Species

Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko

Strophurus ciliaris
Category: Category 2
Care Sheets:

Genus: Strophurus
Seventeen spp. with cylindrical tails and padded feet with enlarged subdigital lamellae divided at base and single along digit, terminating in a pair of large plates. Some spp., generally called spiny-tailed geckos, have rows of tubercles along back, tubercles or spines on tail, and bright coloured iris-rims. The striped geckos and the Jewelled Gecko have simpler scales but distinctive, prominent striped or spotted patterns. Stripes geckos are identified by pattern, build and whether the rostral scale contacts the nostril or is separated. Widespread wherever dry conditions prevail, from southern mallee regions through the interior to the tropics. When alarmed, they have the unique ability to squirt viscous repellent fluid from glands deep within the tail. This is treacle-like, drying rapidly to cobweb like filaments. Spiny-tailed geckos are often arboreal, sheltering in hollows, beneath bark or even clinging by day to stems in exposed sunlight. Striped and jewelled geckos live exclusively within spinifex and sedge tussocks.

Strophurus Ciliaris
Spiny-tailed, with long spines above eye, large tubercles scattered over back and 2 impressive rows of long spines along top of tail. Mouth-lining yellow to orange. Colouration variable; pale and virtually patternless to brown, sharply dotted with white and blotched with orange. Ciliaris has mostly orange spines on tail. remaining caudal scales flat and granular. Lizards from n. of range are largest and most spectacular. Very widespread in arid shrub-lands, spinifex deserts and tropical woodlands.

Necessities:

Vivarium	Nocturnal heat lamp
Substrate	Water bowl
Thermostat	Plastic plants
Spray bottle

Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko Gallery

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