Selection
Most pet stores today carry leopard geckos, along with any supplies you need for their care. Geckos are pretty easy to handle, so don’t be shy about asking a store clerk to get one out for you to inspect. The animal should be relatively calm while being held, have a fat tail, and all of its toes. The tail should also be colored like the rest of the body. If it is pale, short and bulbous, than it is most likely a regrown tail which is not desirable.
Housing
Geckos are pretty easy to care for which is one of the reasons they are becoming so popular. A glass aquarium with a wire mesh top is ideal. For substrate, fine sand works well, but there is also a calcium sand which is best, though it may be harder to find. The reason this is important is that geckos will eat sand to get calcium and coarser sands will cause compaction in the animal’s digestive track which will cause health problems. Geckos are nocturnal animals and like to hide during the day, so some kind of cover is needed for them. One of the most popular shelters is a half cave which you can place up against the glass so you can view your pet. These are the homes that the pet stores usually have in their displays to better show of the animals. You also need to provide a “wet box” for your pet to keep it healthy. This is a small container with wet moss inside of it. Your pet can use this when it is getting ready to shed to soften up its skin. A full spectrum heat lamp is the last essential item for your pets care.
Geckos require heat to digest their food, and without it they will not absorb nutrients properly. If you can identify what your pet ate based on its droppings, you need to warm up the cage some more. You can also add some rock formations in your enclosure for your pet to climb on. A heat rock can be used during the night when you turn off the heat lamp, but it should be turned off during the day. They have a tendency to burn reptiles if left on during long periods of time. They may take a while to heat up, but its purpose is more to provide warmth than real heat during the night. Water dishes should only be temporary. Place a shallow dish with water into the tank for a few hour near dusk and then remove it. Due to the heat, and risk on fecal contamination, water dishes in a gecko tank tend to develop bacteria. You should also mist the cage occasionally to keep your pet’s skin healthy.
Feeding
Geckos can be fed crickets, mealworms, and for the larger ones, pinkies. If you feed your pet mealworms, provide a shallow dish to place them in to prevent them from burrowing into the sand. Regardless of what you feed your pet, you need to sprinkle it with some calcium/vitamin powder. Geckos require a lot of calcium for their bone growth, and will even eat sand in order to find it. Powdering your pets food in a calcium additive should help it meet its requirements. If you can find them, you can also provide your pet with a small dish of calcium chips which it can eat when it wants. Food should be smaller than your geckos head to ensure that it can eat it. When your pet spots prey, it will move towards it and wiggle its tail before launching itself at the meal. if your pet has a regrown tail, it won’t be able to do this as well.
Handling
Geckos are not an animal that you pet or cuddle. They can be picked up and handled, but doing so too often can lead to stress. You should only handle your pet enough for it to realize you don’t mean it harm, so you can do so more easily when you need to clean out its tank or move it. It’s not easy to make a gecko angry, but if you do, you’ll learn that they have teeth and can bite. Whatever you do, do not pick a gecko up by its tail. The tail may brake off as the animal tries to get away. As with all reptiles and amphibians, you should wash your hands with antibacterial soap after you handle them to avoid disease.
Maintenance
A gecko’s cage should be cleaned out about once a week. Their waste is relatively easy to remove, and they even go to the bathroom in the same area, which is very helpful. Try to avoid getting their waste wet, however, it can produce ammonia.
Sexing and Breeding
Male geckos have a V shape on their bellies just above the tail. When it comes to breeding, size is more important than age. The required weight for them to breed is around 40 grams which, depending on heating and diet, most geckos will reach after about 15 months. They primarily breed between January and September, but under the right conditions can be persuaded to breed at any time during the year. During the time you are breeding them, the females must be given a high calcium and vitamin diet for egg production. They will typically produce two or three clutches of two eggs during breeding season. As the female gets closer to laying, you will be able to see the bulge in their stomach. When this happens, mist their enclosure daily and check the cage and hiding place for the eggs. the eggs themselves require high humidity to grow, but too much moisture in the soil will make them swell too much. Place the eggs in a separate container with a thin layer of substrate mixed with enough water to be damp, but not wet. Put in the eggs half buried on their sides, and a shallow water dish on the soil to maintain humidity. Seal the container, but provide some holes to allow for air flow. The ideal incubation temperature for geckos is 85 to 87 degrees Fahrenheit. The eggs should hatch between six and fifteen weeks depending on conditions.
Friends
One male gecko with one or more females can work well, but mature males tend to become territorial with each other. Geckos, like most reptiles, do not require a cage mate, and geckos kept by themselves tend to maintain a better bodyweight and brighter colors.
Fun Facts
A gecko can break off its tail if it is attacked. The severed tail will wriggle on its own while the gecko escapes. The gecko will regrown a new tail, but it won’t look as nice. Selective breeding has allowed for a wide variety of colors and patterns, some of which sell for a high price at reptile shows. Leopard geckos cannot climb up walls like some geckos can; they lack the toe pads. When angered, geckos can growl.
Liked it
