reptilebreeder.co.uk

Description

Fat tail geckos, from the same family as the leopard gecko (Eublepharinae), make ideal captives due to their docile and friendly nature. They grow to around 8-10" with males being more stocky than females. Recently there have been a few breeders working with new morphs of these geckos, which will only help to improve their popularity.

Housing

A popular way of keeping these geckos is in plastic trays in a heated rack, but a simple aquarium or vivarium will also do fine. However, males should only be housed one per enclosure, but can be housed with other females. Decor can be rocks and logs and fake plants to give a natural look. There should also be some hides at both ends of the enclosure. There should also be a humid hide; this can be a Tupperware box with a hole cut in the top for access. This humid area will help when they are shedding. A 2-foot enclosure will be ideal for a pair. A shallow water dish should be available at the cool end at all times.

Lighting/Heating

Fat tailed geckos are nocturnal and so do not require full spectrum lighting. A simple spotlight on a dimming thermostat can be used to provide both light and heat, or if kept in a lit room, a heat mat on a thermostat covering one third of the floor area can be used. Either option needs to have a hot end of around 90°F with a gradient going down to the mid to high 70s at the cool end. This way your geckos can choose what's best for them.

Diet

Fat tails will thrive on a diet of mealworms and crickets and will also enjoy the occasional waxworm and pinkie mouse. When feeding you should supplement the live food with a good multi-vitamin. A shallow dish of calcium/D3 powder mixed with some multi vitamins should be available at all times.

Breeding

Fat tails are easy to breed and reach sexual maturity at around nine to ten months of age, although you should ensure the females have some good weight on them on (around 45g) before putting them together for breeding. The first eggs are usually laid in January and she can continue to lay right through to the summer, averaging 14 eggs per year (although females in their first breeding year normally lay less). When your female starts to lay it is important to keep an eye on her weight as fat tails tend to put in so much effort into producing eggs that they need a good increase in nutritional food to keep their weight on. Pinkies are ideal for this. When the females are gravid the two eggs can bee seen through the skin on her belly. For laying, a plastic container with a hole in the top should be provided with a 3-inch layer of damp vermiculite or peat/soil, which they will dig and lay into.

Eggs and incubation

When the eggs are laid they should be transferred to an incubator, half burying the eggs in damp vermiculite or perlite, placing them the same way they were laid. Like leopard geckos, fat tails can be sexed by the temperature they are incubated at, so for females, 80-82°F, for a mixture of both 84-86°F, and for males 88°F. The eggs incubated the highest will hatch fastest. Eggs can take anywhere from 40 to 100 days to hatch, depending on what temperature they were incubated at.

Hatchling care

When the eggs begin to hatch they should be transferred to a small simple enclosure with minimal decor and paper towels for substrate. There should be a humid hide, a shallow water dish (jam jar lid) and a calcium/vitamin dish. After about three days the gecko will have its first shed and begin to feed. Now you can introduce some size 2 crickets or some mini mealworms. For optimum growth you should house the young singularly or in very low numbers to reduce stress.