Giant Day Gecko, The Best Pet Lizard? 

The concluding thoughts for this video make me laugh every time. Do not miss them!

Finally a reptile that can help me save 15% or more on car insurance

Fast, elusive, inquisitive (nosey), can slip out of their skin to avoid paying a claim. Perfect mascot for an insurance company.

My wife learned to keep something green next to her Day Gecko cage. Every time he got loose (and he was a bit of an escape artist) he would go straight for closest green surface and this made it easy to recapture. Not sure if this behavior was unique to this little guy or for the species as a whole

When Clint starts the video and the creatures in a cage i start to get worried hahaha

Finally a pet that comes with free car insurance!

As pretty and cute as it is I don't think it's the best pet lizard for me. Thank you for this video and all the other videos because it really helps me with my research and just reptiles I am interested in for the future.

I can't get the image of a tropical fish hopping out of an aquarium and running up the wall out of my head...

You know the animal is going to have a low handleability score when it's in an enclosure instead of in Clint's hand.

Survival strategy of the Giant Day Gecko while being in danger: “FALLING APART!” 10/10 Genius!

‘beautiful interactive land fish’ made me laugh wayyy harder than it should have 😂😂😂

I really love my pair of Giant Day Geckos, but I would sincerely agree with the statement that they should just not be handled at all. My male for a skin infection, and so I had to catch and inject him every two days. I shall tell you now, neither of us were having a good time. They are utterly beautiful creatures, fascinating to watch, but seriously? Set up a bioactive enclosure, as minimally interactive as possible, and then just watch them being gorgeous and awesome. The ultimate display pet.

Day Geckos were the first reptile I wanted when I was a kid. I remember secretly saving my lunch money (and starving everyday 😭) until I finally saved up enough to get one :) Unfortunately I didn’t consider the cost of all the equipment and the enclosure (hey I was only 12 or so), so my dream quickly dissipated. Years later, I know have a giant crimson day gecko, giant kochi day gecko, and mating pair of gold dust day geckos (plus their offspring ❤️), and they are all SO interesting to observe and interact with. Definitely not a handleable animal, but the best observational one imo 😉👍❤️❤️

They have it all, the looks, the personality, the hardiness, the intelligence. So incredibly underrated

Some pro tips - if a day gecko escapes out of its enclosure, it almost always goes on to climb up high on some wall, as they really hate being close to the ground. And you catch it by carefully putting some kind of a transparent box over them (we use plastic food boxes). You just see them chilling on the wall and you slowly press the box against the wall with the gecko in. And when you got them trapped like this, just insert a sheath of paper between the box and the wall and voilá, you have caught a gecko. Just be sure you don't pinch off the end of their tail or legs when you press the box against the wall. The escapes happen, but the best tip is to always keep calm, perhaps even give them some time to explore. It's not the end of the world, they really can be caught easily, you just can't use your hands, ever. When handling is considered, to be honest the handling is pretty OK, I'd give them like 2/5, but you need to know what to expect. I would suggest to never *grab* them, as they are slippery, super fast and skittish, but they can be very easily taught to climb onto your hands (if you offer some kind of a treat which they can lick off your hand, like mashed fruit for kids or honey). And if that occurs and you gradually teach them to come by themselves, it's I would say even more magical and satisfying thing than straight up grabbing a crestie or a bearded dragon. You somehow develop a relationship of mutual trust. If the gecko trusts you and climbs onto you out of its own will, it's the most special thing ever. Another point that wasn't really adressed in the video is cohabitation. Usually they are thought of as an animal that's always kept in pairs, but that can backfire, not only that you need to take care of the eggs, which WILL come (do you really want to get them out of the enclosure and break them and throw them away? or do you really want to take care of them and the eventual hatchlings?). But that's not the only problem with cohabitation, since the male is asserting his dominance by bites and chasing around and that leaves the female pretty scarred, as their skin is really delicate. The male also gets a few scratches from the chasing and the female fighting back sometimes, so I would generally advise to keep only one gecko per enclosure. Reptiles seem to be solitary animals in general. We keep a pair and it's fine, they aren't killing each other and they aren't hiding from each other, but the bites and scars are there and they also steal food from each other's mouths, which is stressful for everyone involved (save for the thief of course :) ) Also, when getting a reptile, the juvenile is usually much cheaper, but also the sex is not that easy to determine, therefore I would really advise to keep the animals separated so you avoid getting two males accidentally, because the breeders themselves don't always get the sex right. As for the enclosure, from experience - buy a front-end opening enclosure, as Clint said, but try to get one which either has two sliding doors, or two normal swing doors, as having an enclosure with one big door is really inconvenient, since you aren't really in control of what's happening, you do something with your plants for example and your gecko can easily escape or you can pinch off their tail more easily. This risk is heavily reduced by having two swing doors, so you open the one which is further from the gecko, or without the gecko chilling on it. Fun remark: a day gecko male juvenile bit me once, just out of the blue. And it was the cutest bite ever. No damage was done, he didn't even seem to mean it, as the "strike" wasn't even fast, and it was so soft, it just sort of scratched a bit with his tiny teeth (or god knows what they have) and it was the cutest thing. I'd agree with Clint's rating, but they are so utterly adorable and cute that all of the cons seem like nothing. I'd give them 4/5 with the aesthetics, personality and cuteness involved.

