Leopard gecko help- best answer gets 10 points!!!?

Question

for one baby leopard gecko :

1. a tank on cold and warm side?

2. shood i have a calcium

3. how many pinhead crickets do i feed a day?

4. how often does a baby and adult leopard gecko shed its skin

5. when do i start to feed him larger crickets

Thank You

Answer 1

1. 75-80 deg  cold side, 85-90 deg warm side (Fahrenheit).

2. Yes, calcium should be provided. You can either dust their food once a week or provide a small dish of calcium powder. No calci-sand, baby geckos should not be on sand of any type.

3. Not pinheads, pinheads are too small. Baby geckos can eat quarter inch crickets, 3-6 a day (3 to 6).

4. Babies shed about every 3 weeks to a month, and adults shed about every 2 months.

5. The size of cricket you feed is determined by the size of the gecko. Feed crickets about the size as the distance between the gecko's eyes.

Some other people suggested hide boxes and damp boxes, both of which I recommend.  The damp box not only aids in shedding, it's also useful as a nest box for egg laying when breeding geckos.

Some others recommended sand and calci sand, I disagree. Sand is a bad substrate for leos and calci-sand is even worse, Both can cause impaction if too much is ingested and calci-sand is more often ingested. The finer the sand, the worse it is for them, and it's far worse for juvenile leopard geckos, and no it's not part of their natural habitat.

deo: Your entire answer was pasted from the leopardgecko.com care sheet written by Ron Tremper, perhaps you should have listed that for your sources. (you'll note that Tremper also recommends No Sand)

http://www.leopardgecko.com/emcare.html

Answer 2

I am a gecko breeder

The leopard gecko, (Eublepharis macularius), is an ideal pet that takes up little space, has simple food requirements, comes in designer colors and patterns and can withstand the life dealt out by even the most absent-minded of keepers. They are excitable as babies, but harmless, and as adults they become very tame; taking food from your fingers. With a maximum adult size of 7-10" this lizard is easily handled by supervised children. But remember, their tails can breakoff (and be regrown), so make sure you never pick them up or grab them by that fleshy tail.  

For decades this lizard was the only species being bred in captivity generation-after- generation. It has a fantastic tract record and is probably the most widely kept pet lizard next to the sometimes troublesome green iguana, (Iguana iguana). Since 1992 serious breeders have developed striped, high yellow, "jungle", "ghost", and "leucistic" forms from the original wild-caught imports, which originate in Pakistan and India.

Being a terrestrial type of gecko makes keeping them at home a snap. They are easily kept (our caging system) 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. Now that you have a cage in mind, here's your gecko recipe for success:

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.

These are the main points for daily care, (Herp Care Software), and keeping, but should you wish to deal with the breeding of leopard geckos, there are detailed sources of information at your local pet shop or from the ever-growing Internet. Always keep in mind that your gecko is subject to the temperatures and food you provide. If the temperature is not warm enough the lizard will not feed well and if the feed is not nutritionally balanced their bones will not form properly. This is true for all reptile pets.  

In captivity, leopard geckos are best fed mealworms, (Tenebrio molitor), or crickets, which you can order through the mail or purchase at any bait or pet shop. It is important to "power feed" such food items for 24-48 hours prior to giving them to your pet. This is done simply by using a cutdown one-gallon plastic milk jug that is filled with chicken or hog feed. Place a piece of potato or carrot in the jug to provide a source of water for the insects. The idea is to fill the insect with nutritious food itself so that your pet can then fill itself with a balanced diet. Many shop owners do not feed their insects such diets and if you merely feed-out recently purchased insects then your lizard will suffer from poor health within 3-6 weeks. The first signs of such nutritional problems are a soft or shortened lower jaw or bent limbs.

Leopard geckos are sexually mature at 10 months of age and usually lay their first pairs of eggs of the season from January to August. First-time females will sometimes only lay a single egg, but a sure sign that you have done a good job raising your female gecko is seen when two fertile eggs are laid in the box of mosit soil you have been providing. From then on, a clutch will always consist of two eggs unless your female is old or sick. Older females may lay 10-16 eggs per season. A fertile egg feels like a stale marshmellow while an infertile egg looks and feels like a half-filled hotwater bottle.

