Breeding Fat-tail Geckos

[ciliatus902]

Hello,
Well, I think this will be the year I am finally able to try to breed my fat-tail geckos, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice. My male is striped (Fred) and my female is banded (Wilma), and they are both at least 3 years old. One question: what should I have as a laying medium? Thanks,
Mike

[Zoe]

Hi!
Just put them together and they should do their work!
You can use anything as laying medium - moist vermiculite, bed-a-beast or moss/sphagnum moss. Perlite works great for incubation, I had 100% hatch rate with it. Just put 1 part water in 1 part perlite by weight in a closed tupperware with no holes. Open once a week or two for air circulation. Keep the eggs half burried, and mark the top with a non-toxic marker to know which side is up. Keep them at 82-89F depending on whether you want males or females. They should hatch in 55-75 days, depending on temps and such.

As for getting them to breed, put your male in with your female (if they are seperate) and he should go at her right away. If they are together, they are probably mating already. Have your egg-incubating container ready for when the eggs are laid. It's a bit harder to tell if a female is gravid than with leos, so here is a pic taken by your's truly:
http://www.roqufort.com/gex/images/fem.jpg

Here are some websites you may find helpful, but fat-tails are real easy anyway:
http://www.roqufort.com/gex/gecko.htm (http://www.roqufort.com/gex)
http://www.albeysreptiles.com/incubate-eggs.htm
http://www.**************/rockymountain/RMHPages/RMHfat-tail.htm
http://www.reptilia.org/care_sheets/Lizards/csheets_liz_fattailed.htm

Once the babies hatch, put them in a 10 gal or less, on paper towel with a couple hides (some moist, some dry), a water dish, a little dish of calcium and maybe a little fake plant for kicks. They will eat after their first shed. If you have trouble getting them to eat after a few days after the first shed, hold the gecko and poke a cricket at it's nose, and it will open its mouth in protest, and bite down on the cricket. Remove the hind legs on the crickets to make them easier to catch. I suggest you start with crix and not mealies.

Good luck!
Zoe

[Icefire]

You should wait for december about breeding fat tail
I have read they need a cool down of 2 months
just look on googles

and be sure its a couple and not 2 males

[Zoe]

Yeah, you may want to give it a month or two but you don't need to cool them. You can, but mine bred just fine without any cooling.

Zoe

[ciliatus902]

Thanks Zoe, that was quite helpful. Once I get my incubator set up, I think I will have it at about 82-83, so that both my fat-tail and leo eggs can be incubated in the same incubator. I already have some vermiculite, but I will use that in the laying box and go pick up some perlite for incubating. I have my hatchling setup planned out, but why do you suggest feeding crickets instead of mealworms? When they are starting off, I will probably feed crickets and mealworms, unless there is some reason I shouldn't. All of my adult geckos are fed mealworms as a staple, with the occasional superworm, pinky, cricket, etc. Also, I am trying to make an incubator, but I haven't gotten the temps right yet, and I was wondering what you used to incubate the eggs. Thanks again,

Mike

[Zoe]

I suggest crickets because I think mealworm exoskeletons are hard on a baby gecko's intenstines. At least try and feed some fresh-shed mealies (they are white).
I didn't use an incubator, I just put them on a desk. If the temp doesn't go below 80 or above 90, you're fine. The only problem is you can't say that they are temp-sexed male or female.

What are you using for an incubator?

Zoe

[ciliatus902]

Yeah I see what you're saying. At least at the beginning I will feed only crickets and freshly shed mealies, then eventually it will turn to mostly mealworms. I find mealworms much easier to keep and feed; for my leopard geckos, I just have to put 5-10 in a dish with some calcium and thats it. It reduces the feeding time immensely and I don't have to worry if they caught their food.

I was trying out a 10 gallon with a 8W heat pad underneath, and a baking tray to keep the deli cup off the floor. I had a piece of styrofoam cut out to fit perfectly in the inside rim, but the pad would not heat the conatiner up enough. When the deli cup was on the baking tray, it wouldn't get warmer than 74, and when the deli cup was right on the floor it was 83. That's the temperature I was aiming for, but that kind of makes the incubator useless since there would only be enough room for 2 or 3 deli cups right over the heat pad. I do have another heat pad; actually its a section of heat tape, and I attached a dimmer switch to it, so I will experiment with that.

The cage I have them in right now is a 22 gallon custom made one, and it is square, so I just have a divider down the middle. During breeding season, I'll just take it out, and if I ever need to seperate them, just put it back in. One thing: do you just keep your geckos together in breeding season, or do you keep them together all year? Thanks again,

Mike

[Zoe]

Hey!

I kept my fatties together all year and they bred. The only time I saw them mate was when I introduced a new female, though. They did breed when they were together all year round, but I never got to see it.

As for the incubator, try this:

You will need:
- submersible water heater (ebo-jager works. e-bay!)
- big plastic container (like a rubbermaid)
- styrofoam to go inside the container
- water to fill the rubbermaid
- bricks to go in the water
- a smaller container on top of the bricks
- small deli cups with 2-4 eggs on perlite inside the smaller container

Just fiddle with the dial on the water heater until it makes a good temp, and ad a hole or two so you get idea humidity.

Zoe