Excellent video on giant days. I own four adults I have had since they were babies and love them very much. Definitely a great pet to watch; not for handling. My favorite giant day is a female named Ducky that will climb to my hand for her fruit cups and dubias. Cutest dang lizards ever. UVB was mentioned in the video and as a keeper of them I highly recommend it for this species in conjunction with vitamin dusting their feeders. They are much more active when they have access to UVB. :) Most care sheets dismiss it as unnecessary and I'm glad you didn't.

I’ve had my giant day gecko, Gobi, for about a month now. She’s absolutely beautiful and this video has really helped me make sure I take care of her in the right way. I had multiple green anoles before, but I had unknowingly overheated them. Informational videos like this are SO helpful when caring for reptiles, as I often notice that generalized pet stores amp up the cost over the proper care. The one near my hometown told me I needed a 100 watt on top and a heating pad on the bottom. With a situation like that, my anoles had nowhere to regulate their temp and I slowly cooked them. Thankfully, I used that as a hard-learned lesson so I could move on to more challenging animals like the day gecko.

I may be late here but I'm in the middle of a reptile video binge session and just noticed your change from MS to PhD. Congrats!

I'm loving the bright green unique scales that the day gecko, alligator lizard, and chameleon gecko have! (I just saw a female and male pair of the alligator lizards today and they're even more amazing in person.) I can't decide between the three which one is the most rad, since they're all too dang awesome!

The tight shots on the skin of the gecko are just amazing!

*Hears Clint's "Oh, hi there!"* *Depression instantly melts*

Dropping tails i now just kinda expect with geckos, dropping skin is a surprise though. Def not an animal for a newer keeper

Your video was one of the ones that made me want one of these. I now have had Raon, my high crimson giant day gecko, for about a month. He's definitely worth every penny and then some I've spent on him. I interact with him daily and he's been such a joy. He's always curious about what I'm doing and follows me in his enclosure. He readily takes food from my hand and doesn't mind when I boop his snoot. He's even a good sport about it when I have to catch him in a container for tank maintenance. He actually won't run out but because he isn't afraid of me, he can get underfoot when I'm maintaining his home. I'm working on building enough trust for him to step onto my hand and so far, he's flopped onto my hand once for a mealworm! So exciting!

2:40 D'aww, he's smiling, I love him so much!

Their skin comes off? Wow..

