Weird Growth on Plant [SOLVED]

Melinoe

I have a Crested Gecko, and in his tank there's a Pothos plant. Today I was looking at the plant and noticed weird little growths on a few stalks of the plant, that look like this:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/151/img0802r.jpg/ (image is kinda blurry but you can definitely see the growths)

I don't really know anything about plants so I have no idea if this is normal or bad or anything, and I'm not even really concerned about the plant, just the health of my gecko. If someone could identify it so that I could find out if it's gonna be harmful to the little guy I'd appreciate it, or if you happen to know whether or not it will hurt him that'd be even better.

Obligatory pet picture because he's adorable:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/525/28135020491204625831081.jpg/

Edit: Someone on a crested gecko forum said that it looks like the start of roots, could that be it?

The Ender

Oh my GOD that gecko!


Ahem.

do you have another camera available that can take a clearer image? I couldn't tell you much without one.

ceres

Now I want a gecko. Dammit.

I don't know why it is, but I doubt it will hurt him. If you're concerned just pull off the affected leaves.

The Ender

I think he's talking about the brown-ish looking protrusions on the stem, ceres.

I agree that it will not likely harm the Gecko, but I'd want a higher resolution shot first to make sure it's not mites.


EDIT: That gecko is the coolest looking little animal I've ever seen. Those eyes.

Mom2Kat

OMG your crested gecko has his tail!!! My friends have one but thier youngest son scared the tail off Stormy withing an hour of them getting him home. Seems they drop thier tails fairly easily?

On topic I can't see the plant well enough to say weather it is roots or what.

Arch

Now, I can't see shit in that picture, but in my mind the phrase "weird growth on plant" means one and only thing

You most likely have some sort of galling insect. If you can get a clearer picture I could be more definitive, but that is what my gut says.

Thrips have been known to produce gall attacks on plants in the genus Pothos, but I think the "Pothos plant" has been moved to a different genus. Regardless, I would suspect some sort of insect gall.

The good news is, it is extremely likely that this will have no effect on your little gecko. Hell, if whatever formed the galls emerges, he may even have some food!

Melinoe

Thanks guys. I'll try to take a clearer picture later, the camera was being uncooperative last night but I'll see if I can do.

@The Ender Yeah, it's the weird brown things coming from the stems. And his eyes never close! He has no eyelids so they're always like that

@Mom2Kat yeah I hear their tails drop easily but I didn't know they'd do it because they got spooked, I thought they just pulled off pretty easily but maybe I'm wrong. Poor little thing

Gafoto

Pothos is a vining plant that will spread by putting down roots. Without better pictures it's hard to tell, but that looks like the start of a root.

You can let it vine or you can trim the plant back. No matter what it's going to try to outgrow it's space. Its a highly invasive plant in tropical environments so you can be pretty aggressive about keeping it under control.

MetroidZoid

I'm gonna go with Gafoto and say it's the plant trying to produce aerial rootlets. These can help it cling to the growing surface, or in a terrestrial case, support it's weight. Totally harmless. Best thing about trimming one, though, is to throw the cuttings in some water. They root, you plant up, and enmasse your plant collection. I've been giving out Pothos cuttings for years.

My own Pothos and it's rootlets:


It doesn't mean the plant's unhealthy, either. Actually it mean the opposite, that the plant is thriving enough (it's hard for Pothos to not thrive) that it's trying to grow as fast as it can.

Melinoe

@MetroidZoid that looks right! Thanks for the confirmation! I don't really have space to put more plants right now but I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future, especially when we upgrade to a bigger tank.

Giggles_Funsworth

Hey guys,

Melinoe's boyfriend here, wanted to thank you all for identifying what was up with my lizard's plant, and post a couple current photos of him and his plant. That one at the top is from about six months ago and he has at least doubled in size since then. Still adorable though.

Anyway, thanks a ton.

