• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Fat-Tail Geckos: To brumate or not to brumate, that is my question

P

PaulSage

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My fat tail geckos are now over a year old, and most are of "breedable" size according to the care sheets I've read. I've never bred FT's before, so I just wanted to get some suggestions as to whether or not I should cool them first. I know a few breeders who don't cool them, but it seems most of the published care sheets say that they should be cooled. I was just hoping that a few experienced breeders could shed some light on why/why not and what they would do.

Thanks.
 
Hey Paul,

This was my first year breeding FT's, so I am far from an expert but I can tell you what worked for us. Our 1.3 breeding group was a year old when we decided to pair them and we didn't cool them at all ( actually I don't think you need to cool first year breeders). So far they have laid 32 fertile eggs and 2 duds and they aren't done yet..I'm having a better hatch/fertility rate than I had expected from our first time breeders :)
 
AUBREY'S REPTILES said:
Hey Paul,

This was my first year breeding FT's, so I am far from an expert but I can tell you what worked for us. Our 1.3 breeding group was a year old when we decided to pair them and we didn't cool them at all ( actually I don't think you need to cool first year breeders). So far they have laid 32 fertile eggs and 2 duds and they aren't done yet..I'm having a better hatch/fertility rate than I had expected from our first time breeders :)
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks a lot! That was one thing I was wondering... that maybe first year breeders (animals that have just reached maturity) wouldn't need the stimulation from cooling in order to start breeding. But, until now I never heard anyone suggest that, so thanks :) I just don't want to mess up the project, or more importantly stress out the animals. I have 7.20 (I think...I'd have to go count, lol) and all but 3-4 of them are "ready". I was a little surprised at how much slower they grow to 50 grams than leopard geckos. One thing I definitely want to do with their babies if/when they hatch is start them on mealworms right away so that they don't grow into the cricket-pigs that mine have become. :rofl:
 
You don't have to cool fat tails for breeding, although it causes them no harm at all. Good luck with them Paul!
 
One thing I definitely want to do with their babies if/when they hatch is start them on mealworms right away so that they don't grow into the cricket-pigs that mine have become.
Click to expand...

Good Luck. I tried that with my hatchlings and I'm now feeding all but 6 of them crickets :uzi: I am getting some to take mealworms as long as I put crickets in with them during feeding time. This has been an ongoing process. I put in say 10 small mealies then 3 or 4 crickets. When they miss a cricket they hit a mealie, so I hope to eventually weed them off crickets altogether ( and I thought quitting smoking was hard). So far I have had mixed results, but I'm still persuing it. Another thing I have seen different is that their egg laying can be sporadic, not as timely as leos. I can count down to the day as to when my leos lay, but my fattails are all over the place and never consistant.

I was a little surprised at how much slower they grow to 50 grams than leopard geckos.
Click to expand...

Just wait until you have your babies LOL. Our leos grow almost twice as fast, it seems like my FT hatchlings will never leave their hatchling tubs in exchange for their adult tubs..
 
This is my first year breeding..i didnt cool my females..but ive missed most of her eggs(likes to lay on weekend which is when i am gone) and they dry up ...but my amels are paired up and hopefully shes produce...
 
AUBREY'S REPTILES said:
I was a little surprised at how much slower they grow to 50 grams than leopard geckos.
Click to expand...
Just wait until you have your babies LOL. Our leos grow almost twice as fast, it seems like my FT hatchlings will never leave their hatchling tubs in exchange for their adult tubs..
Click to expand...

Most of my FT's were just a few weeks old when I got them (actually had FT's before I had any of my leos) and they grew so slowly that I was wondering if they would EVER make it to adult size! I guess that they just grew so steadily that I didn't really notice until all of the sudden I realized, "hey, they're finally big enough!" :hehe:

I'm HOPING that maybe using mini mealworms, which are more wiggly and active than regular mealworms, will help in getting hatchlings accustomed to eating something other than crickets. I personally don't mind if all they want is crickets, but I know some people seem to avoid cricket-only feeding geckos.
 
Also, with the exception of a few random geckos that I don't really know a whole lot about their lineage, I have two rather distant "lines" of the amels and hets (as distant as they can be, all things considered). I bought them that way intentionally, hoping to breed the two lines to each other to outcross/improve them a little. I'm wondering if through crossing the two lines, if the resulting babies will grow a little faster/larger than the ones I started with. I guess I won't know for a while yet, though. :shrug01:
 
PaulSage said:
I was a little surprised at how much slower they grow to 50 grams than leopard geckos. One thing I definitely want to do with their babies if/when they hatch is start them on mealworms right away so that they don't grow into the cricket-pigs that mine have become.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they do grow a little slower than Leopards.

PaulSage said:
I'm wondering if through crossing the two lines, if the resulting babies will grow a little faster/larger than the ones I started with.
Click to expand...

I don't think it has anything to do with them being imbred or anything, I think it is just the way they are


PaulSage said:
One thing I definitely want to do with their babies if/when they hatch is start them on mealworms right away so that they don't grow into the cricket-pigs that mine have become. One thing I definitely want to do with their babies if/when they hatch is start them on mealworms right away so that they don't grow into the cricket-pigs that mine have become.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing, I don't have any crickets in my house, so all my geckos are raised on worms (Mealworms, phoenex worms, etc)

The best way to do it, is by putting the worm into the hide with the baby fat tail and leave it there for a while. Eventually they WILL eat the mealworm, it may take a few tries, don't get frustrated, it is painful process but well worth it, I thinks :hehe:
 
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