Meet Potato: The Adorable Spud of a Gargoyle Gecko
Welcome to our wild, wacky, and wonderfully gecko-filled adventure—a journey that began with a spark of fascination for the incredible New Caledonian geckos, with all their quirky traits and vibrant personalities, and led us to a larger terrarium our new guy wasn't quite ready for yet.
A Gecko Obsession Begins
It all started when we became utterly fascinated with New Caledonian Geckos. There’s just something about these little Kritters that grabs your attention! At first, we encountered what appeared to be an overpopulation of crested geckos at the various reptile expos we had been to, not to mention the numbers listed for sale on Morph Market. Adorable, no doubt, but with one pesky drawback: they have a notorious habit of dropping their tails and they do not grow back. Something we did not want to risk with a young child in the house. However, after some research we found that the other species of New Caledonian geckos do regenerate a tail.
Exploring Gecko Diversity: What’s in a Name?
Our disappointment with the crested crew pushed us to explore other varieties of geckos from the New Caledonian islands. And boy, did we discover a world of scientific wonder! New Caledonian geckos come in a dazzling array of species—there are over 20 distinct species to be found in the wild. Their scientific names are just as colorful as their personalities. For example:
Rhacodactylus leachianus — fondly known as the New Caledonian giant gecko, Leach's giant gecko, leachianus gecko, or just Leachie. This impressive reptile proudly holds the title of the largest living gecko. Don’t worry, you will hear more about this species later.
Rhacodactylus chahou — a good sized, night-loving, all-around foodie lizard with a prehensile tail that’s perfect for gripping branches in the rainforests of New Caledonia. Its mossy mix of brown, red, green, and gray makes it look like nature’s very own work of art!
Giant Leachianus Gecko
These names not only pay homage to the scientists who discovered them but also hint at the marvelous diversity found in these island gems.
Enter the Chahoua Gecko: Our New Star (Or so we thought…)
Amid our deep dive into gecko taxonomy, our attention was captured by the Chahoua Gecko — a potential new addition to our ever-growing reptile family. Picture this: a decent sized, lively reptile with expressive eyes and a personality that’s part explorer, part chill-out buddy. The Chahoua Gecko skin feels like soft velvet, with a slightly bumpy texture, often described as similar to moss or lichen due to their natural camouflage coloration; it's generally very smooth and supple to the touch, with the most noticeable sensation being the stickiness of their toe pads used to climb various terrain textures and even stick to glass as if they were Spiderman!
The Terrarium Quest: Finding Our Perfect Skyscraper
As fate would have it, our quest for a new gecko roommate coincided with a sweet find on Facebook Marketplace: a brand-new Zoo Med Skyscraper Terrarium (18x18x36 inches, to be exact) practically calling our name! We briefly entertained the idea of housing some ultra-cool Poison Dart Frogs in this towering glass abode. However, the moment we discovered that those colorful frogs would primarily feast on wingless fruit flies (yuck!), we scrapped that plan and pivoted back to the geckos.
Building a Bioactive Paradise
With our shiny new terrarium in hand, we set our sights on creating the ultimate bioactive habitat for our Chahoua (or maybe even something completely different, as destiny would later have it). Already experienced from our bioactive 4x2x2 setup for Cosmo - with a little help from our good friend, The Biodude - we were ready for our next enclosure build. And then, as if by serendipity, we discovered NEHERP, a bioactive supply store just an hour away in CT. Stepping into NEHERP was like entering a lush, green forest: the air was rich with the earthy scent of cork bark, rocks, wood, and an assortment of reptile-safe plants. (Much preferred over the lingering aroma of Bilbo Poop that sometimes haunts our reptile room!)
We met Mike, the friendly owner, and his expert staff who guided us through a veritable wonderland of bioactive terrariums, lighting, heating, and everything else needed to transform our glass skyscraper into a miniature rainforest. Just when we thought our hearts couldn’t beat any faster, they unveiled a small glass terrarium housing an adorable baby Gargoyle Gecko. The little gecko immediately caught our eye, and we were smitten. The Gargoyle Gecko (Rhacodactylus auriculatus) is named as such due to having two small bumps, that resembles horns, on the top of their heads.
Meet Potato: A Spud Among Geckos
We held strong, as cute as the little fella was, we were after a Chahou after all and decided to wrap up and pay for the supplies and head out the door for lunch. BUT before we could even exit, Dad decided we couldn’t leave without it and went back in to inquire about cost. Within a few minutes Mike handed us our newest family member: a tiny New Caledonian gecko we lovingly named Potato complete with his own little glass bioactive terrarium. Why the name Potato? Well, Kiley thought our new friend looked like a little spud, and the name just stuck!
Here’s a fun tidbit: while Potato, like many New Caledonian geckos, can drop its tail if threatened, the cool part is that Gargoyle gecko can eventually grow it back. (It might look a bit different the second time around.)
A Word About “Firing Up”!
In gecko behavior, “firing up” is a term used to describe a sudden burst of activity and heightened alertness. This behavior is observed when a gecko reacts to stimuli - whether due to excitement, agitation, or preparing for action - with rapid movements and an increase in energy.
Often, enthusiasts note that these behavioral shifts can be accompanied by subtle changes in coloration or posture, serving as a natural display of the gecko’s responsive state. Potato goes from a light greyish color to a dark mossy – bark like color when “firing up”.
Caring For Our Gargoyle
We built up the Skyscraper, with the anticipation that once Potato grew big enough, we would transition it to this magnificent rainforest. We will do some blogs on Terrarium builds later, but plans have since changed along the way. First, we found that trying to care for the baby Gargoyle in the small glass terrarium was a bit tricky for us new reptile owners. We couldn’t really tell if it was properly “going potty” and it was very difficult to get a hold of the little spud in order for it to get used to handling. Currently Potato now resides in a 12-quart Sterlite tub, with air holes drilled into the top and sides. Easy to supervise proper growth and introduce handling.
Heat: Luckily these geckos do not require anything extreme or fancy in the way of heating. They basically can thrive in temperatures that range from low 70s to about 82 degrees but you do not want them to get much warmer than that as they can overheat. That range is just about room temperature in our house, we have a small 10–20-gallon Zoo Med under tank heat mat that we have taped to the outside of one side of the Terrarium. This helps in the wintertime mostly and we have it hooked up to a dimmable thermostat as to not let it get too hot.
Lighting: Currently Potato makes do with normal daylight and room lights. Eventually when we transition the little spud to an eventual forever home, we will add LED and a low % UVB.
Décor: Substrate is as simple as paper towels, there is plenty of cork bark wedged in the tub along with some fake plants for cover. Potato’s forever home will be fully bioactive, but we are waiting for the little spud to grow a bit larger.
Humidity: We try and keep it at a range of 70% - 50%, and this accomplished by simply misting the tub once a day and ensuring that the water dish is full.
Diet: Simplest thing about Gargoyle geckos are they eat Crested Gecko diet! Which is nothing more than a fruit puree made from a bag of flavored powder, Potato prefers Melon. We use Repashi as a reputable source of Crested Gecko Diet. Once a week we dump about 6-8 very small Dubia roaches in for Potato to hunt and feed on.
And there you have it - a whirlwind tour of the family’s gecko fascination, our unexpected terrarium hunt, and the thrilling introduction of Potato, our very own spud! Stay tuned for more reptile escapades and terrarium triumphs as we continue to celebrate the wild wonders of the New Caledonian gecko family! Yes, there are more…
Great Resources:
Bioactive Supplies – The Bio Dude or NEHERP.
Care Guides - ReptiFiles and we like Elle's Reptiles.
