Electric Blue Gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi)

The Electric Blue Gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi) are A smaller sized arboreal gecko (typically 3.5" long) a very striking little gecko aptly living up to his name. They inhabit a very small geographical range of only a few square miles in Tanzania. Within this small region they are only found living on one species of Pandanus palm tree, to which I have never found a reason for this documented and this particular palm is not required to be replicated in any way in the home vivarium. A very active diurnal gecko meaning that they are most active in the daytime, making them a lovely display animal

With proper attention to care requirements and research the Lygodactylus williamsi is a relatively forgiving species to keep.

Lygodactylus williamsi are critically endangered in the wild, this means they have attained CITES I status. So A10 paperwork is required to be obtained by the breeder and passed on to the new keeper. Animals lacking this paperwork should not be purchased as they are not legally been bred and cannot legally be sold. Also WC stock of is no longer an available option. 

Despite the requirement for the CITIES A10 paperwork, it does nothing to track lineage. UK gene pools are very limited, and information regarding animals origins is even more so. ensure to ask your breeder for whatever information they can provide to ensure bloodline compatibility of intended pairing. 

These are small sized very active lizards A well-ventilated vivarium is required. Once adult I like to give my animals a 40cm x 40cm x 66cm high vivarium per pair. 

Males are very territorial, best to keep one to a viv, Lygodactylus williamsi are best kept as A 1.1. I have heard of people housing 1.2 trios, but my own attempts at this have resulted in females chasing females and being distracted from the male. If males are housed together the second male often doesn’t attain the bright blue colouring associated with males of this species and remains the green colouration to be mistaken for a female and remains this colour as a subdominant male to assumingly remain undetected by the dominant male. Due to this reason the colouring of the gecko is not the best way to sex Lygodactylus williamsi. The most reliable method is the observing the presence of more pronounced preanal pores and a widened tailbase in a male animal.

Lygodactylus williamsi are quite forgiving geckos when it comes to environment. I provide a temperature gradient of around 75 to 85F (24 to 29C) with a basking spot of around 90-95F (32-35C) and a night time temperature drop to around 70F (21C). I find a live planted vivarium is the best way to keep them. I set mine up as a bio active set up, consisting of a screen covered drainage layer where excess water can collect and be periodically syphoned out or discarded via a plumbed drain method before the above substrate can be water logged. This is covered with my own substrate mix mimicking the 'ABG style' mix. Onto this I add a layer of leaf litter. this helps maintain humidity and supports the bio active life in the substrate, in turn breaking down the waste of the geckos. The humidity is maintained with numerous automated misting sessions throughout the day to maintain a target humidity of around 65%, though the vivarium needs to be allowed to dry out throughout the day.

The vivarium is brightly lit during the day in order to provide the plants with the correct lighting to photosynthesize using 6500K LED lamps, the Arcadia Jungle Dawn is my go-to plant light. Lygodactylus williamsi require access to good quality UVB lighting. My product of choice for this is the Arcadia T5pro. I use a 6% lamp and give the Geckos areas of shade to get out of the UV rays if they choose to. A basking spot is also required. Utilising a more focused lamp type. I personally use a 35w Halogen GU10 lamp over a suitable horizontal resting area. The ‘hotspot’ should be of an appropriate size for the gecko to warm their whole body when basking.

I do keep vivarium décor smooth. If I was to include cork barks then the geckos would use the crevices as depositing sites for there eggs, which then couldn’t be removed as Lygodactylus williamsi are ‘egg gluers’ meaning the eggs are depositing glued to any surface. They are prone to chasing the young geckos once hatched. I have heard of the adults consuming the young. But not seen any evidence to support this myself. I have however had geckos hatch in situ and loose there tails from being chased so it’s better to avoid this conflict and remove the eggs to a suitable hatching environment. So the background of my Lygodactylus williamsi vivarium’s is just flat cork sheet. I provide egg laying sites in the form of florist tubes which I stick to the sides of the vivarium using Velcro tape so they can be removed once the female has finished laying and placed to incubate. 

Interestingly Lygodactylus williamsi gender can be determined quite reliably by the incubation temperature. A temperature of 70-76F (21-24C) produces females biased and a temperature of 83-85F (28­-29C) male biased.

Lygodactylus williamsi are primarily insectivores, but their diet naturally includes some fruit. I have found them not to fussy, anything of the appropriate size is readily accepted. Care must be taken as they are prone to obesity. As always variety is key. 

I feed primarily fruitflies (melanogaster and hydei), I rotate in bean and grain weevils, aphids and small crickets. 

As well as all my feeders being well gut loaded prior to being fed I supplement each feed with Repashy Calcium Plus LoD. this is a combined Calcium and vitamin supplement, but using low doses so works on an every feed method rather than a plain calcium and rotating in other supplement powders. I opt for the LoD variety as this is lower in Vitamin D, which I am incorporating good quality UVB lighting to supplement this.

In addition to the insect diet I also give my Lygodactylus williamsi occasional access to a premix commercial crested gecko diet. I rotate between flavours of Repashy and Pangea, but I opt for the mixes containing insects.