Ideal terrarium/vivarium? (See details)

[H_K]

Hi guys, I have an African Fat tailed gecko in a 10 gallon terrarium.

-This is the main question I'm looking for a terrarium/vivarium that is suitable for a male and a female fat tailed gecko, I'm willing to spend a good amount of money. Thanks!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not really sure how old he is, although I got him about 5 or 6 months ago. (If someone can tell me how to tell how old he is, that would be great) but I do know he is male. I have 2 questions. The first one is how do I know if my gecko is ready to breed? Not that I want to breed him, just in case I was going to put him with a female. (I've been told 2 males are off limits)

Secondly, what would happen if you put 1 ready-to-bread male/female AFT and another opposite gender that is ready to breed in a terrarium. Also a female and male that aren't ready to breed together?

 

[acpart]

Welcome to the forum!
Here are my brief responses. You can probably get more details than I feel like typing from a little googling:
Terrarium size: Ideally you would use a 20 gallon long or equivalent (30"x12"x12") enclosure. I use a drainage layer and coco fiber substrate and plant my enclosures. Here is a picture of one of my AFT enclosures from about 10 years ago:


Breeding and age: Once the gecko is near adult size there's no way to know how old it is. The male is probably ready to breed as soon as he reaches sexual maturity, probably around 8 months. He is safe to breed when he's at least 9-12 months old and is 40 grams or so. The female is ready to breed when she's ovulating. You can see 2 pinkish spheres in her belly when this happens. If she's receptive, she'll let him breed and if not, she'll walk away and may even nip at him. AFT's aren't that aggressive with their breeding. If you do get a new AFT, she will need to be quarantined for at least a month before introducing her. If you're thinking of breeding, please use internet resources and learn as much as you can, get the proper supplies (e.g. incubator) and have the financial resources to do it.

Aliza

 

[H_K]

Welcome to the forum!
Here are my brief responses. You can probably get more details than I feel like typing from a little googling:
Terrarium size: Ideally you would use a 20 gallon long or equivalent (30"x12"x12") enclosure. I use a drainage layer and coco fiber substrate and plant my enclosures. Here is a picture of one of my AFT enclosures from about 10 years ago:


Breeding and age: Once the gecko is near adult size there's no way to know how old it is. The male is probably ready to breed as soon as he reaches sexual maturity, probably around 8 months. He is safe to breed when he's at least 9-12 months old and is 40 grams or so. The female is ready to breed when she's ovulating. You can see 2 pinkish spheres in her belly when this happens. If she's receptive, she'll let him breed and if not, she'll walk away and may even nip at him. AFT's aren't that aggressive with their breeding. If you do get a new AFT, she will need to be quarantined for at least a month before introducing her. If you're thinking of breeding, please use internet resources and learn as much as you can, get the proper supplies (e.g. incubator) and have the financial resources to do it.

Aliza

Alright, thanks for the advice! I see in your terrarium you have a plastic 'separator' if you will. Is that what you meant by quarantined? Or does it have to be somewhere completely different? Also, this has nothing to do with the question but what are those cups full of brown powder it looks like?

 

[acpart]

The divider was because I had a drainage letter to the right and no drainage layer (so I could get better heat) to the left. The jar caps had feeder gut load because I have free ranging crickets in there and wanted them to have something to eat.
Quarantining a gecko means keeping in a completely different enclosure, and washing your hands before and after handling/feeding it.

Aliza