Care sheet found as public domain information.

A Brief Care Sheet for the Malagasy Plated Lizard Tracheloptychus petersi

The Species
The plated lizard Tracheloptychus petersi, from southwestern Madagascar, has been irregularly imported into the United States for the retail pet industry. The species has no generally recognized common name; they have been sold under the names "rainbow rock lizard", "blue jeweled lizard", "Peter's keeled plated lizard", and undoubtedly others as well.

They are lizards of moderate size, reaching approximately 4-5" (10-12 cm) snout-to-vent length, with a tail typically about the same length as the body. Their body shape, with a squarish body, small legs, and a tail that tapers very gradually, reminds many observers of a skink; they are also very similar in build to their close relatives in the genus Zonosaurus. They are quite strikingly marked, the head being bright blue, the body varying from orange to brown, with irregular light markings on the flanks and two light longitudinal stripes down the back.

In the wild, T. petersi occurs throughout the southwest of Madagascar, in a wide variety of habitats whose major common feature is sandy ground. The type locality is Morombe; the largest city in the species' range appears to be Toliara (Tulear). This range might best be described as semitropical and largely arid, with summer rains; a fair comparison among regions better known to North American and European herpetoculturists might be the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. They are diurnal and quite terrestrial; in loose sand, as in the sand dune habitats that comprise much of their coastal range, they can "swim" adeptly (like the well-known sandfish, Scincus scincus) and may spend most of their time just below the surface of the ground.

This species displays no obvious sexual dimorphism; however, some individuals have a noticeable "fringe" on the upper portions of their hind legs, similar to the fringing around the femoral pores in males of some other lizard species. These individuals may be males, but this is purely conjecture.

Although Henkel & Schmidt's Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar states that these lizards' tails are not regrown after being autotomized, a specimen in the author's collection dropped its tail while being handled and regrew it over a period of months. The regrown tail is slightly shorter than the original and tapers more sharply near the base, but otherwise looks no different from an original tail.

Care in Captivity

Though T. petersi is not particularly common in the pet trade, it is an appealing captive species, with certain restrictions. Handling is essentially impossible; these lizards are rather wary and very fast-moving, and even restraining them for examination is quite difficult. In addition, they often spend their time underground rather than on the surface; however, they are such spectacular animals that the rewards of seeing them occasionally more than compensate for the occasional disappointments.

They are hardy captives, with simple requirements that require minimal expense and relatively minor routine upkeep.

Housing

T. petersi can be quite active and requires a vivarium with reasonable horizontal space. A 29-gallon or 20-gallon long aquarium (30"x12" [80 cm x 30 cm] footprint) is a minimum (but can house several animals, since the important restriction is not living space but room to run); a 55-gallon (48" [130 cm] long) is preferable. Vertical space is not of much importance, except that these lizards have a surprising ability to "chimney" up a vertical corner and may unexpectedly escape from a shallow tank when the lid is lifted. They are very difficult to catch! (Escapees will often run into any opening that looks like a burrow; laying a plastic spray bottle on its side and chasing a lizard toward it will sometimes induce it to plunge into the bottle. This leaves the problem of getting it out of the bottle; be sure to use a container that can simply be placed in the vivarium, as the lizard may refuse to leave its new retreat. The author has had to leave a lizard ensconced in a bottle inside its vivarium for over a week before it tired of its retreat.)

Ideally, the back and sides of the enclosure should be opaque, to prevent the lizards from running into them and confusing or injuring themselves. This species does not seem to be able to understand glass.

Loose sand makes an excellent substrate; the lizards spend most of their time underground, emerging irregularly to bask and hunt. They will often retreat just below the surface while leaving the tips of their tails visible; this may be a predator-evasion maneuver (so that attacks are likely to be focused on the releasable tail), a means of luring prey, or simply a matter of carelessness. The author uses a commercial calcium carbonate sand; though keepers of some other species have reported serious problems stemming from excessive ingestion of calcium sands, T. petersi seems to have no inclination to ingest the substrate.

Sand also has the virtue of being cleanable. The lizards appear to defecate only on the surface, and their fecal boli are very clean and compact; spot-cleaning is sufficient to keep an enclosure clean without changes of substrate for a very long time.

The species is quite thermophilic, like many diurnal lizards from arid country. There have apparently been no studies of the thermal ecology of the species in the wild, so the ideal temperature for a basking spot remains a matter of guesswork and observation. The lizards will use a basking spot as warm as 100 F (38 C) with apparent comfort, though of course they must have cooler areas to retreat to. They will use areas as cool as room temperature, though they become inactive if they do not have access to temperatures above approximately 80 F (27 C).

