The gecko was one of 16, including nine which were heavily pregnant, returned to their home on Otago Peninsula yesterday after being stolen earlier this year.
Ugandan resident Manfred Walter Bachmann (55) was sentenced to 15 weeks' jail this month for the crime.
Two co-accused, Swiss national Thomas Price and Spaniard Gustavo Toledo Albarran, will be sentenced on March 29.
Each gecko was estimated to be worth $2000 on the international black market.
Only about 700 remain on Otago Peninsula.
The geckos' return was made possible by University of Otago wildlife management student Carey Knox, whose work counting and photographing the threatened species on the peninsula enabled the geckos to be put back in the area from which they were snatched.
"It feels pretty good. It's the best of a bad situation, but it would have been better if it had never happened in the first place," he said yesterday.
He thought the sentence handed down to the Ugandan was a "bit of a joke".
"They should be much harsher, to put people off coming over here in the first place."
The geckos arrived yesterday in a cardboard box, each in its own individual plastic container, and were released by Mr Knox and Department of Conservation grand skink and Otago skink programme ranger Lesley Judd.
Ms Judd had overseen their care in quarantine during the past three weeks. The geckos were screened regularly for salmonella.
"We didn't know what they had contracted while they were away and we didn't want them to bring it [salmonella] back, endangering the resident population."
They were fed a mixture of baby food - apple is their favourite - and live bugs, such as locusts and wax moth larvae.
Mr Knox will carry out regular searches of the area in coming months to check on the released geckos.
"I'm pretty confident they'll be OK," he said.
Representatives from the Department of Conservation, Otakou runanga, the Government, community groups and individuals involved in gecko conservation gathered to watch the release of the geckos.
National MP Michael Woodhouse said the work the Wildlife Enforcement Group had to do to ensure species such as the gecko did not leave New Zealand was a "sad reality".
"Enforcement and prevention is so vital. To prevent them being taken in the first place is the No 1 task."
