Alright, I'm not an expert on these animals but I do have a few of them, and I've been trying to learn more as I can.

First, a ten gallon would be perfect for a pair of hatchlings/juvi's. Although, I would suggest purchasing a pair of juvi's so that you would be absolutely postive of the sex, and wouldn't accidently purchase to males, which everyone knows is a no-no in any animal. Although the hatchlings wouldn't really fight with eachother now, they would most definatly fight with eachother in the future when they hit sexual maturity.

Second, I feed my geckos exclusively mealworms. Hatchlings would need the smallest mealworms that you could purchase. Make sure to put them in a gutload mixture 24 hours prior to feeding. I use for gutload oatmeal, powdered milk, fish flakes, and baby cereal, although you can also purchase mixed gutload from many pet stores, which would save a bit of time, but would be much more expensive. I also mix a calcium supplement into the gutload and be sure to dust them with the calsium supplement every feeding for a hatchling/juvi and every other for an adult. After you have let them gutload, then you'd want to take a pair of tweezers and pick them up by their heads so that it will not bite the gecko while they are trying to eat them. Usually they will flail around a bit which would make the gecko eat them. But if it doesn't, just slightly shake it side to side and they should gobble it up. Some people use crickets, but make sure that they are smaller then the head of the gecko. For hatchlings that are picky eaters, some people have had great success with getting them to eat with dusted pinheads, which move a ton more than mealworms.

Third, as for substrate, hatchlings require either Repti-Carpt (R) or papertowels or shelf liners to make sure that they do not accidently ingest some of the sand or other type of granuals which would cause impaction and death in the gecko. For my adults I use a new type of crushed walnut shells, which they love to be on. Although some people have told me this is wrong, I have never had a problem with it since I don't feed them crickets and such, they usually don't ingest any of the substrate and I provide calcium for them which they do not have to go search out. But whatever you do, do NOT purchase CALCI-SAND (R). This is the sand that has the calcium distributed through out it, which the geckos lick at to obtain calcium, and eat the sand, and die from impaction.

You will also need a UTH. I bought a Human heating pad which is around $12 at a local Target/Walmart. You will also need a waterbowl, humid hide, and a variety of hides positioned throughout the tank.

The humid hide I use for my adults is a tupperware container filled with dampened peatmoss on the hot side. The one I use for my juvinile is a thoroughly cleansed sour cream container, filled with dampened peatmoss, on the hot side. You'd need to spray the peatmoss/paper towels/perilite every day - every other day to maintain a good level of humidity.

Oh yes, one more thing. Like any reptile, the tank needs to have a warm side (80-85) and a cool side (75-80) constantly to allow them to thermoregulate. All though many people's opinions are not consistent with the temperatures, that is what I've read. You should purchase a few of those cheap thermometer's that stick to the back of the tank. Put one on the warm side and one on the cool side.


I hope this Helps
-----
1.1.0 Leopard Geckos
2.1.0 Chihuahuas
2.1.0 Rottweiler Mix
1.0.0 Siamese Cat
1.1.2 Dwarf Hamsters

Josh
----------------------------------

[ Show Entire Thread ]