Leopard Gecko Care
Tips On Leopard Gecko Care
Leopard gecko care is easier than the care of many other reptiles. But if you are considering getting a leopard gecko, be sure to consider all of its needs before you bring one home from the pet store. Too many times with reptiles, spontaneous decisions are made and one is brought home with the owner knowing absolutely nothing about its care.
Leopard gecko care is not hard but you need to have everything in place before bringing your pet home. A leopard gecko needs a glass aquarium (or terrarium) with a screen top to let in air, a lamp, heating pad, water and food bowls, substrate for the bottom of the cage and a hide box. They also need driftwood and either fake or real plants on which to climb. You will need live crickets or mealworms to feed your gecko, and both calcium and vitamin powder to dust the food before feeding. Crickets should be gut-loaded, which means you have fed them for a few days prior to feeding them to the gecko.
If you are going to have one leopard gecko, you will need a ten to twenty gallon aquarium. Be careful about the substrate because some geckos will eat it and get sick. Alfalfa pellets make for a good edible substrate. The heater and lamp are needed to provide the leopard gecko with a basking area of around 95 degrees on one side of the tank and from 78 to 88 degrees on the other side. Because geckos are nocturnal, they don’t require UVB lighting like most other reptiles.
They do, however, need to have ten to twelve hours of light each day, and a humidity level of fifty percent. Leopard gecko care also means always providing a bowl of fresh water. The tank will need to be cleaned thoroughly each week. Plants, logs, and hide boxes need to be placed around the gecko enclosure.
The average leopard gecko does not like to be held so don’t do it too often. This can cause major stress in a gecko. It you want a cuddly pet to hold, get a puppy or a kitten, not a gecko. You also cannot place two male geckos in the same tank or they will fight with one another. If you want to have several geckos, they need to be housed so that there is one male in with 3-4 females.
You need to always wash your hands after touching either your gecko or the gecko habitat. Humans can get salmonella and other infectious diseases from geckos. Leopard gecko care also means watching your gecko daily to see if you notice any health changes. Any sort of mucus around the nose or mouth, abrasions, lumps, abnormal feces, lethargy, or problems breathing means your gecko needs to see a reptile vet immediately.
When you purchase a leopard gecko, you will be responsible for its care for the rest of its life. Remember this before you bring home a baby gecko just because you think it’s cute. An adult leopard gecko can grow to be up to nine inches long and if kept in good health, can live to be over twenty years old.