If i get a leopard gecko what all will i need to buy and how often should get new crickets?

Question

I will probably get one soon when my mom lets me

Answer 1

Okay, to begin with, MANY kuddos for researching the animal and its needs before you get one.  GOOD JOB!!!

Being responsible, and showing your Mom you did your homework first will be a good way to convince her that you are ready for the responsibility of providing and caring for a pet which can live 20 yr. or longer with proper care and nutrition.

As you research your Leo, you are going to encounter contradictory advice/suggestions.  As with any new pet, I recommend that you have your gecko examined by a qualified reptile vet at the time of purchase for general health, disease/parasites (this is a good idea, so if there IS a problem, you can get a refund while the shop's guarantee is in effect).  It's best to already have a relationship established with a vet; than to suddenly try to find one when time is critical and a lizard is ill.  Leos go down fast and hard, when a problem occurs.  Also, any information dilemmas you have can easily be resolved by your vet.

Here is a basic recipe for gut loading insects before you feed them to your reptile:

GUT LOADING CRICKETS for REPTILES:

The number one problem:

Dried up and malnourished pet store crickets and mealworms. These food items are essentially useless. A dehydrated and unfed cricket contains almost no nutrients at all; refrigerated mealworms are even worse. A lot of the variety in nutrients found in wild insects is actually in the stomach content - usually plant material. We need to duplicate this to provide the best for our reptiles; without the risk of illness/disease/parasites which can result from feeding our pets wild insects.

Please note that wax worms, while fattening, are not nutritious.

Basic Dry/Staple Cricket Food:

Equal amounts of dry Iguana food, dry dog food, chick starter mash, oatmeal (you can add dry baby food wheat/rye/barley, etc. as well; even shredded wheat - no sugar).

Grind these items together.  Place in a small lid/bowl for the crickets to eat.  Store the unused portion in the refrigerator or freezer, until needed.

Supplement daily with one of the following: sweet potato, bananas, zucchini, oranges, carrots, strawberries, assorted squashes (acorn, yellow, etc.), grapefruit, green beans, apples, kale, spinach, cactus pads, and just about any other nutritious item you can think of (do not use white/yellow potatoes - these are starchy and only good if used as a moisture source during shipping, and NEVER use Avacado - it's poisonous to most animals).

Provide the dry food and kale at all times (kale is readily available during the winter months, too), rotating the other food items through in succession. The key is variety, and to provide an assortment of varying nutrients. What you are trying to do is offer your reptiles crickets with guts 'loaded' with fresh foodstuffs.

The crickets should be gut loaded for 2-3 days prior to offering them to your reptiles.

Also, provide fresh clean water in a lid/bowl, adding a sponge or folded paper towel to prevent drowning.

  

Don't offer more crickets than the reptile(s) will consume within: 1.) a few hours if it’s a lizard, salamander, frog/toad, or 2.) a few minutes, if it’s a water turtle, so you know the crickets will still be full of the good stuff when eaten.

Be sure to remove any uneaten crickets so that they do not soil your pet's environment/water or bother your pet, once it is full.  Crickets CAN turn the table - and feast upon your pet! Or aggravate them, causing stress and even cessation of eating.

Also be sure the crickets are the correct size for the reptile.  The cricket should be the same size long as the reptiles head is wide.

Your Leo will need a UTH pad, and a basking light.  There is much controversary about Leos needing UVB, but if you ask your vet - they can help with this issue.  You can also research it further.  If you observe your gecko, you will note that it has brief periods of activity during the day, when it moves from one hide to another, or gets a drink.  In the wild, this equates to exposure to sunlight, even though they are basically noturnal reptiles.  I use UVB for my Leos, and they have very vibrant colors.

Strip thermometers are not accurate.  You will need to get a good digital probe thermometer or a therm. gun, to read the temps. on the floor of the tank, and the basking area, to adjust heat (you can do this on the lights and pad with a rheostat).  Invest in a good one, because you will be using it for years and years, to monitor the heat as you clean the habitat, and replace bulbs, etc.

