Diplodactylus tesselatus



Diplodactylus tesselatus is a small, barely reaching four inches, groundliving gecko from Australia. It has a stretched out, almost cylindrical, body and a short stubby tail.

It inhabits a landscape consisting of sand and rocks with occasional patches of small bushes and grass.

A suitable temperature range in a terrarium is 25-30°C in the daytime with  a drop to about 20°C at night. A local hotspot can reach 25-40°C.

In the terraium there should also be a moisturebox filled with moist vermiculite, sphagnum moss or something similar. The moisturebox is utilised for egglaying and easier shedding.

D tesselatus feeds on insects of appropriate size. They are voracious feeders who can easily eat three or four crickets/roaches every other day. All food insects should be liberally sprinkled/dusted with a high quality calcium/vitamin powder.

The terrarium should be lightly sprayed every or every other day to provide the animals with sufficient drinking water and a temporary rise in relative humidity.




D tesselatus lays soft-shelled eggs that are incubated in moist vermiculite for about 60 days in 27°C. Rearing the hatchlings are normally problemfree as long as you have a sufficient supply of small food insects.