My love for Crested Geckos reached new heights in this story. For four years in a row, our Green issue has had articles about Cresties. This year we outdid ourselves after discovering the amazing Gecko-breeding operation being run nearby that is literally putting geckos back on the map, though all over the world and not on their native Island, New Caledonia. Cresties make great pets so if you are considering them, give me a call. My ad for my own babies is in the issue and I’d be happy to give you the real scoop on Geckos.
Here is the copy if you are on a mobile browser. Or pdf is at right…
The NEW New Caledonia
STORY: Sarah Dann
PHOTOS: Northern Gecko
Crested Geckos are almost extinct on their native island, New Caledonia. Fortunately for geckos, they have local breeder and go-to gecko guy Mark Orfus. Mark Orfus has been a reptile hobbyist and collector for pretty much his entire life. “Ever since I was a kid I have loved reptiles and amphibians,” Mark tells me. At the cottage, he would go out and catch snakes and frogs. His parents wouldn’t let him have them in the house so he kept them in a box outside. “It was like a toy box,” he says.
As Mark grew, so did the collection. His parents finally relented and he got himself a Boa Constrictor. He made the move to geckos after discovering Leopard geckos. “They seemed intelligent,” he says, “I’m not sure if they are or they aren’t but they are always interested in what you are doing. I think they are just inquisitive.” Besides the behaviour of the Leopard geckos, Mark was particularly interested in the fact that they come in a variety of colours, what gecko people refer to as “morphs”. There is a unique language that gecko people speak. For instance, Leopard geckos can have bright orange tails, and these are called carrot tails in gecko-speak. Leopard geckos also have a plain phase which gives them their leopard name since they are typically yellow with black spots. And they come in shades of orange and can also be albino.
But it was the range of morphs (colours) that then attracted Mark to Crested Geckos. Crested Geckos are very different from Leopard geckos in that Cresties, as they are affectionately called in gecko-speak, are a boreal or forest-dwelling species whereas Leopard Geckos live in deserts. Leopard Geckos spend their lives on the ground whereas Crested Geckos can climb trees, bushes and in their more urban lives, walls. Crested Geckos have what I refer to as “spiderman feet” that enable them to climb even smooth glass. But I digress, none of this had to do with Mark’s draw to Crested Geckos. What Mark was interested in were the various morphs (colours) and also the range of patterns that Crested Geckos were capable of possessing.
“I started to get interested in selective breeding of Crested Geckos,” Mark says. He explains to me that whereas most people might buy a breed of dog from a breeder as a pet, reptile hobbyists are typically inclined to actually want to breed their pets. “Gecko owners can’t seem to stop at one,” he says and clearly he is the best example. Currently Mark’s collection features approximately 3500 geckos and he produces about 3000 a year on top of those.
Mark clearly became more than just a little interested in breeding. “I started to push out all my other animals,” he tells me. “I was like, how many geckos could I fit in the space that boa constrictor cage takes up?” Mark had completed an MBA and was working with a property development company when he started breeding Crested Geckos. He started selling to hobbyists and over time was making as much money from his geckos as he was from his job. That was around 2008 and he decided to make a go of geckos full-time. His geckos expanded from an upstairs reptile room into the rental units in his basement where he bumped out one tenant and then another to make way for the geckos. Most recently, Mark’s operation, known as Northern Gecko, moved to a 3000 square foot facility in the east end of Toronto. All his business is done online at northerngecko.ca but the geckos are now out of his house.
The geckos that Mark breeds all are native to the island of New Caledonia. A French Colony, New Caledonia is a unique island in that it is non-volcanic and sits quite a ways off New Zealand and Australia. It is a small island but all the species that live there, live only there. Sadly, many of these are becoming extinct. On a recent safari to New Caledonia, researchers found only one Crested Gecko. It is quite possible that Mark’s operation is the new, New Caledonia. I joke with him that perhaps in another five years he could go and reintroduce his geckos to the island. One can only hope.
In the meantime, he has achieved the next best thing. Mark breeds primarily Crested Geckos but also Gargoyle geckos, and three other species known as Sarasinorum, Chahoua, and Leachianus. Only the Crested Geckos and Gargoyles are found in pet stores. The others are specialty pets typically only purchased by collectors and hobbyists, like Mark. Mark sells to pet stores but also to individual collectors who are typically looking for particular morphs and markings to enhance their own breeding programs. The species may not be doing well in New Caledonia but they are certainly popular in the rest of the world. Mark does about 50% of his business in the USA and the other 50% is international. He ships geckos all over the world to people that interested in a specific animal so they are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for the gecko and its shipping.
However, while it may be the morphs that attract the hobbyists, it seems to be the charm of Crested Geckos that has made them popular as pets. “Absolutely they are cute,” Mark agrees with me when I talk about my own love of crested geckos. But he attributes their success as pets to what he calls the “triple threat”. One, they are docile and easy to handle. Two, they don’t require a heat source since they are quite happy to live at room temperature around 72 degrees. Three, they do not have to eat crickets. Mark figures that this is the big win with parents. All the geckos from New Caledonia are frugivores, meaning that they eat fruit. They will also eat insects and many Crested Gecko owners do include crickets in their diet but they are able to live on pre-packaged foods that have been designed to meet the needs of Crested Geckos. These are fruit-flavoured and vitamin and Calcium enhanced and just need water added to them to create a complete Crested Gecko diet. A big plus for people who just don’t like to have bugs around. Mark figures that Crested Geckos could be the popular pet of the future.
And what are Crested Geckos like as pets? Well I have several. I started with two but they liked each other so much I ended up with two plus ten before I separated my pair. I have been completely charmed by these animals. I have watched the babies grow from new hatchlings about the length of one part of my baby finger into healthy, active yearlings five times that size but still only half the size of their parents. As Mark says, each gecko has it’s own very distinct colouring – mine are apparently very boring in the great gecko scheme of things and have even been selectively bred out but they range from green to yellow to slate gray to sand coloured to red. It is the reds that are most in demand these days and the hot gecko of the hour is called a Creamsicle – orange with white. Who knew my basic geckos could be so boring. I certainly didn’t – I love them all.
They each have a distinct personality. Some are more adventurous than others. A few are shy. Some like the water in their pool. Some love to climb the walls. Others prefer to cruise along the sticks I have set up for them. Some are very thirsty – I mist them twice a day. Some hate the spray and duck under their plants to avoid it. Some love to hunt crickets. Crested Geckos can jump five inches without a second thought and many enjoy doing so. My Crested Geckos are a bit like plants in that I tend to them every day but mostly they are fascinating to watch – always up to something. It is like having a zoo exhibit at home but one that you can interact with. They are wonderful animals who really grow on you the more time you spend around them. People have teased me all year about my expanding gecko family so I have to say that I was relieved to meet Mark and to find out that my gecko fascination is nothing when compared with his. Visit northerngecko.ca to see Mark’s geckos. Mark truly is the gecko guy.