Chahoua gecko

Mniarogekko chahoua is a New Caledonian gecko with a gripping tail and mottled camouflage. Mainland and island-line labels need records.

Plan for heatwave management as well as winter warmth, and establish both prepared-food and insect feeding before arrival.

Arrange dependable holiday care and keep money available for food, replacement equipment and appropriate veterinary help. Test the habitat before the animal arrives.

Wildform proposes 60 × 60 × 90 cm or larger for an adult, with broad fixed branches, cork retreats and dense cover. This exceeds the breeder’s 46 × 46 × 61 cm reference and remains a planning case.

Measure usable internal space after substrate, guards and furnishings. Check ventilation, cable holes and access against the smallest occupant. Fix heavy furnishings independently of loose substrate.

The breeder describes approximately 21–27°C ambient conditions; other retrieved accounts propose local warmth around 28°C. The disagreement is recorded: provide cooler retreats and resolve the actual gradient rather than treating 27°C as a universal lethal threshold.

Record the warm and cool locations, overnight minimum and daytime maximum. Air, surface and substrate readings are different measurements. Any added heater needs compatible thermostatic control and safe separation from the animal; assess summer cooling as well as winter heating.

Agree local warmth and cooler choices for the actual enclosure. Conflicting advice does not establish a blanket room-temperature or no-heating rule.

Provide daytime illumination, shade and a dark night. Low-level UVB is a example requiring measured exposure at accessible branches.

Keep the night dark and provide retreat from daytime light. Lamp percentage, electrical wattage and a product name cannot establish the exposure reaching an animal. Check the finished installation after changes to mesh, branches or lamp position.

Check the installed UV Index at reachable perches.

Use a humidification and drying cycle with drinking droplets and a water dish. Do not keep food ledges or the whole floor persistently wet.

Inspect the occupied refuge and substrate as well as the air reading. Adjust water provision and ventilation together, and clean contaminated drinking surfaces. A single humidity number cannot describe every microclimate.

Use a complete appropriate omnivorous-gecko diet and suitable cultured insects. Follow the exact food label; egg-laying females need an individual nutrition plan.

Record what is actually eaten and follow changes in growth and body condition. Food size, life stage and the full diet matter. Supplement products require an individual plan; do not combine calcium, vitamin D and multivitamins by guesswork.

House singly. Support the body and let the gecko move voluntarily; avoid grabbing its tail.

Make necessary maintenance predictable and allow voluntary retreat. Prepare a secure transfer container before essential moves. Observation should not repeatedly interrupt feeding, rest or moulting.

Track weight, meals, sheds and female reproductive condition; persistent weakness or feeding decline needs a reptile vet.

Keep dated observations of appetite, activity and condition. A sudden decline, injury, abnormal breathing or repeated failed moults needs appropriate professional assessment. This guide does not provide a diagnosis or medicine dose.

Record locality and parentage as evidence rather than inferring them from mossy markings.

Ask for a dated source record, scientific identity, life stage and established care history. Keep new arrivals and their equipment separate while an appropriate quarantine plan is agreed. Check current official rules for the exact animal, route and transaction before importing or buying; this page does not establish legal clearance. Never release animals or viable eggs outdoors.

Replace spoiled prepared food, check drinking access and review upper/lower temperatures. Review body condition and the strength of branches and food-ledge fixings. Keep a dated record of measurements and observations, and revisit the full advice when conditions or life stage change.