Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My African-Fat-Tailed Gecko, Alpha, is a very picky eater. He will only eat crickets, and even when he does, it takes him several days. Is there something wrong with him?

PS: I have him in a 20 gallon aquarium with a medium sized LEGO house, an inverted tub of margirine (empty), a water dish (jar lid), and a 1ft.x5in. rock (not a warming rock). It is filled with wood chips that came in a bag saying they were designed for reptiles. There is about a 1/4in. layer of it.

PPS: Should I get a female so he doesn't get bored?

You didn't say what you used for heat. They do need a warm side, about 85-90 degrees, and a cool side, about 75-80 degrees. How many crickets does he eat in that amount of time?None of mine eat anything else either, but they do have good appetites. As long as you dust them with vitamins and calcium he should be OK. Is he and adult or a juvenile? And last, but not least, if you get him a female you should probably get him two or three. If he's sexually mature he'll probably run one female ragged. Hope this helps.

Quig

I got some smaller crickets today, so he should eat them. Yes, I do have a bottle of calcium that I dust the crickets with every feeding. He eats about 2 every time he decides to eat.

PS: He has a warming pad that keeps the warm side of his cage (with the rock and LEGO house) at aroun 85 degrees farenheit.

PPS: No chance of me breeding. My mom hates just Alpha alone.

Your ground temps sound right but have you considered air temps?
What is the room temp? I use both heat tape and red spot bulb for air temp which provides multiple belly heat (spot light over 6" x 6" tile @93f-90f/air temp 89f-78f low end far side of cage. Also use ESU Lizard Litter and have 12" x 6" x 3 1/2" rubbermaid as humidity & nesting box; box contains 1 1/2" Bed-a-beast with sphangus moss layer. None of my WC or CCB FTs will walk on Cypress or other packaged bark. But for some reason they are digging all over in Lizard Litter while only laying eggs in humidity box. I suggest trying a night spot light, check temps & feeding responses. Also was your gecko ever wormed? WC or CCB doesn't mean they cannot get parasite from contact with other animals prior to your acquistion.

Better to take different advice & experience from different people and see what works for your FT.