My 10 cm (4’’) henkeli CB juveniles were in a 115 cm (nearly 4’) high viv with a densely planted setting and a lot of hides .The trouble was ,I could not carefully monitor their food intake and check for wandering preys and stools .Thus ,I made this new setting in a 40x30x50 cm high viv (16’’x12’’x20) trying to furnish it in a simpler way :
The first good news was to find several normal stools in their former cage .There is no better evidence they have eaten since their arrival on Dec. 10th .I did not find much stools though .
Just before transferring them into their new cage ,I took a few new shots .I wanted both to share these shots and ask experts whether they look healthy or not .
Detail of the dermal fringes ,showing tiny structures at the edge of them ,probably to help breaking off the body shape while resting on a tree during the day ,head downwards :
Just bark or a leaf-tail around ?
The camera flash makes things clearer :
Fearing they may be a little underfed and dehydrated ,I took the opportunity of the photo session to feed them gently with a plastic syringe .Having read that some keepers sometimes use fruit mash ,I decided to try whole milk yogurt with lychees : at first they were a little reluctant to lick the drops on their snouts but they soon showed that they really enjoyed it ,one of them even « asked » obviously for more .
I thought it was also interesting to share ,as yogurt is a good source of calcium and other electrolytes ,proteins and a good way to rehydrate the animals .
I underline they were not handled at all during the whole process ,to avoid unnecessary stress .This is a video to show how I did :
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=CcOMPTobL8w
And a few pics :
I was also wondering ,as they really seemed to appreciate this fruit yogurt diet ,if they could feed occasionally on fruits in the wild .Of course I will not renew the experience unless necessary .A lot of geckos are known to feed on fruit regularly ,others are occasional feeders ,so may Uroplatus be in the latter case ?