African Fat-Tailed Gecko Care
With this Care Sheet I hope to shed some light on how we care for our African Fat Tailed Geckos.
General Information:
African Fat-Tailed Geckos are a nocturnal species of gecko from West Africa. They look very similar to a Leopard Gecko, but Fat Tailed Geckos have a much wider head and overall sturdier look to them. They are becoming more popular in the pet trade due to their gentle disposition and their ability to thrive in captivity. Fat Tailed-Geckos can reach length of 8-10 inches. These geckos are pretty reluctant to bite, they are very hardy animals, and are easy to care for, hence making them a great choice for a pet gecko.
Housing:
If you are keeping just a few geckos and keep them as a hobby, it is most likely that you will be housing them in glass aquariums. If you plan to breed and house may geckos, a rack system is the best choice. One gecko can live its whole like comfortably in a 10-gallon aquarium. For a 3-4 of geckos a 20-gallon is required and 5+ geckos housed together would require a 30/40 gallon breeder tank. Fat Tailed Geckos need a higher humidity level than Leopard Geckos, so we suggest that your gecko has at least two hides and for at least one of those hides to be a humid retreat.
**NOTE** Always remember two males should NEVER be housed together; they will fight to the death.
If one will be housing geckos in a rack, it is best to house them individually. Here at Imperial Gecko we use rack systems for all our geckos. Hatchling geckos are housed in shoebox tubs (6 qt.) until they are 25 grams. Geckos are then moved into men’s shoebox tubs (15 qt.) where they will live the rest of their lives. Groups are kept in sweater box tubs (32 qt.). No matter the size of your gecko, they should have a hide where they can feel secure. Fat Tailed Geckos need a higher humidity level than Leopard Geckos, so we suggest that your gecko has at least two hides and for at least one of those hides to be a humid retreat.
Substrate:
Here at Imperial Geckos we use either paper towel or newspaper as the substrate of choice for our geckos. We sometimes don’t even use any substarte at all. African Fat Tailed Geckos can successfully be kept on Eco-Earth (coconut fiber) or Cypress Mulch. However, we choose to use paper substrate because of it affordable price, it lets us rest assure our geckos are not ingesting any substrate, and it is very easy to clean. Sand should NEVER be kept as a substrate for African Fat-Tailed Geckos.
Heat:
Fat Tail Geckos, like all reptiles, are cold blooded. Thus, they need to thermo-regulate their body temperatures. We believe the best source of heat should come from under. If using a glass tank, the best choice should be an under tank heating pad. While the breeders best choice is to use Flexwatt heat-tape or heat cable underbelly heating controlled by a thermostat. We keep our hot spots at around 91F and our cool side at around 75F-83F (depends on time of day and temps outside our facility). Even though Fat Tail Geckos are nocturnal, they should be able to see light. We supply our geckos with 12-hours of light.
Water:
Your geckos should always have a fresh supply of water present.
Supplementation:
Your geckos will need to be given an extra source of vitamins and calcium. We do not keep a bowl of calcium in our gecko’s cage. However we dust our gecko’s food every feeding with our Vionate/Osteo-Form Mixture. The mixture is composed of :
1- Part Osteo-Form SA
4-Parts Vionate
1-Part Repi-Sand
**NOTE** The sand does not cause any sort of impaction. The sand is used to help the geckos digest the vitamins and calcium.
Food:
African Fat-Tailed Geckos staple diet usually consists of Mealworms, Superworms, Crickets, or Roaches. They also sometime will accept pinkie mice, but these should be only offered as treats or during the breeding season for females. At Imperial Geckos we try to get all of our geckos to feed on a staple diet of Mealworms/Superworms. But, Fat Tail Geckos are known to be picky eaters, and for those that do not feed on worms, we feed them Crickets and Roaches. We feed our babies 1-8 weeks old ¼” Crickets. After that they are fed ½” Crickets until they reach 25 grams, then they get 3/4”-1” Crickets. We feed geckos less than 4 months old, 5 crickets/roach nymphs everyday. When they reach 25 grams they are fed 9 Crickets or appropriate sized Roach 3 times a week. Geckos that feed on mealworms always have a fresh supply of regular sized worms in a shallow dish.
**NOTE** Remember the prey items should be gut loaded prior to feeding to your geckos and they should also be dust with vitamin/calcium supplements.
We hope this care sheet has provided you with some useful information and insights into African Fat-Tailed Geckos. We are always available to support anyone so please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or e-mail should you have any further questions.
