Knob-Tailed Geckos

Knob-tailed geckos are Australian desert and arid-zone specialists, and their husbandry differs from almost every other gecko in the shop. They need a dry enclosure with a deep sand or sand-soil substrate they can burrow into, a warm end and a genuinely cool end, and a humid hide rather than a humid enclosure. The most common mistake is keeping them wet. Persistent high humidity causes skin and respiratory problems in these species; the moisture they need comes from a single humid retreat used for moulting, not from misting the whole enclosure. The second most common mistake is too little floor space — they are terrestrial and use horizontal ground, not height. They are nocturnal, feed on appropriately sized live insects dusted with calcium and D3, and defend themselves with a raised, barking display rather than by fleeing. Handling is tolerated briefly at most. Tails are used for fat storage and body condition is read from the tail.