Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was curious about the locality of leopard geckos. A friend of mine was telling me that they come from Pakistan and the other stans. I know for a fact that we have them here in southern california, and nevada. Where do ours come from, given ours being the tangerines and so forth? What differences are their between the localitys besides maybe dialect? Are they pritty much the same?

Thanks for any response. This is a question I often think about when I'm out in the desert.

Jason Mc

Leopard Geckos originated in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Northwest India.

You can find them all over now because humans have moved them around and begun breeding them. But they're not originally from places like California and such.

There are other geckos that originate over here - but they're not the same.

A book you might helpful is the Leopard Gecko Manual. You can get it for pretty cheap at Amazon.com - www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1882770447/qid=1082284649/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1710249-4569639?v=glance&s=books

~~Dusty
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

Also, we have geckos in the US that look similar to leos. I think the big one is known as the Big Bend Gecko.

And isn't there a Texas Banded Gecko?
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
@
~~The Gecko Barn~~

yeah, but an adult texas banded is about the size of a 2 month old leo.
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0.1 "Tremper" looking Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 tiger crested gecko (peachs)
1.1 Feral cats that we adopted (Fuzzy, and Bear)

Leopard geckos are from the middle east, specifically Pakistan, Afganistan, India and surroundiung areas.

What you are seeing or hearing about here in the USA are banded geckos, though similar to leopard they are NOT the same. The baned geckos are smaller and differ slightly in appearance.

To clairfy, there are NO leopard geckos naturally occuring in the USA!

I hope this helps!

Thanks for all the responses.
Jason

You would be surprised with the established exotics in south Florida. Other than the monkeys and parrots in recent years baby burms and retics have been found that most definitely originated from the area. WHo knows if some leopards are also hiding out. Miami is a major spot for items entering the US, when they don't get picked up at the airport, employees were known to let them go. QUite a zoo a little south of me.

Matt