Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click here to visit Classifieds
Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

I'm new, forced here by Xelda

sotik Oct 27, 2003 10:44 PM

I have leopard geckos. And I'm new to this community, just checking things out. So, hi and whatnot (you can blame/thank Xelda for forcing me to come here).

I bought them a little over a month ago, and they're approx. 6 months old right now; these are my first herps. There are two of them - a female named Tanisha, a male named Tyrone. Their pictures are below, as well as more info, following.

Tanisha

Tanisha is a Tang. She's an extremely active gecko, constantly climbing things. She doesn't object to being handled. In fact, she'll readily climb on your hand, but she's not a gecko you could look away from once she's out of the tank, lest you lose sight of her. She's my favorite gecko, of the two.

Tyrone

Tyrone is an aberrant-patterned. He's a lot more laid-back, and rarely moves fast unless he has to. He is not normally a big fan of being handled, and is a bit skittish. However, he - unlike Tanisha, normally - will sleep outside the hides; on top, even, chillin;. He was my first choice for a gecko.

Though Tanisha can be pushy, Tyrone is the dominant.

Tanisha eats more food than Tyrone, but she defers to him should he want the dish or any of the hides. I feed them every other day....15-17 mealworms a piece (dusting in calcium/D3 every other feeding), and they've grown quite a lot since I first got them (they were kind-of skinny when I got them). Lately I've been tossing in a few waxworms. The mealworms are gutloaded (carrots for moisture). Some of the worms have pupated, some are already beetles, and I have a container for those, as well; should things go ok, I may end up with a mealworm colony.

They're set-up in a 15 gallon tank with a paper towel floor, 3 rock hides, 2 humid hides, a water and a food dish, a cap from a 35mm film canister for calcium (which they help themselves too), and a recently added toilet paper roll (actually, half of a paper towel roll). I use an under-tank heater to keep one side nice and toasty. Above it is a rock-hide, with a rock-hide right next to it (sitting where the temperature begins it's gradient). The humid hides are kept behind the first rock (Tanisha just lies in it, Tyrone pushes all the peat moss to the side, making a shelf to rest on). On the far side of the tank is another rock-hide, for when they need something really cool (and Tanisha uses it a lot). Their food and water dishes are kept in the space between the rock-hides, against the rocks....though they have moved the water dish, somehow, out about 1/2-an-inch from the rock a couple times now. They use the tube, sometimes, but more often than not end up falling off of it.

So far no health problems, which is a good thing (Xelda got some from the same breeder and they both had coccidia). They've both been through a couple sheds and they've not had any problems with skin staying on their little fingers. They eat a lot, but have put on weight nicely. They come out when I come home from work and look up at me (I keep them at leg-height and I'm a tall person) for food. They get along with each other and take turns. Tanisha walks over Tyrone sometimes, and once she saw movement and pounced on his tail thinking it was prey apparantly (no damage, she didn't bite him hard), but he's not really paid her much attention regarding that.

Eventually, though, he'll get her back - sooner or later (not sure which) they'll end up mating. I'm still not sure what I'll do once they do that and I know there will be baby geckos. I may already end up breeding mealworms since I've got a number of aliens (in their own container)...and a couple waxworms have started the cocooning process, it seems. I'm consdering cutting the geckos back to 10 worms a piece, every other day...they're no longer all that skinny and their appetites have slackened a bit as a result. If/When I cut them back I'll likely toss the worms in my fridge (since i don't really keep much food in there) to slow them down a bit.

I owe a thanks to Xelda, though, since she is the one who got me interested in this, and she's been quite helpful. Other than that, I don't really know what else to say. If you want to ask something, or comment, please do. Be gentle, though - I'm new.

Replies (9)

xelda Oct 27, 2003 10:54 PM

I merely bookmarked it on your computer and hinted a couple of times.
-----
chickabowwow

3.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 3 eggs a' cookin'

sotik Oct 27, 2003 10:58 PM

Hinted? Is that what you call the threats?
:x
-----
-Marcus The Great

x1angelbabyx Oct 28, 2003 10:21 AM

hahaa i did that to my brother

now he wants to get a lizard and checks this often... he thinks leos suck tho coz they're small he wants a frilled dragon (and i want one too!) so we're both gonna get one after our housing extension

yEs!

[aimee]
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
::: aimee's site :::

nasr_36 Oct 27, 2003 11:13 PM

.

x1angelbabyx Oct 28, 2003 10:17 AM

hi and welcome to kingsnake

why'd u decide to name your leos tanisha and tyrone?

and xelda knows what she's doin... she's helped me out the most on this forum THANKS XELDA

[aimee]
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)

xelda Oct 28, 2003 02:37 PM

Aww, you're welcome, dear.
-----
chickabowwow

3.2.2 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)
and 1 more egg a' cookin'

sotik Oct 28, 2003 03:19 PM

Yes, she's been quite a help to me already. As far as their names...

Xelda and I went to a reptile show in Kansas City (I'd give ya the name, but I have this memmory condition where I'm too stupid to remember stuff ;p). On the way back she asked what I was going to name it...which I hadn't even considered yet (and I told her that). She said that was a good thing, because I'd probably name it something like Laquisha..and I said, "Tanisha!!" And then he needed a matching name, and Tyrone fit that perfectly. They're the names of some older friends.

(you probably wouldn't understand the humor of her laquisha-statement unless you knew me, though)
-----
-Marcus The Great

x1angelbabyx Oct 29, 2003 12:46 PM

lol nah i was asking coz my bro told me 2 get another leo and just name them laquisha & jamal
-----
1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
http://aimee.i8.com

sotik Oct 29, 2003 03:31 PM

If you name the male Jamal you should name thew female Jaquita. Gotta keep the alliterative-thing going.
-----
-Marcus The Great

Site Tools