This is my first year breeding African Fat Tailed Geckos. I burmated my breeding group for a few weeks in late October/early November, and I started pairing my male with one of my females.
Yesterday I introduced him to her enclosure and he exhibited courtship behavior. He approached her, buzzed his tail, made little “huff” noises, and gently bit her. She responded by making a “huff” noise, and did something I’ve never seen before - she vibrated her jaw. The best way to describe it was that she opened her mouth, and made quick movements with her lower jaw, like a vibration.
Since I’m new to breeding AFTs, I have not read about or have been told about this behavior from other breeders. Has anyone seen this type of behavior? Is she telling him she’s not ready?
This jaw vibration wasn’t followed by any aggressive behavior from the female. The male let her go, took a stroll around her enclosure, and approached her again with the same result (tail vibration, huffing, biting, her responding with a huff and jaw vibration, but no breeding).
My plan is to keep introducing him to her every few days to see if their courtship leads to breeding. In the meantime, I’m going to introduce him to another female.
Welcome to the forum! I don’t know anything about African Fat Tailed Gecko breeding. I just wanted to acknowledge your post and welcome you to the family!
I’m sure someone will come along with some insight on your females’s behavior. Actually I would kinda like to know myself!
This handsome guy is the one who’s trying hard to woo the ladies. He’s an Oreo Stripe Het Patternless (possibly het Zulu). I’m hoping to prove out some genetics in my breeding group.
Update on the AFT breeding project. I’ve tried pairing my male with the same female again, with the same result - no lock. However, last night I paired him with another female (Oreo Patternless Stripe), and after several minutes of tail buzzing, huff, and nips, he had a successful lock!
Hopefully, the first female will come around later, but for now I am happy to have a successful pairing. Now to wait for eggs.
Actually I would kinda like to know myself! 
