Electric blue day gecko, male

Lygodactylus williamsi, on the wall of glass tank. Reptile Rearing Unit, Paignton, 27th September 2016

Really nice, artistic photo. I love the shallow depth of field.

These guys are beautiful but highly endangered from the totally illegal pet trade. I've seen plenty of them for sale just google "Williams blue
cave gecko for sale " and they will come which is quite surprising they would openly sell them because it's totally illegal. The cheapest I have ever seen one was at the incredibly cheap price of 150$ dollars on backwater reptiles (how sell many species of endargered reptiles). Between December 2004 and June 2009 one collecting group took about 15% of the population of wild geckos which is extremely outrageous they shouldn't be allowed as pets at all.

Thank you. I didn't choose the d.o.f, but I was shooting with ambient light at base ISO to get best colour rendition and minimum noise and 1/10s was the slowest shutter speed I dared to use. This was shot through two panes of glass (glass vivarium behind window).

I agree entirely. The species has a very restricted distribution and the authorities in Tanzania were slow to react to the situation (although to be fair, Tanzania faces many bigger problems). I wonder how many other attractive little herps might face similar problems in the future.

Alan

Truly an impressive photo! Couple that with the fact that the reflection and out of focus body and you get a really artistic photo as well, as stated by AD.

A very nice set of gecko photos, @gentle lemur!

They made me smile, as I had been photographing exactly the same subjects during my first ever visit to Paignton just a few days earlier! Indeed they are great fun to photograph, as you mentioned in another post; although I chose the opposite end of the ISO scale for my shots!

Beautiful picture, well worth your trip in time to take it .

I once heard an interview in which the late B B King explained that he developed his guitar style because he had 'stupid fingers'
Sometimes mine are like that

Alan

Very true indeed but one cannot go without mentioning the benefits of private breeding of williamsi. Zoos acquired the geckos just like hobbyists did, by illegal collecting. It is also important to note that the private sector is what is keeping the genetics healthy in captivity. If there population in the wild crashes, zoos will have to work with hobbyists to save the species because zoos were just too slow to start working with them. Many of them already have, at least in the U.S.

It's indeed very ironic that the potential downfall of the species seems to be their last source of survival. It is important to give credit to those keeping the gecko as a pet. Having these as "pets" will most likely save the species from total extinction.

Why should one give credits to people who obtained illegally collected critically endangered geckoes..... They are not saving the species, but (indirectly) supporting it's demise in Tanzania. It is even worse that they can now be seen as the species last hope, as it gives them credits that they do not deserve (the same goes for zoos here)...