Eggs are easy to hatch. In fact, you get to have a powerful job, if you wish, since gecko eggs are temperature s*x dependent. This means that the s*x of the gecko is not determined at fertilization, but is set during the first two weeks in captivity by the high daytime temperature you expose the eggs to. A daytime high that does not exceed 82 F will give you all female offspring, but if you want to make that egg a "male" then you simply place the egg where it will experience 90-92 F as a daytime high during the first two weeks of incubation. (the following line was revised 07-22-03) If you keep "male" eggs at a constant 89-91 F you may have some embryos die from heat stress or if they are exposed to temps over 92 F they may become what we call "hot" or high temperature females, which never reproduce and often bully their cage mates.

Now that you have learned a bit of science you can place your new eggs in a plastic container of moist potting soil, Vermiculite or Perlite. Bury the eggs only 1/2" and place two or three push-pin size airholes in a tight fitting lid. You can get fancy and buy a commercial incubator if you are after a particular s*x or you can just place the container of eggs on a high shelf in your reptile room or home where the temperature varies from 74-94 F. (Don't worry if you only have a single female as a pet. She may lay eggs and of course they will be infertile.) Young will emerge on their own in 60-70 days using this method of incubation.

Care of the young is the same as for the adults. They begin taking 1/4" crickets or one-inch mealworms at day 3 of their lives. Plastic shoeboxes are ideal homes for babies. At our reptile ranch we use #2 styrofoam meat trays (available in your grocery store) upside-down for a hide box, a pickle jar lid serves as a place for vitamin-mineral powder and the mealworms and a peanut butter jar lid works perfectly for a water bowl. The young need to be fed live insects daily or they may bite off the tails of their cagemates. Always sort the young to size every two weeks as there will be one or two babies that outgrow everyone else and once this competition begins it is only a matter of time before a small gecko will be eaten by its big brother or sister. If you wish to feed baby mice to an adolescent gecko you can achieve larger size and for a female you will get more eggs laid per season.

Just how long will your pet gecko live? Well, we have had female leopard geckos live 19 years and a friend in Florida had a male, that died recently, that lived a verifiable 27 years! Females are usually able to lay up to the age of 8 years without problem. Again, the key is a proper nutritional foundation; especially during that first year of life.  

If you have made a choice to select a leopard gecko as a pet, all you have to do now is find a healthy specimen. A gecko in top condition will have a fat tail - usually 3/4 of the thickness of their neck; they will be alert when awake and the colors should be bright. Kindly, ask your pet shop manager to throw in a live cricket with any gecko you are considering. If the gecko immediately goes after the food item then that is a gecko for you. Avoid lizards that do not readily open their eyes when touched or that have old skin stuck to their toes or are thin.

The normal phase leopard geckos are seasonally available in pet shops while the "designers" must be had directly from the breeder or at some of the larger reptile expositions. Generally, geckos can be bought during the hatching season, from April to October, without any problem. The most difficult months to make a purchase are usually January and February. Shipping through the mail is quite simple and safe.

With all the new color and pattern variations occurring in this species, its future will likely take on the huge assortment of mutations seen in the common goldf

Answer 3

http://www.leopardgecko.com/emcare.html

Go to this web site, it should help you

Answer 4

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/lizards/...

this will tell you everything you need to know, you might want to go to your nearest Petco and talk with the reptile specialist, or just call up there.

Answer 5

here is a cite that should help

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

and a very helpful one is

http://www.herpcam.com/leofaq.htm

Answer 6

one baby Leo a 10 gallon  tank is more then enough and will last him his whole life. Since they are nocturnal, an under the tank heat pad is the best option for them. Place it to one side of the tank and put a hide over it. He will spend most of the day there. Place a small, shallow water bowl on the cool side. Also, since Leos can have a tough time shedding once in a while. I like to keep a small deli cup or enclosed hid with damp sphagnum Moss in it so they can shed easier. Other wise tank decor is up to you. Calcium sand, the fine grit, is a great substrate. You do not want to use the coarse grit sand as it can compact your gecko when eaten. Also, keep in mind that the coarse grit sand that comes in the bright colors will stain your gecko. Because you are going to keep him on sand you do not have to use a calcium supplement on the crickets, and if you do only use it once a week. A baby Leo will eat about 5-8 crickets a day, I usually put about ten and a piece of carrot and let him eat want he wants. You want to feed them something that is as long as their snout is wide. So when he grows, move him to half size crickets and so on. Some baby Leos seem like they are always in shed, If they are taken care of right, they will grow rapidly and shed often. it will slow down as they get older and it really depends on the gecko.

