Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone!
First let me start by saying any help is appreciated. My 2 children (9&6) decided they would each like a leopard gecko. I am a ball python breeder so I am familiar with the commitment required to raise reptiles however, leopard geckos are something completely out of my norm. I heard that if there was any information I need that this is the place where the knowledgable leopard gecko people are found.

I have the 2 geckos in a 20 gallon long aquarium with a screen snap on lid. On the cage bottom is a very low, tight weave carpet, cut to fit. I don't know if this will be permanent, please advise me of the cons, if any. They have a half coconut shell for a hide as well as a cardboard toilet paper roll. There is a low sided (maybe 1.5" sides)water bowl and a fancy rock for climbing? I have an UTH on one end of the tank with a rheostat and it maintains 88 degrees on the top of the carpet on that third of the tank.

I was told they were only babies from the reptile shop where we got them. They are maybe 4.5" from nose to tip of tail. They are plump and healthy, colorful and pretty. The guy told me to feed them pinhead crickets in the beginning, which now they are eating 1/4 size. We have had them for 2 weeks. He told me that they could also eat mealworms. They are both eating fine and we all think it is sooo cute when they wiggle their little tails right before they pounce on their food.

This is where I have a few quetions because I have heard different things.

1)the guy I got them from said not to feed too many mealworms because it could bind them up inside (maybe 2-3, twice a week)

I talked to one of my BP customers who has leopard geckos and she was saying that she knows a "big breeder" I can't remember who she said, but anyways he feeds nothing but mealsworms. She also said something about crickets can carry some type of disease or germ? which could end up harming the geckos.

2) I have seen a few posts here refering to "gut load" and "dusting" what is this and what does it provide the gecko? Should I use it?

Thanks so much for any help
I'm sure I will have more questions to ask as we go

Steve

Ok well you should have a dish like a milk lid or something similar to put PURE calcuim in. They will eat when needed. It hsould not include d3. Calcuim with D3 and viatimins should yes be dusted on your crix about 2 times a week or so. Mealies can impact leos when babies, i feed them to my leos as treats and treats only except i have on that will only eat mealies exclusively. I have 7 leos and 2 are picky eaters. 1 eats only mealies 1 eats only crix. I have tried several other things with them 2 and they just won't budge. haha......You could also wait till the mealies have just shed then the shells are not hard and they will be able to pass alot easier.

I'm new to this leopard gecko thing as well, but this is what I've learned in the past couple of weeks:

"Gut-loading" is just providing your crickets with a good quality diet before you feed them to your lizards. This passes on nutrients to the gecko. There are commercially made "gut-load" food or you can make your own. There are a lot of easy recipes on the net. Just google it.

"Dusting" refers to coating the crickets, worms, etc in a calcium powder. I believe it is recommended that you dust them with calcium alone most days, and once or twice a week coat them in calcium vitamin D3. You can buy a small tub of each for around 5 bucks at any petstore. The actual dusting is done by putting a small amount of the powder in a ziplock bag along with some crickets or worms then shaking it up. Personally, I've found (in my two short weeks of this) that you can just drop mealworms in a dish filled calcium powder in the cage. They'll coat themselves, and it's recommended that you keep a dish of calcium in the tank anyway.

Ooops, leolady beat me to it.

thanks for the quick answers to my questions. I will pick that stuff up today. thanks again

Steve

Your very welcome!!

we are also new to leopard geckos, you will get lot of good answers on this site. As for gut loading, we have been using a combo of crumbled shredded wheat and oatmeal, with a carrot for moisture. It seems as if the mealies are eating b/c it is disappearing. We are keeping the mealworms in the fridge to slow down the growth, and they still seem to be eating the gutload. Now to be fair, since we are new to all of this, we really can't comment about any long term benefits, but we have read this recipe a few times on various sites and decided to give it a try. Have fun with your new leos.