Geographical Region

West Africa from Nigeria to Senegal and into N. Cameroon

Habitat

It occurs in dry savannah areas, rocky hill sides and open woodland, in captivity they like a slightly humid environment

Colour

Dark brown base colouration with white patterning/stripes

Size

Males grow up to 10-inches, females smaller growing to 8-inches

Captive Environment

18 x 18 x  15 for a single adult

24 x 15 x 15 for an adult pair, larger if possible

Moist orchid bark with a large shallow water dish and plenty of hides at both the warmer and cooler ends of the vivarium. Rocky outcrops to hide and hunt on are also a good addition as are plastic/silk plants to hide under.

Heating

84 - 88°F basking temperature with a cooler end of 78°F, allowing the temperature to drop to between 70  -75°F at night time. A small heatmats placed under the substrate at the warmer end is effective for additional night time temperature, this gives the gecko somewhere warm to curl up and continue to metabolism of food.

Lighting

The reflector bulb used for heating will provide enough light for the snakes to be active. They are crepuscular mainly active in the early morning, and early evening.  UV light isn’t needed for these gecko’s as they tend to shy away from it, they metabolise calcium effectively without the need for UV radiation.

Photoperiod

Autumn/winter – 10 hours light – 14 hours dark.

Spring/summer – 12 hours light – 12 hours dark.

Feeding

Fed a varied diet of crickets, hoppers/locusts and mealworms, supplementation is required up to 3 x weekly, without this your gecko will almost certainly develop metabolic bone disease. .

Sexing

Females are generally smaller in size and have a thinner base of the tail, no pre-femoral pores

Males are much bigger in size, have a thick base of the tail, femoral pores and hemi-penal swelling

Shedding

These lizards usually shed skin in one go; they will become dull in appearance. They tear the skin off and sometimes eat it all.