary terrarium mats in specialized pet stores. This purchase looks very nice and appropriate, and is safe for your Asian gecko, and also makes the cleaning process very easy. If, for some reason, the purchase of such an element of the interior is not possible, ordinary door mats are quite suitable, the only exceptions are rubberized ones. As a ground cover, you can use medium-sized pebbles and pebbles, ordinary river and calcined sand. But as for any sand - you need to be extremely careful. If the animal absorbs it, it is fraught with serious problems with the organs of the digestive tract.
- Drinking container. Whether it is an ordinary container or a design element that matches the interior of your terrarium, it does not matter at all. The main thing is that your lizard is always provided with water, clean and preferably alkaline.
- Lighting of his living space. For the reason that the spotted eublefar is an animal that leads a nocturnal or twilight lifestyle, it does not need constant lighting at all. You can use ultraviolet light sources - this measure will provide optimal conditions for the synthesis of ergocalciferol, which is the main prevention of rickets in your pets. But if you feed the lizard correctly, providing it with the right amount of all vitamins and minerals, then ultraviolet light is not at all necessary for it. But there is a hypothesis that the longer the daylight hours, the more active the mating process in animals. Therefore, if you want to breed these exotic animals, hurry up to buy an ultraviolet lamp.
- Air humidity coefficient. The optimum humidity is considered to be in the range of 40-50%, if the air in your apartment is very dry - you need to regularly spray the soil of your terrarium. Also, this must be done in the absence of a wet chamber.
- "New clothes" for your gecko. The molting process is an integral part of the life cycle of the eublefar. Adults molt about once every two months; in young animals this happens much more often - almost every two weeks. Often animals eat their skins, so this phenomenon may go unnoticed. Molting is a common thing, but if this gecko is not properly kept, it is a very unsafe phenomenon. During the period of throwing off old scales, your pet runs the risk of being left without fingers, to stop hearing or seeing. To avoid these unpleasant incidents, the humidity of the air should be carefully controlled or a humid chamber should be installed. If you notice that there are elements of old skin on the animal's body, you need to help your pet to remove it, for this you need to hold it under warm running water, and then remove the remnants with a small stick.
- Balanced diet. The favorite "dishes" of spotted eublephars are various insects, rodents, and spiders. During a famine, they can feast on their little brothers. In your home environment, it should be fed with small cockroaches or crickets. You can sometimes serve him zophobas or mealybug, but you should not abuse it, since this food leads to the obesity of your pet, which can leave a negative imprint on his health. It is strictly forbidden to feed maggots to the eublefar. This food has an external digestive system, so when it gets inside your pet, it slowly starts eating it from the inside.
If the first week of the spotted lizard's residence in your house it does not eat anything at all, you should not start panic and run to the veterinarians. This phenomenon is quite normal. Usually, the animal first eats its umbilical cord, then the first shed skin, and after digesting these products, it begins to eat quite normally.
Lizard health control
There are many pathological conditions that spotted eublefars encounter on their way. Some of them need to be familiarized with in more detail.
- Parasites. Due to the fact that the animal's diet mainly consists of living beings, which are often infected with worms, it is necessary and even necessary to carry out regular prophylaxis of parasites for your pupil. This can be done with the help of the drug "ReptiLife" or "Profender". A good result will be shown by soldering your little animal with "Regidron" during the treatment or prevention of worms. Dilution according to the instructions.
- Rickets. This disease is gaining momentum in the gecko population. Its first symptoms are curvature of the limbs. You will be able to notice that your domestic reptile has "wheel" or "X-shaped" legs. A disease such as rickets can be the reason that your animal simply loses the ability to walk. The main cause of rickets is external and internal lack of calcium, therefore, in the early stages, rickets can be treated with vitamins containing calcium and vitamin D and ultraviolet light. If things are much worse, rush to a specialist for help.
Acquisition and price of spotted eublefar
Reptile breeding is already quite popular and profitable business, and the territory of Russia is no exception. Buying a spotted leopard leopard is not difficult at all, and relatively inexpensive. The pricing policy for these pretty creatures ranges from 2,000 to 10,000 rubles. When buying, be careful not to get a sick animal - it can negatively affect the rest of the inhabitants of your terrarium.
For more useful information on the content of spotted geese, see this video:
