Feeding schedule and substrate

[animeavatar]

I am planning to get an AFT and I do my research. The only things I'm not sure about is:
How often should I feed them and how many crickets?
How often should I dust the crickets with?
Is reptile carpet okay for them(I find paper towels too wasteful)?:main_huh:

 

[acpart]

I can only tell you about how I do it:
I feed dusted crickets every other day during breeding season (summer for me) and every 3rd day off-season. If you're not breeding, they may still eat less in the winter. If they're unenthusiastic about every other day feeding, go every 3rd day. Currently I dust the crickets with Repashy calcium plus at every feeding. In the past I would alternate with Rep-cal calcium with D3 and Rep-cal herptivite.

I keep my fat tails in planted tanks with coco fiber and mist every morning. I would imagine if you mist them for humidity that paper towels would be a mess. If you don't want to do a planted tank, consider ceramic tiles.

Aliza

 

[animeavatar]

What types of plants can I put in their tank? About the eco-earth, is it safe to put an UTH under it? It doesn't say anything in the manual: http://www.zoomed.com/Library/ProductDBFiles/rhundertankheater.pdf
Should I use this one instead? http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/heat_wave_rainforest.php

 

[acpart]

I prefer the zoo-med. In my tank I have hides with ceramic bottoms (I make them myself) so I can bury them partially in the substrate and not worry about them burrowing down to the UTH and burning themselves. You could accomplish the same thing by getting a ceramic tile for the hot side, putting it down on the glass, putting the substrate over it and then pushing the hide partway into the substrate.

I have tried a variety of plants. I've had best luck with haworthia and am just trying hens and chicks (the plant, not the bird). I had lousy luck with African violets, which is a shame since the geckos are african.

Aliza

 

[Carinata]

Basically when I kept my AFTs in glass aquariums, I used coco-fiber, with 2 hides and a water dish. With a UTH on the bottom half of each tank, regulated by a thermostat. Now that I keep them in rack systems I use a cage liner, a massive humid hide that covers over half the cage and a water dish.
I feed all the adults every 3 days, babies every day. I always dust the crickets with calcium D3.