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My friend is getting out of leopard geckos to focus on some other reptiles, and I am going to take his two females from him and the tank. They are in a 20 gallon long right now. I was wondering if it would be ok to add a male to the group, or if the tank is too small.
would it be ok to have 1 male and 2 females in that size tank?
thanks!
It might be pushing it a little. But I think it will be okay. The rule is 10 galllons per leo, but a 20 gallon long is, well longer than a regular 20 gallon. So I think three leos will fit fine. Just make sure to have plenty of hides so each leo has their own space. Hope that helps!
right now there will be two females, and each one has its own hide spot.
i was just thinking i might like to breed them one day and i was wondering if adding a male would be ok for that size tank. If not i could put them in a 30 gallon at some point.
he also has a heat pad under each side but i dont think that is really necessary, should I remove one or just leave them both?
It depends on how big they are. If they are both really small and there is enough room in between them for your girls to cool down when they want to, then leave it. If they are fairly large, and there's no room left for a decent sized cool area, then I'd remove one. Also whats the temp in your tank with the heat pads? Leos always need to have a portion of the tank that they can go to if they feel to warm.
Also incase you didnt know you can't keep males in with females all year round because they will constantly try to mate and stree them out.
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My Leo's
1.0.0 Normal
0.1.0 Tremper Albino
My Beardie
0.0.1 Red x Gold
well i dont have them yet so i cant say what the temp is, but my friend said that the sand does get pretty warm, so i think its safe to remove one, they are medium sized leopard geckos right now, not sure how old, but they are sexable, so i figure at least 6 months in age.
i keep mainly rhacodactylus geckos so this is my first time with leopards, i know quite a bit about keeping them I just want to make sure I get everything straight right from the start.
what should the temp be on the warm side of the tank so I can test it?
any other tips you can suggest?
warm should be 80-85 and the cold side should be 70-75.
But you dont have to do this, but i highly recommend it and so do almost all of the people on this forum. I WOULDNT USE SAND. Althought people always argue about that their geckos dont eat it, but what they dont understand is that it will slowly build up and wont show signs of impaction, until it is to late. So if i were you i would use either, paper towels, news paper, tile, roughed up linolium, anything that they cant eat.
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yea im going to, i had actually planned that all along, he uses sand at the moment, but im taking it all out and using paper towels.
you might want to put your male in a different tank. 20 gallon is pretty good for one gecko but if you dont have the space a 10 gallon will do just fine. Because if the male tries to breed, which he will, he will cause a lot of stress on the females. Plus you'd have to go threw the whole process of quarantine with the male.
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I keep three in a 20 long but I have a two story setup with plenty of hides! I also have an alternate setup where my male vacations for a month or so or I will put him and the female I want him to mate with so the other female gets a break. It seems to work out well. Everybody is fat and happy!! I do use sand with my adults but i ALWAYS have a calcium dish available and I have never had any problems. I am thinking of switching to tile though just because I think it looks neat. I would never put juvies or babies on sand though. HOpe this helps!
Suzanne
i have also seen the calcium dish in pictures before. what exactly do you do?
I currently use a Calcium/D3 supplement and a Multi-Vitamin supplement, I poured them both into a bag and mixed them together and then I basically just dust the crickets with the mixture.
would it be a good idea to provide a dish with this mixture? or do you only want a Calcium/D3 powder in the dish?
I keep a dish of leopard gecko dust in each gecko tank and just fill it as necessary. Actually I use tiny deli cup lids about and inch or so in diameter. You can buy them at Smart and Final or a restuarant supply store and they are very cheap. It saves on having to wash dishes out cuz I just toss them when they are empty and replace with fresh new ones. These are also great if you own cresteds and feed them baby food.
Kozmo,
Try to get the calcium WITHOUT the D3. It's out there, I have it and it's a common brand I just can't remember right now. The geckos can OD on the D3 if given too much and/or too often. I think most people leave calcium (without D3) in the cage with the leos and then dust the prey food (e.g. mealworms, crickets) with a vitamin powder that contains D3 every other or third time they feed.
even with my cresteds i only dust the insects once a week, and they are fed several times weekly, both baby food and insects, so i am always careful about that.
as far as the leopard gecko dust, is this something specific that I can find somewhere?
do you think you might be able to link me somewhere online that sells just straight calcium? i doubt anyone in my area has it, so i would probably be better off just getting it online.
Kozmo,
I use Jurassi-Cal for the calcium. It is Vit. D3 free.
I also use Jurassi-Vite for the occasional dusting. This has D3 in it so I use it sparingly. I got both at PETCO, but I'm sure there are numerous sources online. I happened to pick out the Jurassi line because thwy seem to have a good reputation and I was sure the calcium was free of D3.
Here's a link:
http://www.jurassipet.com
Dean
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