Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you all do with your reptiles when you plan on leaving for vacation? Particularly with groups of leos?

In regards too....?

I mean, a weekend away with all adults and pretty much no changes. We keep a water dish in at all times, they eat every 3 days anyways by their own choice, and light and UTH are on timers.

Longer than that, we get a friend to feed. We avoid traveling with babies or anytime feeding schedules are daily. Either find a herper friend who's used to feeding feeders or make individual servings deli cups of crickets and label them "Monday".... "Thursday"...etc add crickets and cricket food to the cups, (hopefully you poked some air holes in) and set them out. Just be sure to tell the person that if the cricket looks dead, don't dump it in and give them a set of tongs to use in case it does fall in.

Does that help?
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I know, I used the wrong "to" I was typing too fast... "too" should be "to", I will go do penance of reading several pages of the dictionary surrounding the use of "to"... Please forgive me.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

The longest I've left things on autopilot is 17 days. I do not recommend going that long if you can help it. The nature of my work can require this sort of absence during the summer, and that leopard geckos possess very patient metabolisms makes them a good hobby species for me.

This past August, I had to be gone for 16 days, and I knew that two clutches were destined to hatch within the first two days of my absence. I set these four eggs up in a rack tub such that they would maintain an appropriate temp till hatching. A couple days' worth of mealworms were left in a tray with a bit of food, and enough drinking water to avoid complete evaporation was provided. Upon my return, the hatchlings were a bit thin (I'd bet the first hatchling or two ate all the mealworms), but they grew rapidly once feeding resumed.

I do have to qualify this with the fact that these hatchlings were of an exceptional giant bloodline, thus they hatched out more robust than your average leopard hatchling. I held onto all four hatchlings - the "lightest" one weighed 41g at 3 months of age; the heaviest one, 52g - clearly there was little stunting effect from my "abuse" in this case! Although this does suggest near invincibility, I have to reiterate, 4 animals (that's one small sample size). I haven't included all of the details, so "Do not attempt at home... "

The disclaimer being said, leopard geckos are built to sustain well during times of famine (hence the camel hump tails), so fasting for a week or less is of little harm to healthy specimens. That covers feeding. The remaining factors needing consideration are too dependent upon your particular setup to address here.

Thanks for both of your help guys...Helped me alot. I am planning on use a smaller homeade rack system and I think if i put enough mealworms and water then it will be fine for two weeks? If you could give me any more info on the "autopiloting" that would be great

You seem to have over-read my first line and under-read my last one. Again, I do not reccomend leaving any critter for 2 weeks if you can help it (vacation = you can help it). It's just not a good idea.

Please understand, your setup is likely quite different from mine, so what works for me may not work for you. I was, again, remarking upon something I have witnessed - doesn't mean it will apply to everyone's collection (or even to my own) every time.

Homemade racks can be easy or tough to leave. The heating method used has a great deal to do with this. If heat tape is used, a proportional (over $100) thermostat MUST be used. Rheostats (dimmer switches) will regulate heat tape, but will not adapt to changes in overall room temp, meaning that unless the whole room's temp is regulated for the herps, rheostats will quickly over- or under-heat your tubs. Also, any thermostat WILL need a backup thermostat. A proportional thermostat should always be plugged into an off/on thermostat in case the proportional rig fails. This way, as soon as the heat tape passes the higher limit set on the backup on/off thermostat, everything cuts off for safety.

The amount of circulation each tub gets is important. Racks get much less airflow than open-topped tanks (both pros and cons to this). Housing multiple geckos per tub means that air could get pretty stale if the tubs aren't sliding open every couple of days. Whether or not eggs are expected is also important to consider. These are just a few more things of many to think about, so please think about them.

I agree, more info is needed on the animals you plan on leaving and your setups. Please provide. I think a week is fine for any leo over several months of age, provided you feed them the day you leave and the day you return. This means a stop to pickup feeders on your way home from the airport, not fun. 2 weeks may be ok for an adult leo, esp. if they are starting to cool down, as mine are now. But it would be best if you could get a friend to dust and drop some crix in there once or twice during your 2-week absence.
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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 (Lucy?)
0.1 Tremper stripe from JMG (Delta)
0.1 SHCT hatched by me! (Blinky)
0.0.1 SHCTB hatched by me! (Sunny II)
0.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
Hatched: ~50 leos

Ok thanks guys my mind is changed a bit ;p