I passed this along to a guy I know who raises geckos and he brings up a couple
of good points.

From: gecko_guy
To: cactusflinthead
Date: Apr 16, 2009 10:27 PM
Subject: RE: geckos in a zoo aviary


The species of roach you have in your aviary would determine the best species
of gecko to release I would also want to know the species of birds in the aviary
most specifically are there any carnivorous birds in your aviary? If so I might
suggest a larger starting population. as far as accommodations you would have to
provide nocturnal basking sites large rocks that are exposed to the sun during
the day would suffice also a place with vermiculite as a lay medium (anything
else will grow bacteria that will kill the egg) to not exposed to bird feces
or your misting system the eggs would be killed by exposure to direct contact
with water or the urea in the bird feces (it inhibits the egg's respiration) I
am not sure of the size of your aviary but I would recommend a starting
population closer to 50(provided your roach infestation can handle such a large
population) be sure to get several different lines of Hemidactylus frenatus
inbreeding will be your largest problem as they reproduce parthanogenicly as
well as sexually so as many as 1/2 of your geckos produced in your aviary may be
clones of the mother so diversity of genes becomes more important make sure to
have a long quarantine period (90 days or more) as the stress from sharing the
aviary with other species of animals will exacerbate any diseases that are
present and will most likely spread through out the population and captive bred
only is a must there are more than one parasites transmissible between lizards
and birds also in a public collection one may have to post the possibility of
salmonella poisoning (I'm not sure of the legal issues surrounding this topic)
they will also drink off of surfaces so any fertilizers or other chemicals would
have to be added to the soil directly and not allowed to accumulate on any
surface if your roaches are larger than 1.5cm(they can be longer but not wider)
a larger gecko would be required to even control the problem with out the
ability to eat the adults you will have no luck stopping the expanding
population (if this is the case I have a few other species in mind to use)
introduce the geckos at dusk preferably during early spring the light cycles
will cause a greater population increase before too many die or are predated by
the birds and I would keep a breeding group out side of the aviary to be added
over time to help the genetic diversity of your population feel free to message
me further with more specific information as I would be happy to assist further
I hope this helps your project best of luck,

Tim Wyckoff

--- In AZH@..., Katrina Lindahl <katrina.lindahl@...> wrote:
>
> We are wondering if anyone has experience using geckos in interior exhibits,
primarily for cockroach control. We want to release 25 or so Asian House Geckos
(Hemidactylus frenatus) into our Tropical Rain Forest Exhibit which has birds
only. If so, was your experience good or bad? What were the opinions of the
keeper and animal health staff? Did the exhibit animals eat them? Did they
multiply of decline in numbers? Did they move to other exhibits in your
building? How did visitors respond? Are there any special conditions we need
to provide to get them established? Did you use a different species?
> We look forward to hearing from you.
> Thank you,
> Katrina Lindahl
> Woodland Park Zoo
> Seattle, WA
>