Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got myself a pair of 6 month old Leopard Geckos at the weekend - I've never kept them before and there are a couple of things I'd like to ask (if anyone would be so kind as to enlighten me a little. )...

-> Firstly, I've been informed that Leopard Geckos don't climb - or at least that they're not very good at it. And yet my female Gecko is an expert at scaling the walls of the vivarium and sitting on top of the lighting. The male is pretty nifty at climbing too but not quite as enthusiatic about it as he prefers to laze about in the hide.

It's not a problem at all, just wondering if it's normal?

-> Next - I'm not sure whether they're eating too well. Now a few sites I have seen suggest that juveniles should be eating between 5 and 10 insects a day. I'm not putting that much into the viv (probably one or two, maybe three crickets a day) - but I can't see if they are being eaten because the crickets are just too damn good at playing hide and seek. Also - I've been informed that too many crickets distress the geckos and might even start nibbling. I put two waxworms in yesterday and one was eaten. I don't want to put more in as I know they're fattening.

Are there any tips for feeding crickets to the geckos? Any way to tell how many are still in there or any guide as to how many they should be eating?

-> And lastly - my viv shows as being around 80F core during the day and 74F during the night. There are so many different people saying so many different things about temperature. Do I have this right?????

Thank you ever so much for any help. I was so relieved when I found this forum!!!!

Gem

My geckos climb like it is their job
Nice pics by the way above.
I tend to feed my leos two to three insects a day depending on the size. I despise crickets and prefer dubia. Either way I dust the food once a week for nutrients. Also you can get a calcium powder to put in their. Your leos could use a hot spot in their cage as well..... be careful if buying a heat pad. you will want to go to home depot or something and get a dimmer switch. the pads get super hot and can burn your reptile. The dimmer switch allows you to control the temp. I also recommend a temp gun. (ebay) they allow you to check temps of different places in the cage as well as of your animal

Thank you. I'm trying them on mealworms for tonight and have taken the heads off them (the worms not the geckos of course. :S ) as they look fairly big and extra wriggly and I've heard that they might be a bit much to handle for young geckos.

I've put 5 in the dish, gonna see how that goes and if they're gone by the time I hit the sack myself then I'll put more in.
Also wiped the mouth of the female one with the guts of one of them so hopefully she'll feel a bit hungry now.

Our heatmat is fixed to one wall at the moment (which is the end that the moist hide is and the day lamp too) so it's not under their feet and I haven't seen them cuddle up to it at all.

They seem to be settling in okay actually, the female one sits ontop of the night light (which we don't use because it's too hot) for the day and the male one just hides away most of the time but he was out this morning.

Still no specific place chosen for their bathroom yet - they seem to think that the whole vivarium is fair game - do you think that will change at all?

I think I've started to get the hang of it.

Thank you ever so much for the feed back. It is muchly appreciated.

Gem

I'm assuming that you have an aquarium. You don't put the heat mat on the side of the tank, but underneith the tank on the hot end of it.

What kind of enclosure do you have for your geckos. A tank or a mesh kind of enclosure?.

I have a tank for mine, and I use a newspaper papertowel substrate (bottom of the tank covering), that my reptile vet. had told me to use way back, because it can cut down on the parasites that they can possible get, and also they won't be injesting sand when they dive for crickets.

You need to have one end of the tank at 80%, and the other end of the tank in the low seventys, that way they can thermoregulate there own body temperture "meaning if they get to hot they can go to the cool end and if to cool they can go to the worm end". You will need to put in some more small crickets, because two or three isn't enough for both of them. You will need to get some straeight calcium at like petsmart etc., with nothing else. It will have a green lable on it. They need a constant supply of calcium for there growing bones, so they don't get brittle bone diease. Brittle bone diease is when a gecko doesn't get enough calcium and as they grow, there bones can get rubbery. Don't panic, you will do a good job.

Mealworms are also good for them to eat. Get a container that your geckos can get into, but it won't be easy for the mealworms to climb out of.

How to tell how many crickets are still in the tank or how many have been eaten?, you will have to move things around in the tank to look for the crickets and count them.

Write some more as to what you have in the tank for them.

What kind of enclosure do you have for your geckos. A tank or a mesh kind of enclosure?.

I have a tank for mine, and I use a newspaper papertowel substrate (bottom of the tank covering), that my reptile vet. had told me to use way back, because it can cut down on the parasites that they can possible get, and also they won't be injesting sand when they dive for crickets.

You need to have one end of the tank at 80%, and the other end of the tank in the low seventys, that way they can thermoregulate there own body temperture "meaning if they get to hot they can go to the cool end and if to cool they can go to the worm end". You will need to put in some more small crickets, because two or three isn't enough for both of them. You will need to get some straeight calcium at like petsmart etc., with nothing else. It will have a green lable on it. They need a constant supply of calcium for there growing bones, so they don't get brittle bone diease. Brittle bone diease is when a gecko doesn't get enough calcium and as they grow, there bones can get rubbery. Don't panic, you will do a good job.

Mealworms are also good for them to eat. Get a container that your geckos can get into, but it won't be easy for the mealworms to climb out of.

How to tell how many crickets are still in the tank or how many have been eaten?, you will have to move things around in the tank to look for the crickets and count them.

Write some more as to what you have in the tank for them.