After dark with an African fat-tailed gecko.

They can suit a prepared first-time keeper. Before one arrives, have the adult home running: a warm hide, a cool hide, a humid hide, clean water, live feeders, and a reptile veterinarian.

Adults are about 15–20 cm (6–8 in) from nose to tail. Set up the adult floor space for a gecko that needs a warm hide, a cool hide, and room to cross between them.

Plan for 15–20 years. Think through moves, routine, veterinary care, and the adult home before bringing one home.

They are terrestrial geckos most visible around dusk and at night. Daytime is often for quiet, secure cover.

They are a different species with their own West African history and care boundaries. A fat-tail has eyelids, claws rather than sticky toe pads, a broad segmented tail, and a different humidity conversation—so do not copy another gecko's setup.

Yes. Never grab the tail: it stores reserves and can be dropped under stress or trauma. It can regrow, but the new tail is often shorter and differently shaped.

Plan one home per gecko. CHUV warns that males can fight, sometimes fatally; pairing and breeding belong to a separate, expert-level decision, not to companionship planning.

Run the adult enclosure first. Test warm and cool retreats, humidity, water, hides, low stable structure, locks, the feeding plan, and your reptile-veterinary contact before adoption.

Plan an adult home about 91 × 46 × 46 cm (36 × 18 × 18 in) or larger. It needs a warm hide, a cool hide, a humid hide, water, and safe cork cover. You will find smaller numbers online; this page treats the larger floor plan as a planning target, not a legal minimum.

Use guarded thermostat-controlled heat and probes where your gecko actually rests. CHUV uses a 28–30°C warm zone, about 25°C cool, and 20–25°C at night. A current specialist guide uses seasonal alternatives, so do not blindly split the difference—test the home you built.

CHUV uses about 60% humidity with fresh water and a separate humid shedding refuge. Specialist guidance uses wider seasonal cycles. Use a hygrometer and ventilation; this is not an always-wet enclosure or a dry desert box.

The honest answer is that the sources differ. CHUV says UVB probably helps vitamin-D and calcium use but notes debate; specialist guides give low-level targets; MSD gives broader reptile-lighting context. Give real shade and use a product-specific plan rather than copying one universal UVI or bulb.

For a new arrival or an uncertain setup, choose a simple, easy-to-monitor surface such as paper. Naturalistic substrate may suit an established gecko, but it depends on feeding, humidity, sanitation, and the individual—not on a social-media recipe.

They are insectivores. Build a varied, appropriately sized live-insect routine and let body condition, age, appetite, and your reptile veterinarian guide the details instead of relying on a single feeder or fixed calendar.

Yes—plan for them as part of normal ownership. Keep feeders clean and well prepared, gut-load where appropriate, use the right size, and remove anything uneaten from the gecko's home.

Do not copy one universal schedule. Life stage, body condition, appetite, the feeder mix, and the full husbandry plan all matter; a dated feeding and weight log gives your reptile veterinarian something useful to work with.

Yes. Keep a small dish of fresh water available at all times and provide a separate humid refuge for shedding. The rest of the home still needs ventilation and clean, monitored conditions.

Check the humid refuge and notice how the shed goes. Repeated retained skin, eye concerns, or injury are reasons to call a reptile veterinarian, not to keep escalating home fixes.

Call for persistent changes in appetite, droppings, shed, tail or body condition, activity, eyes, breathing, or any injury. These are reasons to call, not a diagnosis.

Yes. Wash your hands after the gecko, feeders, waste, water, or enclosure equipment, and keep all supplies out of kitchens and food-preparation areas.