Phelsuma Klemmeri geckos!!
- thereptileroomie
- May 22
- 4 min read
After 16 months, we finally have baby Klemmeri (Neon day) geckos!
Back in January 2025, I set a goal for myself: to create a thriving, fully bioactive bamboo forest vivarium and stock it with one of the most beautiful species of dwarf geckos in the world—Klemmeri geckos.
Now, I don't do things by halves—if something's worth doing, then it's worth doing right! I managed to source a 45x60x45 Exo Terra vivarium second-hand with the lid completely intact (to prevent escapes). I then went searching for bamboo of all different shapes and sizes, as I know Klemmeri geckos love bamboo. Next was a thermostat, I foolishly tried to save money by getting a cheap one online - a choice that came back to bite me later! Luckily something i didnt mess around trying to save money with was the lighting - Klemmeri need 5% UVB, live plants need LEDs to thrive and thankfully the second goal for that year was to start moving all of my vivarium lighting in The Reptile Room over to Arcadia lighting. Arcadia Jungle dawn and Shade dweller lights are so handy as you can run ten lights from one socket which is much safer when you have a room as big as mine - it saves having ten lights hooked up to three extension cords which then lead to two other extension cords that also have thermostates and heat lamps and that's only a quater of the room covered. So yeah - they are great for fire safety and my goodness do they produce some amount of light!
After the drainage layer and substrate came the plants—unlike my other tropical vivariums, these plants needed to be able to withstand heat! With that in mind, I chose Golden Pothos as it's fairly indestructible, climbs bamboo with ease, and has big beautiful leaves for the geckos to bask on. Ficus is tall-growing and heat-resistant, but I took a risk with my Palmer palm as I know it's not traditionally overly heat-resistant. I planted one in the middle of the vivarium directly under the MistKing system, and it's still going strong after 16 months. I hit lucky with that one. I also planted three curly lucky bamboo for aesthetics—only one has survived; the other two are now used by my geckos as basking branches so its not a complete loss.
Our original Phelsuma klemmeri joined the reptile room in April 2025 after many months of research, weeks spent setting up a bamboo forest vivarium and going out of my mind trying to source a pair of Klemmeri in Ireland. We managed to find a breeding pair—Loki and Sylvie—in Derry, Northern Ireland, both named for my favourite Marvel characters. Unfortunately, after all that research, work, and hope, Sylvie died a week after bringing her home. At that stage, I was gutted but put her death down to stress from travelling, or perhaps she was sick when I purchased her? With that in mind I immediately went on a hunt for a replacement female.
By May, I had managed to find an adult female in Cork—Sigyn (named for Loki's favourite wife according to Norse lore)—and introduced the two. They seemed to be getting on well... until Loki disappeared. A week later, I found what was left of him in the substrate. That was when I discovered that my thermostat was malfunctioning; instead of maintaining 30°C, it was allowing the ceramic heat emitter to get up to 45°C! I had unintentionally cooked my very expensive geckos. I cannot explain in words how devastated I was!
After replacing the cheap thermostat for a proper dimming Habistat thermostat, installing a glass thermometer directly below the CHE (ceramic heat emitter), and rehydrating the vivarium, I cast a wide net and tried to find another pair anywhere in Ireland. By this stage, I was seriously considering importing a pair from Hamm or Houten, as there are very, very few breeders in Ireland. Thankfully, I managed to find a young trio in Belfast in July 2025. Unfortunately (once again), one died within a week of bringing them home, but the remaining two, together with Sigyn, had formed a strong family bond. And so we now have Siggy, Lagertha, and Floki—I changed the theme to Vikings after we lost Loki. All we had to do now was wait for them to grow up - and hope one was male!!!
Fast forward to February 15th, 2026, and Siggy laid her first clutch of eggs, swiftly followed by two from Lagertha. From then on, we have found four eggs every five weeks like clockwork! Now just because they are laying that doesn't mean the eggs were fertile so I wasn't letting myself get too excited,
Then on the 16th of May 2026 it finally happened - two beautiful baby klemmeri's hatched!
My plan is to find homes for the first six babies that hatch so that I can recoup some of my financial losses. After that, I'm hoping to trade some of my babies for Klemmeri of different bloodlines; those geckos will be grown out and added to my colony. Klemmeri are a communal species who actively raise their own young. They thrive in large groups, but I'm very mindful of inbreeding—I have no interest in producing unhealthy, inbred reptiles. I'm probably six months away from that, but it's always good to have a plan.
As I write this, my first two babies are on their way to their new home. I wouldn't usually let babies go this young, but as I have a holiday coming up, I couldn't risk them being hurt, lost, or becoming ill. Last year, we lost most of our mourning geckos when the pet sitter accidentally left their vivarium open! I was able to catch five of them, but the rest remain lost in my house somewhere...
Lets hope i have better luck this year, if not then at least i will know that the Klemmeri are safe.
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