Baby Leopard Gecko-Acclimation Question

Hello-

My son just got a new baby leopard gecko. We went to the pick it up on Wed. Dec. 28. It is about 4 inches long and looks to be in good health. It is alert, bright eyed, decent tail size. I have been reading care sheets and other posts and have a question that just hasn't been fully answered:

I understand that It might take up to 2 weeks for the gecko to acclimate to its new surroundings. It does not come out of its moist hide unless I get it out. It has eaten 2-3 pinhead crickets since it came home. I have a dish of small mealworms in the tank. It has defecated twice. Stools look normal.

Everything I have read so far says to leave the gecko alone until it gets acclimated. Should I get out of hide for feedings? My concern is that it could be losing weight or physically looking different. I have not got it out of its hide for the last 3 days and there is no sign of defecation or eating.

My set-up is a 20 Gallon Long tank with a moist hide on the warm side and 2 other hides, one in middle and one on cool side. I have an UTH with a thermostat that ranges in temp from 89-93 F.

When I read to leave it alone for up to 2 weeks does that mean put food in and walk away and hope everything works out?

Thanks-
LC

Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope we can help you anyway we can. I'm Kathryn.

I would just completely leave the leo alone for about a week, besides going to refill the water and putting food in the tank.

New leos, especially baby leos, are very skittish in new set-ups. I'd give the leo about a week without any handling so that it can get used to its new home. After about a week I would slowly start trying to handle it. The best way is to put your hand in the tank and letting the leo come to you.

Do you know how old the leo is? Baby leos are, as I said, very skittish. So the majority of the time they are hiding. Its a good idea to have the tank filled with LOTS of hiding places. As the leo gets older you can take any extras out (you need a minimum of 3 though - 1 hot, 1 cold, 1 humid hide). You won't see the leo roaming about very much at first.

A good purchase to make is a kitchen scale that weighs in grams. This will help you keep track of the leos weight to make sure its not losing weight. Its also cool seeing how much weight your leo gains on a week to week basis.

If its not eating, it most likely will have no need to poop. And a new leo not eating for a while is normal, its when the fasting is going on for a long time to be worried.

Good luck!

Kathryn-

Thanks for the warm welcome. I think I might have identified my problem....or one of them. I have my UTH set-up on a thermostat set for 92 F. I had my temp probe for the thermostat under the repti-carpet. I put another digital therm probe on top of the carpet and it is running about 72 F. I moved the probe to the surface of the carpet and now it is up to 83. Will a UTH warm-up the carpet to the 90-95 F range? It seems to be sitting on 83 for the last 30 minutes. I am planning to go with vinyl tile at some point. Right now I don't want to change since the gecko is probably stressed already. Thanks for your help.

I'm not sure how old the gecko is.


LC

No problem!
That is definitely a problem, lol. No wonder your leo is staying in the humid hut. Must be cold. The proper range is 88*-95*.
The UTH should warm the repticarpet to the proper temp, but if the thermostat is set at 92 and its only heating to 83 thats not good. How long has the heater been set up for? Are you turning it off at night or anything? It should stay on 24/7.
You could try switching to paper towel as substrate for now, which is thinner, so the heat won't have to go through as much to get to the leo. If the temp is slowly going up though I would continue to monitor until it seems to be at a steady temp for a few hours.

hello, and welcome to the forum. one thing to keep in mind also, is that leopard geckos are crepsucular, meaning that they are active in twilight hours, of low light, so you are not seeing your gecko out, because he is probably out during the hours you may be sleeping. so getting a small red light will increase your temps a few degrees and provide night time viewing. this is not a primary heat source, and should not be used as one, unless you have larger, thicker rocks that will hold heat, and can be used as belly heat...as the gecko will sit on the warm rock and absorb heat.i have a few display tanks with river rock as my supstrate, and some pretty large, thick pieces of rock...and i ONLY have red and purple lights heating it. i use my tempgun to check, and my surface temps stay perfect. as the rocks absorb and hold the heat, for hours after the lights would be turned off(but i leave them on 24/7). also, i would seriously invest in an infra red temp gun. these are non contact units that read SURFACE TEMPS(not air temps), and they are awesome. they range from 20 ish dollars up. i use a 50 dollar gun, and i like it more than my 300+ dollar gun. check out tempgun.com. they are absolutely a must in my opinion. you can check every inch of your enclosure(s), the heat spots, the cool spots, humid hides, water temps(which will give you the ambient temp in that area of your cage), and even the animal itself! they are the most valuable tool you can have in my opionion, and you only need one, no matter how many animals or setups you have. they are more accurate than almost any thermometer you can buy, and you can KNOW what your temps are, anywhere in your cages...i even use mine to check my kids temps!

your gecko may take a while to get used to movement, and come out when you are in front of the cage, but it will eventually....especially when they realize you are thier source of food, lol. i would also ditch the carpet, and use a paper towel, newspaper, or packing(shipping, butcher) type paper until you get your tiles.

