Giant Leaf-tailed Gecko — Fact Sheet

Uroplatus fimbriatus · Giant Leaf-tailed Gecko · Giant leaf-tailed gecko

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure and decoration

• Indoor planted or semi-natural vivarium; outdoor keeping is unsuitable in most climates
• Minimum for one adult: 90 x 45 x 90 cm
• Glass or hybrid enclosure with cross-ventilation and secure fine gaps
• Organic soil/coco/fine bark over drainage; avoid saturated, sour, dusty, or sharp substrate

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Dense vertical cover: cork tubes, bark slabs, branches, plants, and leaf litter
• Several shaded sleeping surfaces and hidden routes from bottom to top
• Misted leaves/glass for drinking plus a small clean water dish
• Quiet placement away from vibration, pets, and bright night lighting

💡 Lighting

• Low UVB recommended, not intense desert UVB
• Plant LED separate from heat; keep bright days without high temperatures
• Replace UVB lamps by meter reading or manufacturer schedule
• Photoperiod: 11-13 h; no colored night bulbs

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 28-30 °C

• Warm zone: 24-27 °C

• Cool zone: 22-24 °C

• Night: 20-22 °C

• Clear gradient required; avoid sustained heat.

• Measure basking surfaces and shaded air with reliable thermometers.

• Avoid heat rocks and direct sun through glass.

💧 Humidity and water

• Baseline 60-85%; higher after misting
• Mist after lights-out and allow daytime drying
• Fresh water dish as backup, not a swimming area
• Avoid stagnant wet air, mold, and heat plus high humidity

🪳 Diet

Feed regularly:

• Crickets, roaches, locusts, silkworms, moths

In moderation:

• Waxworms and other fatty larvae; occasional soft feeders only

Avoid:

• Wild insects, oversized prey, fruit diets, loose crickets left overnight

Supplements:

• Gut-load prey; light calcium most feeds; multivitamin/D3 sparingly with UVB

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Sunken eyes or wrinkled skin → dehydration or overheating
• Open-mouth breathing or collapse → heat stress emergency
• Retained shed on toes/eyes → humidity rhythm problem
• Weight loss despite feeding → parasites, stress, or disease
• Weak grip or tremors → calcium/UVB/nutrition problem

Consult a reptile-experienced veterinarian for severe weakness, injury, swelling, breathing signs, repeated regurgitation, or prolonged refusal to eat.