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Post by komodo on Oct 12, 2007 15:05:34 GMT -5
I have been thinking of adding a leopard gecko to my family, and I have a few questions that I would like to know. How long do they live? How big do they get? How can you tell what sex they are? What is their diet? I have a 46 gallon Reptarium will that be a good cage, and if not what is, and what size? What kind of lighting do I need and heating? How fast do they grow? And what are some good Accessories and Habitat Décor that I need to make him/her happy? And if there are any questions that I have missed pleas give fill me in on any info that can help?
Thank you.
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stano40
Member
"If you don't want the english languange to change, then use spell check"
Posts: 194
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Post by stano40 on Oct 13, 2007 9:25:18 GMT -5
Just a little info for you on the Leo. That 46 gallon tank you have is fantastic and would be nice as a vivarium set up. The more real plants they have the better they like it. They love to be misted and get their morning dew off the plants.
Leopard geckos are docile creatures that have a relatively long life span. here are some specifics:
Life Span: Leopard geckos may live 20 or more years. Size: Leopard geckos reach approximately 8-10 inches in length.
Before you buy:
Pet stores, reptile centers, markets, where ever, they all sell geckos at one time or another.
Here are some guidelines to buying the healthy gecko.
clear eyes alert when handled
clear nose
eats: ask a personnel to give the gecko a cricket
bright colors
no fecal matter around the anal vent
all 20 digits make sure no digits are missing or have shedding particles on them
handling ask the personnel if you can hold the gecko of your choice. If he or she says no, then there is something wrong. Make sure your hands are warm when handling
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No Sand, especially for young ones. Ff there is sand in the youngsters habitat, most likely the gecko is impacted. Asking the personnel to feed a cricket is recommended. If he eats, he is not impacted
hides and moist hides
water/food/vitamin dish
no dead/injured/healthy crickets running around
enclosure is clean and looks acceptable
Housing:
Leopard females may be kept in groups or solo. Males should not be housed together as they usually fight and cause stress for the whole group. We also suggest housing males separately from females to avoid excessive breeding and stress. Glass enclosures work best for viewing, although many breeders house Leopard geckos in Rubbermaid tubs or large sweater boxes. A 20-gallon enclosure is the minimum size for an adult.
Rocks, fake plants, and logs for basking and hiding are preferred enclosure furniture. Make sure ample cave space is available, both on the warm side and cool side of the enclosure.
Substrate choices can include playsand, newspaper, bed-a-beast (coconut fiber), and peat moss. For adults, we suggest a mixture of playsand and coconut fiber. We suggest keeping young leopard geckos on paper towels until they are at least six months-old to avoid impaction.
Hides:
There should be plenty of hides for the geckp to sleep and calm themselves, especially with multiple geckos.
Moist hides are essential to geckos for shedding and humidity. Some geckos will not directly drink the water from the water bowl and so, they will lick the moisture off the moist hides. You can use peat moss and vermiculite inside the moist hide.
Females, if gravid, will lay eggs in the moist hide. This is obvious when all the bedding is pushed to one side of the hide. Make sure that the moist hides stay moist at all times.
For lone geckos, only one moist hide is necessary. For multiples, provide more than one.
Heating/Lighting:
A range in temperature is much appreciated by geckos so they may thermo regulate. Temperatures may range from 90 degrees F down to 75 at nighttime. We suggest overhead bulbs for heating, unless you are housing in Rubbermaid and need to use under tank heaters. Place the heat source on one side of the tank only. Red bulbs are nice for viewing nocturnal geckos. Don't use heat rocks.
Water:
Make sure a shallow water dish is available inside the cage at all times. We also suggest lightly misting the enclosure three times a week. Make sure the substrate is never wet for long. When a leopard gecko is preparing to shed, they appreciate moister caves. We suggest using moss that can be misted daily inside one of the caves.
Food:
Crickets and mealworms make up the majority of the Leopard gecko diet. Hatchlings should be fed 2-week-old crickets. Adults can handle adult crickets. Mealworms may also be offered. Try to acquire the cleanest and healthiest crickets possible from a reputable source and feed them fresh food (you may use "gutload" if you like) and water. Do not feed moldy food to your crickets (this can cause serious disease). Small pinky mice may also be offered to adults occasionally. Gravid females especially relish these.
Be sure to supplement the diet with calcium and D3 and vitamins. We suggest a 1.3 ratio of herptivite to repcal calcium with D3. Place crickets in a tall cup, add the supplements and shake to coat crickets. Do this every other day for young geckos and then taper off to once or twice a week for adults (especially reduce the vitamin supplements). Make sure to offer more calcium to gravid females.
