Reptile & Amphibian Forums

they where having a sale on albino leopard. one looked dead and the other was poking his head in and out of the hiderock.

It was so cool but my mom said i couldnt get it.

Could someone give me care on these little guys

Thanks
dom
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My Ball and Corn rule
Boda 3' normal ball
Snow 15" Snow corn

You really don't want to buy a leo from Petco. Especially not from an enclosure where one leo already "looked dead". Please listen to yourself for a second. I'm glad your mom wouldn't let you buy it, she's a smart lady, I bet you could learn a lot from her. It's highly likely that that animal is infected with a bad disease or parasite, and will need $100 in medical care and could die anyway, *especially* as its cagemate looks like/is already dead.

However a HEALTHY leo does make a great reptile pet, and there are other places to get a leo than petco-places where you can actually buy a HEALTHY animal. Private breeders and shows are the best. You may be able to find one in your area, especially if you are just looking for a healthy pet-quality animal and not some really rare morph.

I posted my caresheet about halfway down this page, look for it or u can try this link

[url]http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6236&item=2456833204[/url}
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

J/W
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My Ball and Corn rule
Boda 3' normal ball
Snow 15" Snow corn

I had copied that link earlier and when I tried to copy post link it didn't work and didn't notice it pasted the wrong URL.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

StarGecko Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

I strongly recommend you purchase The Leopard Gecko Manual. This is available at Amazon.Com, among many other places. In the meantime, here are some important things you need to do to care for your new animal properly, and some information you won't find in the Manual:

1. ALL new geckos should be quarantined for a minimum of three months, no matter how good the breeder is you purchase them from. Quarantine housing setup can be as simple as a sterilite shoe (hatchlings and juvenile) or sweater box (1 adult) with air holes, moist hide with damp moss and dry hide, water and food dishes, cap of calcium, paper towels for substrate. To heat, you can use a human heatpad, just be sure this is placed on a grid or something that allows airflow from underneath, so heat does not build up. Never play "musical food"- do not transfer uneaten prey items from one enclosure to another. Wash hands between handling geckos in different enclosures.

2. Geckos prefer belly heat, it helps them digest their food properly. A UTH must be used with a thermostat to control the temperature, Human heat pads or heat tape can also be used. With human heat pads or a UTH, be sure to have airflow under the pad so heat does no build up. A UTH will adhere to the bottom of your tank, raise the tank with supplied "feet" or use squares of cardboard on corners. A human heat pad can be placed on a grid, or gridded shelf, or even on cloth towels to diffuse heat. Warm side temperatures should be 88-90°, cool side temps should be around 78°. A UV lamp is optional, they do not need a UV lamp as long as you supplement with calcium that contains D3. I recommend alternating weekly between using calcium with D3, and calcium without D3, to avoid danger of D3 toxicity/overdose.

3. Your permanent gecko enclosure will require a moist hide on the warm side, a dry hide on the warm side, and a dry hide on the cool side. If you have more than one gecko in your enclosure, add additional hides. Green moss (available at Home Depot) is good to line the moist hide, it holds water well, and allows airflow, so hide stays warm and soft. Leos under 6" should never be put on sand or any granular substrate. Granular substrates create a risk of impaction at any age. The safest substrates are paper towels, or for a more naturalistic look, slate, unglazed terra cotta tile, or large (1 1/2" -3" or larger) river stones. Geckos over 6" can be housed on fine washed playsand or calci-sand, but there is some risk of impaction. No gecko should EVER be housed on fish pebbles, Desert Litter (crushed walnut shells), wood chips or shavings, bark, or cornmeal. A ten gallon tank is adequate for one adult leo, they can also be housed in a larger tank. Very young geckos, such as hatchlings or small juveniles, do better in a small enclosure such as a sterilite shoebox.

4. Young geckos can be fed gutloaded mealworms and crickets dusted with phosphorus-free calcium and herptevite (reptile vitamins). Mealworms and crickets can be gutloaded with oatmeal, ground flax seed, carrots, potatoes, wheat germ, fish flakes, spirulina, bee pollen, calcium, and whey protein. Crickets should have additional fresh vegetables and fruits such as green lettuce (not iceberg), oranges, yams, kale, chard, squash, etc. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccolli are okay occasionally but shouldn't be used to often as the oxalates in them prevent calcium absorption. Do not allow gutload to mold. If mold develops, discard gutload and feeders. Fungus toxins can cause illness and even death in leopard geckos. Larger/adult geckos can also be fed silkworms, butterworms, superworms, and pinky mice. Geckos love waxworms, however they are extremely high in fat and also addictive, so use of these should be sparingly, if at all. You should feed growing geckos as much food as they can eat. It is not uncommon for a healthy, young growing gecko to eat 7-15 appropriately sized prey items per day. Some geckos eat even more. To increase growth rates, you can feed young growing geckos 2x per day, however 1x per day is sufficient. Geckos over 1 year of age can be fed every other day or 2-3x/week, unless they are females breeding or recovering from breeding, in which case they should be fed daily. Fresh water (filtered water is safest) and a cap of phosphorus-free calcium powder should be available at all times. Without calcium, geckos will develop MBD (metabolic bone disease).

