Rescued a Leo; first time owner! (:

I volunteer at a shelter and someone brought this little guy in. Sadly, we don't accept reptiles and nobody really knew what to do (kid brought him/her home, Mom said "No" kinda thing). I offered to take care of the little fella and now I have my very first reptile. I did some research when I got home and I think everything about right.. He's in a 10 gal. aquarium (for now, will be upgrading to 20 gal.). There is a gradient, with the coolest side at 70 F and the warmest at 90 F -95 F. He has a cool, warm, and moist hide. Rocks to climb on, water bowl, food dish that is always filled with mealworms, and calcium in a bottle cap. The substrate is vinyl. I have an electronical probe thermometer that is left on the enclosure floor to accurately measure temp. on both sides. I also have an artificla plant that I will add later, as I read I should quarintine him and keep his enclosure simple to view his feeding habits. I feed him crickets and mealworms, both dusted in a calcium w/ D3 + vits. They are all gutloaded 24 hours (or longer) prior to feeding with Flukers calcium fortified grain mix and the super orange cubes.

My questions are:
I got him yesterday and he hasn't eaten, is this normal?
Is it possible he's eating the mealworms without me knowing?
He has been in hides all night and day, is this normal?
I guess he's shedding since I saw some transparent skin on the floor, is this why he's not eating?
Is my setup okay? My temp.(s)?
What color is he? Will he change colors?
Does he look healthy?


Thanks!!

With flash:
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Without flash:
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Also, I have a lamp on for 12 hrs to simulate daytime. Is this okay? Should I just turn off the under
tank heatpad instead to simulate night? Or can I just turn off the lamp? With the lamp, the warmest side is 95-96F. Without, its 92-93F. Cool side with: 75F without: 72-73F. Is the heat pad supposed to be on at all times? My probe is inside the hides, as I want to make sure he isn't too cold or hot when he's in there.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I got him yesterday and he hasn't eaten, is this normal?
Yes this is very normal, it is possible that he wont eat for upto 5days.
Is it possible he's eating the mealworms without me knowing? Yes this is possible as he is a baby, he will need feeding every day until he's about 6months old
He has been in hides all night and day, is this normal?
They are nocturnal so you may not see him in the day, but once you've gone to bed he has prob been out to explore his home.
I guess he's shedding since I saw some transparent skin on the floor, is this why he's not eating?
Yes sounds like he's shed and it is possible he's not eating as he has just shed
Is my setup okay? My temp.(s)?
your set-up sounds fine and so does the temps
What color is he?
He is a patternless of some description(jordan will give you a better answer)
Will he change colors?
his body will go a solid colour poss yellow and his head/tail will stay white i think
Does he look healthy?
For his size he does look perfectly healthy

With regards to the lamp you really dont need to use it and its personal preference about having the heat mat on all the time, personally i turn mine off at 11pm and back on in the morning around 8-9am but alot of people keep them on all the time and use a thermostat to make sure they dont get too hot.

With regards to feeding most people dont advise using crickets as they do carry parasites and will sometimes eat on your leo in its sleep, instead they advise a mainly worm diet or use of locust instead of crickets.

There is a a caresheet on here that will give you all details for proper care that you need but so far you seem to have done a very good job for liitle guy

Hope this helps

Okay, first off, wow. Im really impressed that you seemed to get everything pretty spot on straight away with your first reptile and in just (what sounds like) a few hours or research. It just goes to show if you put in the effort it pays off.

Secondly, welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your time here, i'm the guy to come to if you have any feedback, suggestions, bugs, lost password, etc etc...


Thirdly, your questions:

I got him yesterday and he hasn't eaten, is this normal?
Yes, most gecko's will take 3 - 7 days to settle into their new environment and won't eat or poo in this time.

Is it possible he's eating the mealworms without me knowing?
It is possible yes, as gecko's are generally awake when your not. BUT as i say he is likely still setlling in so he will not be eating just yet.

