Buying A Leo

Hi there!
I'm new to this forum and reptiles as a whole but I'm considering buying a leopard gecko and I've done my research but i want to know how other people find them. Are they easy to look after or should i just leave it?
Many thanks
Jess x

Hi Jess,
Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your time here.
As long as you have researched everything and get them everything they need they are easy to look after. Just make sure you get them from somewhere that knows what they are doing and where all the animals look nice and healthy ie bright eyes & nice fat tail.
Hope this helps
Sam x

Heyy
Welcome to the forum
Once you know what you are doing and how to care for them.. and you have all your tank set-up perfectly.. they are quite easy to care for IMO.

Leos are likely the easiest herps to look after as long as you start with a healthy animal. I would suggest starting with one at least 4 months old to a year (a juvie or subdult) as they are a lot less fragile than hatchlings or young juvies (under 4 months old). Please read the housing section sticky about proper housing as it will give you the best ideas on how to set up your viv and also what to look out for when considering store bought leos, if they can't even get viv husbandry right what's to say they aren't screwing other things up too. Absolutely avoid any leos that have been housed on sand or other loose substrait as they could have the starts of a bad impaction issue. Always try to buy from a breeder. It may be more expensive but you'll spend twice that trying to fix a ill kept potentially sick leo.

Welcome to the forum and thank you for doing your research before invsting in a pet. Feel free to ask anything you please, the only stupid question is the question not asked. take a second and review the forum's rules when you get a chance

Hi, I agree with all my fellow forum members above, just wanted to say hello and of course as Kel said, ask all the question you have!

Thanks a lot. What do you guys do when you're going on holiday?

Depends on how long your gone. Leave an extra dish of food and water. Have a friend stop by. They can go up to around 4-5 days without food but need water every day.

Kermit wrote:They can go up to around 4-5 days without food but need water every day.

Strictly speaking, gecko's can go months without food and weeks without water.
So your gecko will be fine when you get back.

Obviously to avoid any weight loss though, it would be wise to give the extra food and water dish. You'll likely have a hungry gecko when you get back too.

what's the maximum amount of time you can leave it for without food or water? So i should just leave it with extra food and get a friend to give it fresh water every day? Would that be ok. How long can it go without food?

I've got a female at the moment who is refusing to eat due to ovulation, and she hasn't eaten in about a month, and has lost a total of 2 grams, no biggy. But in the wild they can go sometimes go 3 months or so without food. So longer than that...

But 2 big bowls of food, and someone to provdie cleanw ater everyday would be perfect for it.
I don't want to condone leaving gecko's without food for months

Thanks but how can you put crickets in a bowl? And what about water.

what else do they eat apart from insects? Insects can get out of bowls, can't they?

wait! How do you look at your mail???

Crickets will jump out of the bowls.. but you just put some in the tank for your leopard gecko to eat and also add some carrot soo that the crickets will eat it and not bother your leopard gecko. It will eat the crickets if it's hungry.. check back in about 30 mins and remove any that it hasn't eaten.

Leopard gecko are insectivores.. they only eat insects. There are loads of different insects that they are eat.. morioworms/superworms, mealworms, waxworms (as a treat), silkworms, crickets, locust, dubai roaches...

There are special dishes that you can get with a curved top soo that the mealworms and morioworms cannot climb out.

I meant mealworms to be honest.
Mealworms are normally fed in a bowl, and a lot easier than crickets.

By the way, you can always use the edit button on your posts, if you missed out any questions.

oh right ok.
So can i give it it's food just before i go to bed or should i make sure that i'm able to take out remaining food in 30 mins?
Do i have to put in a calcium dish or is it ok just to put powder on all it's food? What's the best food i could give it that's easy to get a hold of?
and thanks for the tip Jordan.

Well some people do leave the crickets in the tank.. but because they can annoy your gecko and stress it out a little.. it is best to take out the ones that it doesn't eat.

You can feed the gecko can hour for you go to bed.. just put them in the tank and leave a bit of carrot in there for the crickets to eat.. and check back to see if they have been eaten.

You need to dust your crickets with the powder you can buy called live food dusting powder or something like that. I use komodo insect dusting powder. it's about £3 a tub and lasts for ages.

Then I leave a little bottle cap filled with pure calcium powder in the tank. I use exoterra calcium for that.. and its £1.99

If you use a powder called Nutrobol.. you can just dust the live foods and don't need to leave any in the tank.. but Nutrobol can be abit expensive.

I personally think mealworms and morioworms are the best food.. because they are easy to keep, they don't make sounds and annoy me while im trying to sleep like crickets do, crickets smell The mealworms/morioworms are easy to gut load with food and they can be kept in little tubs.

Cool but aren't the electricity bills quite expensive??

I don't know much about the electricity bills because my mom pays them :P
But i don't think it's expensive to run a heat mat for one tank.

A heat mat for one tank will not make a difference on your hydro bill. I am running four heat mats and 6 strings of heat cable and there ha been a very minimal change so one heat mat should not make a difference.

Hey welcome When I go on holiday, I leave my leopards and cresties at my local reptile shop to be looked after... Kinda like a kennels for reptiles

What about lighting?
I heard it's good to have one?

nope, no lighting is needed for leo's.

only if you have em in a room with no windows or lights.

oh thank goodness!
So no lights? Are you sure? No heat lamps? I've heard they're good.

Nope, no heatlamps are needed, you should be able to get the right temperature's with a heat mat.
No UV lights, no basking lights, no heat lamps, nothing.