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How Big Do African Fat-Tailed Geckos Get? My Gecko's Weight, Four Months of It, With Photos

"Adult fat-tailed geckos weigh 50 to 80 grams." Every care sheet says so. But the gecko who came home with me weighed 24 g. What I couldn't find anywhere was how fast he'd get from there to adult size, or how many grams a month counts as "on track." Hardly anyone publishes actual numbers.

So here are Ohagi's, as they happened. Five weigh-ins, every one with a photo. General size ranges first, then the real data and how I've learned to read it.

🛒 What I use for weigh-ins

EssentialA kitchen scale. It doesn't need to read tenths of a gram; mine reads whole grams
Nice to haveA small box or tray to set him in, so you can zero out the container

Table of Contents 1. Adult size and weight: the general guide 2. Ohagi's real numbers, four months' worth 3. How to read the numbers 4. How I weigh him at home 5. When he's not gaining, or losing

1. Adult size and weight: the general guide

Stage	Typical range	Notes
Hatchling (0–3 months)	A few grams to the low teens, 2–4 in (5–10 cm)	Tiny and needs daily feeding. Shop staff often steer first-timers away from babies, and mine did
Juvenile (3–12 months)	15–40 g, 4–7 in (10–18 cm)	The big growth window. Frequent sheds
Adult (from 12–18 months)	Around 50–80 g, about 8 in (20 cm)	Big males can get close to 100 g. Growth stops; from here it's about keeping condition

They end up about the same size as a leopard gecko, but the build is rounder and heavier, with a much thicker tail. That's where the fat goes, so weight and tail thickness track each other closely (the tail-health article covers this).

Pet-shop card for the gecko, listing a weight of 80 g as the expected adult size

The card that came with Ohagi. The "80 g" on it is an expected adult weight, not a measurement. Weighed on the spot on pickup day, he was 24.2 g

2. Ohagi's real numbers, four months' worth

🦎 Ohagi's weight log (May to September 2026)

Date	Weight	Days home	Notes
May 11	24.2 g	0	Pickup day, weighed at the shop
Jul 4	26 g	54	Nearly flat for the first two months. Settling-in period
Aug 6	30 g	87	Here's where it takes off
Aug 11 (approx.)	31 g	92	Tail visibly thicker
Sep 13 (approx.)	35 g	125	1.45× his arrival weight. Shedding every 2–3 weeks

I don't know how old he is. The shop card listed an arrival date, but that doesn't tell you when he hatched, so I don't use it to guess his age. What I know is this: he arrived at 24 g, hit 35 g in four months, and he's still growing.

Gecko in a box of bark chips on a kitchen scale reading 24 g

Early days. Onto the scale, bark-chip box and all, then subtract the box. Reading: 24 g

Gecko sitting directly on a kitchen scale reading 30 g, with a child's hand beside him

August 6, 30 g. By now he'd sit on the scale directly. The hand next to him belongs to my kid

Gecko seen from behind on a scale reading 31 g, showing a thick tail

Around August 11, 31 g. From behind, the tail thickness is obvious. When weight goes up, the tail is where it shows first

3. How to read the numbers

Three things this log taught me.

No gain in the first two months is normal. Ohagi put on just 2 g in 54 days. There was no reason to panic and pile on food. Growth starts once he's settled and eating steadily.

When it happens, it happens fast. Nine grams in the six weeks or so from early August. During that stretch I was feeding three large crickets every three days.

Watch the direction, not the number. Up, flat, or down matters far more than the exact figure. So: weigh twice a month, same conditions every time. That's enough.

Top-down view of the gecko on wood pellets, still slim

Somewhere in the first month or two (the wood-pellet era). From above, still slim, tail narrower than the body

Top-down view of the gecko, thicker through the body with crisp band pattern

Same top-down angle later on. Thicker through the body, bands crisper. Shooting from the same angle each time makes growth easy to compare

4. How I weigh him at home

Put a small box or tray on the kitchen scale and zero it. Whole grams are plenty.

Set him in and read the number. He'll move, so catch the reading when he pauses. Once he's used to it he may just sit on the scale (Ohagi started doing that in month three).

Same conditions every time. The day after a feeding he's heavier by the weight of the meal. I always weigh on the evening before a feeding.

Photograph the scale readout with the date. A photo of the display beats a number scribbled somewhere. Every photo in this article is exactly that.

💡 Twice a month is plenty. Daily weighing just makes you sweat over normal fluctuations.

5. When he's not gaining, or losing

Flat for the first two months after pickup: within the normal range. Ohagi did exactly this. If he's eating and the tail isn't thinning, just keep watching.
Flat for three months or more, or the tail is getting thinner: check temperature first. A warm side that isn't warm enough kills digestion and appetite (the temperature article has my own mistake on this).
Down 10% or more in two weeks: see a reptile vet. That can mean parasites or illness.
Right before or after a shed: appetite drops for a bit. Ignore that week's number.

FAQ

How long until he's fully grown?: Twelve to eighteen months is the usual figure. Since I don't know Ohagi's age I can't say how many months it took him, but at 35 g after four months he's not quite halfway to a typical adult weight.
Are males bigger than females?: Males tend to run a little bigger, but individual variation is larger than the sex difference. You can't sex a gecko by weight.
Should I measure length too?: I don't. Stretching a gecko out to measure him is stressful for both of you, and weight is far easier and more accurate. For tracking growth, weight is all you need.
Can he get overweight?: An adult whose tail is thicker than his body, with fat pads along his sides, is overweight. During the juvenile growth phase it isn't something to worry about.

Sources
・Primary source: my own weigh-in records and photos of Ohagi (male African fat-tailed gecko), May–September 2026

African fat-tailed gecko on its keeper's hand

✍️ About the author

I keep Ohagi, an African fat-tailed gecko, at my home in Japan. Every photo here was taken in my home. Written from my own notes and photos, with AI helping me put it into English.