5. Geckos will sometimes not eat for a week or more when they are set up in a new home. This is common and usually due to the stress of a new environment. To minimize stress, do not handle your new gecko unless absolutely necessary until it is eating well for several days. Hatchling and small juvenile geckos should also be handled as little as possible. Subadult and adult geckos can be handled daily, are generally very tame and good-natured. Never grab or pick up a gecko by its tail, it may drop it. A gecko will re-grow its tail if it is dropped, but the regrown tail will not be as attractive as the original tail, and it takes a lot of energy for a gecko to regrow a tail. A gecko that drops its tail should be put on paper towels and housed individually until the tail starts to grow back. Put Neosporin on the tail stump daily to avoid infection and help regrown tail assume a more natural shape. In the absence of other problems, a dropped tail does not require a vet visit.

6. Inspect gecko weekly for any areas of unshed skin, especially on toes or tip of tail. If you see skin sticking to your gecko, give it a bath in warm (not hot water). Make sure it can stand in the water. If this does not work, you can add a little 3% hydrogen peroxide to bath water and/or to a cotton swab, and gently rub affected area. Make sure gecko does not drink the peroxide, and do not get it in its eyes. If area is red or raw after skin removal, apply a little Neosporin to the area. As long as you provide a moist hide on the warm side of the tank, your gecko should not have many shedding problems.

7. Stools are an important indicator of gecko health. Normal stools are solid, with a brown portion and a white portion (called urates). Sometimes well-hydrated geckos will also release liquid urine. Grey stools usually mean your gecko has been licking calcium, or ate its skin during shedding. Keep the enclosure clean and change paper towel substrate frequently (1x-2x per week is usually sufficient). If your gecko develops loose runny stools that persist over several days, infection is likely. Take a sample of a fresh stool to a vet. Store in plastic in the fridge until time to go to vet. Most often, the cause is worms. Parasitic worms are commonly carried by crickets. Most worms are easily treated and cured with Panacur, which can be obtained from your vet. Once you learn how to administer and signs, you can ask your vet for enough to treat future occurrences should it happen again, so you won't need to go to vet every time. Other causes of loose stools are bacterial and protozoan infections. To locate a qualified herp vet near you, visit www. ARAV.org and look under Members.

8. Geckos should never be housed with other reptile species. Parasites that are harmless in one species can be fatal in another.

9. Female leopard geckos of the same size can be housed together, after the quarantine period has passed. If geckos are of breeding age and weight, female geckos can be housed with one male, as well. Sexually mature male leopard geckos must never be housed together, they will injure or even kill eachother. When introducing a leo into an enclosure already inhabited by another gecko, scrub down the enclosure first and rearrange the cage furniture, ad then put both leos into the enclosure at the same time. This will avoid aggressive territorialism. Never put a hatchling or juvenile in with an adult gecko, even for a few minutes. The larger gecko will likely eat it. Even if one is not large enough to eat the other, keeping geckos of different sizes together is risky, as the small one will lose the competition for food and may get bullied, depending on the temperament of the larger gecko. Do not house males with female geckos unless you want them to breed, and the females are of breeding age (8 months to over one year, depending on the gecko) and at least 45-65 grams (55-65 grams if under one year of age). Allowing a female gecko that is too young or too thin to breed poses serious risks to her health, and could kill her.

Copyright StarGecko 2003
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

I KNOW NOT TO BUY FROM PETCO BUT he was cool and i didnt want him to die. (I know it would just make them buy more) I saw them on lllreptile.com for the same price (exept shipping)

Might get one but ill wait till the spring b/c of the cold.
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My Ball and Corn rule
Boda 3' normal ball
Snow 15" Snow corn

Never buy a sick gecko or suspected-to-be-sick gecko. No exceptions. Ever.

Spring is not that far away. Why don't you start by purchasing the leopard gecko manual and saving for an emergency vet care fund (even geckos purchased healthy can get sick in your care, especially if you feed crickets) so you'll be prepared to give your leo good care once you get her.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos