Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok here is the deal. I live in a college dorm and my roommate and I decided that we would get a Gecko from the local pet store (Petco). We have a glass cage with a heating pad. The heating pad is underneath a cave rock thing that has a hole in the top. We are using T-rex Calci-sand as the substrate. We are planning to feed the gecko crickets twice a week and mealworms the rest of the time. Yes I am dusting them in calcium vitamin powder. There is a shallow water bowl and a smooth food bowl to keep the mealworms in. We know to keep a light on for at least twelve hours to set a good day/night cycle. Are there any suggestions? Are we doing anything wrong? We got most of our information from a couple sources on the internet and the guy at the pet store. Thanks for all your help!

First and most important get rid of the sand. The gecko cannot digest it and may become impacted. Use paper towels, reptile carpet or slate tiles.

They do not need light for day/night cycle (due to being nocturnal), they can get that from the natural light that comes thru the window. If you want a light for night so that you can watch him/her, use a red light as it doesn't bother them.

The floor of your inclosure on the hot side should be between 88-92 and the cool side should be 75-80. This is not the air temp but the floor temps, they use belly heat to regulate their temps, and digest food properly.

As I type this I don't remember if you mentioned it, but the hide over the UTH should be a moist hand and he/she should also have a dry hide.

Also add a small dish of 100% calcium, you can use the top of a milk bottle for this.

I hope this helps.
-----
www.LeopardGeckoBreeder.com

www.LeopardGeckoArt.com

5.13.1 Leos
1.0 Peach Fronted Conure
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
1.0 Pembroke Corgi
0.2 Cats
8 fish

I'd take her off of the sand, go with something solid like paper towel or tile. The last thing you want in college is to be paying vet bills because your leo got impacted. Everything else seems pretty good, test your temps before you get her so you can make sure they are within a good range (around 88-92).

I agree with everyone else, move to a solid substrate. Tiles I think are the best, They're attractive, cheap, cut to standard sizes, conduct heat well, and you can throw them in a dish washer once a week to get them clean. You need the temps already mentioned. Put moist vermiculite, moss, or even a damp paper towel inside the hide on the warm side, and offer another hide on the cool side. It will probably be easier to just feed mealworms all the time. Throw some mineral powder over them about twice a week as well. Also, you need to provide a dish full of calcium powder or your gecko will develop bone problems. Do not ever use hot rocks, the pet store will try to sell you one, I guarantee, don't use them. Light cycles are optional, many people feel they are necessary, I don't stress out about it too much, the animal will adapt, they are not that fragile. Lastly, I hate to burst your bubble, but Petco is notorius for selling B grade, sick, stubborn leos. I see a post on here about 4 times a week from people talking about their sick leo from Petco. Search the internet for common signs of dissease (retained shed, bent limps, breathing with mouth open) and make sure you know how to identify these. If there is even one sick gecko in the tank where they're keeping it, tell them thanks but you'll look elsewhere. There are quite simply, too many good breeders that breed great quality leos to buy B-C grade junk from a pet store. These people care about profit, they are not reptile enthusiasts like breeders are. I would feel comfortable ordering from any of the sponsors of this site as I have heard great things about most, and the others seem fairly reliable, and you could also consider leopardgecko.com and vmsherp.com. These are both breeders I have heard excellent things about. I know that's a lot, but when I was doing research on leos, I hated when people gave me half assed answers and I ended up asking more and more questions that never got answered. One last warning. I don't know many people that have only ever had one leo. People usually just buy one, and then they're hooked. Look at some of these peoples posts. They'll have 20 leos. These things are like nicotine, you will want more. Good luck, hope I didn't scare you too much.

-Sam

Listen to baloonz. Very good advice.

But sometimes full grown geckos like to live in the conditions in which they were raised. If it is a baby switch to paper towels ASAP. But if it is an adult sand shouldnt hurt it. It probably lived its entire life in sand at petco. Plus paper towels are very unatractive if youre trying to create a typical desert scene most people do. You can use a dimmer switch or thermostat to properly moniter the tempatures.

It seemed like the other responses from your message were trying to scare you away from using sand. One adult gecko can live in sand thats how it is in the wild, but if you start to collect geckos, be sure to get rid of the sand.
Humidity is just as important as Temps for proper sheding, they can lose toes and have serious problems without proper humidity.

Quote: "were trying to scare you away from using sand. One adult gecko can live in sand thats how it is in the wild"

I beg to differ . . . They do not live on sand in the wild. They live in areas of sandy soils, clay and rock. One study even noted that Leos in the wild tended to AVOID "sandy soils". You are right, ALL of the posters were encouraging them to remove the Leo from the WORST sand of all "Cali-sand". Research was also done to show just how undigestable the calcium based sands were. Anyone who has spent much time in the various Leopard Gecko forums have read way too many horror stories of Leos impacted by calcium based sands. A few survive but far too many end up dead. No, it doesn't happen over night, in many cases it happens over a 1-2 year period. Being made of calcium these sands tend to be ingested in larger quantities by Leos than regular fine-grained playsand which is why it leads to more cases of impaction. While a large majority of experienced Leo owners will advise against Leos be kept on any type of sand (me included), if someone insists on it, only fine-grained playsand which has been sifted to remove the larger particles and washed, should be used.
-----
www.StoplightCityLeopardGeckos.com