Care Sheet for Geckos: LeopardAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.33 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 05/26/2005 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Geckos: Leopard |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | LGL |
Years Experience: | 1 to 2 Years |
Species: | Leopard Geckos |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | This care sheet covers almost all the things you need to know on the Leopard Gecko, (Eublepharis macularius). |
Sexing and Characteristics: | You can’t be absolutely sure until about 3-5 months of age, although some people choose to wait until the specimen is 1 year old to guaranty the sex of the animal. Males will have Hemipenial Bulges and Pre-Anal Pores at the base of the tail or the ’vent area’. Though females do have the Pre-Anal Pores, they are not all that visible compared to a male’s pores. Females won’t have the Hemipenial Bulges either, although hey might have little bumps, but they don’t stand out as much as the male’s bumps. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | For baby and juvenile Leopard Geckos, you should always use paper towels as a substrate. Never use sand for baby or juvenile Leopard Geckos because it can cause impaction. Impaction is when something (such as sand) gets caught in the digestive system and blocks other food, nutrients, etc from passing which can kill your Leopard Gecko. For adults you can use paper towel, newspaper, or a VERY fine grain sand. There is still the risk of impaction, so be very cautious when using sand.
You should provide a shallow water bowl to put fresh, clean water for your Leopard Geckos in. You should refill it whenever there isn’t much water left in it. You should take it out and clean it completely, refill it, and then put it back in the tank at least once every week. |
Lighting and UVB: | Since Leopard Geckos are nocturnal, (active during the night) they don’t need any UVB lighting, but you can use it if you choose to because it can’t harm them. They don’t need any special lighting either. You can use a desk lamp with a 60 watt bulb, which is what I use for my 6 Leopard Geckos. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | Temperatures should be should be 80-95 degrees during the day, and 70-80 degrees during the night. Temperatures should never be above 95 degrees at any time, they should never go below 80 degrees during the day, and they should never go below 75 degrees at night.
Humidity should be kept low, or your Leopard Gecko can suffer respiratory problems. Some Leopard Geckos will experience shedding problems if there is no humidity whatsoever, especially on the toes. If you see that your Gecko is shedding, or having trouble shedding, you should mist the tank, or put a moist hide in the tank to make it more humid so your Leopard Gecko’s shed skin doesn’t get stuck on the toes because the skin will harden and block the blood from flowing into the toe which might result in the loss of the toe. A moist hide can be constructed by flipping a Plastic Container over and cutting a hole that is 2-3 times the size of your Leopard Gecko. (To make sure your Leopard Gecko doesn’t get stuck.) You should make sure that the sides of the hole in the side if the plastic container is smooth as not to injure your Leopard Gecko. After you have done this, you should fill it up with either damp, but not wet peat moss or damp, but not wet sphagnum moss. |
Heating and Equipment: | You can either have a heat pad under one side of the tank, or you can have a heat lamp shining on one side of the tank. If you choose a heat pad, it should go underneath the tank on one side. If you choose a heat lamp, you should set it next to the tank pointing it towards one side of the tank. If you would like, you can use both, but then you would have to make sure that it isn’t too hot during the day. |
Caging Provided: | Just about everything works. A ten-gallon tank is ideal for a pair of Adult Leopard Geckos, but make sure that they are either both female, or a male and a female (you will probably get eggs that might be fertilized if they are both mature and the female is heavy enough to breed) as males tend to fight because they are territorial. Leopard Geckos don’t have any adhesive pads on their toes, so a screen lid is not necessary, but it may keep any extra crickets in, and the family pet out!!! |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | When you buy a Leopard Gecko, ask the person that you are buying from what the Leopard Gecko that you are buying is feeding on. Mealworms or pinhead crickets are ideal for juvenile Leopard Geckos, while crickets are ideal for adult Leopard Geckos. If you are feeding mealworms, you should keep them in a shallow bowl to keep them from burrowing into the substrate, and from hiding from your Leopard Gecko. You can take the crickets hind legs of so they can’t escape as easily. You can gut load Crickets and Mealworms by giving them and piece of fruit or a piece of a vegetable with either fish food or dog food that isn�t dyed in the container that you keep your feeder insects in, and let them eat for at least 24 hours before offering them to your Leopard Geckos. You should dust all of your feeding insects with Reptile Calcium or Repti-Cal at least once every other week unless it is a breeding female, then you would need to dust the feeder insect daily. You can give wax-worms as occasional treats to your Leopard Geckos, but only like once every 1-2 months at the maximum because wax-worms are very addictive and very high in fat. You should only use to fatten up a Leopard Gecko that is VERY skinny that really needs fattening up. You can give a breeding female some pinky mice as well, but the Leopard Gecko should be like two years old in before they start eating pinkies as an occasional treat when breeding. Pinky mice are baby mice that are only 1-2 days old. They are called pinky mice because of the fact that baby mice are normally pink when they are 1-2 days old. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | You should dust your feeder insects with some kind of reptile calcium powder that has vitamin D3 such as ReptoCal. You should also have a dish in the cage with out vitamin D3 such as Rep-Cal. These should be available at your local pet store if they sell reptiles. |
Maintenance: | Breeding: The breeding season for the Leopard Gecko is usually January-October. The female should be at least 1 year old , 45-50+ grams, and the male should be 1-2 years old. You will need to put the male in the tank with the female for about one week. In this time, the male will follow the female around and eventually bite the female on the neck. After he bites the female Leopard Gecko, he will get on top of her and line up his vent area with hers. This will only take a few minuets, and you should not disturb them. Females can retain sperm, so you won’t have to put a male with her until the next breeding season. In the next few weeks, you should provide a small dish or a water bottle lid with calcium in the female’s tank so she can get calcium whenever she needs it. You should also dust all of your feeder insects with calcium daily for your female. Egg Laying will normally take place 3-4 weeks after mating takes place. A week or two after mating, you may be able to see the eggs if you hold her up in a plastic container and look at her stomach. If you can see them, then she is gravid. A gravid female should have an egg-laying box to lay her eggs in. An egg-laying box is the same thing as a moist hide. Over the next few days, your female Leopard Gecko will spend lots of time in the egg-laying box which is where she will most likely lay her eggs. You should set up your incubator when your female Leopard Gecko is gravid, because you need to have your incubator up and running before you get eggs. If you see your female laying the eggs, do not disturb her and don’t take out the eggs until she has finished burring them, then you should take the eggs out and put them in the incubator. You can just buy an incubator like the highly recommended hovabator, or you can make one on your own. If you incubate some eggs around 80 degrees, you will get mostly females. If you incubate some eggs at about 90 degrees, you will get mostly males. |
Some Words on this Species: | This species is easy to care for, breed, and is fun to own. I would say that it is probably the best pet reptile to have for beginners and for professionals! They rarely bite, they don’t require pinky mice, (although you can give them to a 2 year old breeding female) and they don’t require any special lighting. Plus, you can go on vacation for like 4 days and they will be fine if you fill their water bowl to the top, you put in a lot of crickets, and you have your lighting on a timer. There are many morphs to choose from. Their price ranges from like $10.00-$2,000 depending on the morph and what age it is. If you still have a question, you can contact me through the message center, or you can go to the Leopard Gecko Forum or the Breeding Leopard Gecko Forum. |
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