Basic care for the
Namibian Sand Gecko
(Chondrodactylus
angulifer angulifer)
Housing/Environment
:
Chondros are fairly large terrestrial geckos that can grow a little
over 6-inches in length. A 20-gallon (high or long) enclosure
is a good minimum size for an adult but could adequately house
a pair (1.1 ) as well. Males should not be housed together as
they are highly territorial and will create stress for everyone.
Chondros are terrestrial geckos coming from the deserts of South
Africa and Namibia. Chondros are not very good burrowers. Instead
they frequently share or usurp a burrow dug by some other animal.
For this reason, it is imperative that you make a burrow or underground
cave for them.
Caves
Doing this can be very simple or very
complex depending on what kind of set-up you choose for you chondro.
For cages with deep layers of substrate, it is good to build caves
on two different levels--the bottom and the middle layers.
One way to do this is to make cave from rocks or buy the premade
caves made for the reptile market. Bury this cave in sand leaving
the inside free of sand and access to the cave open by inserting
a large PVC pipe into the entrance of the cave and extend it from
the cave at a moderately sloped angle. Saturate the layer of substrate
and let it partially dry before continuing onto the next layer.
This solidifies the cave and tunnels and it also gives you the
chance to make modifications. Repeat this process until you have
2-3 different caves buried with interconnected tunnels of PVC
pipes. This task can be accomplished in many different ways using
many different methods and materials. It takes some experimenting
and practice, but eventually, you will discover a method that
works best for you. Don't worry if one of the caves is not used.
Chondros will intentially fill caves they don't use or reposition
things according to how they like it. Chondros will often rediscover
and utilize previously defunct caves months down-the-road. As
long as there is at least one cave that they are satisfied with.
Also make sure to provide at least one cave on the surface.
Substrate
For substrate, we use 60-75% PlaySand and 40-25% coconut
fibre mixed with peat moss. Adding these soils allows for better
burrow cohesion, water transport and water retention. Misting
the surface layers and keeping the substrate slightly moist toward
the bottom of the enclosure helps keep burrows intact. Providing
access to moist sub-layers of substrate allows chondros to rehydrate
naturally, which promotes good health and clean sheds.
In order to moisten the lower layers of substrate without saturating
all of the surface and mid-layers of substrate, pour water into
a large PVC pipe that runs from the very-top of the enclosure
down to the very-bottom layer of substrate. If you can afford
the vertical space and are not expecting egg production, we recommend
using lava rocks(pumice) or at least mid-size gravel as the very-bottom
layer of substrate. This allows water to move more freely along
the bottom.
The desired end-result of pouring water down this pipe is to have
a couple inches of moist sand at the lower-levels of substrate.
All of this is done without saturating the surface and mid-layers.
The chondros are allowed to choose when and where they want to
re-hydrate, cool-off or warm-up. Pouring warm water through the
pipe once per week is usually adequate for maintaining sufficient
underground moisture. Be sure that the geckos cannot climb into
the top of the PVC pipe as they can become trapped and die.
Be sure to include enough substrate for burrowing because while
chondro feet are not specifically designed to excel at digging,
they do still dig and add-on to their little underground homes.
A depth of 6-10 inches is greatly appreciated by these geckos.
We prefer to use 20 gallon-high terrariums for this reason as
we frequently give our chondros up to 10 inches of substrate to
live in.
Monitoring
Healthy, content chondros spend most of their time underground.
