Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I went to Daytona show as a spectator and ended up coming home with a juvenile leopard gecko. (male I was told) Bought a exo-terra cage 12x12x12--water rock and a rock hide house-- pin head crickets, small meal worm. calcium powder and vitamin powder.
Now that I have spent hours on the Internet on how to care for him--I am confused ! --some say not to feed meal worms, some just feed meal worm. do I dust all his food every day? or only every other day? do I dust his food in the vitamin powder too and how often?Do I feed him as much as he will eat?
I bought Flucker's high calcium cricket diet for my bug food and the Quencher.Do I put the quencher with the meal worm when I take them out of frig? feeding meal worm 24 hours before I feed.
I made him a humility house out of the Tupperware (direction found on Internet)he did use it and shed this week, how often do they shed?
will he be ok in this tank? it seem to be too small from what I read. I have been leaving a red light on at night is that ok?
Can I change his houses and thing in his cage and set it up different ? so it dose not have to look the same all the time
I named him SirRay
Thank-you Ann

"some say not to feed meal worms, some just feed meal worm."--------------------It's up to you...some people swear by them and other suggest that the Chitin in the mealworms' exoskeleton is indigestable. Others say a balnced diet is the key. From my experience I have used large crickets as a staple diet with tremendous succeess (occassionally offering a pinkie mouse before and after breeding).

" do I dust all his food every day? or only every other day? do I dust his food in the vitamin powder too and how often?Do I feed him as much as he will eat? -------------I suggest dusting everything he eats as over-calcium consumption is hardly ever a bad thing. Yes food should be dusted in vitamin powder. I usually feed my leopards as much as they will eat at a sitting, but there are some pretty gluttonous leopards. Since you said it was a growing juvenile I would suggest around ten crickets per day or 15-18 every two days....it's hard to give an estimate not knowing the exact size.

"I bought Flucker's high calcium cricket diet for my bug food and the Quencher.Do I put the quencher with the meal worm when I take them out of frig? feeding meal worm 24 hours before I feed.-----------------sounds good...def "gut-load" your crickets in advance prior to feeong to the geckos

I made him a humility house out of the Tupperware (direction found on Internet)he did use it and shed this week, how often do they shed? ---------------- a growing leopard gecko will shed more frequently than adults. I would think a juvenile would shed anywhere from once every month/1.5 months to around every 2 months/2.5months. This of coarse gets less and less frequent as the gecko "slows down" on the growing. [b/]

I have been leaving a red light on at night is that ok? ---------------[should be fine unless it produces excessive heatin his tank

Can I change his houses and thing in his cage and set it up different ? so it dose not have to look the same all the time
--------------Of course!........that's part of the fun. Just make sure you set rocks on the bottom of the glass tank surface to prevent the gecko from tunneling under a rock and collapsing it on himself.
I named him SirRay
Thank-you Ann

The only I would add/change, is a very young gecko shedding every 2 weeks is normal. In my experience they work their way up to about once a month, maybe 6 weeks at most. Don't worry if you don't notice, sometimes they can be sneaky. Just check "Sir" every handling for shed on the toes or tail, it is just a good habit to get into and that way you never worry about missing a stuck shed.

Good luck, welcome to leos!