Leopard gecko vs African fat tail gecko

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9darlingcalvi

New member
I am really tied between the leopard gecko and the African fat tail. I really like the African looks and temperament, but they aren't usually found here (Minnesota). My mom saw the leopard and found it kinda cute, but I've heard they ingest sand and I want to make a super natural tank, so it's African 1-leopard 0

Any other pieces of information to sway the decision?
 
Zux

Zux

New member
Any reptile if housed on a loose substrate will ingest sand throughout its life. Generally here we advise new keepers to avoid loose substrates at first for that reason.

If, however, you are confident you can be exacting with your care and ensure the Gecko is appropriately heated, hydrated, fed and supplemented then you wont have any issues housing them on loose substrates as a healthy animal will pass pretty much anything it is capable of ingesting without issue. The key thing is the animal must be healthy for this to be the case and this is not often possible to determine by simply looking at the animal so one must be confident in the care one provides.

I keep Leopard Geckos on a soil/clay/sand (60/20/20) mix and AFT's on a soil/sand (60/40) mix, this works best in my experience. Pure sand is in fact a poor choice for Leopard Geckos and rather defeats the purpose of providing them a loose substrate in the first place, that is, to enrich their lives and afford them the chance to behave more naturally, for that reason a mixture is best.

As for helping you choose, you will likely find Leopard Geckos a more outgoing and active species generally speaking, AFT's while often having a calm demeanor tend to be more shy and hide away until it is truly dark and quiet. That can be worked on however, so in reality all that matters is which one you prefer, care isnt much different and there are no major concerns with either species.


Good Luck, hope that helped.


PS: If you need help in setting up a natural enclosure for either species when the time comes, let me know. It is something of an obsession of mine.
 
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K

Keeboard

New member
Most deserts have little to no sand, including the ones leopard geckos live in. Any sand they see there they avoid
 
9

9darlingcalvi

New member
I am getting a 10-20 heat pad, 2 digital thermometers with probes, calcium with D3, multivitamins without D3, a hydrometer, 5lb of excavator, 50 watt moonlight bulb, medium rock waterbowl, 2 mini ceramic domes, 5.0 uv bulb, 150 grams of new Zeland sphagnum (moist hide), eco earth 8 quarts, medium repti shelter (moist hide), small Mopani wood, cavern kit with 12lb of excavator, mini corner dish (for worms), 5lb of red and white sand (not calcium or vita sand), 24/7 digital timer center and I'll make the other hides with the excavator.

Have I missed anything?
 
Zux

Zux

New member
9darlingcalvi said:
Where did you hear that? Really?
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What Keeboard means (and is correct about by the way) is very few species indeed inhabit areas where the ground covering is anywhere close to pure sand. While the region as a whole may well contain a great deal of sand relative to others, little of that is the 'desert' one may imagine and even less is inhabited by any of our commonly kept species.

Take the Leopard Geckos anatomy for example, feet adapted for terrain of varied elevation, long fingers with nails on each one, this is not the sort of adaptation Geckos that live on surfaces made up of primarily sand or pure sand have, they inhabit hard packed clay/sand/soil regions with a semi loose floor covering in some areas and others of pure rock, they have never, nor will they ever be in our lifetimes been observed to willingly inhabit habitats like sand dunes, flats or any other area of that sort.

There certainly are areas of Pure Sand in regions like Pakistan, where much of our captive stock first originated, but these are not the habitat of Eublepharis macularius.

Housing a Leopard Gecko on sand is purely benefiting the keeper, either aesthetically or convenience wise, the Geckos are not adapted to move on such surfaces and gain no benefit from living on them.


PS: To avoid any confusion, there absolutely is a great deal of sand where the Leopard Geckos live, including within their habitats specifically, but the reality is almost none of that is pure sand and the habitats floor covering has been widely documented and reported anecdotally to be far more comparable to the hard packed ground coverings of certain parts of the United States (Arizona for example) than it is to the Sahara.
 
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Zux

Zux

New member
9darlingcalvi said:
I knew the packed clay part, I thought she meant there aren't like any pure sand deserts in the whole world.
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Ah I understand, I thought there might be some confusion

Regarding your shopping list above, dont buy the moonlight bulb, it is extremely important that crepuscular species like Leopard Geckos have periods of absolute darkness at night. What may appear a dim light to us, to the highly advanced and powerfully adapted eyes of the Gecko the light is very disturbing to their well-being long-term. Geckos vision is so good, in fact, they have been found to have close to perfect colour vision even in the dark, so you can imagine how differently to us they perceive the world around them.

You will also need a thermostat to control your heat mat. My American friends often recommend the following for that purpose https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Certified-Thermostat-Germination-Reptiles/dp/B000NZZG3S .

If the UVB bulb you intend to buy is a compact or coil style you are likely wasting your time and money, the usable distance such bulbs project UVB is extremely low and the Gecko would need to be dangerously close to get any use out of it. I would avoid going for any UVB at all until you have a little experience under your belt honestly.
 
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Zux

Zux

New member
9darlingcalvi said:
So no lights at all? Cause I want to have live plants so I need light.
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Oh no, absolutely they need and should have a suitable photo-period, so lights during the day is a great idea.
I use Arcadia Jungle Dawn 22w for my plants, this is an excellent product and will provide plenty of visible light at the same time.

All of my lights are on a 14 hours on timer during Summer.

Just no lights at all, of any colour, at night.
 
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K

Keeboard

New member
You sure live plants are a good idea? It could get too humid. It's best not to use lamps unless there's no window in your room
 
Zux

Zux

New member
There is no reason a normal amount of plants should raise humidity a large enough amount to warrant concern in most climates.

Reptiles in general recognize the smells, sights and tastes of real plants and they go much further in enriching their lives than their plastic counterparts, which offer nothing (with the exception of some cover perhaps) but cosmetic effect for the keeper.

Recent thinking also suggests Leopard Geckos actually thrive just as-well if not better at around 40% humidity or perhaps a little more, dehydration is a widespread and often long-term un-diagnosed issue with captive Leopard Geckos and keeping the species, which spends over half its time in a humid micro-climate (burrow) and then explores above-ground during more humid hours, at extremely low humidity levels all the time is a major factor contributing to this.

[MENTION=54498]Keeboard[/MENTION] , For what reason is it best not to use lights?
 
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