Until recently, gecko keepers from around the world have become interested in a medium sized Australian gecko; Underwoodisaurus milii. At present, there is very little information available on the geckos captive husbandry. I have kept and bred underwood geckos with great success and found that they are a very hardy and interesting species. The following is a guide for those who would like to learn more about the captive maintenance of U.milii.

General: Underwoodisaurus milii grows to a size of 14-15cm and a weight of 15-22 gram's. You may have heard of this species before and not known it. I've seen U.milii going by several different common names in the past few years. Such as: Thick tailed gecko, Turnip tailed gecko, Australian barking gecko, and Nack tail bark gecko. It is usually known as "Underwood gecko". As of now there are only two color phases available to the public: Normal phase (brown to purple with white or yellow spotting) and Hypo phase( orange to light yellow with white or yellow spotting). 

Housing: U.milii thrives in a very basic setup. A 5-10 gallon aquarium or any other container of a comparable size is standard of one gecko. Each gecko should be housed separately to ensure there is no competition for food, water, heat or shelter with one another. For substrate, paper towel is preferred over sand for ease of cleaning and for prevention of health problems such as impaction. Heat must be given on one side of the enclosure. Place a water dish half way between the heated side and the cooler end of the terrarium. Exact temperature for the enclosure does not seem to be very important. I've heard that U.milii should be kept cooler than most geckos. I've had amazing growth rates with hatchlings kept in a shoe box style rack system where the temp for each container ranges from the high 90's to over 100 degrees fahrenheit (this temperature seems to be fine for the adults as! well). Be sure to also give U.milii a wet hide on the cooler side of the enclosure as well a dry hide on the hot end.

Feeding: U.milii hatchlings should be given calcium dusted/vitamin dusted small-medium sized crickets (approx. 3-5 a day). Adult males should be given about 3 dusted crickets every other day. Adult females can be given as many crickets as they can eat every second night (approx 10-15 medium sized crickets). Feed the females every night starting just before the breeding season until two weeks after there last clutch is laid. During the breeding season, you can also attempt to feed the females pinkies. I've found they will rarely, if ever accept them.

Breeding: The breeding of Underwoodisaurus milii is not difficult. Once the female U.milii is mature(7-14months) She can be introduced to the male, who should also be adult size or close to it. Be sure to introduce the female to the males cage not the male to females (The male will usually breed more readily on his home ground). Once introduced the male should pursue the female almost instantly, the two will usually hiss and flag their tails as the male chases the female around the tank. Males are usually very aggressive with the females and the chasing does not last long before the male pins the female to the ground as he bits her behind the neck. If the female is not ready to be bred she will attack the male by biting him back when he pursues her again and again until the male loses interest. If this happens remove the female from the males tank and try the introduction again in a week continue this until the female is successfully bred. Once the female has been bred, prepare a spot for the female to lay her eggs (a moist hide with about three inches of vermiculite works well). In about three to six weeks the female should lay her first clutch of eggs. Females will usually lay an average of 5 clutches over approx 4-10 months. Remove the eggs from the lay site and incubate them from 80-88 degrees Fahrenheit. The sex ratio should be 50% males and 50% females no matter what the temperature the eggs are incubated at. After about 45-65 days the U. milii babies should hatch out. The babies are quite hardy, after the second day out of the egg feeding can be attempted with small crickets.