Keeping leopard geckos.

A leopard gecko makes a great pet, they become very tame and easy to handle and is one of the most popular reptiles we sell at the fish lodge. Leopard geckos originate in central Asia from arid scrubland locations; they are active nocturnal feeders and will sleep most of the day if left to do so.

When choosing your gecko there are many different morphs available, you are looking for the gecko to be alert and aware of its surroundings, bright eyed and looking for food if it is awake. A juvenile gecko will have a striped pattern that will fade into the leopard spotted pattern with time.

Most of the leopard geckos available now are captive bred; you should try and avoid wild caught.

Accomodation

They require a hide (forest hollow) that should be humid to aid shedding, a heat mat (habistat) and water bowl. A vivarium measuring 24x12x12 would be ideal, all available at the fish lodge. A substrate of news paper or cage carpet is ideal. Do not use sand for juveniles because of impaction.The temperature should be kept at 80-85f at the cool end and 90-95f at the warm end.

Feeding your gecko.

Dusting your crickets with calcium and vitamin powder is very important as is gut loading if you want to keep your leopard gecko healthy, crickets should be fed a variety of vegetables 24 hours before feeding the geckos (dust your crickets just before feeding to gecko) Never feed too many to the gecko at once, only feed what it will eat in 5 minutes, crickets left in the viv will stress the gecko so take them out.

Geckos can not live on mealworms alone despite the advice some shops may give you. For adults a small pinkie mouse should be fed once a week, wax worms once a week as a treat only (they are very fattening).a good varied diet will all help to keep the overall health of your leopard gecko in peak condition.

Breeding leopard geckos.

It’s fairly easy to breed leopard geckos which are harem breeders which mean one male should be kept with 3-4 females. A moss filled hide should be provided for each gecko as it will provide a perfect place for females to lay their eggs. When the eggs are hatched remove them to an incubator with minimal disturbance to the eggs. Incubate at 85 degrees with hatching time being around 7-8 weeks. A higher temperature will produce more females but we do not recommend this for a novice. Baby geckos will not feed until their first shedding of their skin; small dusted crickets are ideal starter food.

Sexing baby geckos is possible around 1-2 months old and you need to look for more robust, larger headed thicker necked males, with a v- shaped pre anal pore sometimes producing a waxy substance. Females will be smaller and not as robust with pre anal pits that are not filled out and not producing a waxy substance.

The fish lodge sells excellent leopard gecko starter kits, look on the special offers page for details.