camille
03-21-05, 09:49 AM
Im doing a project on how to take care of reptiles and i took different care sheets but every care sheet has different info and your never shure what is accurate or not so what i did was i took all the info i got and put it together into "my own" care sheet. and wanted to see if any of your guys to tell me if anything was wrong in it. any help would be much obliged.
African Fat-Tailed Geckos
Range: west africa( nigeria to west senegal)
Habitat: savanah, rocky hillsides, dry open woodland and river edges.
Size: 8 to 10 inches (males can be larger)
Lifespan: 15 to 20 years
Breeding season: between october and june
Housing: Females may be kept together. Males CANNOT be kept together. they will fight and kill each other for territory. Males and females can be put together if you want to breed them but it isnt suggested because the female can become stressed by too much “unwanted attentions” from the male. If you do this make shure the female has enough place to hide from the male if she wants to escape
Temperature: daytime 82F-88F nightime can go down to 75F overhead heating is reccomended. Place heat source on one side of the tank ONLY. And do not place it in the middle. DO NOT use heat rocks. They have been known to badly burn MANY reptiles, not just geckos.
Humidity: 50% make shure water is in the cage at all times. Misting the cage regularly is recommended. Make shure the substrate is never wet for long. Using moss inside one of the hides that can be misted daily is another recommendation.
Food: crickets( preferable if not mandatory to be gutloaded) and mealworms
Food notes: hatchlings should eat ½” crickets(two week old crickets) and should be fed daily.
Adults should eat ¾” crickets(can handle adult crickets) and should be fed 2 to 3 times a week
Pinky mice can be offered to adults occasionaly as treats (gravid females especially love these)
Make shure your crickets are acquired from a clean source and fed fresh food. NEVER feed mouldy food to your crickets.(this can cause SERIOUS disease).
Dust your crickets once a week with calcium and D3 and vitamines.
Here are some reccomendations:
A 1:3 ratio of herptivite to repcal calcium with D3.
To coat your crickets in calcium powder place them in a tall cup, add the supplement and shake to coat the crickets. This should be done every other day with young geckos and slowly go down to twice a week for adults.(especially reducing the vitamin supplements.) Make sure to offer more calcium to gravid females.
Remove remainding crickets after 15 minuts
Habitat size: Many breeders house their geckos in rubbermade tubs or large sweater boxes. The most popular enclosure is a fish tank. MINIMUM 10 gallon tank per adult gecko. Though many breeders and gecko enthusiasts recommend a 15 gallon. some geckos have been known to be housed in smaller aquariums than a 10 gallon but it is NOT recommended and could cause health problems to your gecko.
Substrate: When bringning your new gecko home your should use paper towel as substrate so as to be able to get a fecal sample to bring to the vet to make shure your newly bought gecko does not have parasytes. Any newly bought gecko should be quarantined untill you get a clean bill of health from the vet. No other substrate should be used ECCEPT for paper towel untill your gecko reaches the length of 6”. After that you may use newspaper, cypress mulch, fine grade play sand, sphagnum peat moss and bead a beast (coconut fiber)
Tip to keep Fat-Tails hydrated: Use about 4 inches of substrate where the lower inch of substrate always stays damp. This way the fat-tails can retreat from the head to thermoregulate and rehydrate as well. Providing a hide that constantly stays cool and damp allows for a higher basking zone temp and thus increases the metabolism of the fat-tails.
Fat-tails like to burrow in slightly moist substrates to rehydrate.
Misc things you should have for your gecko
· Food dish
· Calcium supplement dish
· Humidity hide
· Other hides(one on each side of the tank)
· Under tank heater(heat source on the side only) or overhead heat source
· Insect gutload(store bought or homemade)
· 2 thermometer
· humidity gauge
· logs for basking and hiding ,fake plants, rocks and other decorative stuff
African Fat-Tailed Geckos
Range: west africa( nigeria to west senegal)
Habitat: savanah, rocky hillsides, dry open woodland and river edges.
Size: 8 to 10 inches (males can be larger)
Lifespan: 15 to 20 years
Breeding season: between october and june
Housing: Females may be kept together. Males CANNOT be kept together. they will fight and kill each other for territory. Males and females can be put together if you want to breed them but it isnt suggested because the female can become stressed by too much “unwanted attentions” from the male. If you do this make shure the female has enough place to hide from the male if she wants to escape
Temperature: daytime 82F-88F nightime can go down to 75F overhead heating is reccomended. Place heat source on one side of the tank ONLY. And do not place it in the middle. DO NOT use heat rocks. They have been known to badly burn MANY reptiles, not just geckos.
Humidity: 50% make shure water is in the cage at all times. Misting the cage regularly is recommended. Make shure the substrate is never wet for long. Using moss inside one of the hides that can be misted daily is another recommendation.
Food: crickets( preferable if not mandatory to be gutloaded) and mealworms
Food notes: hatchlings should eat ½” crickets(two week old crickets) and should be fed daily.
Adults should eat ¾” crickets(can handle adult crickets) and should be fed 2 to 3 times a week
Pinky mice can be offered to adults occasionaly as treats (gravid females especially love these)
Make shure your crickets are acquired from a clean source and fed fresh food. NEVER feed mouldy food to your crickets.(this can cause SERIOUS disease).
Dust your crickets once a week with calcium and D3 and vitamines.
Here are some reccomendations:
A 1:3 ratio of herptivite to repcal calcium with D3.
To coat your crickets in calcium powder place them in a tall cup, add the supplement and shake to coat the crickets. This should be done every other day with young geckos and slowly go down to twice a week for adults.(especially reducing the vitamin supplements.) Make sure to offer more calcium to gravid females.
Remove remainding crickets after 15 minuts
Habitat size: Many breeders house their geckos in rubbermade tubs or large sweater boxes. The most popular enclosure is a fish tank. MINIMUM 10 gallon tank per adult gecko. Though many breeders and gecko enthusiasts recommend a 15 gallon. some geckos have been known to be housed in smaller aquariums than a 10 gallon but it is NOT recommended and could cause health problems to your gecko.
Substrate: When bringning your new gecko home your should use paper towel as substrate so as to be able to get a fecal sample to bring to the vet to make shure your newly bought gecko does not have parasytes. Any newly bought gecko should be quarantined untill you get a clean bill of health from the vet. No other substrate should be used ECCEPT for paper towel untill your gecko reaches the length of 6”. After that you may use newspaper, cypress mulch, fine grade play sand, sphagnum peat moss and bead a beast (coconut fiber)
Tip to keep Fat-Tails hydrated: Use about 4 inches of substrate where the lower inch of substrate always stays damp. This way the fat-tails can retreat from the head to thermoregulate and rehydrate as well. Providing a hide that constantly stays cool and damp allows for a higher basking zone temp and thus increases the metabolism of the fat-tails.
Fat-tails like to burrow in slightly moist substrates to rehydrate.
Misc things you should have for your gecko
· Food dish
· Calcium supplement dish
· Humidity hide
· Other hides(one on each side of the tank)
· Under tank heater(heat source on the side only) or overhead heat source
· Insect gutload(store bought or homemade)
· 2 thermometer
· humidity gauge
· logs for basking and hiding ,fake plants, rocks and other decorative stuff