** most petcos are not that knowledgable, try UndergroundReptiles.com

Answer 7

1.Yes,Cold were the water is.

2.Not Needed But Can Help

3.About 5-8

4.About Once Every month

5.You can stick with those threw his whole life

I Hope This Helped

Good Luck

Answer 8

An aquarium is a perfect home. Since they are a terrestrial species, a long aquarium is better than a high one. A 20 gallon long aquarium is good for 3-4 geckos. Make sure that you only have one male per enclosure as males will fight each other. Sand creates the most natural setup, and you can buy playground sand from any hardware store. Rocks and logs can make the terrarium more natural looking and they provide your lizards with places to climb and get exercise. A hide box is also recommended for each lizard for for sleeping. Leopard geckos are a nocturnal species so no form of UV lighting is necessary. A simple spotlight with the appropriate wattage bulb can provide both daytime light and heat. Daytime temperatures should be around 90 and the nighttime temps can go down in the low 70s. When I say 90 degrees I mean this should be the temperature directly under the spotlight. This will allow the rest of the cage to remain from anywhere to the 80's to room temperature. Leopard geckos are relatively easy to feed because they will thrive on insects. A staple of crickets along with occasional waxworms and mealworms make a good diet. Adult geckos can also be fed an occasional pinkie mouse. Juveniles can be feed every day and adults every other day. Supplementation is a must for leopard geckos. Two supplements should be used: one that is just calcium/D3 and another that is a reptile multivitamin. Juveniles should be supplemented at every feeding and adults at every other feeding. Insects can be coated with these supplements and it's always a good idea to feed the insects a high quality diet so as to increase their nutritional value. A shallow water dish should be provided at all times. Allowing leopard geckos access to a moist area is a good idea that aids in shedding. Even though they come from arid climates their burrows tend to have moderate humidity. People can supply this humidity by moistening the area under their hide boxes. Make sure that the overall cage isn't wet or overly humid.

Answer 9

1. Yes, they need to be able to thermoregulate, which means they need to be able to get cool or warm as needed.  You should also have one hide on either side as well as a humid hide on the warm side.  This can be just a small tupperware stuffed with moist paper towel and a hole cut in the side.

2.  Yes again, babies need a LOT of calcium to properly create bone.  You should dust your crickets or worms 5x a week with pure calcium and 1-2x per week with a multivitamin with D3.  As they grow, you don't need do this as much.

3.  You feed as many as your leo will eat.  Limiting food intake will only prevent good growth.  Your baby will stop eating when he's full.

4.  They shed their skins every couple weeks.

5.  The crickets you feed should be the width of the space between their eyes.  So as your baby grows, you should increase cricket size accordingly.  I don't know what size crickets you are able to get, but if it's just 1/4" and adult, you should switch to adult when they're about 6" long.

Answer 10

leos dont need a day light like regular reps they need a night light but yes you still want to have a warm and cool side.

I recommend with a baby using calcium every time you feed crickets. I also recommend getting a calcium with d-3 and using that once or twice a week instead of the regular calcium.

If your feeding true pinheads the tiny tiny ones you should be feeding about 2 dozen a day...if you are on smalls..one dozen.. a baby leo can usually handle the medium ones by the time they are a month or so old..you can also offer meal worms small super worms and wax worms...wax worms are like candy thiough so keep those to a minimum.

Shedding all depends on how much you feed and your humidity levels...you probably will hardly ever see them shed they eat their shed ...just check their toes frequently to make sure they dont have any stuck skin...it can cut off circulation and they could lose fingers. They usually heal pretty fast but its still kinda sad to not have all your toes!

The rule of thumb on feeding most reps is dont feed them anything bigger than the space between their eyes..wait a few months before you offer the large if it looks like hes having a hard time with them go back to the next size smaller...the only way to really tell is to just try. hope i helped if you need anything else let me know.