How To Care For A "Leopard Gecko"

Hi, this is my first instructable, and it is my entry for the pets challenge. The pictures i took with my phone were not great so some are off of google image. Anyways, heres some background information

The Leopard Gecko, or eublepharis macularius, is a small, easy-to care for pet. "Eublepharis macularius" roughly translates as
eublepharis; True/real eyelids
macularius; spotted

Unlike other geckos, the leopard gecko (And relatives) have moveable eyelids, and lack the special toe pads to climb up vertical places.. instead, they have small claws.

Step 1 How To Create A Good Home.

To give a leopard gecko a good home, you first will need a few things.

Depending On How Many Geckos....
1 Gecko - 10 Gallon Tank
2 Geckos - 15 Gallon Tank
3 Geckos - 20 Gallon Tank
Never, put 2 males in one tank, they will fight and could end up dyeing

Ground material (Sand, moss, wood chips) enough to cover the bottom with a few layers and have extra

Rocks & Hiding places - Leopard Geckos are Nocturnal. That means they sleep during the day and are awake at night.

Food dish & water dish

A Small in-tank thermometer - geckos need to constantly be at 85/90 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and can go into the low seventies at night.

A lamp with a heat bulb - Ceramic bulb, heating pads, incandescent lights (During the day only), etc. Do NOT USE A HOT ROCK, your pet will develop heat spots, and could die if it basks on it and falls asleep.

Comments

[Wynd]

20G for 3 geckos is way too small. You want a minimum of 10G per gecko, more being better. These are solitary terrestrial animals that need their own space, each one will also need their own hide (hot hide, cool hide and moist hide). Particulate substrate is not good as it can lead to impaction (even calcium sand is bad, it will lead to impaction and if the animal eats it for it's calcium, it can cause an over-dose of calcium). Just spend the $5 to get the pure calcium without D3 (be sure to have a good vitamin supplement that includes D3 to dust the prey with twice per week).

[lizard girl]

OK. i have a little advice for all us leopard gecko owners out there. DON'T USE SAND AS SUBSTRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's the worse thing they can have. and, make sure the lamp is on one side of the tank so they can have a warm and cool side. also, keep them clean and change their water. the tempature should be about 80-100 degrees and i'm pretty sure you guys know the rest.

[lizard girl]

i have a blizzard leopard gecko her name is Katara. oh! and i have 2 male anoles. their names are Dusk and Dawn. what's awsome is they don't fight!

[Picothellama]

My gecko never basks on his hot side, he only stays on the cool side...is there a reason for this?

[Thoth]

Hot side is too hot.

[timmerguy200]

Ummm. I dont think you should use bark. although it looks more natural and gives the tanka more natural feeling i think it could harm his skin. a better substrate would be paper towels or newspaper.(yes newspaper) not only does this let your gecko be up to date with whats happening in the Human world it is more economical and i think better for him.  Also like dandaman919 says. thos vents probally could hurt him. a better solution would just be a normal aquariam with a screen top.


Hope this helps!
timmerguy 200


P.S. I LOVE YOUR GECKO!!

[Telvroi]

 or calcium sand which is a good alternative were it doesn't harm them when consume it in fact its highly beneficial because when they consume it the pure limestone will ad positively 

[Thoth]

Actually the calcium sand tends to lead to impaction alot of times because the much of it is too big to fully dissolve in the gut and if your gecko starts eating it as a calcium source, it may lead to problems, Plus it tends to be more expensive than most other substrates.

Use a calcium supplement, also you can use simple cheap play sand as a substrate. Though newspaper though ugly is a very good substrate.

[ToddisI]

Can you use just a heat mat for heat???????

Been thinking of getting a leopard gecko for a while, but am not positive on heating....

Thanks!!

[dioblo2345]

my leopard gecko`s tail fell off :( :( . i have one ten year old leopard gecko....so i just wanted to know a few things,how long does it take for a tail to grow back, and what about fisrt aid tips.thank you...p.s nice instructable.

[clemsonguy1125]

Around 40 days

[HubertF]

a heat mat is very importent

[lvcommando]

DON'T JUST USE LAMPS! Your going to kill your gecko, They need to be able to thermoregulate and since they are nocturnal they need belly heat, get a Under Tank heater.

[mtm101097]

Great instructable.
I have 1 question.You can have 2 female geckos in the same cage, right?
because i dont want to have to care for 4 more geckos than i bought.
Thanks.

[bassmonkey]

this is a long story, but please reply! I have a brother that goes to servite high school, and he met a friend there. My mom became close friends with his parents,and just last Saturday it was the mom's b-day, so me and my dad went to her house, and I got bored so I went up stairs and looked in my brother's friend;s room, and saw a lizard of some sort, and thought it was awesome because I've only had fish for pets. (and a dog, but you no) So a week later, we had a party and they were invited, and I was talking to the dad and I brought up the lizard and right out of the blue he said "You can have it, we've been trying to give it away!" and I was like "seriously? with the cage and everything?" the answer was yes and my mom said OK. I asked the dad how often you feed them and he said once or twice a week, then i went online and they said two crickets a day, then i called the pet store and they said twice a day!, so please help!!!