In addition to a basking spot, these lizards appear to benefit greatly from an under-tank heating pad. In the author's collection, adding an under-tank heater to an enclosure that previously had only a basking lamp resulted in much higher activity levels, more regular feeding, and a general impression of healthier and more alert animals.

As a diurnal species, these lizards should probably be provided with UVB lighting. However, some animals in the author's collection were maintained for upwards of a year without UVB (but with calcium/D3 dietary supplements) and showed no signs of metabolic bone disease or vitamin D3 deficiency; this experience should not be taken as definitive, but seems to call for further investigation.

Feeding

The species is, to all appearances, strictly carnivorous. The usual staple foods for insectivorous reptiles (crickets, mealworms, &c.) are taken readily and appear to constitute a sufficient long-term diet. Calcium/vitamin supplements should be included occasionally (Miner-All or Rep-Cal), perhaps at one feeding a week. They will sometimes take inanimate but meat-based foods such as chicken baby food; this can be a useful way to feed an unhealthy animal that may not be able or willing to hunt.

Some of the other plated lizards are omnivores, and some keepers have experimented with offering greens and other plant food items to this species. To the author's knowledge, none of these experiments have succeeded, and T. petersi remains a resolute carnivore.

It appears that these lizards can be allowed to free-feed; they can lose weight rather easily if underfed, but the author has never seen one that appeared obese. (A lizard whose spine and pelvic bones are visible through the skin is underweight; if the spine is a prominent ridge with the skin apparently flush against the vertebral "flanges", the lizard is at risk of death by starvation.)

T. petersi will drink from a water bowl; however, the bowl should be shallow, to minimize the risk of drowning. They also seem to have difficulty climbing over a tall edge, and if possible the bowl should be set into the substrate so that its brim is nearly flush. Water does not need to be constantly available, but the bowl should be filled at least once or twice a week, preferably during the day (otherwise, especially in a warm enclosure, it may dry out before the lizards have time to find it).

Management of New Imports

All specimens of T. petersi in the pet trade are imports from Madagascar; there is no regular captive-breeding program, and indeed it appears that the species may never have been bred in captivity. Because of this, a newly acquired animal is likely to have some or all of the problems traditionally associated with imports: Decreased feeding response due to stress, low weight, dehydration, and especially parasite infestation.

New arrivals should, of course, be quarantined from any existing animals. During the quarantine period, make sure all individuals are feeding, and obtain fecal samples from each for analysis for parasites. In the case of a non-feeding animal from which no fecal can be obtained, it is safest to presume that parasites are present. Even animals that feed should be watched to make sure they are not losing weight; an animal with a bad parasite load may be on-feed and yet be effectively starving. Hydration may also be an issue, and for this reason quarantined imports should have water available at all times.

Because a deep sand substrate makes examination of animals difficult, quarantined animals should probably be kept in shallow sand. They must then be provided with alternative shelter; boxes with narrow openings, or small plastic bottles, may serve well for this purpose. If possible, the quarantine enclosures should be in a sheltered area with minimal disturbances.

Underweight animals will often feed on a mixture of chicken baby food and Ensure or Glucerna (the latter is an Ensure-like product for diabetics, high in sugars and very useful for putting weight on an animal quickly). This mixture is also an excellent medium for delivering oral wormers such as Panacur; if the lizard will tolerate the procedure, the mixture can be delivered through a syringe directly to the animal's snout, where it will be lapped up. As T. petersi is rather skittish, this procedure may not be as effective as simply offering the mixture in a shallow dish.

Speculations on Breeding

To the author's knowledge, T. petersi has never been bred in captivity; this may reflect its recent provenance in the pet trade, its relative rarity in the trade and particularly in the segments of the trade catering to private breeders, and the low price of imported animals. In consequence, this section is purely speculative.

Most lizards from broadly similar climes are spring breeders, with breeding activity often following a brief period of dormancy or reduced activity during a cool, dry winter. It thus seems plausible that a simulated mild winter, with lowered temperatures and a decreased photoperiod, could trigger breeding activity in this species. In the author's collection, two animals were subjected to a winter cooling to room temperature, with mild fluctuations in temperature (the cage was stored in a south-facing room that warmed noticeably on sunny days). The lizards (two males) were almost totally inactive for the three-month cool interval; they did not emerge to take food, but at the end of the winter showed no noticeable weight loss and appeared in good health. (No behavioral changes, such as male combat or competition, were evident.) On this basis, it seems safe to provide a cooling period as an experimental attempt at inducing breeding behavior.

For the moment, the incentives to breed the species are light; it enjoys no great popularity in the trade, and imported specimens are readily available, inexpensive, and generally fare well in captivity once deparasitized. However, given the well-known threats to habitat in Madagascar, this easy availability should be considered a temporary state of affairs. Efforts to breed the species should be made before the need is more obviously urgent.

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