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TEK9 Smurfzilla Geckogirlemi TEK9 Kyguylal Kyguylal TEK9 Smurfzilla AFT~413 TEK9 AFT~413 TEK9 TEK9 TEK9 Maihammess Suicidepill Suicidepill Smurfzilla VenusBurning Suicidepill JackAsp |
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TEK9 View Profile |
African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
African Fat Tail Geckos are native to the Transitional line between savannah and rainforest in West Africa they can be found throughout Tropical areas Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Camaroon. A large population also lives in the Togo Rainforest in Ghana. These Geckos love heat and Humidity, the higher the humidity the more the animals thrive. African Fat Tails need a Basking spot of 88-90 degrees, with an overall ambient temperature of 84-86 degrees. These geckos come from an Equitorial zone where temperatures rarely drop more than 5 degrees at night. Since AFTs are from tropical areas this means that they require a Decent amount of Humidity, usually 60-75% is adequate this can usually be accomplished by power misting the enclosure 2-3 times a day. One thing to remember though is that AFTs like the ground mostly dry, NOT wet. So mist the walls and enclosure furniture rather than the substrate. Alot of people also like to give their Geckos moist hides but this really isnt necessary as the humidity in enclosed areas will be 15-25% higher than in the open areas. Although if you are having problems keeping the humidity proper a moist hide is a good idea. AFTs love Crickets, and seem to despise worms. So your staple should be a crawling insect such as a cricket or cockroach, you can attempt to feed Mealworms or Superworms (zoophobos) but dont be surprised if your gecko will not eat them. AFTs also like moths, they will chase them around and gobble them up like its never eaten before in its life. You should be feeding your gecko on a set schedule no deviations or skipped days. Babies should be fed 5-10 properly sized prey usually pinheads or 1/8th of an inch crickets, or roach nymphs twice a day. Juveniles should be fed 12 properly sized prey items a day. Adults should be fed 12 appropriatly sized prey every second day unless you are breeding in which case you should feed 6-10 properly sized prey daily. Calcium supplementation is crucial to all herps and D3 supplementation is especially important for animals that do not have acess to UVB. Food items should be dusted with Calcium every feeding and D3 3 times a week. So if you are feeding non-breeding adults prey should be dusted with D3 every feeding. Please be careful with young geckos and synthetic D3 it is highly toxic and very easy to overdose a small animal on. Also make sure you provide clean cool water at all times for your gecko, they like to take long drinks out of their bowls even though you will rarely see them drinking. Substrates are one of the most higly debated topics in captive reptile care. I say keep it simple and use your brain. Sterile potting soil with no fertilizer, perlite or vermiculite is the cheapest and most natural substrate you can use. Personally i use a Black Earth topsoil mix which consists of 70% peat moss and 30% sand. It provides and excellent packing substrate that can be burrowed into and is 100% digestable. Also you can use Coco-Husk as your substrate it is usually sold as Eco-Earth or Bed-a-Beast. It is an excellent substrate although it has to be change quite often. Substrates to avoid are Calci-Sand (Its antacid in a bag), Repti-Bark (AFTs are clumsy hunters who regularly get substrate in thheir mouth), Play-Sand (Its just un-natural) and Cedar or Pine mulch (High in Phenols which are extremely toxic to all Herpetiles). Some other useable substrates are Jungle Earth, Sphagnum moss, paper towels, slate/granite or tile. Some other points to remember are Live Plants are always better than Fake plants. Sand is never a good substrate for tropical animals. Misting is good the more the better. Breeding is best left to people who know what they are doing. The Minimum Tank size for an adult AFT is 15 Gallon Long tank. It is quite cruel to keep large animals in small enclosures, despite what people try to convince you Geckos are active animals and like to have some space to move. Most people who complain about the lack of activity on the part of their geckos have them in 10 gallon tanks loaded to the brim with decorations. Also this is an important one, AFTs are intolerant of each other, Males should never co-habitate and if you must keep males and females together NEVER keep more than 1.3 group, even keeping a group (also known as a harem) like this happy is extremly difficult, the male will continuously harass the females and the females will fight each other to establish a pecking order, usually this will end up with submissive females who refuse to eat and a strong dominante Male who will not hesitate to kill weak females or females he feel are unsuitable to breed with. Natural Selection is a Bit**, who makes sure only the strong survive. If i missed anything feel free to add to this post, i hope we can keep most of the care info in one thread so that its easier to deal with problems as they show up on the board. Please do not hijack this thread, make stupid comments or add bad info into this thread as i will get it deleted. |
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| 08/18/06 08:41am |
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Smurfzilla View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 945393 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
crestedgecko.com has a reallly in depth caresheet for afts on it as well. |
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| 08/18/06 11:59am |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: Smurfzilla In reference to Message Id: 945590 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/19/06 02:12am |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 946781 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
AFRICAN FAT TAILS AND LEOPARD GECKOS CANNOT LIVE TOGETHER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES |
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| 08/19/06 10:17am |
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Kyguylal View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 947033 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/19/06 08:30pm |
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Kyguylal View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 947033 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/19/06 08:30pm |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: Kyguylal In reference to Message Id: 947638 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/21/06 10:07am |
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Smurfzilla View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 949704 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/22/06 03:45pm |
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AFT~413 View Profile |
Message To: Smurfzilla In reference to Message Id: 951711 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
When I first hopped on board the Reptic Zone, you {TEK9} had all the answers and pertinent information. Between you {TEK9}, Family Zoo and all the other regulars on this forum (you know who you are!), I consider myself to be very knowledgeable in caring for an AFT myself. Cuweena couldn’t be happier with the way I care for her. Well, maybe she could, but she can’t speak, so I guess I’ll never know... |
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| 08/22/06 04:35pm |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: AFT~413 In reference to Message Id: 951810 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 08/23/06 07:10am |
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AFT~413 View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 952863
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| 08/27/06 11:31pm |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: AFT~413 In reference to Message Id: 960272 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 09/04/06 10:17am |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 970581 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 09/09/06 10:13am |
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TEK9 View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 945393 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 09/22/06 07:38am |
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Maihammess View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 992661 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 11/12/06 01:42am |
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Suicidepill View Profile |
Message To: Maihammess In reference to Message Id: 1057213 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 11/30/06 07:20pm |
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Suicidepill View Profile |
Message To: Suicidepill In reference to Message Id: 1078637 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 01/28/07 06:14pm |
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Smurfzilla View Profile |
Message To: Suicidepill In reference to Message Id: 1151265 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 05/21/07 01:23pm |
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VenusBurning View Profile |
Message To: TEK9 In reference to Message Id: 945393 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 05/28/07 07:39pm |
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Suicidepill View Profile |
Message To: VenusBurning In reference to Message Id: 1296971 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 02/14/08 09:33pm |
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JackAsp View Profile |
Message To: Suicidepill In reference to Message Id: 1624220 African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple
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| 03/06/08 02:14am |
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African Fat Tail Geckos Quick and Simple