Giggles_Funsworth

Also going back over the thread, @ceres, if you want a gecko, a Crested Gecko is like the easiest pet reptile ever. He doesn't need a light as long as your house is room temperature (65-85 degrees Fahrenheit). I have a UV light over him to keep the plant healthy, and I have a heat lamp because our place doesn't have heating and it dipped just a little bit too cold for him in the last month or so. The plant is just a personal preference, he'd be fine as long as he had some sort of hide, and stuff to climb on, man made or natural. He eats powder that you mix with a little bit of water, and some crickets every now and then because it's really his only form of exercise for his prey instincts/reflexes. Spray him in the evening because they prefer drinking the droplets off of things to drinking out of a dish, and humidity in the evening is good for them.

EDIT: Also, also, @Mom2Kat, afaik, they don't let go of their tails very easily. Because they don't grow back and because they are prehensile and they use them so extensively for balance and tethering themselves to things while climbing, they tend not to let go of them unless they're actually being hurt. I grab it, gently, all the time, and hook my finger under it to make him hang off my finger/move him. Only time I've heard of them letting go of them from people who own them is when they get pinched in the door of a cage, or bit by another gecko, or grabbed by a toddler, apparently.

ceres

Giggles, are they friendly? Or I mean, as friendly as reptiles get? Or will his/her tendency always be to sit there and hiss at me?

acidlacedpenguin

ceres wrote:

Giggles, are they friendly? Or I mean, as friendly as reptiles get? Or will his/her tendency always be to sit there and hiss at me?

this is something I need to know too. Also would they be friendly to other gecko(es?) kept in the same habitat? I want an army of these little guys.

Melinoe

@ceres He's totally content to crawl all around you and jump on you! He likes to jump on my hair especially because it reminds them of leaves. I guess he's bitten Giggles a couple of times but it's never happened to me. So yes, they are about as friendly as a reptile will get. He'll jump onto me from other people sometimes and I like to think it's because he knows I'm his mommy but that could just be wishful thinking.

@acidlacedpenguin I'm not totally sure about other types of geckos, but from what I understand they'll be pretty friendly to each other as long as they're all females. Males can get territorial and fight. So you probably won't be able to get itty bitty ones if you want a bunch because it takes a while to be able to sex them; we're still not entirely sure that ours is a he, it's just easier to assign a pronoun until we figure it out for sure later.

Giggles_Funsworth

@ceres They are super friendly! He has never hissed or gotten angry, and is much more agreeable to handling than my iguana was. Handling him, he tends to crawl and jump around all over the place. Because they are arboreal, when moving around they jump just as much as walk, so much so that there's even a picture of it on the Wikipedia article about them.



Also, because they are arboreal, a good way to get them to move when you're handling them is to extend your arm with your hand down at your waist and they love to run up your arm as they naturally like to climb to high places. With some practice you can get them to hop from hand to hand pretty reliably too.

The only thing to really consider when asking if they're right for you, is whether you can commit to keeping them for their lifespan. They come from New Caledonia and were thought to be extinct until 1994 when they were rediscovered, and they are so long lived that an average lifespan hasn't been established yet. Estimates are currently at 20-25 years. Since being rediscovered they have become one of the most widely bred reptiles in the pet trade because of their ease of care and friendliness. As a result of extensive breeding they can be bought at places as common as PetCo and come in a variety of colors:

http://www.rhac-shack.co.uk/9.html

@acidlacedpenguin As long as you've only got one male in the enclosure they should be fine. They do even better if it's all females, a 30 gallon enclosure should be good enough for three geckos. You can't tell from the most recent pictures but he's about 5 1/2 to 6 inches long now. They get up to between 8 and 12 inches and reach full size at about 9-12 months. As far as other species I've heard of limited success with Gargoyle geckos but sticking to Cresteds would be easiest.

More details on care are here: http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/crested-gecko-care-sheet-en.html

Also the wiki article about the species: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_gecko