The eye colour ranges from green, brown to bright yellow and they can occur over a variety of habitats including dune-lands, forests, shrublands, river terraces and bluffs.

Canterbury geckos are usually brown, grey or olive with pale bands, blotches or stripes that are bright, and large blackish patches (often on the intact tail).

[4] Canterbury gecko toes have "9-12 lamellae" and straight distal phalanges, while the soles of their feet are usually light grey.

[4] Canterbury gecko are a species endemic to the South Island of New Zealand, from southern Marlborough to mid-Canterbury and the Banks Peninsula.

[8] Around the Banks Peninsula and the Port Hills, they are locally abundant but have been lost in many parts of the Canterbury plains due to habitat loss/land use change.

[12] Canterbury geckos are a generalist/facultative species,[14] as they inhabit the coastal, lowland, and montane/subalpine regions of the South Island, in a wide variety of habitats.

[9] Among New Zealand species of geckos and skinks, females will typically mate and begin vitellogenesis in autumn, storing the sperm over winter and ovulating in the spring.

[16] Native geckos (and skinks) reach sexual maturity and start to reproduce around three years of age, with variations according to species and condition.

There have been cases of geckos in captivity that have mated and produced viable progeny at two years of age, although their first birth is often one hatchling rather than the norm of two.

They are thermoregulators, basking in the sun either directly or through a thin cover object, and many New Zealand geckos and frogs can lighten or darken their colouration to enable the absorption of thermal energy.

[18][8] Canterbury geckos are primarily insectivores (e.g. eating moths and flies) but will also feed on fruit (berries), in particular from the Coprosma spp.

The main predators of the Canterbury gecko include mammalian pests such as mice, rats, weasels, hedgehogs, cats, stoats, ferrets, pigs and possums.

[11] Introduced mammals represent one of the biggest threats to many of New Zealand's native species, including the Canterbury gecko.

[21] Three species of New Zealand lizards have been declared extinct since human arrival, and a further eight survive only on outer islands where there are fewer predators.

Almost half of New Zealand's reptile species are listed as threatened or endangered, and it has been declared illegal to handle or keep any native lizard without a permit from DOC.

[8] Mites are common parasites of all lizard species in New Zealand, in the form of tiny red, orange or creamy white spots around the eyes, ears, armpits hind limbs and cloaca.

They are members of the family Oxyuroidea, and as such are "strictly monoxenous (direct, one-host life cycle) with the egg being the infective stage".

This adaptation enables the mother lizard to select the best available temperature for the developing young, by either sun basking or moving into a deep retreat.

This lengthy lifespan arises from "an existence in relative slow motion at cool temperatures",[8] and in alpine zones a long period of hibernation.

[25] The testing of this technique enabled him to develop a binocular-mounted spotlight with a controllable light source, which could locate geckos over distances of 10–100m.

This equipment proved invaluable when surveying difficult to search terrain and in areas with low population densities and/or "cryptic" species.

[26] In 2015, some Canterbury geckos were relocated into Riccarton Bush from the bluffs above Te Rāpaki-o-Te Rakiwhakaputa, as due to the Christchurch earthquake their habitat was under threat.

Reptiles have particular cultural and spiritual significance to Māori as they are cited in many myths and legends, with "links to death, demons and the after-world".

In art such as carvings, petroglyphs, tattoos and pendants, reptiles are often pictured, but curiously, native frogs are not and have no feature in the myths and legends, even though Māori would have encountered them in the landscape.