Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone ,

i'm trying to plan ahead to make sure everything's set for my leo. during this winter, i'm going to las vegas, NV & arizona and will be gone for about a week. also, next summer i'm taking a 1 week cruise 2 mexico. unfortunately, a lot of my friends will be out on vacation & my relatives that live near me are coming with my family on our road trip. i wanted to take my leo with me since we're driving instead of taking a plane, but it gets really cold in vegas during the winter - PLUS, my mom doesn't want me to take her hehe~ mostly because i'm gonna try to bring my other pets with me.. lol also, i dont think the cruise people will let me bring pets to mexico but anyways...

i got a thermostat to set the temps while i'm gone. i'm wondering if a timer will work to set the day/night light schedules? also, how do i go about feeding & drinking? at first, i was planning to just leave like 40-50 small mealies in marlene's bowl since she eats an average of 8 mealies/night... and when i come home just give her 10 mealies and a waxie as a treat. is that a bad idea? also...how do i go about hydrating marlene? evaporation and marlene's drinking can empty the bowl in 3 days. i was thinking - just put another bowl... but that'll evaporate still by like the 4th or 5th day. should i get those Lil' Drippers? and umm... what else should i do for her while i leave?

this information will help a lot and i hope i get some good ideas! thanks all! i appreciate it

[aimEe]
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0.1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Marlene)
0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
0.2.0 African Dwarf Frogs (Hobo & Bobo)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
0.0.2 Hermit Crabs (Kirby & Furby)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)
aimee.i8.com

Hello,

There was a couple times last semester where I left for a week for vacation. What I did for the leos was put a couple extra water dishes in there for them, fed them real good the night before, and left some mealies in a bowl for them, and then fed them real good when i came back. but all of mine were adults with real nice fat tails, so i really wasnt worried about the food issue. they can easily go a week without eating anything. if yours has a nice plump tail, the only thing i would really worry about is making sure there is enough water. a timer works great, too, for the lighting schedule if you have lights over yours. good luck!
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~Melissa~
1.3 Leopard geckos
1.0 Bearded dragon
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.0.1 crested gecko
1.0 Ferret
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 Chinese Praying Mantis

Melissas Menagerie

Hello and great to see someone planning so far ahead for their charge's welfare. Leaving an abundance of mealworms should be fine, either they'll be eaten or not but a few days without food will not hurt a healthy leopard gecko.

The water is more important. A deeper water dish will hold more water and so last longer ... but it may be necessary to teach your leopard gecko that this is, indeed, the water dish. Alternately, a dripper may work fine but you'll want to test it out ahead of time to see how far open to leave the spigot. With the dripper also you'll want a larger volume water dish in case more water is left than you'd intend.

A timer should work fine for setting lights, heat, etc.

Setting all the parts up and trying them out well enough in advance to make necessary adjustments is the key. Good job planning early, and have great fun on your vacation!
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Andrea A.

You can try using one of those self-refilling water dishes, with the little plastic bottle that connects to the dish. They have them for cats and dogs, but Petsmart also sells the little miniature version for reptiles.

Marlene ought to be fine going for a few days without eating. That's what her big fat tail is for.
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)

thanks for your help, it's much appreciated sorry i couldnt reply sooner, i've been a little busy

[aimEe]
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0.1.0 Albino Leopard Gecko (Marlene)
0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
0.2.0 African Dwarf Frogs (Hobo & Bobo)
1.0.0 Fighting Fish (Blue Balls)
0.0.2 Hermit Crabs (Kirby & Furby)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)
aimee.i8.com