Whenever you talk about misting a reptile, it makes me think of Cassandra from Dr. Who saying “Moisturize me!”

went to an expo last year and impusively bought a giant day gecko because it was so beautiful (and fairly cheap). quickly learned it was a “look, dont touch” lizard, but i dont regret a thing. i was able to make a really beautiful bioactive tank that matches my geckos beauty and it’s always so nice to walk in to my room and see her peeking out at me. definitely not a starter lizard, but if you have experience with other geckos and dont mind not being able to play with it, i totally recommend them.

"They are the kings of day geckos, unless they're queens." -Clint for powerful women 2019

And I shall henceforth refer to geckos as "landfishes". Thank you. :)

a beautiful interactive land fish...that description is so perfect! thank you for being so honest with all your videos, it's very refreshing and really helps people like me who are looking for info on the perfect pets in the future

When I purchased my day gecko, I was told he had delicate skin so for that reason he is my "ornament" pet. I always wanted a terrarium...so something living in the carefully laid out enclosure is just awesome.

My day gecko takes a dump on his food dish and then freaks out when I go in to clean it

Another awesome video! Thanks Clint! I would have chosen that gecko based on it's cuteness! Good to know that beauty does not always equate to ease of care😊

I got my 1st Giant Day Gecko yesterday. I did a bioactive enclosure like the one you did for your neon day geckos ( only larger). Thank you, thank you for all of your Rad information.

Yesssss!! I so badly want a beautiful interactive landfish. 😂 Best description ever. These guys have been on my dream reptile list for quite a while. Thanks for doing a video on them!

Love this video! Thanks for making it Clint. I currently have 5 adult Grandis and 4 babies which were hatched out by me. I completely agree with everything you said in this video especially when you compared owning Phelsuma to having a fish tank. I also have said this to people many times in the past who were interested in acquiring a baby from me. There was only one fact in your video which even though it pertains to most other Day Gecko species it’s not the same for the species that was sitting there with you in the video. True, that most Day Geckos glue their eggs to a variety of things making it a difficult task to remove the eggs from the enclosure without damaging them. That said, the Giants or Grandis are the only species that does not employ this technique making egg removal so much easier. Once again though, great informative video and I’m extremely happy to find this out in the world. I will definitely be sharing this video with my Phelsuma Phanatics group on Facebook.

Was going to buy a day geko, and now I'm going to pass, they look amazing but also seem like a lot of work and also seem like they do not like being a pet very much (dont enjoy being handled or atleast tolerate being handled) thanks for all your video they are so informative and without them I would probarly make some silly decisions

Glad I watched this. There’s one of these at the local pet shop that I’ve been eyeing. But.....nope. Way more work than even my parrots + everything falling off = nope.

One of my favs so far.Thank you again so much for what you're doing.So cool.

Thank you so much for posting this, been asking for it for over a month!!

Finally, Clint meets the GEICO Gecko! Previously, he had encountered Mondo Gecko (leopard gecko) and Rango (chameleons).

Ah yes, the gecko that sells car insurance

I was waiting for this! Thank you Clint, very cool!

Yes! Finally! I've been waiting for this video ever since I found your awesome channel thank you! :D

this guy can make a serial killer sound like the best pet gecko to have ngl

I’ve wanted one of these since I was 5 years old! I’m happy to say your video made me get my first pet reptile! I’ve had Treecko about a month and handled him for the first time this weekend. Nerve-wracking at first but a wonderful experience!

I interacted with my friends day gecko on a table. It got mad charged at me then pooped

0:32 "Long live the king." **SKREEEEOONK**

I'm doing research before getting my first reptile and just today found a day gecko breeder practically on my doorstep. Your channel was my first stop to see if they would be an option - thank you for making it clear that they're not right for me just yet! (Fortunately the breeder has leopards and cresteds too so I'm going to meet them next week to help me choose.)

