Care Sheet for Geckos: LeopardAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.00 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 10/06/2005 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Geckos: Leopard |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Rien |
Years Experience: | Under 1 Year |
Species: | Leopard Gecko |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | N/A |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Male leopard geckos have two hemipenal bulges at the base of their tail and a row of visible V shaped preanal pores just above their vent. Females have no bulges or preanal pores. Females tend to be larger in size than males and will sometimes lay infertile eggs or absorb the infertiles when no male is present. |
Mostly Active During: | Night |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Some good substrates to use are reptile carpet (found at petsmart/petco), tile, paper towel, and non-adhesive shelf liner (found at walmart).
It is not uncommon for new leopard gecko owners to be told by breeders or pet store employees that the best substrate is sand. This is not true. Your leo can ingest the sand and become impacted especially if it is under 6 inches in length. Calci-sand is not digestible as you may also be told. Because it contains calcium, leos are even more likely to eat it and become impacted or damage something in their digestive system.
Stay away from particle substrates such as sand, bark, etc.
You should provide your gecko with an easily accessible water dish on the warm side of the tank. Try to eliminate the harmful chemicals found in tap water such as chlorine by using either filtered water or something like Calcimize Conditioner which neutralizes the chemicals and even adds calcium to the water. My personal opinion is that filtering is the better way to go rather than neutralizing chemicals. |
Lighting and UVB: | Leopard geckos do not require UVA or UVB since they mostly hide during the day. You should still get a heat lamp to help provide heat and simulate the day/night cycle. There are also lights available for viewing your leo at night such as "moonlight" or "nightglow" bulbs which are made with blue glass to look like the light the moon gives off. There are also infrared bulbs. The light from these bulbs can not be seen by leopard geckos so it won’t disturb them at night. Some people will leave these on all day and night when extra heating is needed to maintain the proper temperature in the tank. Leopard geckos are not too big on basking though. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | There should be a warm side and a cool side to the tank. The warm side should be 85 - 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the cool side 75 - 80 degrees during the day. At night, the warm side should be 80 - 85 degrees and the cool side right around 75. Keep a thermometer on the warm side and another on the cool side.
Leopard geckos live in arid grasslands and don’t require a lot of humidity. Too much, in fact, can cause respiratory problems. Do not mist the tank and keep it fairly dry inside. Although you should provide your gecko with a humid hide on the warm side of the tank to aid in shedding. |
Heating and Equipment: | The amount of things needed to heat the tank to the proper temperature will depend on the size of the tank and average temperature of the room you have it in. You should use an undertank heater (UTH) on the side of the tank with the heat lamp and humid hide on it to make that the warm side. An UTH helps get heat to their bellies to aid in digestion. Some people use heat tape as well but I’ve never found it necessary with my 20 gallon tank.
Do not use a heat rock, covered or not, with your lizard. Heat rocks can get too hot and burn your gecko or even catch on fire and kill it. If you really want a warmer place for your gecko to lay, provide it with a piece of tile or terra cotta on the warm side of the tank which will absorb and retain heat from the heat lamp and UTH without getting hot enough to burn or risking fire.
Besides the humid hide, you should also have a dry hide on the warm side and another on the cool side to allow your lizard to cool off or warm up as it needs to. If you have the room, you can add a second water dish to the cool side as well if you want to but it isn’t needed. Leopard geckos enjoy exploring to get exercise at night so provide yours with things to climb on and explore like store-bought climbing rocks for lizards or fish, thick store-bought branches (NOT ones from outside. They may contain parasites or chemicals), lizard hammocks, or even something like a paper towel or toilet paper roll. You can decorate with fake plants but live plants and cactuses are not a good idea since they might be poisonous or harmful to your gecko. |
Caging Provided: | You should have 10 gallons to every leopard gecko. This means that for one leo, you can get a 10 gallon tank minimum. Two leos, a 20 gallon tank. Although above the minimum certainly wouldn’t be bad. Be sure not to house two male geckos together because they will fight. All females should do okay. A male and a female (or females) together in one tank will most likely breed which can be stressful on the female(s). Also know that leopard geckos are just fine housed alone. They do not need a roommate to be happy. One more thing to note when housing leos together is that they should be around the same size. If one is smaller than the other, it can get bullied. Bullying can be simply that the other leo is eating all the food first or it could be that the bigger one is biting the smaller one which is a serious danger. They also will be plain stressed out if they are different sizes. So keep them close in size. |
Diet: | Carnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Leopard geckos are insectivores. Some good foods are silkworms (silkies), superworms, mealworms (mealies), butter worms, waxworms, and crickets (crix).
The best staple available for leopard geckos is silkworms. They have no hard shell and are jam packed calcium, proteins, vitamins and nutrients. They aren’t commonly sold at pet stores but you can order them at http://www.silkwormfarm.com or http://silkworms.ca
Superworms are good for leos but can be too large. Also found here: http://www.silkworms.ca/prod01.htm
Mealworms are pretty nutritious and come in a variety of sizes at most pet stores. They are a very common staple. Also found here: http://www.silkworms.ca/prod01.htm
Butter worms are high in calcium. They have a higher calcium content than any other feeder insect equal in size. Reptiles are supposedly attracted to their sweet smell and bright orange coloration. I have heard that these, like waxworms, should only be fed as treats. Also found here: http://www.silkworms.ca/prod01.htm
Waxworms are a tasty treat for lizards. They are especially good if your leo has lost weight from hibernating, laying eggs, or being sick. But don’t feed more than one of these two or three times a week. They are fatty and addictive and may cause your leo to turn down the more healthy foods. All the fat in them can also cause fatty liver disease. Also found here: http://www.silkworms.ca/prod01.htm
Crickets are probably the most common staple for leopard geckos and are especially good when gutloaded and dusted with calcium/vitamins. These are found at most pet stores. Also found here: http://www.silkworms.ca/prod01.htm
Don’t feed just one insect to your gecko. Mix and match to create a variety in your leo’s diet to keep it healthy and strong. Also know that every leopard gecko is different in their food preferences. Some will turn down crickets and chow on mealies, some may only eat silkies but still accept crickets, they’re all different!
Also do not feed your leo pinkies (baby mice)! Leopard geckos can no digest the bones in mice and aren’t made to eat them. Don’t feed them to your leo no matter how big or old it is. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | Leopard geckos need calcium and can’t overdose on it. You can get this to them by both dusting their food with calcium powder and offering them a small dish filled with calcium powder so they can get as much as they need. Gravid females and growing hatchlings/juveniles need even more than normal. In the dish kept in their tank, use plain calcium WITHOUT vitamin D3. Dust their food with calcium WITH vitamin D3 once a week and the rest of the time, plain calcium. Most pet stores should carry the powder. There are special cricket dusters you can buy to make dusting easier and some pet stores will dust the crickets for you when you buy them. |
Maintenance: | To keep your leopard gecko healthy, you need to clean the tank once a week and change their water every day. Every so often you should give their entire setup a good scrub down with a cleaner like Wipeout for reptiles. Clean all their furniture and everything.
When feeding, remove any food not eaten in 15 minutes. Some insects will nibble on your leo’s toes and eyelids while it’s sleeping and cause damage. Crickets are mostly known for this. If you can’t remove them, place some of the insects’ food like gutloader or a slice of apple in the tank so they have something besides feces and lizard toes to eat.
Feed hatchlings and juveniles every day and adults can go with being fed every other day. |
Some Words on this Species: | N/A |
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