African Fat-Tailed Gecko Care Page

Reptiles aren’t like dogs and cats that can simply roam around your house. They are very sensitive to their environment, and need their own enclosure set up according to their specific needs. This guide covers everything you will need to care for your pet African fat-tailed gecko properly.

African fat-tailed geckos should be housed in an enclosure that is no smaller than 36″L x 18″W x 16″H. A common available terrarium size is a 40 gallon long. This is the bare minimum, calculated according to the reptile’s average length and activity patterns.

However, if you can provide an enclosure with more floor space, do it! Housing your gecko in a larger enclosure will encourage it to be more active and demonstrate more natural behaviors. We recommend front-opening enclosures for easier access and security.

Zoo Med

36”x18”x18” Glass

Zen Habitats

48”x24”x16” PVC

Kages

36”x24”x18”

Substrate is the material that you use to cover the floor of the enclosure. Loose, naturalistic substrate is the best kind of substrate for housing African fat-tailed geckos. Substrate should be 3-6″ deep to facilitate natural burrowing behavior.

The best way to recreate an AFT's natural habitat of packed sandy loam is with a DIY mix of roughly 70% untreated topsoil + 30% play sand. Topsoil must not contain any fertilizers, manure, or perlite/vermiculite - read the ingredients! Mix well, soak until muddy, then pack it firmly at the bottom of the enclosure. Make sure it is 100% dry before introducing the gecko to the setup.

You can also use a pre-packaged substrate, though this is more costly than DIY. Depending on the brand, you may still need to add some topsoil (if too dusty) or sand (if too dense/moist) to reach desired consistency. Here are some recommended commercial substrates appropriate for African fat-tailed geckos:

The BioDude Terra Firma

Lugarti Natural Reptile Bedding

Bioactive substrate
Another option is a bioactive setup. Bioactive enclosure setups are designed to mimic a reptile’s natural environment and stimulate natural behaviors. All above substrates can easily support bioactivity with the addition of leaf litter and a “cleanup crew” of isopods and springtails that clean up uneaten food and fecal remains, making bioactive substrates incredibly low maintenance.


Impaction
Many sources recommend against using any kind of loose substrate, out of fear of causing intestinal blockage via accidental ingestion. But that is a myth!

The leading causes of impaction are improper temperatures, dehydration, and high parasite loads, not loose substrate. AFT's require a certain range of basking heat in order to properly digest their food and pass any bits of substrate they may have ingested.

If you are still worried about impaction, however, using a “solid” substrate such as paper towels or slate tile is okay, although it is less enriching, less comfortable, and less natural than an appropriate loose substrate.

Reptiles are much more intelligent than we humans tend to give them credit for, and that means they need things to entertain them. Otherwise they exist in a state of perpetual boredom, which makes them dull, inactive, and overall less interesting as pets. When reptiles have objects to interact with in their enclosure, they become less stressed and more engaged with their environment. This practice is called environmental enrichment.

It’s important to choose enrichment items (a.k.a. enclosure décor) that are appropriate to your pet’s natural behaviors. Here are some other objects that serve a vital function in a African fat-tailed gecko terrarium:

UVB is important for healthy metabolism, specifically vitamin D synthesis and calcium metabolism, improving skin health, and strengthening the immune system. UVB can be replaced with an oral vitamin D3 supplement for African fat-tailed geckos, but this method is less effective and more difficult to regulate, so we strongly recommend using a proper UV lamp instead.

UVA is beneficial to eyesight and is sensed by their pineal gland to regulate a circadian rhythm. UVA is emitted by both UV lamps and halogen bulbs.

Infrared radiation (i.e. heat) is important for reptiles' thermoregulation. As ectotherms, they rely on the heat of the sun to warm their bodies and stimulate their metabolism, digest their food, and stay alert and active. The shorter the wavelength, the deeper it can penetrate their muscle tissue. In captivity, we can provide this with specific heat bulbs that emit the most beneficial infrared wavelengths (IR-A and IR-B).

All light and heat should be kept on a regular schedule using outlet timers or done manually. This allows for a predictable day/night cycle which the gecko can follow, allowing for natural hormonal rhythms and good mental health. We recommend the following schedule for African fat-tailed geckos, based on their natural environment:

African fat-tailed geckos benefit greatly from a UVB lamp in the enclosure. While they are technically capable of surviving without UVB if they receive sufficient supplementary vitamin D3 in their diet, simply surviving is not thriving, so we strongly recommend providing appropriate UVB. D3 supplement dosing is very imprecise and not efficiently absorbed by the body. Experts don't know exactly how much vitamin D3 fat-tailed geckos need, but we do know how much UVB they need for to self-regulate their own internal D3 production, so providing a UV lamp is far more natural and beneficial to promote optimum health.

