Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went into this reptile shop downtown the other day and saw the cutest little baby leopard geckos. Somebody gave me a gift cert. for the shop yesterday and it got me thinking. I was curious as to what the most important things I should know in making my decision.

I currently have two Whites Tree Frogs in a 20GH tank that I am upgrading to a 30 so I will have a 20GH tank to put them/it in. I have crickets out the wazoo... What else do I need? I am sure I will have to get several things...

LG's are really cool it was my 1st herp (still got him!) and it made me more into reptiles.

some important things you need to know...

housing
-make sure the tank has an under tank heater (UTH) on the warm side because leos need belly heat for digestion.
-make sure day temps are between 86F and 90F and the night temps are between 78F and 84F.
-the warm side needs a humid hide & the cold side needs a hide (mist the humid hide once every day).
-for substrate, use slate, tile, or paper towels. sand can cause impaction and will eventually kill your leo.

feeding
-keep a water dish full of water every day.
-make sure there's a separate dish for calcium powder.
-gutload & dust your crix with supplements.
-make sure the crix are no bigger than 3/4 the size of your leos head.
-make sure you dont leave in too many crix at one time coz they can end up annoying your leo and causing some stress.
-one wax worm can be given as a treat every other week to fatten up your leo's tail.

handling & taming
-the 1st couple of days, let your leo get used to your hand, but don't try to pick him up - he might think you're a predator and drop his tail and run for cover in one of his hides.
-after a couple days, let him either crawl on you, or slowly try and pick him up. handle for 15 minutes every other day, and you'll be smooth sailing from there - it's pretty easy.

umm.. i don't know what else to add... but i guess if you have anymore questions, just post and you'll have a bunch of people ready 2 answer take care and good luck with getting your LG! don't forget 2 post some pix

[aimee]

PS: make sure you set up the tank before getting your leo and have it pre-heated to the temps it needs for the time you're getting it.

PS2: Leos are nocturnal, so they'll be sleeping a lot during the day... when it's night time, you can start feeding him and leave one or two left in so he can eat them during the night while you go to bed. if you wanna see him move at night, it's best to use a red/blue/black bulb. make sure you clean his poop so the crix dont try to get a taste of some of it for your leo to eat

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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

A 20 gallon tank is good (a single leo can live in a 10 gallon), but the fact that its a "High" tank doesn't help at all as leos are terrestrial animals and don't do the typical gecko climbing thing.

- Tank: 10 gallon for 1 leo
- Substrate: Paper towels or slate. Avoid sand and loose substances, especially for young leos as it can impact them and cause a slow painful death. Some have luck with sand for adults, but it's your call if you want to take the risk.
- Under the tank heater for 1/3 of the tank. Try to get the temps around 90 degrees during the day and down to 85 or so at night.
- hiding places: one on each side. upside down plastic containers are a cheap way, you can also buy ones that are or look like rocks
- a humid hide on the warm side lined with paper towels, vermiculite, or moss. Keep the lining damp as leos use the moisture to help shedding
- a secure lide for the top
- a shallow water dish
- a small lid off a bottle or something similarly sized to keep a bit of calcium powder in inside their tank (they will lick it if they need extra calcium)
- anything else you want to put in the tank for decorations: ie. fake plants, sterilized rocks, etc.
- food: Leos eat mealworms and crickets (smaller than their head)
- low humidity in the tank
- a secure lid for the tank

I think that's just about it for a basic setup, but I'm sure I've forgotten something. I'm sure others who have dealt with pet store purchases can fill you in on what you can expect versus buying from a breeder (ie. parasites and such).

There are tonnes of care sheets out on the internet. just type in "leopard gecko care" in google.com and you'll get flooded with them. This forum is a really good place for advice too (probably the best), so browse the old pages and archives and see what people deal with when they get leos.

Hope this helps. Here's a pic of my little 'Echo' that I just got a couple weeks ago. She's only 2 months old.

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Blaine

0.0.1 HY/Patternless/Normal Leo (Echo)

i see no one mentioned light fixtures,a simple household bulb works best (60watts or so) a single 60 watt bulb raises my temps in my 40g breeder from night 81f to day 85-91f depending on how cool my room is. and the cool side stays around 81-83f.

paper towels all the way,very easy to clean just take out the old repleace with new,it more sanatary where fecal matter can hide in sand,bark,carpet ect.

mealworms are easier to feed to leo's,just drop them in a shallow dish and walk away,a good supplement is reptocal and reptivite rotating use of each one day to day.

remeber to get a good temp reader,a digital one works best and is more accurite.
good luck
kali

if your leo is near a window to get day/night schedules, that should be fine if the tank temps are able to raise to 90F. the past week, it's been really hot here in SF (today it's cold), and it was hot enough to get my leo's tank to 90F - 92F without the use of a bulb... but if it's cool where you live, then yeah u do need a day bulb ty 4 reminding me kali it's cool tho... but as long as your day temps are between 86F - 90F, you can decide if you need a day bulb or not. and if you already have a mass load of crix, you can use those as ur staple diet~
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

here in mass it gets very very cold plus the gecko's are in a basement room with no windows,keeping the temps stable isnt that hard but sometimes can be a pain where days vary.thats why the all mighty UTH was made

lol with the weather in san francisco..you'll never know what you'll get. the past week it's been between 87F - 95F which is really hot for me, and yesterday it was 60F and today it's like 75F with the ice cold wind, and i hear it's supposed to rain tomorrow but be really sunny and hot on saturday before a cloudy sunday. the weather here is RANDOM how many leos do you have?

[aimee]
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

In Kansas, it can be in the 80s one day, and then snow the next day. We had a whole week of that this spring, actually.
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chickabowwow

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

whoa! from penetrating heat to snow?! lol.. dayuM that IS random!! lol
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

80s is beautiful weather. It gets to 105 in the summer.
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chickabowwow

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

DANG 105?!!?! that's CRAZY weather... i wouldn't survive there.. lol. i'd be like - SUBMERGE ME IN SNOW ALREADY! damn i hate the heat i can't imagine
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1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Melvin)
1.0 Black Lab / Pitbull mix (Mikey)
1.0 Blue Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
2.0 Fire-Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
http://aimee.i8.com

Hehe.. yeah. No shipping geckos over here.
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chickabowwow

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

Also remember to feed crickets no larger than the leopard geckos can handle .. for babies that's under half an inch long. Larger ones will just stress out the baby and can worry it into not eating at all. Not a problem if you feed smaller crickets and remove them after half an hour or so.

Good luck - once you have them set up right, leopard geckos are very hardy and can live 20 years or more. The 20 gallon is a good size for one adult gecko though you'll have to make sure the baby finds its food and water as a 20 gallon tank can seem pretty huge to such a tiny critter. Paper towels are a great substrate as they let you keep a good eye on its fecal matter (which is a huge indicator of health). They're also really easy to clean.
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Andrea A.

Hi

You said that you were going to move your white tree frogs out of your twenty tank and put them in a thirty tank and then put a gecko into the frogs old tank, you might want to think twice about that for parasite reasons etc.

If you really have your heart set on using it, I'am sure someone here will tell you the best way they have sterilized a tank.

But let me mention this, I had taken a gecko to the vet. once and he was asking me some questions and one of them was "do you have any fish tanks near your gecko tanks", I didn't, but you can guess why he asked that question.

Take Care, TLB