©Alejandro J. Estrada/Imperial Geckos
General Information:
African Fat-Tailed Geckos are a nocturnal species of gecko from West Africa. They look very similar to a Leopard Gecko, but Fat Tailed Geckos have a much wider head and overall sturdier look to them. They are becoming more popular in the pet trade due to their gentle disposition and their ability to thrive in captivity. Fat Tailed-Geckos can reach length of 8-10 inches. These geckos are pretty reluctant to bite, they are very hardy animals, and are easy to care for, hence making them a great choice for a pet gecko.
Housing:
If you are keeping just a few geckos and keep them as a hobby, it is most likely that you will be housing them in glass aquariums. If you plan to breed and house may geckos, a rack system is the best choice. One gecko can live its whole like comfortably in a 10-gallon aquarium. For a 3-4 of geckos a 20-gallon is required and 5+ geckos housed together would require a 30/40 gallon breeder tank. Fat Tailed Geckos need a higher humidity level than Leopard Geckos, so we suggest that your gecko has at least two hides and for at least one of those hides to be a humid retreat.
**NOTE** Always remember two males should NEVER be housed together; they will fight to the death.
If one will be housing geckos in a rack, it is best to house them individually. Here at Imperial Gecko we use rack systems for all our geckos. Hatchling geckos are housed in shoebox tubs (6 qt.) until they are 25 grams. Geckos are then moved into men’s shoebox tubs (15 qt.) where they will live the rest of their lives. Groups are kept in sweater box tubs (32 qt.). No matter the size of your gecko, they should have a hide where they can feel secure. Fat Tailed Geckos need a higher humidity level than Leopard Geckos, so we suggest that your gecko has at least two hides and for at least one of those hides to be a humid retreat.
Substrate:
Here at Imperial Geckos we use either paper towel or newspaper as the substrate of choice for our geckos. We sometimes don’t even use any substarte at all. African Fat Tailed Geckos can successfully be kept on Eco-Earth (coconut fiber) or Cypress Mulch. However, we choose to use paper substrate because of it affordable price, it lets us rest assure our geckos are not ingesting any substrate, and it is very easy to clean. Sand should NEVER be kept as a substrate for African Fat-Tailed Geckos.
Heat:
Fat Tail Geckos, like all reptiles, are cold blooded. Thus, they need to thermo-regulate their body temperatures. We believe the best source of heat should come from under. If using a glass tank, the best choice should be an under tank heating pad. While the breeders best choice is to use Flexwatt heat-tape or heat cable underbelly heating controlled by a thermostat. We keep our hot spots at around 91F and our cool side at around 75F-83F (depends on time of day and temps outside our facility). Even though Fat Tail Geckos are nocturnal, they should be able to see light. We supply our geckos with 12-hours of light.
Water:
Your geckos should always have a fresh supply of water present.
Supplementation:
Your geckos will need to be given an extra source of vitamins and calcium. We do not keep a bowl of calcium in our gecko’s cage. However we dust our gecko’s food every feeding with our Vionate/Osteo-Form Mixture. The mixture is composed of :
1- Part Osteo-Form SA
4-Parts Vionate
1-Part Repi-Sand
**NOTE** The sand does not cause any sort of impaction. The sand is used to help the geckos digest the vitamins and calcium.
Food:
African Fat-Tailed Geckos staple diet usually consists of Mealworms, Superworms, Crickets, or Roaches. They also sometime will accept pinkie mice, but these should be only offered as treats or during the breeding season for females. At Imperial Geckos we try to get all of our geckos to feed on a staple diet of Mealworms/Superworms. But, Fat Tail Geckos are known to be picky eaters, and for those that do not feed on worms, we feed them Crickets and Roaches. We feed our babies 1-8 weeks old ¼” Crickets. After that they are fed ½” Crickets until they reach 25 grams, then they get 3/4”-1” Crickets. We feed geckos less than 4 months old, 5 crickets/roach nymphs everyday. When they reach 25 grams they are fed 9 Crickets or appropriate sized Roach 3 times a week. Geckos that feed on mealworms always have a fresh supply of regular sized worms in a shallow dish.
**NOTE** Remember the prey items should be gut loaded prior to feeding to your geckos and they should also be dust with vitamin/calcium supplements.
We hope this care sheet has provided you with some useful information and insights into African Fat-Tailed Geckos. We are always available to support anyone so please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or e-mail should you have any further questions.
©Alejandro J. Estrada/Imperial Geckos
