Physignathus cocincinus — Fact Sheet

Physignathus cocincinus · Physignathus cocincinus

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

Plan for at least 180 x 90 x 180 cm for one adult, with a large clean swimming basin. Smaller juvenile setups can be useful for monitoring feeding and shedding, but they must still include a warm area, a cool area, water, cover, and secure ventilation. Bare oversized enclosures often make new animals defensive or inactive; clutter and sight breaks make space usable.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

The enclosure should be functional first and attractive second. Use secure hides, branches, cork, live or artificial plants, rough shedding surfaces, safe digging or climbing zones, and enough visual barriers that the animal can move without feeling exposed. Heavy-bodied species need furnishings that cannot collapse.

Substrate should support the humidity and behaviour of the species while staying clean. Avoid dusty bedding, sharp decor, sticky tape inside the enclosure, unstable rocks, and small loose items that could be swallowed. Doors, vents, cable ports, and lids must be escape-proof.

💡 Lighting

Provide a clear day-night rhythm with bright visible light and appropriate UVB. No visible night lights should shine into the enclosure; use darkness at night unless short observation is necessary.

For UVB-using reptiles, use a linear T5 lamp matched to the species, distance, mesh, and reflector. Provide shade and plant cover so the animal can leave the UV zone. Replace lamps on schedule and measure UVI when possible; powder supplements are not a replacement for correct light, heat, and diet.

🌡️ Temperature

Practical temperature targets: basking 32-35 °C, warm upper zone 27-30 °C, lower cool zone 24-26 °C, night 23-25 °C. These values should create a gradient, not a single average. Measure basking surfaces with an infrared thermometer and ambient zones with digital probes.

Every heat source must be controlled by a thermostat or dimming controller where appropriate. Avoid heat rocks and unguarded bulbs. If the animal avoids the warm zone, gapes constantly, soaks all the time, refuses food, or stays hidden for days, verify the actual temperatures before changing diet or handling.

💧 Humidity and water

Target humidity and water management: 60-80% by day with higher night humidity and strong ventilation. Humidity should be paired with ventilation. Constantly wet, dirty air is not the same as healthy humidity, and chronic dryness is a common cause of dehydration and bad sheds.

Fresh water should always be available in the form this species uses: a large clean basin for drinking, soaking, and swimming, plus misting or rain-style droplets that support hydration without turning the air stagnant.

🪳 Feeding

Feed a varied, species-appropriate diet: gut-loaded insects as the staple, plus earthworms, roaches, locusts, occasional snails, small fish or pinkies as rare treats, and some leafy plants. Young animals usually need smaller and more frequent meals; adults need body-condition-based feeding rather than food every time they appear interested. Overfeeding is as real a welfare problem as underfeeding.

Feeder insects should be gut-loaded and dusted according to the UVB plan. Remove uneaten food before it spoils, avoid oversized prey, and do not leave live feeders where they can injure the lizard.

🩺 Health — warning signs

Common problems include rostral rubbing, mouth injuries, dirty water, respiratory infections, dehydration, burns, and obesity. Warning signs include weight loss, repeated refusal to eat, weak grip or poor movement, wheezing, bubbles at the nostrils, swollen eyes, repeated bad sheds, mouth injury, burns, diarrhoea, or unusual aggression from an otherwise settled animal.

When something looks wrong, first verify the basics with instruments: warm zone, cool zone, night temperature, humidity, hydration, hide fit, diet, and recent stress. Serious weakness, injury, breathing signs, repeated regurgitation, neurological signs, or rapid decline need an experienced exotic-animal veterinarian.