What's the difference

So since I've had Lola and everyone told me to put her in her own tank I have spent a lot of time searching through care sheets to see why I couldn't house her with a leopard gecko and I've found nothing. What is the big difference? They both need the same things I don't understand

Hi Marnie,

How I understand it is that in the wild they are solitary animals and do not co-habit they come together for breeding and that's it, being solitary they are territorial about their space and will guard it passionately seeing off any other gecko that tries to move in with aggression. In captivity some will tolerate a cage mate while others won't and although we try to replicate their natural living conditions as best we can none of us would go so far as to pop a snake in with them a couple of times a week or withhold food just to keep their natural instincts alive so in reality we have made their lives a lot easier for them as they don't have any predators seeking them out and there is an abundance of food right under their noses so fiercely guarding their territory perhaps isn't as important as there is more than enough of everything they need for survival.

Oh. I thought it meant my fat tail would die because different living conditions. So a fat tailed gecko has the same needs as a leopard gecko?

Hi Marnie,

I don't know what fat tailed geckos need are or if they are indeed solitary and they may well have the same requirements for survival but at the end of the day they are 2 different species of gecko and even if only one of those species are solitary then the requirements for that one should be the first priority, also if mixing species of the same animal is there a possibility that one could carry a desease that could be fatal to the other species but not be life threatening to the carrier.

I see. Thanks that's somewhat put it in perspective for me

fat tails and Leo's can NOT be together i researched it ffor you.

Fat tails have higher humidity needs than a leopard gecko. So you can't keep them together.
Fat tails also have an extremely strong bite that if a leo was bitten, would severely damage the leo.

Housing different species of reptiles together is never really recommended.

Their needs are similar, with fat tails needing a bit higher humidity. But like Kath said, fat tails have a very nasty bite. Even though fat tail is the more docile (extremely docile) of the two, if they do choose to fight for their living space, their bites can be fatal to leopard geckos.

And of course vice versa, leopard geckos are often larger, which in itself can be intimidating to the fat tails. You'll have trouble keeping the "same size" rule when housing 2 of the same species together.

It's just overall not a good idea to mix the two.

As the loca reptile shop said to a RSPCA inspector one day when i was in the shop and they asked the same thing ~ a AFT will kill a leo in a fight as they are so much stronger so they should never be kept together.
AFT's will live together without too much problem, when i had both my girls they lived together without any problems.