now onto your thermostat. it should bring your temps up to par. the thing is, alot of those type of thermostats may not read an accurate temp. so if you set it for 93, and it only actually get to 87 or so...you can turn it up untill you get the proper surface temp(another reason to have a temp gun ...) you can also use a rheostat type, which is what i use on alot of my set ups, these are the manual dial type, that let you fine tune your temps. i actually go to lowes or home depot, buy a couple electric boxes, a light dimmer, and a wall plug, wire it togeather...and i have a very good quality rheostat for under fifteen bucks! i have never had one i have made fail. i also use the spyder electronics herpstats, but those are pretty pricey...but wheather you have one, or thousands of dollars worth of reptiles, they are worth it to me.

i also reccomend the proportional type of thermostats over the on/off type. the proportional ones will constantly give the heating element enough juice to keep it at a set temp....where the on/off type will raise the temps to a set temp, then shut off untill the probe cools to below a set temp, then kicks back on...i just dont like the temp fluctuations...and actually lost a fifteen hundred dollar baby green tree python because the thermostat failed, and it was in the 'on' position, and cooked my poor little baby...i was pretty upset, and will NOT use the on/off type ever again. that is also why i like the herpstats, they have double back ups, and alarms incase of any type of failure...they are backed up so they wont overheat your animals. hope i helped, let us know if we can help you with anything else, and again, welcome!

Thanks again for the info. I have the thermostat set on 92 F and then I have a separate digital temp probe that is reading 95 F next to the thermostat probe on top of the repticarpet. I think that is good. Gecko started coming out and is really exploring and eating. Thanks again.

I now understand the benefit of the proportional thermostat and wish i would have known prior to my purchase. I am going to invest in a temp gun just so I don't have an extra probe wire in tank.


Thanks-
LC

temp guns are really the way to go...you wont even need a 'regular' thermometer anymore. and that is perfect for the warm side! yes, if you are using a thermostat, proportional is the way to go for sure...i wont even use on/off types on snakes...which, after keeping reptiles for over 25 years, dont seem to mind temp fluctuations as much as most lizards do. i think the more consistant, with ANY reptile, the better off you are. some species, like green tree pythons, emerald tree boas, a few types of tree monitors, and a few others, will not tollorate fluctuations at all, and alot will go off feed, and/or get really sick...i know from experience, dont skimp on equiptment(or animals), you will pay for it in the end...kinda like green tree pythons themselves. you can go to an expo, or buy a farmed or wild caught baby online for a few hundred bucks....then it refuses to eat, probably has internal parasites, and is more than likely dehydrated and highly stressed....then by the time you spend countless hours trying everything under the sun, spend five or six hundred dollars at a vet(at least those who dont just let them die), and all the anxiety, and money....you could have SAVED by spending four or five hundred more for a professionally bred baby chondro, that is already healthy, eating, and without parasites....without ANY problems. so honestly, it is not always cheaper, to go cheaper...if ya know what i mean. i bred green tree pythons for five years, and have been asked several times why i am selling my babies for a thousand or more dollars, and the guy down the row(at an expo) has babies for three hundred...i explained the quality of my bloodlines, and the fact that 'those other gtp's' were wild caught, or farmed... on a couple of those occasions where they opted to but the cheaper chondros, they ended up spending more at a vet, and still lost the animal, and ended up buying babies from me anyways, and my babies thrived, and often ate the next day! i am nobody special, and look at myself as equal to everyone else, but if they would have listened to me in the first place, they could have had a pair of my babies for what they ended up spending...sorry for rambling, but in this hobby, buy the best you can afford, and you will never be sorry! when i buy animals, i always save untill i can buy the best bloodlines, and equiptment i can, and i promise you, i have NEVER wished i would have got the 'cheaper stuff' , and NEVER missed the extra money!

Rick-

Thanks for the advice. I agree with what you are saying. I am on the same page with you when it comes to investing in good, quality equipment. I am new to this and haven't cut any corners when I decided to get my gecko. It is really my son's animal, but I am trying to teach him the "right" way to do things. I am happy with my thermostat and set-up as it is holding between 92-95 F on the warm side. I bought my second camper first-went with 20 Gallon long instead of 10. My gecko is eating/defecating consistent with good health. Last night he ate 10 small crickets. I will keep an eye on him and if the 3 degree temp swing seems to be affecting his health I will definitely go with a proportional thermostat. I truly appreciate your feedback, but we are definitely on the same page. I might not have much experience with geckos, but the same philosophy applies to many other aspects of life-you get what you pay for, pay now instead of later..etc.

Thanks-
LC

The only thing that I think hasn't been addressed yet is the simple fact that your baby is in a 20 long. It could feel a little insecure in such a large area, but do wait out the acclimation period.

kodie, i totally see your point, but if she has enough hides, and some tight ones, the gecko will acclimate just fine.

As far as hides go, for my young one, I threw in a couple toilet paper rolls for hides. I cut them in half so they are like half logs but much smaller. They are perfect size for him because he fits in there nice and snug. Since his tail is almost all the way regenerated he's starting to stick out the ends a little bit so I'm going to tape 2 together so it's more of a tunnel. Chester is in the tubes more than the rock looking structures. And they costed me next to nothing. Plus since they are so cheap you can put a bunch in there so he has more places to hide.