Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just rearranged my gecko enclosure,any tips, ideas... am I doing something wrong, is it too small? ( the heat is provided by a reptile lamp, removed to fully show the place).

The tank is for 3 subadult girls, the one showing is Bella, sold as a Mack Snow, altough I find her to be too colorful for one, so I'm not sure. My other girls (Under the basket)are a Blizzard and a High Yellow, but those r classic examples with no doubt.

* I just love how clean they all are and go to the tissue to relieve themselves X3 (about to be changed btw).

If there are three leos in there then the tank is DEFINATELY too small. The tank is large enough for one leo, but definately not three. For three adult leos you want something the size of a 40gallon breeder (36inches long by 18inches wide).

A tank the size of the one showed in the picture doesnt allow you to provide enough hides - it looks like there are only two in there? You want at least 5 or 6, ideally even more if you have three leos together.

As for other tips - do you have a humid hide in the tank? It looks like you have two hides only...Leos should have three hides, one warm, one cool, and one humid - this is of course for one leo, for two or three you want to double or triple these numbers.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog

Yes, you need to get a bigger tank.........or at least something with more surface area before your geckos are fully grown.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

Well I've had 'em like this cos they seem to like to cradle, actually follow each other, all female, not a single bite or fight till now, they get along great. It's rly humid where I live, so I haven't had any shedding problems but I'll take note and at least add the one humid hide. Planing to upgrade to a bigger tank in 1 or 2 months. Should it rly be 1 hide of each kind per gecko? how about big hides with levels?

Ideally, yes there should be one hide of each type per gecko. But as you have noticed, they all seem to pick the same hide(s) because one will be placed in a more convenient/safer/warmer/cooler/etc location than others.

The highest amount of geckos I have ever kept together habitually were 3 females in a 40 gallon breeder. They all 3 only used 2 of the hides I offered in there. The amount of hides isn't the first issue here in my opinion. I would be more concerned about surface area, which would allow room/space for one of the geckos to separate herself away from another gecko if a scuffle arises.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

hi, for some great housing info you should check out vmsherp.com i love the website and the learning center is extremely informative.

as far as the morph goes. snows tend to turn yellow as they get older. from the pic it could easily be a snow.

-T
this is my patternless snow when i got it. the yellow has gotten more uniform but it is still very yellow.

I disagree with the other two posts to your ad. It has been researched and proven that leopard geckos are communal animals. As long as your three are getting along fine, every one is getting enough to eat, and no one is stressing then you enclosure is fine. When you are looking for stress look for loss of weight, loss of appetite, loose stool, etc. As long as none of these symptoms are seen you should be fine. I keep 1.3 leos in a 20 gallon which has larger dimensions than a sweater box which is what large scale breeders use for up to six geckos. Good luck!

PS- I do agree that a humid hide would be greatly appreciated by your geckos if you don't already have one.
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0.2 Sunglow Enigmas
2.7 SHTCB
0.1 APTOR
0.1 Tangerine Tremper

Just because it can be done doesn't mean it is ideal.

It's not about simple success, it's the quality of success.

Maintaining a heartbeat is simply "passable", not ideal.

I could keep 1000 leopard geckos each in a 1 gallon jar and hooked up to an IV-drip and they would all be physically healthy, but I think we can all agree that this is not ideal or ethical.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

No there are limits and I stated them. Animals are not humans and cannot tell us when they are unhappy. The way a veterinarian or caretaker can tell is if the animals become stressed and show the tell-tale signs we should all know and be able to recognize. Until animals show these signs then they are "clinically happy". Morals and ethics are difficult to talk about on a forum dedicated to the captivation of recently wild animals.
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0.2 Sunglow Enigmas
2.7 SHTCB
0.1 APTOR
0.1 Tangerine Tremper

Touche' concerning the Bioethics involved with our(keepers) narcissistic actions of placing animals in captivity for our "enjoyment".

However I disagree to an extent. Leopard geckos are a species that can thrive even in sub-par conditions, so the quality of success is not measured by what is "passable".

Why settle for the minimal requirements?
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

Well stated... It is difficult to inform someone that they should get another enclosure urgently when the matter only needs to be addressed when it needs to be addressed. I would personally love to have a full room vivarium for my geckos to happily coexist but I know that is not feasible at the moment. for right now I know mine are happy and healthy so they will remain as they are until something arises and the problem will be addressed.

For any species the maximum amount of room that you can offer them will be the best. But if you can only get by with the bear minimum or a little more then do so.
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0.2 Sunglow Enigmas
2.7 SHTCB
0.1 APTOR
0.1 Tangerine Tremper

Tnx a lot, I was starting to feel like the evil witch with my girls... I was already planing to enlarge their habitat in a few months, they're so chubby and hungry and docile that I didn't see it as an emergency. About the humid hide, as I saw on a posterior post,humid places don't strictly require a humid hide, and it is really humid here, fungus-in-the-wall humid, im kinda scared of the opposite actually, could they develop some kind of fungus on their skin? I know the lighbulb should dry most of the excess, but still I have it timed to go off at night (warm comfy nights, don't panic on me >.< there r geckos running on the walls where I live). Resuming, I'm not so sure about the humid hide thing, don't want moldy geckos... And I think I'll go with big but laberynthic hides :3. The new tank should be two times bigger and possibly with the addition of a proud male :3. Gtg, the girl in the picture is demanding atention and food XD... Tnx!!

Sounds like humidity is not going to be a problem, but make sure to use a humid box if they aren't shedding well.

Fungal infections shouldn't be that much of an issue, if it's that humid your immediate concern should be a respiratory infection. However, as long as you aren't habitually misting the cage, i don't see it getting too humid for those matters.

I suggest multiple small hides as opposed to larger ones purely because they like to feel "snug" in their hides. They like to feel the hide's walls against their sides and the ceiling on their back.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

I think it looks fine except I don't see a moist hide and you should have one too help them shed. I have tried many different setups for my geckos I tried setting up 3 warm hides, 3 cool hides and 2 moist hides for 3 adults and I would always find them cuddled together under one hide or all in one moist hide this was in a 40 gallon so I don't believe you need a separate hide for each one. I have found that as long as you have a large enough hide you only need one, a moist hide that will accomedate at least two at a time, a water dish, a calcium dish and maybe a branch to climb on you are fine. GL

Yes, these results of the leos all picking the "best" hide are detailed in Ron Tremper's book "The Herpetocukture of Leopard Geckos".

The biggest issue here for me is the lack of available surface area.....I have found that moist hides aren't even necessary if you live in the SouthEast where the outside humidity is enough to ensure proper sheds.
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

I must disagree in regards to using only one hide, and having it be a humid hide (unless i misunderstood what you were saying..)

having only a humid hide means that the leo has to sit in humid conditions all the time, if they want the security of a hide. This is not ideal for the Leo at all - they should not be forced to stay in humid conditions at all imes, they should have the choice - cool, warm, or humid.
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1.1 Bearded Dragons
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Uromastyx (Mali)
1.1 Corn snakes
0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake
1.0 Rosy Boa
1.1 Green Anoles
1.1 House Geckos
0.0.2 Flying Geckos
0.0.1 Red Eye Tree Frog