Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He escaped when he was two days old and has shed once but had not eaten. My room/house is about 90 to 70 and 10 degrees cooler at night. Just need to know how long he could last. If you have any tricks for catching them that would be appreciated. By the way we do have the ocassional cricket or other bug lost in the house so it could probabally get a feed. Please help, she is the first gecko I have ever hatched!

I have never lost a baby leo. I have lost a banded gecko baby and found it three days later in the bathroom. I have found more then one escaped adult by the folowing method, Wait until night time and sit quietly in your reptile room in the dark with a flashlight in hand. Listen for any reptile scurrying noises. Escaped Leos and Fatties often run right out of hiding as soon as the lights go out. Also try this in other rooms of your house.

The best time to look for your gecko is the middle of the night like 11pm to 5am. They tend to come out and be more active at night.

Get a cardbord box 12" x 12" x 6" high or something similar. Cut a 2" hole in one of the corners at floor level. Place it on a heating pad set on medium heat. Put a moist hide, a water dish and a calcium dish inside the box. Turn down the heat in the room/house.

Check the box about 4am

Good Luck!!!
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BigSurf
www.SurfinBird.com
Robert@SurfinBird.com

I’ve had the same thing happen to me about a year ago. A hatchling, only days old, got loose and I was worried sick about her. I looked everywhere, moved boxes, and picked up anything that a leo could hide under, but still couldn’t find her. She showed up about a week and a half later, not far from where she had escaped. Every time I’ve found an escaped gecko it has been late at night. Usually ill be working at the computer and see some movement out of the corner of my eye.

I’d recommend, if you’re not a night owl, to wake up around 1 or 2 am, and turn on the lights. This seems to be the time they come out of hiding to hunt and explore. Some people recommend leaving a heat pad on the floor in the hopes that the leo will come ‘bask’ on it, but I haven’t had much luck with that. Oh, and make sure you fix your caging problem, so this doesn’t happen again. Anyhow, best of luck, and don’t give up hope!

DaveCable

Yeah, I'm really not sure what to tell you, EXCEPT that they can get in strange places. My little guy wedge kept getting out and every time (like 5 times now), i find him about 20 feet across in the next part of the connected room, inbetween the box springs of my bed (I had to have my box spring under my mattress custom made in two pieces to be fit upstairs.) They go for the darkest, usually tighter areas. Not neccesarily the warmest areas either, they usually just look for darkness. The thing about leaving stuff out for them has never worked for me, but try it anyways. you just have to look and look, but hopefully you'll find him. Look in the big places first, ie. behind beds, behind a tv, under a raised bookshelf, behind things, etc, before you start looking in tiny places, because he could be on the run or just lounging around in the darkness somewhere.
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1.2.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Miniature long-haired dachsund