Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

New person questions.

Drako32186 May 18, 2003 05:35 PM

Hi. I just bought my first geckos at a reptile show today. They are 3 little leopard geckos. The lady told me some of the basics to the care, she said: 1) Give them hides. 2) Only heat one side of the cage. 3) Keep it 80-85 degrees. 4) Always keep food and water with them, but don't over feed.

I also have snakes, so I know some of the basics of reptile care, in general. But geckos are new to me and I was wondering if anyone else had any other advice that may be helpful to me.

Also, one of them keeps licking me and I was wondering why they do this.

Thanks,

-Drako

Replies (2)

ZeR0 May 18, 2003 06:01 PM

Make sure you have them in atleast a 20 gallon long tank, anything smaller wont be big enough for them when they are full grown. give them atleast one dry hide on both ends of the tank. They also need a humid hide. This can be as simple as non seethrough cool whip container with damp paper towels inside. I use this except i use bed-a-beast because it holds moisture well. Make sure you put it on the warm side, or else it will become the soggy cold hide
For feeding you can leave a dish of small mealworms in 24/7, or you can feed them crickets daily. Either way works, whatever is easier for you. Make sure all of them are eating good, sometimes one gecko will bully the others and eat all the food.
Make sure you dont have two males, becuase when they get older they will fight, seriously hurting eachother. You also dont want a male andmale, because they may mate to soon and this leads to the female possibly becoming egg bound.
I would house them on paper towels or repti carpet until they are six inches, because they can become impacted if housed on sand. Even if they are adults, there is still a risk and its your choice ifyour willing to take that risk, i personally dont.
You can either use a heat pad or a lamp to make a gradient, but heat pads work better, since they like the belly heat. If you live in a cold country like me (canada) you may need a small wattage lamp to get the air temp up a bit.
hope this helps, l8er
Mac

ZeR0 May 18, 2003 06:04 PM

my gecko also licks me, im not totally sure why, i think they just taste there surroundings or sumthing, beats me
l8er mac

Site Tools