Reptilia · Squamata
Thecadactylus rapicaudaHouttuyn, 1782
Turniptail Gecko
Photograph by Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A nocturnal, meat-eating gecko from the Neotropic region, reaching 126 mm snout to vent.
Also called Northern Turnip-tailed Gecko.
Once published as Thecadactylus rapicaudus — those names reach this page.
Reptilia › Squamata › Phyllodactylidae › Thecadactylus
- Grows to
- 126mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Nocturnal
- Lives up to
- 6.9years
Longer than 94% of all species in Phyllodactylidae anyone has measured.
The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 34 to 179 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.
What is known
44 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2014
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Longest recorded life
- 6.9years
- Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
- 30.8°C
- Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- 26.95°C81 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 26.9–27.1°C80–81 °F
Werner et al. 1993: 6.9; 3 and 2 months (Slavens and Slavens 1999, Dewynter et al. 2020)
mean body temperature of active individuals in nature
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 126mm5 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 110.1mm4.25 in
- Largest female · snout to vent
- 110.1mm4.25 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 34.35mm1.25 in
- Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- 34.4mm1.25 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 50.53g1.8 oz
- Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured
- 28.32g1 oz
- Body mass at hatchingmeasured
- 1.3g0.05 oz
e.g., Leenders 2019
snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Carnivorous
- How it hunts
- Sit and wait
- Active
- Nocturnal
- Where it lives
- Arboreal, terrestrial
- Habitat
- Forest, Savanna
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
- Active season · months of the year
- 12months
- Region
- Neotropic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Highest it lives · above sea level
- 1500m
- Range size
- 7,382,390km²
- Density
- 1.15–500per hectare
- Home range · largest recorded
- 570m2
invertebrates and small lizards and frogs (Toledo et al. 2007, Daltry 2009, Henderson and Powell 2018), primarily insectivorous (Quinn et al. 2010), "katydids and cockroaches" (Henderson 2010), arthropods (Rojas Murcia et al. 2016, Senaris et al. 2018), a spider (Almeida-Santos and Costa-Campos 2020)
e.g., Mesquita et al. 2016, Quinn et al. 2010
e.g., Bauer and Russell 1992, Castro-Herrera et al. 2012, Moraes et al. 2016, but may bask in sunlight, Hoogmoed 1973, Guyer and Donnelly 2005, Murphy et al. 2018; predominantly nocturnal, Quinn et al. 2010, Henderson 2010, Henderson and Powell 2018
Arboreal and Leaf Litter, saxicolous & arboreal (Mesquita et al. 2016), arboreal (e.g., Bauer and Russell 1992, Castro-Herrera et al. 2012, Quinn et al. 2010, Moraes et al. 2016, Henderson and Powell 2018 - and edificarian), "highly arboreal" and gliding (Leenders 2019)
50-1200 (Castro-Herrera et al. 2012, Cardona-Botero et al. 2013), 600 (Moraes et al. 2017), 0-750 (McCranie 2018), 0-1500 (Senaris and Rojas-Runjaic 2020), near sea level-1075 (Leenders 2019)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Sex decided by
- Genes, ZW/ZZ
- Average clutch
- 1eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 1–2eggs
- Mean clutch
- 1eggs
1 (Vitt et al. 2008, Murphy et al. 2018, Leenders 2019), mean 1 (e.g., Mesquita et al. 2016), 1-2 (e.g., Henderson and Powell 2018)
(Vitt et al. 2008, Murphy et al. 2018, Leenders 2019), mean 1 (e.g., Mesquita et al. 2016), 1-2 (e.g., Henderson and Powell 2018)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Gekkota
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Houttuyn
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1782
- Type locality
- Mexico
Keeping one
20 in × 20 in × 20 in(50 × 50 × 50 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 and climbing species at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times snout-vent length.
Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 5 in (126 mm), at 4 × 4 × 4 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 87 °F (30.8 °C).
Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.
Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.
6kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 51 g, the heaviest recorded for Turniptail Gecko — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Clutches in a year
- — Clutches a year · fewest
- — Clutches a year · most
- — First breeds from · youngest recorded
- — First breeds by · oldest recorded
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Pupil
- — Red List criteria
- — Active in
- — Lowest it lives · above sea level
Others in Phyllodactylidae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Thecadactylus rapicauda. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/thecadactylus-rapicauda
@misc{thecadactylus_rapicauda_2026,
title = {Thecadactylus rapicauda},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/thecadactylus-rapicauda}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.