Keeping and breeding of Nephrurus cinctus (Storr, 1963) at BION Terrarium Center

Nephrurus cinctus commonly known as northern banded knob-tailed gecko, is a native Australian gecko species from Carphodactylidae family. Its specific epithet comes from a Latin verb “cingere” or “cinctum” which means “wearing a belt”. This species was formerly known as a subspecies of Nephrurus wheeleri Loveridge, 1932 and obtained a true status of a distinct species in 2020 (Kealley et al., 2020). This species typically thrives in habitats characterized by stony soils surrounding granite outcrops and areas with breakaway terrain. This gecko is crepuscular as its usual activity starts at dusk and occurs mainly during the first part of the night. In daylight hours, it seeks shelter beneath tin, flat rocks, scattered across the soil. Sometimes it can make its own burrows or occupy abandoned ones of other animals. N. cinctus in endemic of Australia, being found in relatively limited area in the western part of the country.

Keeping. We keep adult geckos in horizontal terrariums. Required space is 40×40 cm (15.74×15.74 in) per individual. We use 2-4 cm (0.79-1.57 in) layer of coarse sand as a substrate or paper instead of substrate, but in this case, we place a moist chamber filled with 1:1 mix of coconut substrate and sand, which is used also as an egg-laying chamber. Decoration includes several ceramic or wooden shelters and a water dish with drinkable, regularly changeable water.