Potty trained leopard gecko?

Every time my leopard gecko has had to go he goes in the same spot, in the calcium dish. After he had did it twice (Just got him Saturday.) I put in a smaller dish for calcium and left the old calcium dish in the same corner without the calcium in it. (Cleaned out the old dish each time he pooped, of course.) He pooped in the same dish yet again so it couldn't be the calcium. He also went over to the cooler end of the tank to do so. (He seems to like the warm side of the tank more even though the temperature on both sides are where they should be.) Maybe it's just that corner that he likes, I don't know. The dish isn't always right in the corner because it's round but it seems like he gets it all in the dish.

It's all fine with me because it is way easier to clean up. Just wanted to share and hear if anyone else has had anything like this.

LOL, most of them pick a spot and use it constantly. If you put a little container of sand there you will have yourself a litter box. Check around in husbandry and you should find a thread about potty training although you are almost there already.

My leo is litter trained. I never let him pick a corner I had his breeder send me some of his poo when he shipped him, I put his litterbox on top of his hot hide and he just naturally started going there, drawn by the scent of the already existing poo I baited his litterbox with. The reason most leos go on the opposing side of the viv to soil is likely because they're prey creatures and they want to poo as far away frmo their "den" as possible so it doesn't attract preditors to their hidey holes. Here's some pix of Eros' litterbox

Him just leaving from doing his business



Thinking about doing his business (or playing in the sand. He likes to kick it out sometimes).



And this is what his viv looks like from above, cool side on the left, hot hide on the right with moist hide and litterbox on top of his hot hide.



If you decide to make a litterbox, be sure to fill it with desert sand, not calci sand or they'll make a snack out of it. It's also great for helping to control odor and messes. Mine is just a tie box that I cut down to the appropriate size but overlapping the 2 halves then wrapped it in duct tape, made the little ramp by notching it so it was easier for him to get into since it has pretty high sides. Voila, nice and easy to clean, just sift it thru a collander once a week (or more if your leo poos a lot) replace half the sand every month and you're good to go

I think my tank setup right now is too small for that. I'll probably get another leo soon so will have to upgrade the tank anyway. Nice tank by the way.

Typically it's a "no no" to house two geckos together. As for the pooping in the calcium, it's that he goes in the same spot and the calcium happens to be there.

I didn't know it wasn't deemed not okay by some people. If I do house two together I will have an extra tank if they don't get along. I've seen plenty of people do it on YouTube and on Yahoo Answers and stuff like that. I'll make sure to research housing them before hand and if I don't think it'll be safe I won't do it, but if I do I'll make sure to do it the right way.

ThyUnholy wrote:I didn't know it wasn't deemed not okay by some people. If I do house two together I will have an extra tank if they don't get along. I've seen plenty of people do it on YouTube and on Yahoo Answers and stuff like that. I'll make sure to research housing them before hand and if I don't think it'll be safe I won't do it, but if I do I'll make sure to do it the right way.

I'm not saying it cannot be done, I keep a male and female together but I'm okay with it if they breed. They get along great, the female is a bowl feeder and I make sure to feed him out of the cage so they never fight about it.

Kodieh wrote:

ThyUnholy wrote:I didn't know it wasn't deemed not okay by some people. If I do house two together I will have an extra tank if they don't get along. I've seen plenty of people do it on YouTube and on Yahoo Answers and stuff like that. I'll make sure to research housing them before hand and if I don't think it'll be safe I won't do it, but if I do I'll make sure to do it the right way.

I'm not saying it cannot be done, I keep a male and female together but I'm okay with it if they breed. They get along great, the female is a bowl feeder and I make sure to feed him out of the cage so they never fight about it.

Yeah, I already had thought that I would have to because Gecko is a picky about what mealworm he wants out of the dish and I don't know what it would be like if the two of them were going at the same dish.

My viv isn't very big but I use a litter tray for my leo I just use a small container lid and fill it with sand

gothicgurrrl wrote:My viv isn't very big but I use a litter tray for my leo I just use a small container lid and fill it with sand

I might be able to make something work if it won't take up too much space and I move things around. Is there anything I can use other than sand?

Sand is an acceptable medium for a litterbox. You're not feeding them in it and it's something they seem to prefer to go on but you can always substitute paper towels but it could be difficult to get them to accept that. As long as it's not calci sand they don't just eat it for the heck of it, esp. if it's where they're pooping. Eros has had his litterbox since day one and now almost 3 years laterhas had no issues becauseof it and chooses to go nowhere else.

Also thanks for the complimenton my viv. It's only a 20 long so nothing to huge. As for housing multipul geckos together you'll basically need to double up on everything. 2 hot hides, 2 cool hides, 2 moist hides, 2 food bowls... and allow at minimum 10 gallon of tank per leo. Be sure that you're well versed on the problems of housing males and females together, or any 2 leos for that matter. It is a big risk regardless of what you see on youtube and yahoo. You also see them feeding their leos pinkys which generally isn't recommended either. Just because you see it doesn't make it right. It's a lot of undue stress on both animals. Leos are not social creatures and they do not seek out companionship except to breed. Aside of that all a tank mate is is competition for resources and opportunity to bully is HUGE. Bottom line is it is your choice but a lot of those scenarios usually end in disaster imo.

Also just a sidenote a bit off topic but your signature is HUGE dude... you need to resize your pix to make them a little smaller please. 200 pixels and under for signature photos aside of banners which need special permission. Your photos are 230x155 and 284x152. too big, sorry.

I'll fool around with it to make them smaller right now.

Thanks hon I appreciate it

Is this better? I re-sized them both.

I think maybe as long as I put the litter-box in the corner same corner he'll keep going in it no matter what's in it. He's been going in an empty dish so I don't see why he won't go in it if there's paper towel in it. Hopefully he will put it together that I want him to go there so if I have to move the dish he won't just keep going in the corner.

it should work, and thank you for resizing the pix. much better