# hammer tail geckos?



## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

hi guys 
so i went to a mates place to play with some elapids ( was awesome loved every bit of it! ) and he was showing me some stuff anyways he showed me this gecko which i believe is part of the thick tailed gecko family ( correct me if im wrong i was overwhelmed with all the elapids and and other stuff he had lol ) and it was really cool looking now im pretty sure it was called a hammer tail gecko anyways i was wondering if anyone else keeps these and if they could throw some pics up also if anyone breeds these pls pm me 
cheers
locky


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## kupper (Jul 5, 2011)

Meh lost me and I'm a gecko tard :lol:


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 5, 2011)

This is not a common name I have heard before. If you are talking about thicktail group though that would be genus Underwoodisaurus and the only other species would be sphyrurus, they are a fair bit rarer in captivity than basic thicktails as far as I am aware. 

Hope this helps, by the way many also refer to Thick-tails as being in the Nephrurus genus, i.e. Knobtails.


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## richoman_3 (Jul 5, 2011)

yeah underwoodisaurus sphyrurus.
i would love to see some more pictures of , only seen one


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 5, 2011)

Oh by the way, just a pointer, when you say Thick-tail family, what you really mean is genus and if you would not awfully mind it would confuse me a little less if you used that instead.


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## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

Granite belt Thick-tailed Gecko (Underwoodisaurus sphyrurus) this may be it?


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## richoman_3 (Jul 5, 2011)

lgotje said:


> Granite belt Thick-tailed Gecko (Underwoodisaurus sphyrurus) this may be it?



yep.......


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## kupper (Jul 5, 2011)

Very rare in captivity mate ... Not cheap either


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## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

GeckPhotographer said:


> Oh by the way, just a pointer, when you say Thick-tail family, what you really mean is genus and if you would not awfully mind it would confuse me a little less if you used that instead.


lol no worries mate im a bit illiterate never finished skool haha


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 5, 2011)

Hey kupper, I know they are, but why are they so rare in captivity I would have thought with all the success basic Thickies have these guys would have been bred fairly well by now? Just asking cause I know you know a lot about the gecko industry and thought you might have some idea?


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## kupper (Jul 5, 2011)

I can hear a banjo playing ...... Ow you said illiterate not inbred :lol:


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## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

View attachment 208101


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## kupper (Jul 5, 2011)

GeckPhotographer said:


> Hey kupper, I know they are, but why are they so rare in captivity I would have thought with all the success basic Thickies have these guys would have been bred fairly well by now? Just asking cause I know you know a lot about the gecko industry and thought you might have some idea?


I can't really comment on that as there not something I have kept or bred But being a cooler temp gecko similar to leafies I can only speculate that there not easy to breed Being uncommon also compounds the above issue , rumour has it that the original animals where snuck onto a fake licence to establish them in captivity , but the same was said about wheeleri so can't substantiate this rumours


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 5, 2011)

> I can't really comment on that as there not something I have kept or bred But being a cooler temp gecko similar to leafies I can only speculate that there not easy to breed Being uncommon also compounds the above issue , rumour has it that the original animals where snuck onto a fake licence to establish them in captivity , but the same was said about wheeleri so can't substantiate this rumours



Ok thanks for that, guess they still might get going in the future.


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## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

kupper said:


> I can hear a banjo playing ...... Ow you said illiterate not inbred :lol:


lol does everyone here no where cousins yet?......


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## kupper (Jul 5, 2011)

With your spelling skills I would hope not *know*


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## lgotje (Jul 5, 2011)

kupper said:


> With your spelling skills I would hope not *know*


lol i *know* how to spell some stuff


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## AUSGECKO (Jul 6, 2011)

From what I've heard you basically need to refrigerate them to get them down to a cool enough temp to breed.


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## Nephrurus1 (Jul 6, 2011)

Geck82 said:


> From what I've heard you basically need to refrigerate them to get them down to a cool enough temp to breed.


That's my understanding too. Rob Porter (Livefoods Unlimited, Qld) has published a couple of articles on them (one in the Gekko Jounral). It makes really interesting reading!! Placing them into a refrigerated incubator to get them to a cool enough temperature was the key to the process.


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## lgotje (Jul 6, 2011)

Nephrurus1 said:


> That's my understanding too. Rob Porter (Livefoods Unlimited, Qld) has published a couple of articles on them (one in the Gekko Jounral). It makes really interesting reading!! Placing them into a refrigerated incubator to get them to a cool enough temperature was the key to the process.


 wow interesting stuff I might to go see Rob and hit him up about them


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 6, 2011)

Wow that is crazy, is this for the cooling period? I mean I know they live in the granite belt and it gets cold in winter but a refrigerator is bloody cold.


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## AUSGECKO (Jul 6, 2011)

i could be wrong but i believe the refridgeration is for the cooling period. You only need to get it down in the vicinity of 5c which might be difficult for Rob up in QLD but if you were to breed them in the southern states or a cooler climate, refridgeration most likely wouldnt be neccesary.


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## Nephrurus1 (Jul 7, 2011)

AUSGECKO said:


> i could be wrong but i believe the refridgeration is for the cooling period. You only need to get it down in the vicinity of 5c which might be difficult for Rob up in QLD but if you were to breed them in the southern states or a cooler climate, refridgeration most likely wouldnt be neccesary.


Spot on ... according to Rob's paper his orignial colony were established whilst on the central NSW coast where the temps are similar (although less extreme) to their natural habitat. The colony was cooled in a set up located outside with temps getting down to around 5C at night (but an average of 8-10C). When Rob moved to Qld he started experimenting using a fridge, with geckos spending approx 10hrs/day in a fridge and brought out at night to get temps in the low teens.


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## GeckPhotographer (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks for the information, pretty useless seeing they are outside my price range and all, but it is all very interesting.


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