Take Care of Your New Leopard Gecko
Leopard geckos are great beginner lizards. They are very docile, are rated as "easy" to take care of and have wonderful personalities. This article will show you how to provide a home for a Leopard gecko.
Contents
Steps
- Get the right environment. A Leopard gecko does great in {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} tanks pretty much all of their life. Although they are desert geckos, it is recommended that Leopard geckos have either paper towels, newspaper, reptile carpet, or tile lined at the bottom of their enclosure. Do not use sand or any other loose substrate, as the gecko could accidently ingest it while eating, which can cause deadly intestinal impaction which may cause expensive trips to the vet. Image:Take Care of Your New Leopard Gecko Step 1.jpg|center]]
- Take care of lighting, heating, temperature and health. The leopard gecko is nocturnal, which means that they are mostly active at night, so unlike diurnal(active during the day) lizards, who require a UVB light, Leopard geckos whoever do not require any UVB lighting (though it certainly doesn't hurt to have!)
Unless your house gets too cold at night (below 60 degrees), no nighttime basking lights are required. Since leopard geckos absorb heat from their bellies for food digestion, it is required to buy one appropriate sized under-tank heating mat. Stick the heat mat underneath one side of the tank for heat distribution, never put the heat mat in the tank with the gecko as it can cause serious burns on their stomachs (if you are setting your tank on a wood desktop you probably want to put a towel underneath the heat mat to prevent a fire risk, however it is extremely unlikely for a heat mat to get that hot). If you are using a nighttime basking light, it needs to go into a reptile heat dome and turned on above the same side of the heat mat.Temperature should be around 75-90 degrees Fahrenheit (23-32 degrees Celsius) during the daytime, and 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit (18-23 degrees Celsius) at night. Your Gecko's tank should have a cool side, and a warm side. You will want to buy two reptile thermometers so that you can place one on the warm side, and one on the cool side to measure temperature. The warm side should be no higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) and on the cool side should be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius)
- Set up your tank correctly. Leopard geckos should have two hides, one on the warm side, and one on the cold side. Leopard geckos should have a mealworm bowl, and a calcium powder bowl if you aren't dusting the food. They will also need a water dish (big enough for the gecko to fit in) and they will need one of the two hides(the hide preferably on the cool side) to be filled with moss that you can buy from the pet store (try to avoid getting anything from the wild as it can carry mites that can be passed to your gecko). You should mist this moss regularly when the gecko is shedding.
- Check on its health. A healthy leopard gecko will show great alacrity, have bright vivid colors, will have eyes wide open, will have a tail size that is identical to the width between the eyes, and will easily shed over one night. An unhealthy gecko may appear very thin, weak, have sunken in eyes, show lethargy(no interest), and have runny or no droppings. Consult a vet, a local pet store, or an online forum for help with an unhealthy gecko.
- Feed your leopard gecko. Leopard geckos should be fed crickets and mealworms as a stable diet. For babies, feed daily. For adults, feed every other day. Feed your gecko as many insects as they will eat in 15 minutes, and make sure to dust your crickets and mealworms with calcium dust right before feeding so that your gecko does not get calcium deficiency (a bone disease that reptiles get from lack of calcium due to them being in captivity). To do so, put a certain number of crickets/mealworms into a zip block bag filled with a little bit of calcium and shake lightly until they are coated white. Feed them to the gecko. It is important to note that you do not want to put all the crickets that you buy into the tank all at once with the gecko due to the risk of uneaten crickets picking and eating at the sleeping gecko's skin. It is best to put the crickets in a bug keeper until next feeding. Make sure you are feeding your crickets, or they will not last very long at all. Food options for crickets are: cricket chow that you buy from your local pet store along with cricket water gel (water gel must be purchased along with cricket chow to ensure hydration for your crickets. It also prevents your crickets from drowning in a full dish of water) or you could feed them vegetables from your fridge(avoid iceberg lettuce as it has very little nutrition), or a raw potato slice, and change it out everyday. Keep these food options in the bug keeper with the crickets in two little bottle caps. This will ensure your crickets will live longer and also to gut load them for your gecko so that he/she can get nutrition out of them (remember: what your crickets eat, your gecko will eat too). Also note that mealworms are only for treats, and must only be fed at most a few, 2 times a week. Too many of these may cause intestinal impaction due to their tough exoskeletons. Baby leopard geckos are more prone to impaction from mealworms so try to stay away from them until the gecko is about 6 inches long. Mealworms must be kept in the fridge so that they do not turn into beetles.
- Handle them with care, although they tend to cope well with it. Do not squeeze your grip while handling, they will squirm and possibly bite. In a way, a Leopard gecko will show you how he/she wants to be handled. Your leopard gecko will warm up to you with regular handling, however do not handle them excessively within the first 48 hours of getting them as they may be very stressed and need time to adjust with his/her new surroundings (try handling them in the evening as they will most likely be awake then). However, this doesn't mean that every leopard gecko likes to be held. It is always best to try to handle the gecko before buying to test this if you want to be able to hold it. Also note to never pick them up by the tail, as they will drop their tail if frightened. Their tail will grow back, but it won't grow back the same(it will look fatter). If your gecko does drop his/her tail, line new paper towels down on the bottom of the tank and leave the towels there for about 72 hours, or until his/her wounded tail is sealed up. In the meantime, pick up anything loose in the tank that may cause infection.
Tips
- If your leopard gecko is a bit twitchy and freaks out when you are handling it that means that it hasn't been handled a lot before. If your gecko is just a hatchling then that is a normal instinct.
- When choosing your gecko, look for a gecko with great health, that has all of its toes, a thick tail, with bright clear eyes. Despite popular belief, a regenerated tail does NOT necessarily mean they have a health problem and should be ignored. *To sex a leopard gecko, look under the beginning of the tail.
Warnings
- For a substrate, do not use a sand mat. The meal worms will hide under the mat, grow into adult beetles, and nibble off the gecko's toes.
- Do not harass a Leopard gecko's tail, as it will drop its tail. Always watch your gecko when handling it.
Related Articles
- Care for a Leopard Gecko
- Care for a Leopard Gecko Egg
