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The Captive Care and Breeding of Phelsuma barbouri

Introduction
Phelsuma barbouri (LOVERIDGE 1942) originates from the mountains of Ambohi to Mirandrana and Mantsina, Madagascar. They only live at high altitudes of up to 2600 meters. The climate at these altitudes is the main reason that this species is considered a bit difficult to keep and breed in captivity. The average temperature on a yearly basis is 13.9°C. The average temperature of the coldest month is 10.2°C, and of the hottest month 16.1°C. The yearly rainfall is around 1700 mm. Normally the days are hot and dry and the nights are cool and moist. At these altitudes sunshine and UV radiation is very intensive, and together with the almost always windy conditions these are the most important parameters for a successful captive care of this species.

The beautiful colours of P.barbouri. © G.Christenson

Housing
I currently have two terraria housing Phelsuma barbouri. In one I keep 1.1 and in the other 1.2. The terraria measure 50X60X50 cm (length,width,height). Other than the interior´s setup, two things are different from all of my other Phelsuma terraria. I usually a third part of the top is covered with a screen for ventilation. Howeve rthe terraria for my Phelsuma barbouri I cover the whole top in screen. This is to provide as much ventilation as possible.

As a substrate I use a 6 cm depth of sand that is misted every evening to hold humidity throughout the night. For climbing I use steady rocks and a few branches. A Sansiveria plant is also included, mainly to give the terrarium a nicer look. One of the branches reaches all the way to the top to give the animals a chance to bask close to the tubes and the halogen spot. Although this species normally lives on the ground in the wild, the behavior in captivity is similar to most Phelsuma. They spend much time climbing on the branches or on the glass walls. No bamboo tubes are used as the animals seem to prefer hiding between the rocks instead of the tubes. They also very rarely use the tubes for egglaying, and therfore I see no reason for using them. As with all Phelsuma this species benefits highly from an outdoor summer vacation in screened terraria. They do well outside even if the temperature should occasionally drop below 0°C.

Lighting & Heating
Normally I use one or two full spectrum tubes with UV radiation for my Phelsumas as only light and heat source. For P.barbouri I use three tubes, and also one halogen spot. The tubes are on for 14 hours between March and October and are reduced to 10 hours between November and February. The halogen spot is turned on at 11:00 and off at 14:00 for the whole year. This gives the animals the chance to bask and digest food better even during the cold winter months. Every evening the cage is misted to increase humidity. The humidity level varies between 50 - 85% (day/night). The average temperatures in the cages are during summertime - 24°C and in winter 16°C. Nighttime temperatures in the summer drop to 18°C, and in winter to 13°C. Under the halogen spot the temperature is 29 - 30°C all year.

Feeding
As with all Phelsuma, the diet consists of both insects and various types of fruit mixtures. I use crickets as the main insect food, varied with waxmoths and fruitflies. The fruit I use most is papaya, and to give the animals some variation, yoghurt, mango, banana and babyfood deserts are used. The adults are fed twice a week with insects and once a week with fruit. Every other feeding the food is dusted with Minerall 1® , this I consider to be the No.1 multivitamin supplement.

Breeding & Incubation of the eggs
My females normally lay their first clutch in the middle of September. They continue to lay eggs once a month until the temperatures get too hot, which is normally at the end of June. They then take a break and continue again in September. Phelsuma barbouri is an egg-gluer, but not alike the Mauritius and Reunion species. My animals prefer to lay eggs high up in the terrarium, mostly on the leaves of Sansiveria but sometimes also on the glass walls. When the eggs are deposited on the leaves they can usually be removed without breaking them, and then put into an incubator. When deposited on the glass walls they must be incubated "in situ". The breeding season for my animals is during the coldest months, so incubating the eggs "in situ“ automatically means a very long incubation period.
As you can see in the diagram below, the normal incubation time is between 67 and 74 days in a incubator, but the eggs incubated "in situ“ took as much as 136 days to hatch.

No. of Eggs	Date Laid	Date Hatched	Incubation length (Days)	Hatchlings
1	21/10/2001	06/03/2002	136	1
2	22/11/2001	04/02/2002	74	1+1 (Ob)
2	23/12/2001	01/03/2002	67	2
2	25/01/2001	02/04/2002	67	2
2	27/07/2002	07/05/2002	69	2
2	17/04/2002	27/06/2002	71	2
2	26/05/2002	05/08/2002	71	1+1 (Ob)
2	23/06/2002	02/09/2002	71	2

In the diagram you can find the incubation data for one of my females:
Phelsuma barbouri, Female 82

• Daytime temperature: 30.5°C,
• Nighttime temperature: 26°C,
• Relative humidity: 70-80 %.

Based on this data the average incubation time for Phelsuma barbouri is 70 days (the one egg incubated "in situ“ is not included).
From a total number of 15 eggs 13 hatched and 2 were infertile (Ob).

Raising the Hatchlings
As with all my Phelsuma I raise the hatchlings in modified, so called petboxes. The interior is kept minimalistic with bark mulch as a substrate to help maintain the humidity, something to hide in and a piece of artificial plant for climbing. All hatchlings are kept separately. This is to prevent agressiveness and to easily monitor each animal. Hatchlings from Phelsuma barbouri measure around 3.2 to 3.5 cm and seem to be very delicate for the first two months. Two things seem to be very important to successfully get them past this period. The first thing is the same as with the adults: good ventilation. This can of course be satisfied in a terrarium, but it is much easier to make small screened containers for each hatchling. These can be brought outside in good weather. But what I have experienced to be even more important is frequent feeding. I feed my hatchlings with insects (such as small crickets and fruitflies) four times a week, and at all time they have access to some type of fruit mixture. If these two things are neglected the hatchlings will often die after two to three month without any visible reason. They look healthy one day and die the other. Sometimes slight shedding problems are an early sign of trouble. When cared for correctly the
young Phelsuma barbouri reach adult size within 8 to 9 months.

Screened cages used for housing hatchling P.barbouri individually.

Literature: HALLMANN, G., J. KRÜGER & TRAUTMANN, G. (1997) - Faszinierende Taggeckos (NTV)

Written by Magnus Forsberg - www.phelsuma.se