Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello! After 15 years of keeping reptiles, I finally got my first African Fat Tailed Geckos. I have wanted to try keeping this species for many years, but I have been so busy with my Uromastyx that I never got any geckos. Until now!!! So I have one question that I am pretty sure I know the answer to: They eat their skin when they shed, right? When I got these two home from the store, they were pretty hungry (as all store lizards are). So I fed them 30 waxworms and 30 crickets. In one sitting. Yes, they were VERY hungry. So two days later, one of them began to shed. It turned very white, and looked almost like a snake before it sheds. The next day, it was completely done shedding! No skin anywhere in the cage, and the gecko looked very fresh and clean. Now I am pretty sure that Gecko's eat their skin when they shed, but what better place to find out for sure than RIGHT HERE!!! I know all you gecko people are like a different breed of herpers =) I see all of you at the reptile shows, playing with your Rhacodactylus ciliatus (which I TOTALLY want) and Albino Leos, making all the rest of us wonder what those really long names are and "why does that one look like a leaf". Well, I feel honored to have a gecko, because now I get to hang out with all the smart ones at the reptile shows.

-Paul (not sure about eating MY skin)
2 African Fat Tailed Geckos
1 Mali Uromastyx
2 Niger Uromastyx
1 Bearded Dragon

I like the fattys myself. Yeah they eat their skin. Pretty normal for geckos. Keep us posted how they do.

I have loads of fat tails. They were my first ever reptiles. I know i freaked first time i saw mine in shed. Yes they turn whitish and do eat their own sheds. And yes they are big pigs. I've seen mine down 2 dozen or more wax worms, meal worms or crickets in one sitting then the next night do it again. They are by far the most docile lizard i've even had. Since i've had them I've gotten into other types of geckos but I still favor the fat tails. They are sweeties. Sit on my shoulder all day while i walk around cleaning and doing laundry lol

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collector of Leo's and African Fat tails
www.geckomomsgeckos.com

Alot of us with fat tails post on the gecko forum on here
you'll see more fat tail lovers over there

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collector of Leo's and African Fat tails
www.geckomomsgeckos.com