UVB Output
Most African fat-tailed geckos do best with a 5-7% UVB output T5 lamp. Albinos and other less-pigmented morphs (amel, caramel, ghost) are more sensitive to UVB and may benefit from a lower output lamp, like a 2-3% output T5 or 5-7% output T8. 5-7% T5 bulbs are still safe for UVB-sensitive morphs, as long as plenty of shady coverage is provided throughout the enclosure.

We recommend Arcadia or Zoo Med linear fluorescent bulbs, as these brands produce the best and most reliable UVB lamps on the market. The lamp should be roughly ⅓ - ½ the width of the enclosure and placed on the same side as the heat lamp. So if your enclosure is 36”, your bulb should be 12-18” long. For a 4’ enclosure, a 22” bulb is best. Avoid “compact” and coil UVB bulbs, as these cannot properly distribute a UV gradient across the enclosure.

Best UVB lamps for most AFT's:

Arcadia ShadeDweller ProT5 7% Kit

Zoo Med Reptisun T5 HO 5.0 (12”)

Arcadia D3 Forest ProT5 6% (22”)

Optional UVB lamps for albino/patternless AFT's:

Arcadia ShadeDweller Max ProT5 2.5% Kit

Arcadia D3 Forest T8 6% (18”)

Zoo Med Reptisun T8 5.0 (18”)

Distance and Mesh
The strength of the UVB lamp’s output varies according to distance from the bulb — stronger when closer, and weaker when further away. If you are using a Solarmeter 6.5 to measure your UVB lamp’s output, the UVI (UV Index) reading should be between 1.0-2.0 at the height of the gecko’s back when standing on the basking platform (or 0.5-0.7 for albinos) and down to 0 on the cool side.

If you don't have a Solarmeter, here is a rough estimate of how far away your basking platform should be, based on which bulb you are using and whether the lamp is mounted above or below mesh. Calculations are based on Arcadia and Vivarium Electronics fixtures - using a different fixture may change your results.

Unfortunately, we do not currently have access to reliable data on the best distances of T8 bulbs for fat-tailed geckos, but you can use the above T5 numbers as a guideline. However, if using the ShadeDwellerMax 2.5%, we recommend installing the lamp below mesh, as per Arcadia's recommendation.

Fixture
To optimize your UVB bulb’s performance, you will need a high-quality reflective T5 HO or T8 fixture, depending on your chosen bulb. Some bulbs come in kits that already include a fixture, such as the Arcadia ShadeDwellers (linked above). Otherwise, Josh's Frogs, Zoo Med, and Vivarium Electronics make quality fixtures for both T5 and T8 bulbs.

Josh's Frogs 24” T5 Fixture (for 22” bulbs)

Zoo Med 14” T5 Hood

(for 12” T5 bulbs)

Zoo Med 20” T8 Hood

(for 18” T8 bulbs)

T5 bulbs should be replaced every 12 months and T8 bulbs every 6 months, as the UVB output decays over time. Off-brand UVB bulbs are likely to have shorter lifespans and unreliable output.

African fat-tailed geckos, like all reptiles, need a temperature gradient in their terrarium for best health.

1. Inside warm hide: 88-90°F
2. Warm side ambient: 80-90°F
3. Cool side ambient: 70-77°F
4. Nighttime: 68-75°F, but no lower than 65°F

The warm hide should be directly under the heat lamp with a slab of stone or slate placed on top to create a basking platform. The heat lamp should be able to heat the hide interior to the target temperature, so we recommend placing a thermometer or thermostat probe inside the hide.

All basking heat and lights should be turned off at night and kept on a regular day/night cycle that matches the same schedule as the UVB and daylight lamps, allowing for a natural temperature drop and a healthy circadian rhythm.

To track the temperatures in your African fat-tailed gecko’s enclosure, you will need a good thermometer. Temp gun-style infrared thermometers are useful for measuring surface temperatures anywhere in the enclosure. However, digital probe thermometers are useful for being able to track local air temperatures at a glance. It's best to have at least 2 thermometers to measure temps on each end of the heat gradient. Here are some devices we recommend for measuring temperatures:

Zoo Med Digital Thermo & Humidity Gauge

Etekcity Lasergrip 774

Brumation is the reptile equivalent of mammalian hibernation in which reptiles over 1 year old experience a natural metabolic slowdown (usually during winter). For African fat-tailed geckos, this typically occurs during the coolest months of the year in their natural environment, from December to the end of February. Lower temperatures, latitude, decreasing daylight, changes in air pressure, and other seasonal factors can all play a part in triggering brumation.

