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I've had my lady Leo for a couplr months now, Ms. Sketchy is her name. When i got her from the store she was about 4 1/2 inches long, now she's 5 1/2 inches long, and a fatty . I feed her small crickets and mealworms. I fear not the mealworm, by the way. I too have gotten the bad stories from a pet store worker, like the lady in a recent post here, and I dont go there anymore.

So, one thing i was curious of is getting a better idea of about how old she is. From what I have read, she seems to be about a year old. Check the link down below for additional help.

She seems to be getting used to me. I handle her about twice a week, for 5-10 minutes at a time or so, usually to check her over, or clean. About a week ago I noticed 2 red spots on her belly, dark in the middle and fading out, total of like 1/8 diameter. So i cleaned the cage like a madman, and applied some 'triple antibiotic ointment plus' to the area. The next day it was gone, and hasnt come back since. I changed my 'humidity adding' technique, which was basicly getting a bunch of the astro-turf wet. I now use the proper mister spray bottle thing, since my original method was properly the cause of the infection. I have read that if the substrate is too wet an infection will occur.

One thing I have noticed with the astro-turf is that every once in awhile when she grabs a critter to eat, she gets stuck when she bites the fibers of it, if her aim is too low. She always gets out within a second or two, and there is no sign of damage to her jaws. Is this something that happens sometimes or should I be concerned? The reason I am using astro instead of sand is that I work out of town for months at a time, and she will be going with me, and sand is a pain to have to level out, and I dont want loose objects moving around on the drives. I had 2 bahaman anoles that i traveled with for a year, and they didnt seem to mind. I bought Ms. Sketchy when I was in Rhode Island, and now I'm home, she didnt miss a beat, never even hesitated in keeping on eating and such.

So yeah, the questions I had out of there were her age, and the astro-turf one.

Thanks for reading, and not falling asleep.

Here are some pics of her. Sorry they suck, I took them with my PdaPhone.

Pics of Ms. Sketchy

Hey there
about astro turf there has been some mishaps with it because of toes and teeth getting stuck, i have never used the stuff but i have read that there is a Packed down side and a lose side. Try flipping it over.
Also if you're transporting a lot you could always thinking about just using paper towels, i transport a bit, not regularily, and have a "run about tank" which is a rubber maid container and i put paper towel and as much tile as i can fit in there as substrate.

Nextly i think your gecko is approx, very rough guess, 3-5 months old. Can you sex it yet?

Anyhue very cute gecko, if this reply was confusing just post again and someone will clarify

yeah, i noticed the other side seems a little more packed. I'll flip it next time i clean, couple days from now.

she looks very much like a female, i flipped her and there are no swellings behind her 'butt', and no darker scales in front of it. about what age would you say leo's get to be about full size?

It's hard to guess how old she is, but I say she's probably not more than 6 months old, with 3-5 months being a more likely age bracket. How quickly she grows depends on a lot of factors such as the temperature, diet, gutload, health, and genetics. She'll probably hit adult size at about 10-12 months of age, but it's not unusual for leos to become full-grown at 6-8 months.
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chickabowwow

Try using tiles, you can get them from homedepot for 98 cents a peice and there easy to cut to fit any tank, and are great for under belly heat and are very easy to clean, i just switched to them myself and my leo seems to love it, also it looks real good to

so when you say tiles, do you mean the thick bathroom type tiles, or the thin 1 foot square kitchen floor type tiles?

i dont know what they call them but there real thin and they have the sticky back so they stay in place, like i said there real cheap at only 98 cents a peice and real easy to cut and fit your tank, check out the photo gallery ive seen a lot of pics of people useing these and said also that they are great for leos, im gonna try to get my pics up soon, hope this helps

ah ok, thats like kitchen tile. I cleaned the cage today, and flipped over the astro turf so the 'hard' side is up. I'll see how that goes and look into some tiles if it doesnt help.

thanks