Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey. I was interested in buying a reptile.. something like a gecko. I am a student and would like to go home on the weekends sometimes, so I was wondering what you guys can recommend that woudldnt need to be fed every day.

Also I woudlnt want loud crickets in my room so what would it need to be fed?

Thanks,
Adam.

Leopard geckos sound like they'd fit what you want. They get around 8 to ten inches, and eat mealworms or superworms as a staple. These are much easier to keep than crickets, and dont make any noise. They need a 10 or 20 gallon encloser with reptile carpet, slate, paper towels or newpaper as substrate. When they get over 6 inches u can put them on sand, but they'll sometimes eat it and get impacted, so you have to watch them with it. Make sure u get one from a good breeder, and not any petstores. Most Leos in petstores dont look sick, but have crypto or parasite eggs inside of them. Leos need a warm side of about 90 degrees, and a cool side of room temp. They best way to heat their cage is with an UTH and rheostat so it doesnt overheat and burn your leo. They like the belly heat, and lights kinda bother them since they sleep during the day. I think leos would be perfect because you can leave a bowl of mealworms in their cage and you can go away for the weekend and they'll have food, also you can just leave the UTH on 24/7 so they'd also have heat while your gone. Leos get super tame and will eat from your fingers. You can take them out and they are very calm and mellow as adults (babies are another story lol) Any way, i think leos would it it great, and a good site is drgecko.com, later
Mac

Thanks a lot for the info. As long as I could go a couple days away from the leopard gecko that would be great.

Would you be able to give me an approximate cost on setting up everything as well as the gecko itself? It's easier to hear it from someone else than search through web pages for the figure.

Thanks again.
Duffman (Adam)

Here a list of the stuff you need. Not sure on the prices, I live in canada but what I did was go to the petstore and look at some of the stuff you need. Write down how much everything is and then that'll give you an idea of how much it will cost you. You can sometimes find used tanks for less in the paper.
-10-20 gallon tank
-one of the following substrates:
reptile carpet
slate
paper towels
newpaper
sand (only use for leos above 6 inches)
-two dry hides (can be made from something around the house, or bought from petstore)
-one humid hide (use a tupperware container and fill it with moist peat moss or paper towels, helps them shed their skin)
-water bowl
-calcium dish & supplement (you can find a bunch of calcium supplements at the petstore, try to get one d3 free)
-multivitimin supplement
-UTH and rheostat (find at petstore)
-OR a heat lamp with red light
-thermometer with probe
- screen top
-staple foods can be mealworms, superworms, crickets, or silkworms. Other food that can be fed occasionally are waxworms, pinkies (baby mice) and butterworms. Good luck

thanks a lot Zero. everything you have said is very useful.

I live in Canada too... Toronto to be exact. Any tips on where to buy the gecko itself?

duff.man@sympatico.ca

Toronto eh, toronto has some reptile expos. The next one is september 7th, you could find a leo there easily. I've seen normals/high yellows go for as low as 20 bucks, so the gecko itself isnt expensive at all. If you want something fancier then you could get a tang or hypo. I got my hypo tang as an adult for 75 bucks, babies are less. Go to google.ca and search "toronto reptile shows" and it should give you a site for the show. Later
Mac

Yeah...you should deffinately go with a leopard gecko, they make awesome pets and are pretty easy to take care of. Hope this helps.
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Chris/Mike
L&R Reptiles

many reps need to be fed/and or taken care of every day. i dont think a rep is the right pet for you. also, crickets arent loud until they are almost fully grown, many peipel dont use fully grown crix, altho it depends on what kind of rep u r feeding... good luck
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Matt
Owner of:
1.0.0 Brown (Bahaman) Anole
0.1.0 Green Anole
0.2.0 leopard geckos (tempature sexed)

Leos could go 2 days without eating no problem, and if he didnt want to leave them with no food he could just leave a dish of mealworms in and they'd be fine. Under tank heaters and beest for leos, and you leave them on 24/7, so they'd have heat while he was gone too, so whats the problem? Leos dont need any lights or anything as long as they have a UTH. Duffman if you want more info on leos come to the leopard gecko forum and people will tell you all the stuff you need to know.

i don't think that a gecko of any type is the best idea. a leopard gecko will be ok, being cared for only once a week, but it will not be in the best health. the water should be changed daily, and a leo should feed more then once a week. leaving a bowl of mealworms is good, until the mealworms stop moving and the gecko loses intrest. mealworms usually stop moving within a few hours. i think the best reptile for you, would be a snake. especially a rosy boa or a cornsnake. they only need to eat once a week, and only need a tank, a water bowl and a hide.
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your head will collapse, but there's nothing in it, and you'll ask yourself, "where is my mind"

if you have AIM, IM me at chichandoCONrosa (i changed my SN)

Yeah I second that. I get plenty of people coming in to the petshop asking for a "low maintenence pet" and we always point to the snakes. Common choices are ball pythons, redtail boas and cornsnakes. All wonderfull pets but the pythons tend to be picky eaters. You can also get a large pacman frog (Horned frog). You can feed those once a week and even once every couple of weeks if you feed a large enough mouse. You can also leave it fish and worms. You get a 4 month resting period as well since they hybernate. Good luck.

i dont think a red-tailed boa should be there, unless this guy has a fair bit of experience, which i dont know.
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your head will collapse, but there's nothing in it, and you'll ask yourself, "where is my mind"

if you have AIM, IM me at chichandoCONrosa (i changed my SN)