Brumation is a perfectly normal part of your gecko’s annual cycle, and some sources assert that providing a regular winter cooling period to captive reptiles results in healthier, more long-lived animals.

Symptoms:

1. Less active than usual
2. Loss of appetite
3. Hiding for weeks at a time
4. Preferring the cool side of the enclosure

For information on how to brumate your gecko safely and effectively, go here.

African fat-tailed geckos do best in an environment that cycles between wet and dry seasons:

• Wet season (summer) — 70-80% daytime, 100% nighttime
• Dry season (winter) — 50% daytime, 70-75% nighttime

Housing your gecko in a well ventilated terrarium, routinely moistening the substrate, and lightly misting the enclosure daily will help maintain these levels. You can measure humidity with a hygrometer like the Zoo Med Digital Combo Gauge linked in the Measuring Temperature section.

That being said, AFT's do need a permanent area of higher humidity for shedding. Provide a humid hide lined with moistened coco fiber or sphagnum moss and placed in the middle, or sightly towards the warm side of the enclosure. The humid hide should provide a humid microclimate of roughly 70-80% humidity at all times. Choose a fully enclosed, non-porous hide and mist regularly with a spray bottle.

Here is a basic feeding schedule for a pet African fat-tailed gecko:

Offer 2 appropriately-sized bugs (about as large as the space between their eyes) per 1 inch of your gecko’s length, or however much they can eat in 10-15 minutes.

The key to a healthy, balanced diet is variety, so make sure to provide at least 3 different types of feeders on rotation, preferably more! Offering just mealworms or crickets alone cannot provide the full spectrum of nutrition required for your gecko's health.

Always offer live insects. Dead or canned insects don’t trigger your gecko’s “hunting mode,” so they most likely won’t get eaten. Make sure to gutload your insects with fresh veggies at least 12 hours before feeding.

All feeders should be captive bred. Don’t feed your gecko bugs from your backyard — these can make your pet sick! Here are some sites we recommend to buy safe, captive bred feeders:

1. Josh's Frogs (variety of feeders)
2. DubiaRoaches.com (variety of feeders)
3. Ovipost (crickets & discoid roaches)
4. PremiumCrickets (variety of feeders)
5. Luna Roaches (discoid roaches)
6. Beastmode Silks (silkworms)

To make sure that your African fat-tailed gecko is getting all of the vitamins and minerals that their bodies need, it’s important to use calcium and vitamin supplements as part of their diet.

Your gecko should also have access to a small dish or bottle cap of calcium without D3 in the enclosure at all times, allowing them to self-regulate their calcium intake between feedings as needed. This applies to all enclosures with or without UVB.

African fat-tailed geckos readily drink water from a dish, so fresh water must be available. Use a heavy dish so it can’t be spilled, but not deep enough that your gecko could potentially drown in it.

Do not use distilled or softened water! Tap, spring, and even filtered water (assuming that it’s safe for humans to drink) contains minerals vital to your gecko’s health. You can dechlorinate tap water with a conditioner like ReptiSafe.

Keep your gecko's water dish clean at all times, and scrub it out with reptile-safe disinfectant once a week.

Wait 2 weeks after bringing your gecko home before you begin handling. Start introducing yourself to your gecko by putting your hand in its enclosure every night for a few minutes. When you begin handling, start with 5 minute sessions every few days, gradually increasing the length of the sessions. Handling sessions should last 10-20 minutes and only occur several times a week. AFT's tolerate handling, but still need to feel secure in their home and have access to their heat source.

Keep in mind that all geckos have individual personalities! Some may be more tolerant of handling than others - make sure you respect their boundaries to avoid unnecessary stress.

AFT's use a range of vocalizations to communicate, as well as some body language.

Clicking/Peeps — Used to communicate with other geckos.

Chirping/Squeaking — Means that the gecko is unhappy with their current situation. That situation is usually handling.

Barking — AFT's have been known to bark at their keepers when hungry, which is pretty amusing.

Screaming — Juveniles are more likely to scream than adult. This is a defensive behavior intended to startle away a predator. It’s fairly effective.

Rapid tail flicks — Rapid tail flicks signal excitement, usually while hunting or interested in mating.

Slow tail swishing — Usually accompanied by an arched back and walking/standing on tiptoe. This is a pretty clear “Leave me alone!”

The most common illnesses and health problems in African fat-tailed geckos are metabolic bone disease, intestinal parasites, impaction, respiratory infections, dropped tails, and neurological disorders. If your gecko is displaying potential symptoms of illness, it’s important to take them to an experienced reptile veterinarian right away for diagnosis and treatment. Do not try to treat them at home, as you could make the problem worse!