For this reason, we feel it is more important to provide ample
underground space than to have surface space. Not that surface
space is not important as well. An ideal surface would have numerous
rocks, caves and plants(live or fake) for cover. This allows the
chondros to feel more secure when they come out of their homes
to hunt. It also provides you with a good chance to watch and
monitor them. When given a good home where competition for prime
burrows is negligible, chondros seldom stray too far from their
homes. Instead they wait patiently for hapless prey to wander
by their ambush. Consistently monitoring chondros visually can
be challenging when they are shy or traumatized. Finding ways
to monitor these geckos in a non-intrusive fashion is beneficial
for numerous reasons. Foremost of which would be stress and burrow
construction. For this reason, we often construct underground
burrows using the glass sides of the terrarium for support. The
chondros invariably dig to the glass and provide you with a little
window into their underground world. By using a flashlight, you
can now monitor the geckos underground; checking their bellies,
the sheds and overall appearance. When provided with ample room
and with numerous burrows constructions (and a couple months worth
of time,lol), the terraium begins to look reminiscent of an ant
colony, where glass allows you to see inside different tunnels
and caves!
Heating/Lighting:
We recommend using heat bulbs to heat the upper layers and caves,
and heat-tape or heat-pads to heat the lower layers of substrate.
A ambient temperature range from 80-95 degrees seems to be preferred
by these geckos. That includes ambient air temperature and underground
sand temperature. Depending on the heatbulb and the type of surface,
surface temperatures in the hottest spot can surpass 120 degrees
when an ambient air temperature is in excess of 95 degrees. We
suggest using an digital thermometer to accurately monitor different
ambient and surface temperatures.
With 6-8 inches of sand, sub-surface layers can remain in the
mid-to-lower 80s while it's blazin' hot on the surface. If temperatures
of the room the geckos are kept-in stays consistently warm, sub-heating
methods are not as necessary. During winters or for cold places,
providing sub-heating (heat-pads or heat-tape) allows the chondros
to stay warm underground. This promotes faster metabolism, better
digestion and aids in overall health. It also decreases stress,
as they do not feel that they have to expose themselves on the
surface to get warm. Just make sure that there is a cooler middle-layer
of substrate that can serve as a retreat from the other hotter
layers.
While chondros do not necessarily need UVB exposure, we suggest
using full spectrum fluorescent bulbs during the daytime hours.
This accentuates the day/night cycle and promotes good psychological
health (it also gives any live plants the light they need).
Frequent poop-scooping and regularly replacing the surface layers
of sand allows for less frequent cage changing; which , after
months of work and time by you and your geckos, can be quite a
chore to replace.
Water:
You may opt to leave a small dish of water in the enclosure, although
it will probably not get used often. A good misting 1-2 times
a week is appreciated (but not well received, lol). Spray at night
and use very warm water. Chondros will sometimes drink droplets
off of cage sides, rocks, plants and themselves, but they predominantly
satisfy their water requirements by sleeping in moist burrows
and eating insects. It is good to mist at least 2 times per week
to at least solidify the upper-layers of substrate.
Feeding:
Chondros will readily eat most insects. Some gravid females and
big males will eat pinky mice. We feed ours crickets, superworms,
mealworms, roaches, silkworms, termites and pinkies (during the
breeding season). Adult chondros prefer to be fed 2-3 times per
week, depending on how many insects are offered. Baby chondros
should be fed everyday. Crickets are usually the staple as they
conveniently roam around until they are eaten by the chondros.
Roaches work well too. A dish of worms will quickly wither and
die quickly in the surface temperatures so we recommend feeding
worms mostly when the chondros are at the entrance of their borrows
or roaming about the surface. It becomes a tasty treat for them.
It also becomes a good time to supplement and good time for the
geckos to associate your presence with something positive.
Make sure to keep your crickets well nourished on fruits and vegetables,
or "gut load." Make sure to keep your cricket containers
clean at all times and remove any molding food.
Supplementation:
Calcium should be supplemented at every feeding. Because the crickets
will frequently clean themselves off before they are eaten, we
usually 'dust' the crickets with calcium supplements at every
feeding for chondros. We also provide a dish with powdered calcium
on the surface that is available at all times. Gravid females
especially frequent these dishes, licking-up the calcium they
need to build eggs. Small amounts of Herptivite vitamin supplements
should also be 'dusted' on crickets once per week.
