Panther Gecko and Day Gecko together

[pabby13]

Alright I'm new to the forums but not to reptiles, I've kept numerous lizards and frogs over the years and I'm extremely interested in a mixed terrarium. The general consensus from other threads seems to be that it only works if specific criteria are met. These criteria usually include not co-habitating predators and prey, ensuring that both animals come from the same geographic location, and they have separate sleeping cycles and living spaces. Please hear me out before you crucify me.

Panther Geckos and certain day geckos (not looking at the giants as they get too big in comparison to the panthers) both come from Madagascar (so the locale requirement is met). They are also roughly the same size, as long as its not the giant or one of the dwarf species of phelsumas. In terms of temp, and humidity requirements, it seems as if they are fairly similar. Day geckos like mid 80's temp with a 90 degree F basking spot during the day, which matches the panthers day temps. And the panthers like the night temps of mid-high 70s just like the day geckos. The day geckos are mainly arboreal (my old dull day gecko actually wouldn't even go to the bottom of the viv to drink) and diurnal while the panthers are terrestrial/nocturnal. It seems that with a large enough tank they could definitely be comfortable together.

I haven't seen a thread discussing this precise pair so I figured I'd ask. So what do you guys think?

 

[pabby13]

Any and all opinions welcome!


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[acpart]

It's an interesting notion but no one I can comment on due to limited experience with panther geckos. I would recommend, if you do try it, getting an enclosure as large as possible to give them room to separate.

Aliza

 

[ParoeduraPropensity]

I definitely would never suggest mixing species in a tank. Like you, I am new to the forums, but not to reptiles. Although it has a chance of going well and not having problems if you have a big enough terrarium (plus a small enough day gecko), I personally wouldn't risk it. Now, mixing different day geckos would be much less of an issue. The thing is, panther geckos are nocturnal and day geckos are diurnal, so feeding schedules would be weird (if you fed at dawn/dusk when they are both more or less active, then the panther geckos would get most of the crickets since crickets in my experience typically prefer to stay on the ground), as well as having one species being an annoyance to the other when they are trying to sleep.