Centralian Rough Knob-tail — Fact Sheet

Nephrurus amyae · Centralian Rough Knob-tail

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Climate-controlled indoor vivarium; outdoor housing is unsuitable in most climates
• Minimum for one adult: 90 x 45 x 45 cm; house singly
• Low, well-ventilated glass or PVC vivarium with secure doors
• 5-8 cm of compactable sandy loam or a fine sand/clay/soil mix; paper during quarantine
• Avoid calcium sand, coarse gravel, wood chips, dusty powder and unsupported rock piles

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• At least one warm crevice, one cool dry crevice and one cool moist hide
• Anchored cork, resin rock or flat stone fixed to the enclosure base, never resting on loose substrate
• Open ground between shelters for nocturnal hunting
• Deeper moist laying box for an adult female

💡 Lighting

• Low-level UVB is recommended: UVI 1-2 across part of the warm exposed area, complete shade in every crevice
• Use a short linear UVB lamp with moderate visible daylight and a separate overhead heat source
• Measure output when possible and replace the lamp on the manufacturer’s schedule; match D3 supplementation to actual exposure
• Safe unfiltered sunlight can supplement care, but never place a glass tank in direct sun
• Photoperiod: 11 hours in winter, gradually increasing to 13 hours in summer; darkness at night

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 31-33 °C

• Warm zone: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 21-25 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Keep some crevices cool; heat must not penetrate every shelter

• Check the warm surface with an infrared thermometer and both warm and cool zones with digital probes

• Use thermostatically controlled overhead heat; avoid heat rocks and heating beneath the only hide

💧 Humidity & water

• General air and substrate: 30-50% RH and dry; keep one cool crevice moist, never saturated
• Provide a shallow water bowl and refresh it daily
• A light evening spray on part of the décor can provide drinking droplets
• Allow surrounding substrate to dry; uniform dryness causes poor sheds, while stagnant dampness promotes disease

🪳 Diet

Feed freely:

• Gut-loaded crickets, roach nymphs, legal locusts, silkworms and black soldier fly larvae
• Adults: 2-4 suitably sized insects about three evenings weekly; juveniles: daily or every other day

In moderation:

• Beetle larvae and other fatty feeders
• Occasional soft-bodied prey as part of a varied rotation

Avoid:

• Oversized or wild-caught insects, loose prey left to bite the resting gecko and vertebrate food
• Feeding on dirty substrate where loose particles are readily swallowed

Supplements:

• Light plain-calcium dusting at most feeds
• D3 and multivitamin according to product strength and measured UVB access; do not combine complete supplements

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Tail or body-weight loss, poor appetite or regurgitation → parasites, stress or systemic illness
• Retained shed on eyes, toes or tail knob → dehydration or inadequate moist refuge
• Tremors, soft jaw or swollen limbs → possible calcium/UVB disorder
• Skin sores or noisy breathing → stagnant dampness, infection or unsuitable temperatures
• Limping or crushing injury → unstable rockwork or cohabitation trauma

Seek prompt care from a reptile-experienced veterinarian; persistent refusal to feed or abnormal droppings warrant examination and faecal testing.