Barking Gecko — Fact Sheet

Underwoodisaurus milii · Barking Gecko

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• A ventilated 60 × 45 × 45 cm enclosure is a useful starting point for one adult.
• Solitary housing avoids breeding pressure and competition; never combine adult males.
• Quarantine acquisitions and use individual feeding and weight records before considering any pairing.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Use about 5–8 cm of compactable soil and sand, low anchored branches, cork and secure rock crevices.
• Put heavy rocks on the base, never on excavatable substrate.
• Include dry and damp shelters at suitable temperatures and enough cover to move between them unseen.

💡 Lighting

• Provide a regular 12-hour light cycle and complete darkness at night.
• Offer low-intensity UVB over part of the enclosure, with fully shaded retreats.
• Measure exposure at the animal’s level and follow the lamp’s distance guidance; nocturnal activity does not mean the animal must be deprived of optional daytime exposure.

🌡️ Temperature

• Provide a modest warm surface at 28–30 °C and cool retreats around 22–25 °C; an ordinary night drop to 18–22 °C is suitable.
• Use thermostatic control and separate air and surface measurements.
• Do not heat the whole enclosure to 30 °C.
• A seasonal breeding rest requires a separate, health-assessed plan; do not use refrigerator methods described for other species.

💧 Humidity & water

• Aim for roughly 40–50% general humidity with a permanently available moist hide and fresh water in a shallow bowl.
• Lightly wet one area as needed while letting exposed surfaces dry.
• Good airflow and access to a humid retreat matter more than forcing a single humidity reading all day.

🪳 Diet

Staple foods — follow the feeding schedule:

• Offer varied gut-loaded crickets, roaches and other suitably sized insects.
• Feed adults every 2–3 days, young animals more frequently, and adjust portions to condition.
• Fatty larvae should remain occasional treats.
• Remove biting prey before leaving the animal overnight.
• Choose prey no wider than the space between the eyes; offer smaller items if swallowing looks difficult.

In moderation:

• Keep fatty larvae occasional and adjust portions to body condition.

Avoid:

• Pesticide-contaminated food, spoiled leftovers and unverified wild-collected foods.

Supplements:

• Dust with calcium and use a reptile multivitamin matched to UVB and label instructions; do not put vitamins routinely in drinking water.
• With effective measured UVB, use plain calcium for routine dusting and obtain D3 from a coordinated, label-directed vitamin plan; without effective UVB, dietary D3 needs deliberate provision.
• Do not stack D3 products.

💤 Seasonal rest

• Only consider planned seasonal cooling for healthy, established adults after veterinary advice. Do not cool juveniles, new arrivals, thin or ill animals. Check weight, hydration, parasite status and equipment first; monitor weight, behaviour and temperatures throughout and stop for veterinary review if condition declines.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Weight loss, retained toe shed, swollen joints and persistent refusal of food need prompt husbandry review and a reptile veterinarian.
• Barking or tail waving signals disturbance; withdraw and let the animal settle.
• Never pull stuck shed or force a defensive gecko to eat.
• Weak jaws and poor grip can indicate metabolic bone disease; repeated straining or abdominal swelling may indicate obstruction or egg binding.
• These require veterinary diagnosis, not extra supplements or home extraction.