The Official Leopard Gecko Care Sheet
Hey. Welcome to The Center for Geckos. This is a care sheet covering the basic needs of your leopard gecko.
Life Span:
First off, you need to know how long they will probably live under the correct care. The average life span is 6 to 10 years. Males can live 10 to 18 years though.
Size:
I'll only touch briefly on this. Babies range from 3 to 4 inches, while adults females are 7 to 8 inches, and adult males are 8 to 10 inches.
Housing:
A 10 to 20 gallon aquarium will do for 1 or 2 leopard geckos. Don't go much bigger so that it doesn't stray away from its proper heat or shelter, or both. Make sure that the cage is at least 1 foot tall. Geckos don't need as much climbing space as they do length wise. Use a secure wire screen top to provide good ventilation and to support a light fixture.
Be sure to have a hide box with moist moss to provide a suitable climate for shedding and egg laying.
Lighting/Heating:
The best way to heat your leopard gecko is by using an undertank heating pad or tape. These are available at any pet store or online. Heating one end of the cage is best. This allows for a temperature variation that your lizard needs. Heat rocks tend to become too hot for leopard geckos and should be avoided due to the risk of burns.
To view leave a simple low wattage light can be placed overhead and left on 12 hours a day.
Leopard geckos are nocturnal which means they are active at night, therefore they do not need any special UV lighting.
The ideal temperature in the hide box is 86 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. The ambient air temperature of the room they are housed in should be above 73 degrees.
Feeding:
Yes, this involves insects.
ive insects are a must for your gecko; they do not eat plants or veggies. The best items to use are mealworms or crickets, but you can treat your pet to waxworms or superworms once a week if you wish. We have used regular mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) without health issues for since 1978. Avoid feeding leopard geckos pinky mice.
All insects must be first given a nutritious powdered diet for at least 12 hours before being fed to your leopard gecko. This process is called “gut loading,” and it is very important to the health of your pet. Chick or hog mash is available at all feed stores, and several good commercial diets are available for this purpose, as well. Simply place the insects in a tub of gut-load diet with a piece of potato to serve as a source of water.
Dusting your insects is one way to deliver important vitamins and minerals to your leopard gecko. Insects and the dusting powder can be placed in a plastic bag or deep tin can, and shook gently to coat the insects’ bodies. When adding the dusted insects to the cage, be sure not to let the powder get into a gecko’s eyes.
Another way to give the extra powdered supplements to your gecko is to keep a small jar lid filled with vitamin-mineral powder at all times. The gecko knows how much its body needs, and it will lick up the powder accordingly.
Keepers can offer two appropriately sized insects for every inch of a leopard gecko’s total length. A meal every other day is fine. Therefore, a 4-inch-long gecko would receive eight mealworms three to four times a week
It is normal for leopard geckos to eat their shed skin.
Water:
Almost done. Hang in there!
Shallow water dish with FRESH water MUST be provided at ALL TIMES.
Be sure it is stable. Make sure that the gecko can climb out of the dish.
Handling:
In general, do not handle leopard geckos on a regular basis until they settle in and are more than 6 inches in total length. Once your gecko is large enough, it is best to sit on the floor, and let your gecko crawl through loose fingers and hand-over-hand for 10 to 15 minutes per day until they are accustomed to your touch. This taming process takes only five to seven days. Never grab or hold the gecko’s tail, or it might be dropped. Often the tail regenerates in less than 40 days.
This is the basic care guide for them! Hope you enjoyed it!
-Admin Sam
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