"No wonder they can be used to sell insurance" lol

The smaller Madagascar "gold dust" day gecko is all over Hawaii on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu. They are even more beautiful than the giant one you feature in this video. It is an invasive species, but everyone loves the little guys. A pair of them were released by a university student in 1972 on Oahu and now they are everywhere. We sailed to Hawaii on our 1971 Columbia 43 sailboat in 2016-17 and anchored around the islands for 13 months. We caught a "gold dust" day gecko near Reeds Bay on the Big Island to help control the insects that flew over to keep us company on the boat. He left, I think he jumped overboard. They are good swimmers so I'm pretty sure he made it to shore. While on Oahu we caught another one and I put him under my hat until we got to the boat. We let him roam free and would occasionally feed him meal worms by hand. He was very personable and cute. He would show up at dinnertime and hang out on the table just watching us. Before we sailed back to the Northwest our 14-year-old grandson joined us. He took a real liking to Nephi (the gecko's name) and asked if he could keep him when we got back to Puget Sound. We said he could if he would research how to take care of him. He did and had his dad buy a habitat with the proper lights. Nephi lived for about another 20 months or so after we arrived in Olympia, Wash. In addition to "gold dust" day geckos, Hawaii has other kinds of brown geckos, anoles of several kinds, and even Jackson's Chameleons. The geckos and anoles are so common that they often jump in your grocery bags or wander into your hotel room. Any place with bamboo or other vegetation will have dozens. Wetter areas (Hilo) have more than dryer areas (Kona). Sounds like a field trip to me!

There’s a Day Gecko at this aquarium place by me and I feel scared that someone will just buy it cause it’s “cute” and that it’s just going to die because they don’t know the specific care requirements :(

Yes!!! You finally did an episode on them!!!

I love the day geckos! By far some of my favorite species! Keeping with the trend, would LOVE to see a spotlight on the (lygodactylus williamsi) electric blue day gecko!

One of the only videos I’ve seen where he doesn’t actually seem all that enthusiastic about a lizard... Bad sign?

Hurray! I've been waiting for this one!

Clint I love your videos. I love Reptiles and want to own them all, but you help me actually think my reptile purchases out all the way probably saving me well over 15% on my reptile bill.

Finallyyy I have waited over a year for this!

If you do not have Geico Car insurance, this gecko will be stressed and drop its tail!!!

There's a Giant Day Gecko at my local pet shop. Beautiful creature. Entertained thoughts about buying it. I'm glad this video came along. I want a lizard I can at least interact with from time to time.

Clint, you are the best. This is a very good primer for any interested novice, new to day gex. Especially, I appreciate your comments at 4:00 forward...”Every now and then you can transition them into and out of containers...” Perfect. I think the classic tropical fish model is a good model to follow: set it up nice, with the animal in mind, and if you wish, assemble the enclosure that provides an attractive display; then leave them alone (don’t disrupt the enclosure, don’t handle the animals...just like fish, right?)...look, don’t touch.

I was waiting for this!!! Thank you

Thank you for making these vids you give great info and your Gargoyle Gecko video helped me learn more about them so I can get one 👍🏻😄

I have had mine for almost two years and had it as my first reptile pet. I did a months worth of research before owning one. Mines lets me handle her sometimes but not all the time. She is very tame I must say.

I named my gecko Martin. Guess why.

We had a few of those in our exotics shelter and they really were the most interesting of all the geckos we had. Loved them all but day geckos actually enjoy some interaction with us humans. We also definitely had to pluck one from the ceiling but they really were used to us gently handling them so at least didn't try to run away. Never had one just lose his tail or some skin which I'm very thankful for. We had two that came to us all purple and stayed like this for a few days because they were that stressed out and just sick.

I was debating on getting this little fella and this video really inspired me to get it. So thank you!

i had a gold dust, and that smart little SOB would hide right under the lid where he KNEW i couldn't see him.. and the SECOND i would try to open the opening at ALL to feed him he would LEAP and shoot for the door to escape.. absolutely give them 0/5 in handling.. absolutely BEAUTIFUL, but FAST as all hell and guerilla warfare to clean their enclosure..

got myself a Crimson Giant Day Gecko today. he was kept in quite a crap enclosure prior to me taking him and man once he got in his new humid enclosure he was so much brighter in color then i thought

Aww drat. I've been looking at these guys for a while now. Since I always research I came across a article that said to "not handle" them and I got really nervous because when it comes to animals, for me, almost the best part is holding and handling them. This video blasted my hopes and dreams out the window. Oh well. Guess I've either gotta look-and-not-touch or start searching for a different species.

