Final Questions

[JdiLb]

I'm gonna be at a show soon, and I'm 99% decided on picking up two fat tails. Anyway, I've read through everything, I just need to get some supplies.

If I get a male and female - I can house them together, correct? Or is it rec. to house them separately if I plan on breeding them later on once they're mature?


Moisture - humidity system or a few sprays every day?


Ground - I see that substrates seem more deadly than anything. Paper towel floor, which could also help keep moisture?

Heat at one end 89-91, low end no less than 75, correct?

Another concern is feeding - I've read various different plans.
WHat I saw was 3-5 small crickets a day (?) until about 4 inches, then how many every other day? Once they're adult 6-7 2-3x a week, mealworms and crickets dusted. I should dust the crickets I give to them always, even when they're small?

Anything else specific I should need or be worried about?

 

[Carinata]

Keep them separate unless you are breeding. I keep mine 91 hot spot, 78 cool side. Coconut fiber bedding, misted daily. Adults were getting 6, 3/4in crickets every 3 days. Females that are breeding got fed every other day. I always dust the crickets using Calcium with D3

 

[LZRDGRL]

Well, you need to quarantine them for about 3 months, even if you decide to mate them later. Then, I would just put them together for mating and separate them afterwards.

A few sprays every day or every other day should be sufficient. Put in a nice moist hide with wet paper towels. I use a spray bottle. Paper towel is fine as substrate. For my adults, I use top soil (without fertilizer) mixed in with sphagnum moss (same as for my cresties). It gets hard. However, it can mold if you use too much water. For babies, paper towel only. No sand or any loose substrate.

I give the adults about 10-12 dusted crickets every other day, and some mealworms now and then, when I pass the cages. For the juveniles I shake in small crickets, as many as they want to eat (5-12). Yes, I would always dust them.

You're correct with the temps; it's about the same as for leopard geckos, maybe a bit cooler.

There's nothing else to be "worried about"; just quarantine them well and observe their fecals, and do a fecal stain at the vet if you find something suspicious. When you're at the show, pick animals with fat tails and no nips; if they have nips and missing tails, you know they've been kept in groups. Buy them from a reputable breeder who can tell you their dam and sire, and their correct morph with hets. Buy them both from the same person to get a group discount!

Good luck! Post your new AFT's when you have them :main_yes: Do you know already which morphs you want, or will you let yourself get inspired by what you see at the show?

Chrissy

 

[Wild West Reptile]

Good luck! Post your new AFT's when you have them :main_yes: Do you know already which morphs you want, or will you let yourself get inspired by what you see at the show?

Chrissy

Hopefully you will see them at the show. Not too many fat tail breeders around. It's rare I see more than 1 or 2 who even have them at shows. It's crazy because they are an amazing gecko. Great temperament and excellent at being handled. Hopefully people will start collecting them more so they are more readily available. I know I'll be contributing to that! Good luck finding some.

On a side note, they aren't as easy to breed as leopard geckos. You can't just throw a male and female in a tub and automatically get eggs like you can with leopard geckos. They tend to be very touchy when it comes to breeding. Youve gotta have a few tricks up your sleeve to succeed at fat tails! Just don't expect you'll get them to breed the first time. They take a lot of work and patience....trust me.

 

[acpart]

As you can see, there are several different ways to do it. To clarify about quarantine (my opinion anyway): if you get both fat tails from the same breeder, they could be kept together.
I keep my hatchlings in a rack in a plastic tub and when they get a bit bigger I keep them on ceramic tile (it seems to me that spraying paper towel would be messy, but it seems to work for others). The adults are on coco fiber in planted tanks.
If you get sub-adults, it would be wisest to keep them separate till the female is of breeding weight just in case. Once everyone is the right size, I keep my breeding groups together all year and they do fine.

Aliza

 

[JdiLb]

Thanks for the replies everyone. There's still some debate for the feeding.
" 10-12 dusted crickets every other day, and some mealworms now and then"
" Adults were getting 6, 3/4in crickets every 3 days. Females that are breeding got fed every other day."

 

[LZRDGRL]

Well, as you can see everyone has a slightly different system. It also depends on how many geckos a breeder has. In the wild, they are not on a regular feeding schedule, so you won't hurt your geckos if you aren't like clockwork, either.

When do you get your crickets delivered? Mine come by mail every Thursday morning at 10 a.m.; a couple thousands of them. That means I can't feed the geckos on Thursdays, since I need to gutload the crickets one night. So I feed them potato slices and fresh veggies and wheat bran, and on Friday and Saturday I feed my geckos, and then depending how many are left, on the following days for the rest. I make sure I'm rid of all old crickets by the next Thursday, when the new ones come by mail.

You can't throw the crickets in when you've got them fresh out of the mail or from a pet store. There, they're kept on egg crates and live of cardboard and a whole (old and sometimes moldy) potato! You need to gutload the crickets in advance, and I would do that over night, to make sure they have enough time to eat and drink.

You also have to go by size. You'll see that if you keep crickets for too many days and they stay alive that long, they get very big -- too big for many younger geckos. So go by what you see -- before your crickets start reaching that size, feed them all off (no matter whether you've just fed the day before) and buy new, small ones!

Chrissy

 

[JdiLb]

I'll be buying crickets at the local store, and yes I know about gutloading, I'll get a small tank for the crickets. Should I put fruits in too?

 

[LZRDGRL]

I'll be buying crickets at the local store, and yes I know about gutloading, I'll get a small tank for the crickets. Should I put fruits in too?

You can, but they get moldy quickly. Just take them out when they start looking bad. Sometimes, I put in apple slices and banana pieces :main_yes:

Chrissy

 

[acpart]

I don't count crickets. I just put a bunch in, every other day during breeding season, every 3rd day in the winter (every day for the juvies who go after them like crazy). After awhile you get the idea of how many are the right number. Very few fat tails will eat mealworms. I've tried with all of mine.

Aliza

 

[LZRDGRL]

Mine love mealworms

Chrissy

 

[Daedric1]

Mine love mealworms

Chrissy

You're sooooo lucky.

Did you do anything special to get them eating mealworms?

 

[JdiLb]

heat lamp(IF red bulb?) or heat pads?