[vrob]

my african fat tailed gecko is a little confused i think. when i follwed the instructions in my gecko book and various online care sheets on how to set up his cage 3 years ago. he got really skinny he wouldnt eat and when i had bought him he was huge a fat then he just got like a tooth pick. so i decided to drastically change his cage into a desert format. and to my surprise he started eating and now he is a cow lol. just wondering if this has happend to anyone else or if my gecko was just having an identity crisis.he has been in the desert set up for 2 1/2 years now.

[acpart]

I would be curious to know how you had the cage set up before. Although they generally need more humidity than leopard geckos, they are more of a savannah inhabitor and don't need the kind of humidity a crested gecko or a day gecko would need.

Aliza

[vrob]

well it was a bit more tropical but not rainforest with repti carpet. then i changed it to calci sand with a rock hide and a fake branch.and now he is thriving

[acpart]

Mine are on eco earth with a few succulent type plants. Lately I have been misting daily because they come out to drink. They seem to be doing fine (which is not to say that either of us is wrong in our husbandry). The female is not eating, but she has a very enlarged liver, so I have been hand feeding her. She went to the vet and he said there really wasn't anything he could do for her. That was 3 months ago. I do see that even though I can get 4-5 crickets into her every other day she is very slowly getting skinnier, but as long as she is willing to eat and not in any obvious discomfort I will continue to maintain her.

Aliza

[vrob]

yeah nothing was wrong with my he just had an identity crisis

[vegasgrl529]

yeah i think the "drastic change" you mentioned may have made him feel uncomfortable. i agree it was an "identity" thing.

just a tip - you shouldn't really use calci-sand, they can't digest it.

[vrob]

no i meant once i changed he to the desert setup he began to eat again