Care Sheet for Geckos: LeopardAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 3.89 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 01/14/2006 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Geckos: Leopard |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Eidechse |
Years Experience: | 10 to 15 Years |
Species: | Leopard Gecko |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | N/A |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Younger specimens are more difficult, but adults can readily be told apart by hemipenile swellings in the male, which are absent in the female. Males also have a V-shaped row of pre-anal pores, that are nearly nonexistent in the female. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Young and smaller geckos need to be housed in substrates that they are not capable of ingesting and becoming impacted; newspaper works fine. Bark substrates can also be used but are not as safe as newspaper(never use cedar or other aromatic shavings). Large geckos can get impacted but the danger is much less. Sand can be dangerous, but if certain factors are considered it can be used successfully. First only the largest geckos should be housed with sand and even still precautions must be taken. Sand is not just sand! Only very fine sand such as repti-sand should be used. Many people have gotten by with normal play ground sand, that is of a much coarser consistency, but that is much less safe and why take the risk.There is always a debate about whether if sand is safe or not. I use sand but those who are against it express a very real concern that should be considered. Calcium should always be offered in a dish, but having it also reduces the risk of your gecko ingesting sand for calcium. Food should be offered in a dish or feed outside of the cage, if sand is used, in order to prevent accidental ingestion. If sand is too much worry for you, turf can be used as long as the edges don’t fray, bark works fine, and large stones or flat rocks. I would not recommend calci-sand because it seems like it would encourage ingestion and even though it supposedly passes harmlessly through the ingestor’s system, I am sure that is only in the case of small amounts being accidentally ingested but a leopard gecko is likely to consume large quantities alone. Again never use any type of aromatic wood shavings(cedar, pine, etc.), sand with juveniles, mosses, or any other substrate that can be easily ingested. Although leopard geckos seldom drink, fresh water should always be available.
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Lighting and UVB: | Leopard geckos are nocturnal so UV lighting is not necessary. Only if the light is to be used as a heating agent, must it be used. Day lights and especially night lights are always nice for viewing, but are not needed. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | 80 to 90 degrees is good for the day and 70 to 75 at night. Leopard geckos need a moist hide and a dry hide. Vermiculite can be used to heighten the humidity in the moist hide which is necessary to aid shedding. Never use potting soil for this unless if it does not contain perolite. |
Heating and Equipment: | There should be a warm side of the cage and a cool side, this way the leopard gecko can regulate its body heat properly. ceramic heat lamps, heat lights, and reptile under the cage heating pads. Of course no heat rocks!
Two or three hides are are needed for leopard geckos, one moist, the others dry and the moist burrow should be in between the warm and cool sides of the enclosure in some opinions as well as mine. |
Caging Provided: | I use a 20 gallon wide aquarium for my adult female. The back wall has rocky caves, one moist, the others dry, that I made from heavy foundation stones, with lighter flat rocks and attractive stones on top and around. I mixed repti-sand with many walnut to apple sized rocks that I found in the Great Basin Desert and planted a few arid region succulent plants and miniature shrubs. This gives a very authentic appearance to the leopard gecko’s natural habitat. I use a night heat lamp always for heat and nocturnal viewing as well as a day lamp that produces little heat but helps my plants grow. |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Meal worms and crickets as a stable every day, as well as wax worms as an occasional treat. Even if you live in an area free of insecticide usage, don’t use wild caught insects, who knows what kind of defense chemicals they will release when attacked. Meal worm beetles do this also and my leopard will not touch them. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | Reptile calcium powder should be dusted on food every other day. |
Maintenance: | Leopard geckos thankfully tend to defecate in one spot so cleaning is easy, of course if the substrate begins to smell or is just getting beat it should be changed. The moist hide should always be kept moist. Handling a few times a week helps keep ensure a relaxed leopard gecko. Daily feeding are necessary as said earlier and that pretty much sums it up. |
Some Words on this Species: | I have cared for armadillo lizards, many species of anoles, geckos, chameleons, and swifts, and I think the leopard gecko is far superior as a pet and is one of the few that has any business being a pet as long as they were captive breed. Even still, if one looks to purchase a leopard gecko ask to hold it to check if it’s alert. Also watch for nasal discharge, sheddings stuck to toes, or substrate stuck around the anus.
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