Begginers Leopard gecko care

[Austin]

Leopard geckos are a very popular pet, and this information is just to start a beginner off. If you have any specific questions, pm me or post here.


Keep in mind that some of this information is debatable, it is certainly not the only way to do things, just some of the more common.

Origin-general information.
Eublepharis macularius are from Pakistan,Afghanistan, and from some areas of India. They are ground-dwelling nocturnal geckos. They are from the desert, but are found on hard clay, and rocks(as opposed to loose sand).

Housing.
Leopard geckos are very simple to house for. You will need a minimum of a 10 gallon tank to house one leopard gecko. Males should not be housed together. Leopard geckos of the opposite gender may be housed together, sometimes female and male leopard geckos will fight, if this happens, separate them.
As far as substrate ("ground cover") goes, you will want to use paper towel, newspaper,tile/slate, or reptile carpet. Sand is a no no, it can cause impaction and kill your gecko.

In your geckos tank, you will need three hides. One cool hide, one warm, and one humid. Humid hides can be made by cutting a whole in a Tupperware container and putting some wet paper towel in it. Leopard geckos need belly heat to aid in digestion. An under tank heater is recommended,but not necessary. An overhead heat lamp (make sure the temps don't go over 92) can be used.
Feeding.

Leopard geckos will eat a variety of things. Some of the most popular are meal worms, super worms, crickets, and roaches. It's good to feed a variety. Dust all of your feeders with pure calcium,vitamins, and calcium w/d3. Heres the schedule I use. D3 is used by the geckos to help "take in" (for lack of a better word) the calcium.

Mon-pure calcium
Tues-pure calcium
Weds-calcium w/d3
Thurs-nothing
Friday-vitamins
sat-nothing
sun-nothing

Breeding

I do not have any experience with breeding leopard geckos. So I can't be much of help here. But I have one thing to add. When a male and female leopard gecko are getting ready to mate, the male will bite the female. This is normal, the female will sometimes bite back or will not.

When a female lays her eggs, she needs extra calcium.

Handling.

Leopard geckos can be very calm, and easy to handle. If you decide to handle your gecko, make sure you don't just grab him by the waste, and especially not the tail, as it will fall off. Lay your hand in his enclosure a few inches away for him. Wait for him to sniff/lick you, and he may eventually crawl onto your hand. If you startle, or make your gecko feel threatened, he may bite you. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt.

[drm1217]

This is a really good thread, very interesting but simple. Even though I have no intentions of buying a leopard gecko

[Austin]

Thanks.

[Jumpshot724]

I've never seen a Leopard Gecko housed with any other substrate than calci-sand.

If you use a feed bowl, is it "ok" at least to use sand, since there shouldn't be any sand in the feed bowl?? I'm aware of the risks from impaction (from my FBTs, luckily no incidents yet) but my girlfriends leopard gecko tank is already set up with calci-sand....

Also, how often should regular cleanings be done?? Obviously spot-cleaning daily is a must but I'm talking about full on tank stripping and scrub down.

[Austin]

Hey

Every set up you've seen has been dangerous to the inhabitants well-being. I don't know if you've noticed this, but leopard geckos lick. Everything. They are licking all of the time to smell, and they will lick the sand. I know it's not that much, and it takes a lot to get a leopard gecko impacted. But, calci-sand is even worse. The geckos will purposely eat the calci-sand because it has calcium in it. Then when it gets in the geckos digestive system it becomes sticky, and very hard to digest.

If you use the food bowl w/calci sand, you can only feed worms. No crickets, no roaches. No variety.
I'd just be safe and use paper towel, reptile carpet, or tiles. Of course, theres nothing I can do to stop you and your girlfriend from using the calcisand, but just a word of caution.

Full cleanings should be done once every 1-3 months. If you notice the sand becoming very dirty, or just feel like it's time for a clean, go for it

[Jumpshot724]

Fair enough.

I guess we'll just keep it as is until the first major cleaning since it's already set up. I'll guy buy some slate or something to at least minimize the amount of sand exposed. In the meantime, is there any other calcium method the geckos might prefer so they don't eat too much sand?? Like a calcium lick or something lol??

Also, as far as foods go why wouldn't a combination of wax worms and mealworms be sufficient??

After that, what other kind of substrates would you reccomend?? We're into the naturalistic set-ups so most of your options in the original post don't fit what we want, aside from slate but an entirely slate set-up would look funny.

[darc]

I use natural stone tiles as the substrate for my leo, with a little coco husk in the cracks to keep them from moving around.

-darc

[beckdg]

as far as i know you can also use larger rocks and a desert motif b/g that extends to cover the floor as well as the options stated below... a few potters can be worked in if you can find the right plants and use a leca/stone instead of potting soil... maybe even moss if it's not overdone... am i correct austin???

this should help anyone trying to create a more naturalistic look.