He has been in hides all night and day, is this normal?
Yup, new place, its a bit daunting for him to go out, he will learn the new place slowly in his own time when he feels its safe.

I guess he's shedding since I saw some transparent skin on the floor, is this why he's not eating?
It will be a contributing factor on top of settling in.

Is my setup okay? My temp.(s)?
Yes, very well done on it, you got it better than most people who have owned reptiles for months. lol.
The only thing i would suggest is ditching the lamp. As long as the tank is getting plenty of natural light then that will cycle day and night for him. Also, that brings me onto your question about the under tank heater, yes just leave it on all the time, most people do.

What color is he? Will he change colors?
His morph name is Murphy's Patternless. Or just patternless for short (or even patty sometimes). When he grows up, the tan coloured splodges will dissapear and he will have no pattern on his tail or body, i know it sounds boring, but its really nice looking.
His body will be sold yellow, his tail will be a greyish silver (maybe hints of pinky-ness), his head will be yellow.

Does he look healthy?
He looks fine yes

Thank you for your replies! Yeah, I took him home around 2PM, researched until 5PM and off to buy supplies we went! He sounds likke he's going to turn out really cute!! I'd love him regardless though. My room is a bit dark.. so should I use the lamp? I just want the little guy to have a good life :P

How hot would be too hot? Just incase, since I know below 70F is a bit too cold.

Also, I confirmed with the volunteer who originally helped the boy that Necro (my Leo's name.. yes, its short for Necromancer. World of Warcraft and Rift nerd here! Hehe) was purchased from a local Petco. They carry different morphs in pet stores? I never knew!

Here are pictures of his enclosure (:

The cool side with my cardboard hide that I decorated :P
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Diff. view of the cool side:
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Warm side, with therm. probe inside the hide:
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Diff. view of the warm side:
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Top views:
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Whole tank:
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Look about right? Should I tank the plant out? He likes to climb on it sometimes.. but should I quarantine him? I don't have another other gecko's.. so I'm guessing it's okay? Also, I left a Fluker's orange cube and carrot cube in the meal worm dish - is this okay?

I wouldn't leave the cubes in th dish with your feeders as the are smal enough for your leo to eat if he misses th worm. Locusts cary parasit3es just like crix can. Bst off just leaving a big wedge of carrot in the dish with them. Be sure to count how many worms you put in there and coun them daily to see if he's eating anything. He may poo before he eats despite what jordan said. Some leos have food left in them when thy go to their new omes that they will need to evacuate from their gi. Also leos are crepuscular not noctournal meaning they are most activ e directly after sunset andright before sunrise. Now som settle in so fast they may be up at odd hours or so shy they don't come out till way after the house is quiet. If your room is dark a simple 15 watt incandescent bulb can be used to aide in his light cycle but is dim emough to keep from stressing him out.

Ill write more later as I gotta fly for now but welcome to the forum

The cubes are about the size of his whole head, only thicker. I doubt he'd be able to eat them.. and if he did, I'd probably have to rush him to the vet because of impaction.

He's still a baby.. I think (juvenile, maybe)? When he's older, I'll definitely take out the cubes or replace them with a potato, that way the meal worms will always have a variety of nutritious foods they can feast on before my leo munches on them.

You'd be surprised at what they can fit in their mouths. Im familiar with those orange cubes. My son use to raise crix for his bufo and used the orange cubes for them. Imposition would be the least of my worries but moreso that the cubes could be harmful to your leo. imo the risk doesnt outweigh the gain.

Best of luck with your leo.

Oh okay, I'll just take it out than! I'm sure a carrot cube is enough for them. Thank you for your advice!

A small half a baby carrot our a fair sized disc cut from a regular carrot should do great. Thanks for understanding the hazard and acting on it.

Is there a chance he can eat the carrot as well? If so, the carrot is non toxic to leo's, right?

Nice to see another WoW player on here welcome and what a lovely little leo you have