Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, i'm finally getting a leo. I'm using a 15 gallon aquarium since I found it really difficult dealing with Vision trying to get the terrarium I wanted and eventually just said screw it. I'm getting a single male gecko probably from VMS. I bought tiles, a thermometer, heating pad, two cool looking hides and a matching shallow water bowl, as well as a cricket dusting supplement thing. Reptivite from zoo med? Is that an ok one? My last question is what are some good cricket gutloads and calcium supplements. There was one called Orange 3, are all calcium supplements the same more or less? If you can't suggest a good gutload and calcium supplement, if you could tell me what to look for on the label to tell if it's adequate I would appreciate it. I'm hoping to have it shipped between tuesday and thurday of next week. I'm very excited!

A lot of people I know in the U.S use cricketfood.com for their gutload. Check out their site, the stuff looks great. Does the vitamin supplement you mentioned have vitamin D3 in it? If so, you just need a pure calcium supplement to do in your leo's tank and for dusting around 3 times a week. Make sure you don't give your leo too much D3 as it can be harmful.

Have you made a moist hide for your leo? I'm sure he would appreciate one and it pretty much guarantees good sheds when kept moist all the time.

Good Luck with your leo

I don't have a moist hide set up yet. I don't actually have the gecko yet either. Yesterday I bought everything I can get locally and disinfected all of the hides/water dish/tank. Today I set it all up and I'm going to monitor the temperatures over the weekend. I bought two hides from the store, just because they're cooler looking than any I could build. I'm going to put a dish with some moist perilite/vermiculite/peat moss in the one on the hot end. My cricket duster thing does have D3 and I'm already aware of the effects of giving too much D3 to a gecko. I was just wondering if all pure calcium is pretty much the same.

I'm sure any brand of plain calcium would be fine. I was curious, you said you were going to put a "dish" of vermiculite/perlite/peat moss on the warm side. What is that for? You really need a humid/moist hide for the Leo on the warm side. Vermiculite & perlite should not be used as a substrate for the humid hide or in the enclosure, both are highly absorbant and can cause impaction problems. Those substrates are generally only used as a medium for incubating eggs. The best substrates to use in a humid hide are spaghnum moss/spaghum pete moss, Eco-Earth/Bed-A-Beast or papertowels. If you aren't sure how to make a humid hide, there is a link on my site with instructions. The link is in my signature.

And good luck with the new Leo when you get it !!!!
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