Breeding:
Leopard geckos can be quite easy to breed, although they do require a period of hibernation or brumation. Only breed your geckos after temperatures are back to normal, and your gecko is healthy, eating well, and has a substantial fat & water deposit (a nice fat tail). For proper breeding, females should be at least one year old; although, they will often cycle eggs before reaching a year-old if the proper condtions exist. To induce breeding, simply introduce a female into the male’s tank (or even vice versa) and copulation will usually take place. You may opt to leave the male and female together overnight or for a few days. It is thought that they prefer to breed in the early evening hours, but I have witnessed copulation at just about any time. Remove the male from the female after copulation to avoid stress. A female will retain sperm and can produce multiple clutches from just one breeding. Eggs are usually laid in twos. Make sure the female has a lay area (cave) with moist substrate to dig into to deposit her eggs. Gently place eggs in a dish of moist vermiculite and incubate at around 80-88 degrees F. The eggs will hatch in 45-90 days. Make sure the vermiculite stays moist but not wet. Leopard geckos are temperature sexed. Incubate at 80-84 degrees for female hatchlings, 86-88 degrees for males and 84-86 for a mix
Handling:
These are a species that are ok with being handled. they are generally not aggressive and don't tend to bite.
Reference: thelizardcorral.proboards67.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=geckoscaresheet&thread=1132762620&page=1
bob/stano40
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Post by komodo on Oct 13, 2007 20:26:31 GMT -5
Thanks. I just baught one today. I think it's a male because it has that spoted line on it's lower abdomen, so I named him Leo. I'm feeding him crickets. That is good news to hear that my old 46 gallon Reptarium will be fine. I baught a bigger cage for my Iguana, and I had this old cage laying around. I always wanted a Leopard Gecko and thats good to know that I didn't need to buy another cage.
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Post by komodo on Oct 14, 2007 12:03:21 GMT -5
How fast does it take for them to get to there maximum size?
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Post by komodo on Dec 30, 2007 0:18:14 GMT -5
How fast do they grow? Because mine is still the same size since I got him in october.
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Post by prismwolf on Jan 1, 2008 2:57:31 GMT -5
- What are you feeding it?
- What do you use as vitamin/calcium supplementation?
- What are your temps?
- What do you use for heat?
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Post by komodo on Jan 5, 2008 12:02:36 GMT -5
I'm feeding him mealworms right now, but I also feed him crickets. I use ReptoCal for his vitamin/calcium supplementation. It is currently 80 on the warm side and I'm not sure what the cool side is. I'm using a 75w basking spot lamp for heating. I put 8 mealworms in a dish about 3 days ago and there is still 8 in there but when I looked at leo's billy he still is digesting his last meal. He has a good fat base around his tail, but I have notice that he likes to hide all day in the bush. I never really see him walking around. Everbody tills me that he has grown I guess I didn't notice cause I see him everday. But I still think that he shuld be eating more.
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Post by prismwolf on Jan 5, 2008 14:18:54 GMT -5
Since leos are nocturnal - maybe you should go with a UTH and just rely on the ambient light coming through the windows. You may see him more often this way. Crix should be his main staple - not mealworms. The chitten on the mealworms is harder to digest and if fed too often can lead to impaction. It's good the tail is still chubby though. As long as there's growth accompanying the chubby tail - there's not much reason for concern right now...but changing the lighting arrangement just might help get things moving before he does start looking sickly. Preventive is always easier than a cure...;-)
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Post by komodo on Mar 15, 2008 9:56:03 GMT -5
I just bought some Fluker's Freeze-Dried Crickets the other day. Are they good for my leo's diet? I thought if this can work then I don't have to keep dealing with Crickets that die at the end of the week before I can feed them to Leo. Also this question seems to never get answer, and that is how long does it take for a Leo to get to its full size?
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Post by prismwolf on Mar 15, 2008 20:45:40 GMT -5
Full-size at about 18 months.
Fresh is always best. Those freeze dried are not a good food. They have an easier chance at causing a fatal impaction and dehydration. I keep 2000-3000 crix at a time. They live for weeks depending on the age of them. What do you keep them in?
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stano40
Member
"If you don't want the english languange to change, then use spell check"
Posts: 194
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Post by stano40 on Mar 17, 2008 5:37:14 GMT -5
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