This right here is why I come here. It's informative it's unbiased and it's brutally honest. Some videos you straight up say No don't get it at all it *will* die no sugar coating just absolute honesty because of this channel I'm going to in a month be setting up a tank for a crested gecko and getting the gecko a month after.

Another great video about yoshi

Great video, matched up with the research I did last year before I got my Giant Day Gecko, Mint. He's a crimson morph too.

My dad had one of these when i was a kid and it got loose in his house. Nobody could catch the quick little dude. It eventually took up residence in the bathroom. Turns out my dad's bathroom was the perfect enclosure for a giant day gecko. It got misted once a day (dad would take a shower and the bathroom would fog up), dad lived in LA so the temperatures were never too low for it, plenty of UV's (he'd bask in the window), and when the little guy wanted to be left alone his favorite hide was led zepplin poster above the toilet. also in the corner of the bathroom was the where all the feeder enclusures where dad gutloaded his invertabrates to feed to the rest of the critters. Gecko would just pop in for a snack whenever it wanted.

Laidlaw, that’s the coolest last name ever!

I actually kept one of these free in my house (native species) . I found him as a baby and just let him inside and he used to eat all the bugs that would wander in. He was 7" when I moved out and I put it back outside. Miss him.

Great video with great info! Would love to see one about reticulated pythons soon :)

I’ve been waiting so long for this video, great job as always!!

Great channel Clint

used to have 2 with a lot of red. Such beautiful animals. They loved going in their bamboo hides, drinking from the plants (sanseveria and bromelia with strong leafs) and were always in sight. Got them from someone who could no longer keep them. But gave them to someone else after 2 years because reptiles didn't fit in my life at that time. Also hated the not being able to handle. They were super easy to care for for me.

Can you do a video on the black tail coribo plz also love what you do keep up the good work :3

I was at a local reptile shop picking up food for my chinese water dragon(I got her bc of ur chinese water dragon video and she’s one of the best pets I’ve ever owned) and they have 2 beautiful giant day geckos for sale along with their entire enclosure and it’s pretty cheap. The two of them have been up for sale for the past year. I’ve been debating on whether I should get them or not. This video helped out a lot!

Awesome video, as always! Will we eventually see a video on mourning geckos?

Even he’s not handling the gecko... I’m not even gonna try

Very informative Thank you

Great video! Have you guys made a video of all the animals that have a score of 5, it's a great video idea

Just remember, you can't grab or restrain them or their skin will rip! 😧

They're like a house plant lol.. just water them and sun them.. don't play with them

Monty Python ref at the very end, “Pining for the fjords.” Somehow I knew you would have some favorite Monty Python lines. Reminds me of their Crunchy Frog skit…

I remember living in Zanzibar for one year( a set of islands of the coast of Tanzania) and There were zanzibar day geckos that would lick nectar from the palm trees. It was so cute and beautiful.

“No wonder their able to sell insurance” Me: *chuckles*

Of all the facts in this video, the geico gecko being a day gecko is the one I’m most enamored with and shocked by 😱

when I saw your video about the Argentine black-and-white Tegu I did my research and I'm getting a male black and white Tegu tomorrow

Ayyyy, im so happy to see this posted, day and peacock geckos are some of my favorite lizards!

Guy sounded like he went through some trauma trying to handle the lil Geico

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO FOR EVER

I am broken my dream pet and favorite animal just denied, well thank you because I would have probably bought one and I realized it might not be the right gecko for me.

Wow.. just amazing, you inspire me and lots of other people and I love reptiles and have some of own!!

Any Giant Day Gecko: "Hail to my cuteness, baby!"

Thank you for these videos