A-1 Reptiles
African Fat Tail Care
African Fat tail geckos are indigenous to the rocky woodlands of Africa.
A shallow water dish should be available at all times.
Mealworms and crickets are the main diet of African Fat Tail geckos. African Fat Tail hatchlings will eat quarter inch crickets. Adult African Fat Tail geckos can eat 3/4 inch crickets or larger. As a rule African Fat Tail geckos can eat crickets just slightly smaller than their head. They will not chew their food but rather crush and swallow it. Baby African Fat Tail geckos should not be fed mealworms until the age of six months.
Daytime temperatures should be around 85 deg f and may cool 70 deg f at night. A small part of the African Fat Tail geckos enclosure should be heated to 85-88 deg f and this can be done with a reptile heat pad placed under the tank. Do not use heat rocks as heat rocks have been know to cause thermal burns on reptiles.
A twenty gallon long aquarium is the minimum size enclosure requirements for any reptile. It is impossible to regulate heat in an enclosure any smaller than a twenty gallon tank. A warm spot and a cool spot are essential for housing African Fat Tail geckos and keeping them in good physical condition.
A breeding group may consist of one male and three or more females. Do not house more than one male inside enclosure as males of this specie are highly territorial and will fight to the death.
Unlike other geckos African Fat Tail geckos must be in best health to reproduce. African Fat Tails only use twenty-five percent of their physical reserves to breed and lay eggs. This specie requires a slight cool down period to induce breeding activity.
A plastic container should be placed inside the enclosure as a laying site for the females. An opening should be made on the containers top or side big enough for the female African Fat Tails to crawl in and out. Inside the container a moist medium should be placed such as vermiculite, peat moss or store bought top soil. The medium should be kept moist at all times. Female African Fat Tails are drawn to moist areas to deposit their eggs.
Mating usually takes place in early January. After mating females will lay two soft shelled eggs in approximately fifteen days. A clutch (two eggs) will be laid every fifteen days thereafter throughout the breeding season. Breeding season runs January through July of each year. Male African Fat Tails can remain year round with their females.
Sex of the hatchlings can be determined by incubation temperature. To produce mostly females eggs should be incubated at 80-82 deg f. To produce mostly males eggs should be incubated at 85-88 deg f. Incubators can be found at most local farm supply stores and are sold as Hoovabators. Eggs incubated at 80-82 deg f will hatch in approximately sixty days. Eggs incubated at 85-88 deg f will hatch in approximately forty-five days.
Hatchling African Fat Tails should not receive their first meal until after their first shed which usually takes place five to six days after hatching.
Juvenile to adult African Fat Tails are easily sexed. In males there is a row of a dozen or more pinhole sized preanal pores just above the cloacol opening. Female African Fat Tails lack these pores.
A suitable substrate for African Fat Tail geckos may consist of peat moss and store bought top soil. Peat moss and top soil also help to absorb odor naturally. These are organic materials and totally digestible. Top soil should be free of sand as sand causes impaction in reptiles. African Fat Tail geckos will defecate in the same area of their enclosure making cleanup easy.
Breeding African Fat Tails can be a profitable investment. Coloration is achieved by multiple generations of selective breeding.
African Fat Tail geckos may vary in color and pattern. A striped version of this gecko is available as well as a normal cross banded pattern. Orange, peach, tans are all colorations which are available on the market today.
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Hemitheconyx caudicinctus
