Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are leopard gecko hatchlings usually available at Christmas time? If not, how big will the youngest ones available at that time of year be? I know at least some of the colors change quite a bit as they mature. Will they still look like babies, just a little bigger, or will their adult patterns already have emerged?

How soon after xmas will next years babies start becoming available?

We've recently decided to get a ball python for our family (I've wanted one for years) but while we've been looking around at all the reptile stuff, one of our kids has gotten really interested in corn snakes and the other in leopard geckos. So I'm thinking we'll go ahead and get the ball python, then if the kids still seem interested after a while, we'll let them each get one of their chosen species. Xmas would be perfect. What a great present plus it is a reasonable amount of time to make sure we are all truly enjoying having a reptile in the house and want to add more. But I'm worried there won't be any hatchlings at that time of year and of course both kids got interested in species where the appearance can change quite a lot as the animal matures so we don't want to miss out on being able to watch that occur.

Some of the last hatchlings I've had were in October. So you might be able to find a leo around 2-3 months around Xmas, though I'd be very surprised and dubious if any reputable breeder would ship that time of year. The large chain stores may have hatchlings still in December, but..... that's a chain store, and I'm sure you'd prefer to buy from someone who actually cares about their animals. I don't know how old your kids are, but 2-3 months is about the time they start calming down enough for children to start to handle somewhat. Hatchlings really should not be handled extensively, esp. by children. At 2-3 months old, they will have bands that are just begining to break up, so you will still see significant changes in pattern for at least 6-9 months after that. First hatchlings for the next season are generally about February, though there may be some early breeders in January. Hope that helps-
-----

1.0 Hypo stripe, Het RW from JL (BJ)
1.0 HypoTang from Crested (Apricot)
1.0 Tremper Albino from Petsmart (Cloud)
0.1 Hi-Yellow Leopard gecko from Petco (Beatrice)
0.1 Stripe female (rehabilitated rescue)(Pepper)
0.1 Jungle het RW hatched by me! (Jungle Bunny)
0.1 SHCT Leopard Gecko from Petco (Brite)
0.1 Tangy Mutt Leopard Gecko from Petco (Rainbow)
0.1 RW Stripe hatched by me! (unnamed yet)
0.1 Leucistic rescue (unnamed yet)
2.1 Ball Pythons
RIP Peaches, Ghost, Bill
Adopted out: Goldie, Leucy, "Q"
Hatched: ~50

Since I had to have my first chain store gecko put to sleep because it was so sick, I also have to disagree with buying one there... however, if you were able to find an independent store within some driving distance, who only handle herps you may be in luck. I drove to all of them within a few hours before I found one I trusted and now wouldn't dream of going anywhere else. (They only have one employee, the owner, and she loves everything she has as her own.)

Another course I would suggest, just because it is lower stress on the animal too and easier on the parents: buy all the stuff you need for the animal (enclosure, lights, heat pad, waterbowl, and stuff for the feeders) and the appropriate care book (Leopard Gecko Manual is very easy to read and I still use it!) wrap that up for christmas. Depending on the age of your kids (sorry I missed that) help them read through the book, let them follow the directions in there on how to set everything up, let them take some time to get everything "just perfect" and then you can begin looking for herp together. Whether that means checking out the stores or looking online. You can teach your kids the high level of responsibility required (everything should be set up first, I mean, you can even do a cage temp check for a few days before you have an animal to make sure it is right, a VERY good thing to do.) And you can delay a bit if necessary until you find the right gecko.

Good luck.
-----
0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Personlly alot of petco / petsmart sells baby geckos ..

and in my experince i was lucky when i adopted scully my first leopard gecko from petco ... but i also looked at features to show a healthy gecko considering
a fat tail ( no skinny tail )
is it moving around ? or is it just sitting there looking sick with it's eyes closed

if you buy a gecko from a local pet shop and you buy a great healthy one i would still get a stool to a herp reptile vet to make sure theres no parasites and to make sure you have all the proper stuff for your planned geckos ( glad you are reading up on it ) ..

i mean it is possible to buy a healthy gecko from a local store you just have to watch what your looking for and be careful .
(just remember if you plan on getting one )
you will probley end up getting another one and so on ( just remember to separate them for 30 days for sickly reasons if you plan on having another one together

good luck .. heres a picture of scully she is as healthy as can be

also that is how scully looked when i bought her ... look for something like that scullys all grown up now .

You have some good ideas about getting the kids some reptile pets for Christmas but it also presents a bunch of problems. Some them have already been brought up. I think the best approach would be to get the Corn and the Gecko long before Christmas and have a relative or Neighbor take care of them at their house until Christmas time. Sales of reptiles really pick up around Christmas time but for people deciding to get their children a pet close to Christmas things can be tough. I stop shipping animals around Dec. 15th because things just get too risky for the animals. UPS misses schedules and planes don't fly because of storms. Every year in February the news will show a boxcar full of lost Christmas presents that they just discovered. What happens if the gecko you wanted winds up in that boxcar. Make some arrangements and order the animals early.