Standing’s Day Gecko — Fact Sheet

Phelsuma standingi · Standing’s Day Gecko

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Climate-controlled indoor vivarium; secure outdoor exposure only in suitable weather, with shade and constant supervision
• Minimum for one adult: 60 x 60 x 120 cm; house singly
• Tall glass or PVC vivarium with strong cross-ventilation and sealed cable and door gaps
• 5-10 cm of organic topsoil and coconut fibre with leaf litter
• Avoid fertilized soil, sticky tape, sharp wire, resinous wood and unstable stone

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Horizontal and diagonal basking branches near the top, plus cooler shaded routes below
• Cork tubes, broad trunks and dense foliage for tight retreats and visual cover
• Robust live plants and vines; keep airflow open around the planting
• Anchor every perch and include a removable cork tube for hands-off transfers

💡 Lighting

• UVB is required: target UVI 3-4 on the highest open basking route, with near-zero exposure in shade
• Use a linear UVB lamp with a reflector plus bright visible plant lighting and a separate basking lamp
• Measure through the actual mesh with a UV meter when possible; replace the lamp on the manufacturer’s schedule
• Unfiltered outdoor sunlight is useful only in a secure, shaded enclosure; glass blocks useful UVB
• Photoperiod: 11 hours in winter, gradually increasing to 13 hours in summer

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 32-35 °C

• Warm zone: 24-29 °C

• Cool zone: 22-25 °C

• Night: 20-23 °C

• Maintain a vertical gradient; do not let the entire enclosure remain above 30 °C

• Check perch surfaces with an infrared thermometer and air at multiple heights with digital probes

• Use thermostatically controlled overhead heat; avoid heat rocks and unguarded lamps

💧 Humidity & water

• General humidity: 40-75%, briefly 75-85% around shedding; let surfaces dry between mistings
• Mist leaves and branches for drinking droplets while maintaining cross-ventilation
• Keep a small clean water cup on an elevated ledge and refresh it daily
• Provide a localized humid retreat during shedding; do not routinely soak this delicate arboreal gecko

🪳 Diet

Feed freely:

• Gut-loaded crickets, roach nymphs, legal locusts, silkworms and black soldier fly larvae
• Adults: varied insects 2-3 times weekly; juveniles: smaller meals more often

In moderation:

• Nutritionally complete fruit/nectar gecko diet about once weekly
• Fatty beetle larvae and other high-energy treats

Avoid:

• Wild-caught insects from pesticide-treated areas, oversized prey and fermenting prepared diet
• Continuous access to sweet food, which readily causes obesity

Supplements:

• Light plain-calcium dusting at most insect feeds when measured UVB is available
• Multivitamin with appropriate vitamin A and D3 only at the product’s stated interval; do not stack fortified products

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Weak grip, soft jaw or tremors → possible calcium/UVB disorder
• Sunken eyes, wrinkled skin or repeated retained shed → dehydration or husbandry problem
• Burns, open-mouth breathing or persistent retreating → excessive heat or exposure
• Wounds, torn skin or missing tail → capture or territorial injury
• Weight loss, abnormal droppings or poor appetite → parasites or systemic illness

Seek prompt care from a reptile-experienced veterinarian; never pull retained skin or restrain this gecko by hand.