Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to this forum, but I have owned a very sweet leopard gecko for a while now named Melly. She is a sweetheart and the most gentle little lizard I have ever owned or met. Anyway, I was looking at a pet store a while back and saw a Pastel Leopard for sale, and I put my name down for her to be on hold because at the time she wasn't doing so well. Now she is getting nice and fat as the store says and she is eating on her own without coaxing. Which is good, because I was a little worried about her. But she is gorgeous. Anyway, I want to buy her and let her grow a bit and then add her to Melly's cage. Both are females so I don't think there are territorial issues, but I don't a whole super lot about Leopards. I bought Melly from a kid who got "bored" as kids do. He wanted money for a skateboard. But she has been an awesome lizard. I think she is five years old now, but I'm not positive because they weren't either. So any suggestions on how to acclimate them to eachother so there are few problems would be great.

Also, Melly refuses to eat crickets now for some reason. I was feeding her mealworms for a little while because that was all I had at the time and couldn't get to the store, and she likes them, but she won't eat crickets now, no matter what I do. SHe just ignores them. Any suggestions for that too would be cool.

And, since I'm ranting on and on, could anyone point me to a site that has pictures of the different morphs of LG's? I am unsure as to what morph Melly is, the pet store said from my description that she was possibly a Yellow phase or something like that. She is really bright yellow with black dots, and a bit of lavendar or faint purple. There are very faint orange lines on the spots on her tail which is white, lavender, and black. So far there have been no problems with her, just a happy content little lizard who likes to eat. She is really cute when she eats, right before she strikes her tail wiggles like mad..not sure if that is a normal thing, but I think it is really neat.

I also have a Bearded Dragon by the way, but I'll ask questions about him elsewhere.

Thanks for your time and help,
Shaun

Well, first you will have to quarantine the new leo for AT LEAST a month before you put her in the tank with your first leo. Females will get along fine if there is enough room (a 20gal long tank or bigger) and enough hides to go around (a big humid hide and two or three dry hides). If there is any fighting (tail wiggling at eachother, hissing, head bobbing, biting, or chasing) then do not put the leos together.
Leos often have a favorite food...my leos prefer mealies to crickets, but like crickets as a treat. Normally leos like variety, but if your leo doesn't, its no big deal. Try getting her some waxies as a treat once a week.
From your description, she sounds like a normal phase leo. Normal leos have a yellow body with lots of black spots all over their head, neck, body, legs, and tail. Sometimes they will have a slight patch of non-yellow skin on their backs.

Cleo
1:1 leos (7 eggs cooking)

Well the one I am looking at at the pet store is a young one and I wouldn't put them together with this age difference in fear they may attack eachother, though I don't know if this is common in Leo's. I will quarantine though, and I have all the cages I need, three extra in fact . So if they don't get along, they can be separate.

What kind of humid spot do you mean? How do I create one? I have had Melly for a while, and I just sometimes spray her cage with water. She has two like would bark type things as hiding spots and her substrate is like that rodent tan colored chippings. Not sure what it is called, so far she has had no problems with it, except one time when a piece got in her eye, but she was beyond calm when we tried to help her get it out, which was surprising..never seen a lizard that calm with big scary people poking at her eye.

To make a humid hide you flip a butter container upside down and put some terrarium moss in and spray untill moist hope that helps

Well the one I am looking at at the pet store is a young one and I wouldn't put them together with this age difference in fear they may attack eachother, though I don't know if this is common in Leo's. I will quarantine though, and I have all the cages I need, three extra in fact . So if they don't get along, they can be separate.

What kind of humid spot do you mean? How do I create one? I have had Melly for a while, and I just sometimes spray her cage with water. She has two like would bark type things as hiding spots and her substrate is like that rodent tan colored chippings. Not sure what it is called, so far she has had no problems with it, except one time when a piece got in her eye, but she was beyond calm when we tried to help her get it out, which was surprising..never seen a lizard that calm with big scary people poking at her eye.

To make my humid hides, I took cool whip containers and cut a door in their sides. Then I filled them with wet wads of paper towels, put the lid on, and placed the hide in the warm end of the tank. I posted pics of my setups farther down the list of messages, on is called "Pic of a 10gal setup" and has a nice view of my humid hide.
As for the wood chippings, I would take her off now. I am surprised you didn't remove her from them when she got that piece in her eye. As alot of people here will tell you, wood chips, bark chips, sand, and any other particled bedding is dangerous to leos. Use tiles, slate, or paper towels instead.

Cleo
1:1 leos (7 eggs cooking)

They aren't really wood chips. They are like that soft stuff you use under rodent cages. She has been on it her whole life and that is the only problem she has had. She's really used to digging in it and such. But if it is better for her to have a more sturdy substrate, I'll change. Something like that fake grass stuff? Some suggestions would be great. I'm not the expert owner on these yet. I haven't even got a book on them, I do for my beardie .

If you want to go natural looking, then get some repti-carpet. Repti-carpet looks nice and is pretty cheap as well as safe. I use paper towels just because they are so much easier to get and also have some decorative floor tiles in the big tank that my little girl leo, Beanie, is in.

Cleo
1:1 leos (7 eggs cooking)

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To make my humid hides, I took cool whip containers and cut a door in their sides. Then I filled them with wet wads of paper towels, put the lid on, and placed the hide in the warm end of the tank. I posted pics of my setups farther down the list of messages, on is called "Pic of a 10gal setup" and has a nice view of my humid hide.
As for the wood chippings, I would take her off now. I am surprised you didn't remove her from them when she got that piece in her eye. As alot of people here will tell you, wood chips, bark chips, sand, and any other particled bedding is dangerous to leos. Use tiles, slate, or paper towels instead.

Cleo
1:1 leos (7 eggs cooking)