My Leopard Gecko Care Sheet

by fuzzylogix Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:20 pm

The two most common ways that leos are housed are in tanks or tubs. For the purposes of keeping them as pets, I will cover their general care in a tank setting.

Housing

One leopard gecko can live their entire lives in a 10 gallon tank. For every other gecko added, you need to add 10 gallons. If you had 3 females in one tank, you would need a minimum of 30 gallons and at least 3 hides. Make sure if you are housing geckos together that they are very close in size. A larger gecko will make a meal out of a much smaller gecko. NEVER house two males together. They will fight to the death. You can house females together in most cases, but make sure you watch for signs of bullying or fighting. If you see bite marks, a lost tail, or extreme weight loss, you need to separate them immediately. For the sake of this sheet, I will cover a setup for one gecko.

You will need a minimum of two hides per gecko. One will be on the hot side of the tank, and the other should be a moist hide on the cool side of the tank. You can add other hides as well if you choose, but this is the absolute minimum for a setup. Your "hot" hide should be open on the bottom so that the temperatures are correct on the surface of the substrate. Your moist hide needs to be on the cool side to prevent humidity buildup. My moist hides consist of ziploc containers filled about halfway with sphagnum/orchid moss. I simply cut a hole in the lid and mist the moss every 3 days or so. You don't want it completely saturated though because this will also double as a lay box for gravid females. The moist hide is there to aid in shedding and gives them a place to cool off if they get too warm. A shallow water dish should be place in the enclosure on the cool side as well. I use tea light candle holders because they are heavy and cannot be tipped over. You will also need to provide a small container of calcium that can be place near the water bowl as well. I am using an all in one supplement for dusting, so I do not provide extra calcium. In the past however, I have used Gatorade lids for this and it works great. When a gecko senses it needs more calcium, it will lick the calcium as much as is needed.

Substrate

This is a hotly debated subject in the gecko world, but the general consensus is to use a non particulate substrate. I personally suggest paper towels, butcher's paper, vinyl tiles, or ceramic tiles. Leos do not live in the desert as some people think, but rather the rocky scrublands of the middle east. Never under any circumstances would I suggest using sand of any kind. Calcium enriched sand is the worst you could use for any reptile in my opinion. Ingestion of sand of any kind could lead to intestinal impaction and ultimately death.

Temperatures

Since leopard geckos are considered nocturnal, you will not need any special lighting of any kind. You can provide a low watt incandescent bulb to simulate day/night cycles if you choose to, but I just keep the blinds open in my reptile room. They do not require UVB under normal circumstances, but there are issues where one might be helpful. I will cover that in the supplementation section.

For heating, you will need an under tank heater, heat cable, or flex watt. Leopard geckos need the under belly heat to aid in digestion. Position your heat source under the tank on one end as to provide a heat gradient. It should cover no more than 1/3 of your tank. Your heat source should be plugged into a thermostat at all times, and the thermostat probe should be on the surface of your substrate, under your "hot" hide. The temperature on the surface of the hot side should be between 92-95 degrees. If you do not use a thermostat you risk the chances of hot spots or even not getting hot enough. NEVER use a heat rock of any kind for any reptile. These are notorious for causing severe burns.

Feeding

Leopard geckos are insectivores and are hunters in the wild, so you probably will not have any luck with freeze dried insects. I suggest dubia roaches, red lateralis roaches, superworms, and mealworms. I am not a fan of crickets, but you can use those as well. I breed my own roaches and worms so I am able to alternate their diets, but any one of the above insects can be a staple for a gecko's entire life. If you purchase your feeders from a store, make sure they are gut loaded for at least 24 hours before feeding. I use apples, oranges, carrots, potatoes, and high protein dry dog food for my insects.

Whichever insect you choose to use, please make sure that what you are feeding is the correct size. A baby or small juvenile geckos should only be fed mealworms or baby supers. My rule of thumb is the feeder must not be larger than the length of the geckos head. That's from the tip of it's snout to the back of its head. If feeding supers, I offer 3-5 large worms per adult. If feeding dubia, I offer 3 large nymphs. If feeding lats, I offer about 4-6 adults. I feed my adults every 2 days in the summer, and every 4 days during the winter. My babies or small juvies get fed daily. For adults, you can also just keep a cup of mealworms in there at all times and they will eat when they want. For juveniles or babies though I wouldn't suggest this. They can be over zealous eaters at that age and can eat way too much which leads to regurgitation. If you have a gecko that is losing some weight or being picky, you can also offer wax worms in very limited quantities. They are high in fat but very low in protein, but geckos can get addicted to them if offered frequently. No more than one or two a week should be offered to a skinny gecko, and only until it starts putting on weight.

Supplementation

I use a combination supplement called Repashy SuperCal Plus ICB. It's available online and is very reasonably priced. It combines the necessary calcium with the correct amount of vitamins as well. I dust my feeders every feeding with this, and using this does not require an extra calcium dish in the enclosure. If you are using just calcium to dust with, you will also need to provide the geckos with vitamin D3 as well. I would suggest dusting with calcium every feeding, and adding some D3 to the mixture no more than twice a week. If your gecko does not get the right amount of calcium, it can very easily lead to Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). If this condition arises, you may need to provide a calcium dish, as well as a liquid calcium supplement added to their water. This is where the UVB bulb could be beneficial. I have had a few geckos that developed MBD even after making sure their calcium intake was sufficient. It seems that some geckos just process the calcium at a much slower rate than others. In my situations, I have removed the gecko from a rack and place it in a 10 gallon setup with a UV light overhead as well as normal heat and setup. The results were that the gecko recovered much quicker than other geckos that were offered just extra calcium.

Leopard geckos are a long lived reptile and make great pets for people of all ages. They are a great beginner reptile for kids as well as adults. They are easy to care for and generally very docile when handling. This care sheet is intended to be a guide for anyone interested in the husbandry of these amazing lizards. If you own or intend to purchase a gecko, please make sure that you are committed to keeping and maintaining them for a long time. Most geckos can live up to 20 years or longer in captivity. And always remember that if something goes wrong and your leo is hurt or injured, you are responsible for getting him/her to a qualified herp vet immediately. If you have any other questions or issues, you are more than welcome to PM me here or email me at Shawn@NightGlowGeckos.com.