Fat tail breeding and behaviour

Question
I have a male fat tailed gecko and would like to breed from him but need more information on breeding and would like to know their breeding behaviour. Any information you could give me would be helpful. Thank you x

Answer
Hi Joanne,

Although I have no direct experience breeding fat tails I have bred leopard geckos which is quite similar.
First of all your pair has to be mature enough to breed and this is a function of both age and also size. These factors are less critical for the male which can start breeding at around 10 months of age. Your female however should be at least a year or more with a weight of 40 to 50 grams.
From my understanding, a period of winter cooling/brumation is more important to the successful breeding of fat tails then it tends to be for leos. This is usually carried out in Oct/November and involves letting them defecate their last meal and then gradually dropping their temp. down to the low 20's Celsius. Provide water but not food and let them remain this way for about a month. After that you can gradually increase the temp. back to normal and start feeding. Nutrition is especially important for the females which should be fed heavily with extra calcium supplementation.
You should notice breeding behaviour sometime after this, it may also be affected by the longer photo-period of early spring. Separating your male from your female(s) and reintroducing them after brumation can often also help trigger breeding behaviour. Egg-laying is usually around a month or so after copulation.