The minimum size tank for an adult Leo is 20 gal. long.  It is best to get a reptile tank (these are not meant to hold water, like an aquarium), as they have more floor space where the animal will actually live, than an aquarium does.

Leopard geckos are solitary creatures in the wild, and in captivity should not be kept together.  Young animals can be kept together but not for long.  Two maturing males WILL fight to the death, and females can fight, as well.  Geckos are territorial, and don't like 'invaders' crowding their space.

Your gecko will need a good reptile vitamin to coat his insects with several times a week, depending on his age (store the powder in the refrigerator); a moisture hide (check out the links I paste below to learn how to make one), and regular hide on both the cool and warm sides of the tank.  He will need a basking perch; shallow water bowl; small shallow ceramic bowl for calcium powder (this should be kept in the tank at all times), and another small shallow ceramic bowl to offer silk or mealworms in (if the gecko is old enough to eat these).

NEVER put your gecko on sand or loose subtrate.  You should use 1.) reptile carpet (you will need two pieces, so one can be used while the other is being cleaned and drying) and make sure it is a close/short 'nap' so the lizard does not snag its delicate toes; 2.) aged newspaper (at least a week old); 3.) plain white paper; 4.) paper towels.

There is much you must learn to provide your pet with proper care and nutrition.  This may sound a bit daunting at first, but it's not that hard to care for your reptile, once you know what it needs.

Propery humidity is important, and you will need to raise the humidity for his sheds.  Leos eat their skin as they shed it.

This should get you started on your quest, and congratulations on choosing a Leopard Gecko as your pet!

If you don't know of one: for a reptile vet in your city and state..

Contact   “herpetologicalsocieties.com“.

I hope this has been helpful.

Answer 2

They are easily kept in a glass or plastic cage that offers 10" x 10" of floor space for each gecko housed and that is at least 12" high.

Use paper toweling or newspaper for the cage bottom. You can see when it is soiled and the cost is low.

Never use fine sand as a substrate since geckos up to 5" in length may eat the sand and become impacted.

Always provide water in a shallow lid or bowl that won't spill.

Use a gallon jar lid or shallow plant dish to serve as a food bowl. It's nice if the insects you are using as feed don't escape from this bowl..

Use a 6" wide plastic container for a hide box. Fill the container with moist peat moss or Vermiculite and cut a 1 1/2" diameter hole in the lid or side to serve as an entrance for your pet.

Mist the hide box medium daily. This aids in skin shedding, which they eat.

Provide a screen top for your cage; especially if you have young children or cats.

Keep the gecko cage off the floor and create a temperature of 82-88 F for the daytime. The night temperature can go as low as 64 F with no ill effects. Heat can be gained from commercially available reptile heat tapes, hot rocks or a 40-watt light bulb placed over to screen cage top to reach the needed daytime high temperature. Twelve hours of light is fine.

Feed four live food items daily per gecko.

Never let direct sunlight strike your cage, since it will overheat quickly, like a closed automobile standing in open sun, and kill your pet.

Never have more than one male gecko per cage. Adult males of all types of lizards will fight each other, and sometimes to the death, if they come into contact. A male will vibrate its tail rapidly when it sees another gecko. If the other gecko in turn vibrates its tail in the same fashion then each of them knows that contact has been made with another male and a fight will occur. If, however, a male signals his presence via the tail shaking and the other gecko does not respond in like fashion, then the male knows that the gecko near him is in fact a female. This behavior is one means of determining their s*x.

Sexing your gecko is not very difficult. Male geckos are larger, heavier in the neck region, have a line of small pores on their belly between their hindlegs which are just in front of the anal opening or vent and they exhibit two swellings at their tail base and just past the vent. Females lack the large size, in general, and the pre-anal pores and post-anal swellings are missing. s*x can't be easily seen until your gecko reaches 5-6" in total length. Most of the geckos sold in pet shops are females.

You can keep a male with 1 to 10 females all their life. Cage size is the only limiting factor.

Keep a jar lid full of vitamin-mineral powder available in the cage at all times.