Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am not new to the reptile world as im owned by an iguana. I am possibly taking in a 3 year old male gecko. He will be comming with his ten gallon tank, his undertank heater, his subtrate and his hidey log, as well as his heat light. I have been researching gecko's but still have a few things that I havent found.

What is there life span?

How often are they fed?

Handeling are they handleable?

Any other tips/pointers a new gecko owner should know?

I'm also an iguana expert, so to speak, that within the past year aquired leopard geckos. Here's what I know thus far:

They can live 20-30 years. You should feed them as much as they'll eat at least 5 times a week. Leopard geckos are great for handling, especially for kids, that's why I got mine mostly. They are very docile. With iguanas, you have to worry about being scratched, leos don't do that. They also don't need the uva/uvb rays like iguanas, and an undertank heater is sufficient. A 10 gallon - 20 gallon tank is all they really need. They are also really easy to care for in general. Way easier than an iguana.

The only advice I can give to you is to stay away from sand as a substrate. They can become impacted, and it's not pretty. For substrate, I use either that brown paper that comes on a roll, or ESU's reptile carpet. A lot of people use tiles, which I think looks really nice.
-----
~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), and Kayko (0.0.1 leopard gecko)

WOW according to the person that has him, she feeds him once a week/once every two weeks (I knew that sounded wrong), and he is unhandleable.

Now im going to stress till I hear details on him comming here worrying about him, im such a sucker.

I hear that! I have come home with sooooooo many animals that I've felt bad for. If the current owner is only feeding him once every week to 2 weeks, that's insane. I can't even think of any lizards that eat that little. Have you seen it at all? Is it's tail nice and fat, or sickly and skinny? The poor little thing. I wish people would be more responsible.
-----
~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

Nope havent seen him at all. Shes supposdly going to send me pics later today/tomorrow, Im wishing they werent so far away adn we werent in the middle of another winter storm id drive up and pick him up today. I do alot of rescue on my own and always feel bad for the ones that arent treated right/loved right.

Since the gecko is 3 years old and the guy must have had him for atleast a year, and the gecko is being fed once every week or two, do you really think it is going to be healthy and have a fat tail? i think not my friend.

Maybe im taking your post wrong but who said anything about him being healthy? If he's not then he will get vet treatment and get the care he needs to get healthy. I have had many an abused neglected animals in my home that have recovered nicely, others have had to be put down from being so far gone. Im told she has had him the entire three years but of course I dont know the person or the truth.

quote from Chibicricket "Is it's tail nice and fat, or sickly and skinny?"

Just answering his question.

I'm not a he.... but yeah, that was a very dumb question on my part.....
-----
~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

My female was starved before I got her so I guess I fall into the suckers catagory too. I just want to let you know that since he's been mistreated that he'll more than likely change colors with each shed. I finally found out that my female's a giant albino leopard gecko since she's shed a few times and has fattened up. I've had her since December and she's got a few more sheds before half her tail will go back to the normal color it should have been if she was treated right in the first place but at least the rest of her is the normal color now. So if he's a little on the lavender side when you get him wait about three months and then you'll be able to tell exactly what kind of leopard gecko he is. I will have to say that I'm not sorry at all that I fell for my female because she's a lot sweeter than my male. Sometimes the rescued ones are better than the ones we pick because half the time the ones that get rescued pick us and not the other way around.

Well you guys are probly going to flip on me when i say this but when i got my first gecko from a pet shop near me. i also was told to only feed him a dozen crickets once a week. so i did for a year. and then i read some forums and started feeding him mealworms more often and now he gets 10 mealworms eveyother night and i NEVER EVER had a health problem with hime. he is my healthiest gecko i ever had. never needed to got to the vet and need refused food. but with my other geckos that i started out correctly they needed to go to the vet multiple times because they stopped eating, and i always found it strange because my male who wasnt raised correctly was always healthier.

I rescued a leo from one of the guys in my calc 3 class last semester. Below is the collage I put together of her - the pics are only a month apart and she's still getting fatter! I think he just tossed crickets in every now and then when he went home - she's now named Miss Piggy because all she does is eat!

~Katie

-----
JK Pets - Online Pet Supplies

2.3 Cornsnakes (Slink, Shadow, Suzie, Snickers, Selena)
0.1 Columbian Red Tail Boa (Baby)
0.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and Miss Piggy)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Sam)
0.2 Pac Man Frogs (Gordito and Spud)
0.1 Suriname Toad (Squishy & the Squishettes)
0.0.2 Giant Millipede (Mega & Mila)
0.0.1 Green Iguana (Iggy)
0.0.1 Red Eared Slider (Tiny)
lots of snails and fish...

It looks like the leo's color brightened up a bit as well. That's awesome!