Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my first post here, Like the subject says I just got my first pair of leopard geckos and have been reading everything I can about them. It seems everywhere I read though I get conflicting advice. One person told me I needed a heating pad for them and to keep a sand substrate. Another person who seemed more knowledgable told me no heating pad and not to use sand because it would get in there eyes. They suggested I just use paper towels or newspaper, but like some others in the forum I'm not a fan of the looks that they give the cage. After reading this forum I think I'm going to go get some tiles and line the bottom of the cage. I figure I'll get a heating pad asap to. Right now I have them on a light I bought from petsmart. It is a 70W heating light. Both geckos are good eaters and appear healthy as of now. They have an alright hiding spot that I keep a moist paper towel in for humidity and such, I hope...

I'm looking for some advice on the vitamins my gecko's need. I've been reading a lot about dusting the crickets you feed them and adding calcium supplements into their water. Hopefully someone can fill me in really quick on how this should be done. Also, how often and how many crickets do you feed your gecko? And what temperatures are recommended for them at day and night? Should I have a light for day and night or should I just turn a night lamp on at night and no light during the day or have a different light for day and night? Sorry for the long post and lots of questions, just looking for some newbie advice.

Thanks so much,
Nic

First of all congrats on your new pets. Be careful though leos are VERY addicting. You deffinately need a uth. (undertank heating pad)Leos do not bask so they soak up the heat threw their belly. Sand is also a no-no. It can get in their eyes but the main problem with it is it causes impaction. Leos needing calcium lick it up and then they can't digest it which leads to a really big problem. I use tile and it's great. It's soo easy to clean, it's cheap and it looks natural. You mentioned you have a heating light. I use red light bulbs along with my uth so at night I can watch them without them noticing me. Tuen off the lamp at night if you continur using one. The temps should be around 73 to 78 degrees on the cool side and 85 to 90 on the warm side. Are they in the same cage?? If so how old are they?? My rule of thumb is "a hide per side per leo in a tank". If you have 2 leos you need two hides per each side of the tank. Put the humid hide on the warm side. OK, for calcium....I don't put calcium in their water. I dust their food with calcium that has d3 in it and then I leave a calcium dish in their tank that has calcium without d3 in it. If your leos are juvis or babies you need to feed them every day. As they get older you can feed them every other day. They will eat as much as they want. Occasionally you'll get a gecko that won't stop eating so you'll probably have to limit t to a certain amount to avoud it getting over weight. Watch the leos for bullying. If one is a little bit biggger or just thinks he owns the worl you might have to seperate them so they both get to eat without stress. You can visit the site below for a caresheet and stuff. Hope this helps!
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Katie
Peach State Geckos
Breeding Mealworms
My Email

thanks for the good advice. I just went shopping today and bought some tile, a UHP, digital thermometer, a pot for his hiding spot, and some crickets.

The UHP doesn't seem to put enought heat to keep it over 80 during the day so I put a blanket over most of the aquarium and used my light to boost the temp. I guess at night I'll just turn it off and they'll be around 70-75 i hope.

nic,
I was having a similar situation with my UTH not providing enough heat......or at least I thought so. Let's assume you've purchased a UTH that covers approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the bottom surface area of your tank. Check the temperature directly ON the substrate. The air temp on the warm side of my tank (according to a thermometer mounted low on the side of the glass) is 78 degrees. But, when I place a thermometer directly on the slate tile, it registers 90 degrees. As I've been told by the very helpful people here and in other forums, be careful about having the air temp. too high because that may be translating to an even higher substrate temp. that could harm your leo. One thing I recently read, and it rings true for leos since they are mostly terrestrial reptiles..... "measure the heat on the floor of your habitat and don't worry as much about the air temp. After all, leopard geckos crawl, they don't fly!" Kinda' silly I realize, but true.
Good luck