By Jonathan Bell
Published May 22, 2014 at 8:00 am

Two newly-born colourful lizards that are a threatened species due to the reptile trade are settling into their new home at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ).

“It’s very satisfying. I’d love to see one actually hatch, but I’ve never managed to catch it,” said senior zookeeper Cindy Patterson.

The tiny specimens of Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis) were born on Friday, but they aren’t out of the woods yet.

“In the zoo world, we usually wait 30 days after they hatch,” Ms Patterson said. “After that, you consider it a true success.”

The delicate reptiles, which hail originally from the northern tip of Madagascar, can easily fall prey to Bermuda’s ever-present ants. And so can their eggs.

Four viable eggs didn’t survive the ants in the past, but right now BAMZ has eight eggs incubating from its day geckos, plus four from its Malagasy leaf-tailed geckos.

The eye-catching lizards can grow up to 30cm long. True to their name, they stay active throughout the day.

Their neighbours in the BAMZ exhibit, the nocturnal leaf-tailed geckos, camouflage themselves to resemble bark, and are occasionally mistaken for dead by visitors.

New born: The Madagascar giant day gecko starts out tiny. This
hatchling, sex unknown, clings to the fingertip of senior zookeeper
Cindy Patterson at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.

Bermuda’s zoo has proven a good home for the day geckos, which are on the decline back home as slash-and-burn agriculture intrudes on their native habitat.

“Currently I have two females and one male on exhibit — we acquired them in November 2011,” Ms Patterson said.

BAMZ acquires or trades animals with other facilities through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The geckos came from US reptile specialists Clyde Peelings.

Local zookeepers researched the geckos and decided they were a “right find”.

“The goal is to be able to maintain our in-house population — in the end they’ll pass on due to age.”

Before they hatched: The characteristic double-egg of the Madagascar giant day
gecko, collected at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, hatched on Friday
into two tiny specimens of the distinctively bright-coloured reptile.
((Photo by Cindy Patterson))

The lizards, each of which has its own distinctive pattern of speckles, can survive up to 15 years in captivity, where they feed on crickets bred at the facility.

Ms Patterson keeps a regular lookout for new eggs, which are laid in pairs and stuck onto leaves.

“The eggs are very sensitive, and unlike bird’s eggs, which you can rotate, you have to keep it in the same position as it was found,” she said.

“If you shake it at all, you no longer have a viable egg.”

The new arrivals aren’t yet on display, but appear to be thriving in their carefully controlled environment.

So far the two, who are too young to be sexed, are living on tiny “pinhead” crickets.

Enhancing the range of residents at the zoo is a matter of “whatever we can get”, the senior zookeeper said.

“Hopefully, if all goes well, we’ll be acquiring a panther chameleon during the summer,” she added.