Care Sheet for Geckos: LeopardAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.29 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 01/14/2007 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Geckos: Leopard |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Go Speedracers |
Years Experience: | 3 to 5 Years |
Species: | Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | Just Leopard Geckos |
Sexing and Characteristics: | The only reliable way to sex your leos is to look at their underside. Males will have a V shape of pores (preanal pores)
and a pair of hemipenal swellings at the base of their tail. Females lack these. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Absolutely no particle substrates (substrate is a fancy word for the stuff you put at the bottom of your tank) like sand, calcium sand no matter what it tells you is not digestible, it gums up in the digestive system, resulting in usually fatalities. Bark, gravel, walnut shells (VERY BAD) or anything loose is bad. Squee (sorry for giving your name out) has a great solution to give to your leo if it is impacted, lots of other board members have tips to get rid of the impaction. Good substrates are paper towels, newspaper, repti-carpet, tiles (my favorite)
A water bowl should be provided at all times. Replace water every day. Make sure the dish is not so deep so that the leo can drown. |
Lighting and UVB: | A day/night cycle should be put into place by heat lamps with a bright and dark bulb. Red bulbs can be used throughout the day, just make sure the day/night cycle is in place. Leopard Geckos do not require any UVB or special lighting as they are nocturnal, and hide mostly through the day. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | Leopard geckos need a warm side (88 degrees or close) and a cool side (80 degrees or so) The warm side can be provided by a heat lamp or a heat pad. The heat pad should be placed underneath the tank where you want the warm side to be. The heating pad should be preferably connected to a thermostat to regulate the temps, as the pads can overheat.
Humidity should be under 40%. A humid box should be provided. It can be simply made of a tupperware container with a entrance hole cut into it, filled with moist bed-a-beast, eco-earth, sphagnum moss, or moist paper towels. |
Heating and Equipment: | The heating lamp and pad mentioned above should be good enough for heat. Wattage depends on the size of your tank. |
Caging Provided: | One leopard gecko should be fine in a 10 gallon, but this is how i think the sizes should be:
1- 20 gallon
2- 25-30 gallon
3- 30 gallon
4- 40-45 gallon
5- 50 gallon
and so on...
A lid is necessary. Two hides (one on the cool side, one on the warm side) are needed, and the humid hide. Leos are not arboreal (they stick to the ground) but i find they like climbing on a fake plant or branch once in a while. Plants is your choice. Fake are way easier to take care of, they don’t need special lights or watering. A water dish can be commercially bought or simply a jar lid. |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Leos are insectivores, they eat bugs, and lots of em. Crickets are the way to go. Mealworms do not have as much nutrition but are still fine for a diet. Silkworms have the best nutrition you can find on the market. They are soft also, unlike mealworms who have a very chitinous shell. Waxworms can be fed as a treat, 1 or 2 a week should be good. Feed your geckos every other day (3 times a week) as much as they will eat in about a half an hour. 15 insects or 10 should be enough for the leos each feeding, though sometimes they will eat much more (my gecko ate about 30 mealies once) Gut load your insects with fruits and veggies (apples, oranges, carrots, raw potatoes) Commercial gut loads are in stores today and they look good. Water can be provided with cricket gel (at stores) or cotton soaked with water so the crickets don’t drown. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | You will need: Multivitamins and calcium with d3. Reptivite and Herpivite are good. Pure calcium should also be bought. Put the pure calcium in a small dish inside the tank at all times, the leos will lick this to maintain their calcium intake.
Dust the insects with the D3 twice a week, and multivitamins once a week. |
Maintenance: | Leos are very low maintenance. Scoop out their poop and other dead insects, every day. They will poop in one particular corner, and always go there. That ways you do not need to search for their bathroom spots all the time. Replace the substrate as necessary (repti-carpet can be thrown in the washer individually, and throw in a spare while the other is washing) Clean out their water dish weekly, and you should disinfect the whole enclosure every month or two, depending how dirty it is. Make sure all odors or fumes are gone before placing your leo back in. |
Some Words on this Species: | Leos are very easy to maintain and are very docile and calm while being handled. They are a very good beginner pet. Don’t hold them too frequently though, or they will get stressed. The biggest mistake people make is thinking leos natural substrate is sand. It is not. It is a hard layer of clay and dirt baked in the sun, with a very FINE layer of sand (dust-like) over top. That does not mean you can put them knee deep into sand. Leos make very good pets and should not be mistreated. Make sure to also bring it to a reptile vet once a month for check-ups for any harmful bacteria. Leos should also be bought captive bred. That means no harmful bacterias from the wild, that could cost you a fortune to fix. Leos come in many morphs and colors. They are beautiful pets to own. |
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