Madagascar Ground Gecko — Fact Sheet

Paroedura picta · Madagascar Ground Gecko

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Adult enclosure: 60 × 45 × 45 cm (length × width × height).
• A practical plan for one adult; furnishing and the animal’s actual size determine whether more space is needed.
• Housing: One animal per enclosure

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

Use an enclosure that gives usable space, not just empty volume. Cork, bark, branches, bamboo, live or artificial plants and leaf cover all help the animal feel secure.

For a healthy established adult, use roughly 5-8 cm of packed soil-and-sand or similar well-draining substrate, with leaf litter and flat cork pieces above it. Keep most of the surface dry while maintaining one humid hide with damp moss or soil. Feed from a dish or clean hard surface so the gecko does not swallow mouthfuls of substrate while striking at prey. Paper towel remains safer during quarantine, illness, or wound care.

💡 Lighting

Provide a normal 10-12 hour day length. Bright visible light improves activity and plant growth; low to moderate UVB is recommended when the animal can also choose shade.

For UV planning, treat this species as Ferguson Zone 1. Aim for about UVI 0.5-1.0 in the upper exposed area, while leaving retreats and a gradient down to shaded areas near zero UVI. This usually points to a low-output UVB tube such as a ShadeDweller-style or 2-7% T5, chosen for the enclosure height; measure with a Solarmeter 6.5 when possible, because reflector, mesh, distance, and lamp age change the real exposure.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 30-32 °C

• Daytime air: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 21-24 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Clear gradient required; the animal must be able to move between warm, cool, and hidden zones

• Measure basking surfaces with an infrared thermometer and ambient zones with digital probes

• Avoid heat rocks and unguarded heat sources

💧 Humidity and water

Air humidity: 40–60%. Practical air-humidity range, not a physiological limit. Measure at animal height, away from wet surfaces and direct heat. Daytime air; moister refuges and higher night readings are separate.

Aim for 40–60% with a consistently humid hide. Most individuals drink droplets from leaves, glass or decor after misting, though a small clean water dish can be offered as backup.

The enclosure should become humid after misting and then dry partly again. Permanently wet, stale air encourages skin and respiratory problems.

🪳 Feeding

This species should be fed mainly with appropriately sized crickets, roaches, small locusts and larvae. Prey must be smaller than the width of the head.

Feed juveniles more often than adults. Gut-load insects, dust with calcium regularly, and use a reptile multivitamin more sparingly according to the product instructions and UVB provision.

Offer juveniles small meals on most feeding days and adjust adults to body condition rather than leaving insects loose overnight. Remove uneaten crickets, which can disturb or bite a resting gecko. Breeding females need particularly consistent access to calcium, but more powder is not automatically better: use a measured schedule that accounts for UVB and any vitamin D3 already present in the supplement.

🩺 Health — warning signs

Common problems include dehydration, retained shed, poor appetite, injuries from falls or handling, calcium imbalance, and stress from unsuitable groups. Warning signs include weight loss, weak grip, sunken eyes, repeated hiding without feeding, and visible wounds.

First check temperatures, humidity, ventilation, food size, supplement use and whether tankmates are causing stress. Persistent weakness or swelling needs a reptile veterinarian.