[ms.craftycreature]

There probably are a couple of variations as to how you should go about feeding them. It really all depends on the age of your gecko. As young babes I fed my own litle gals mealworms (preferably the soft ones that have just shed) their easier for the little guys to chomp on. In their young juvenile stage I fed them every other day. Adult stage you can be a bit more sporadic about every two days. But dont "underfeed" or "overfeed". Gutloading helps gives them a meatier and a more nutritional diet and an occsional dusting of vitamin powder is also benificial, do this sporadically as well I usually do it once or twice every other week. Othewise goodluck and I hope this helps.

[bassmonkey]

cool, thanks a lot, do you know about fish?

[ms.craftycreature]

Depends what kind of fish are we talking about?

[ms.craftycreature]

I might actually be able to help you just send me your questions in a pm. :)

[bassmonkey]

tropical freshwater community ,like molly's platy's gourami's etc.

[i wuv my gecko]

ive had dreams that my leopard gecko has eggs but they all die! but last night after i looked at this info, i dreamed that they lived forever!!!!!! THANKS!!!! p.s.-i only have one gecko in my tank so i diont know why i dremt that? but then i found out that my mom said that when we get the new house next week i could get another one (female so they can mate) i m gonna use your info!

[dandaman919]

cool i have leapord gecko too

[The Fishfrog]

Leopard geckos are funny..... Had two, a boy named gary and a girl named georgina. 2 bearded dragons as well, baandit and bella.

[pilis]

ventilation is alway on the top of the terrarium,for gekkon never side.because he can hurt him self when he climbs.

[Der Bradly]

I had a leopard gecko, but it died...

[n00bcakes_x]

I love these things! I work at petco and they are the best things we have there. for realz..

[erick.mendes]

Very nice instructable! I like the images... IMHO, I think you should talk a little more about the gecko's childhood... is there any special treatment the young geckos need, or it's treated just like an adult? How long it takes for the young to become full-grown?

[halo-knex-gr8]

about a year 2 a year and a half 2 get all of its spots, and about 2-3 years till its fully grown

[halo-knex-gr8]

hey guys, my leo is about 2, should i move him in a 30x13x12 or a 24x16x12,hes doin gr8, ive almost got him to go on my shirt =)

[monkey666]

thats great, mines 7 weeks old. hes still trying to escape my hand and freaks out when i pick him up. but hes young he dont know better. :)

[halo-knex-gr8]

lol

[halo-knex-gr8]

the first is a 20 long

[halo-knex-gr8]

im moving him into the second one, we had a baby snapping turtle there but he got to big so we let him go today at a lake nearby where we found him. were washing the cage thuroly and moving him in the next day.

[monkey666]

but its true a gecko would not be very happy in a ten gallon. Im going to just have one and I will put it in a 20. there not that expensive I just called in to petco and a a 20 gallon tank is 25 dollers.

[monkey666]

well sergent crayon is mainly just a meaner head!

[Sergeant Crayon]

Good, simple Instructable, especially for beginners. One small matter though: The temperature 85-90F should be the warm side, the cool side should be ~75-80, and I would advise not to feed grasshoppers to juveniles. P.S. While a leopard gecko CAN live in a 10 gallon tank it's entire life. I do not do this. I recommend nothing less then a 20 long (come on, they're not that expensive!) however I do not feel the need to lecture as long as it is AT LEAST 10 gallons. Also, try to cover up three sides of the tank, terrestrial reptiles love to feel secure, not in the open.

[killarowa]

Boooo brandon!@ BOOOO! Nice name SGT Crayon! I like the "cover 3 sides" note.... I never thought about that... guess I should of put myself in my gecko's shoes, before I off and sold him at a local pet store years ago!

[brandon borick]

do you critisise every instruckabel you see sory but give me a brake on my bearded dragons and dont start on him

[Sergeant Crayon]

I am dearly and truly sorry you feel this way. It sounds as if NeonLime does care for his/her (Sorry NeonLIme!) pet, and does a damn good job at it! As I've mentioned numerous times that I did not once mean to criticize you. I simply wished to instruct (help) you on taking care of an animal. I can not make you care for your animal, I simply wished to help you if you so wished. By the way, my above "P.S." shpeal was NOT a criticism. The things I wrote above are the IDEAL settings and my OWN opinions. I hope you stop calling me out for simply comments that don't affect you. If you don't like constructive criticism or comments, simply don't publish an Instructable. It's not rocket science...

[NeonLime]

His* :P Thanks For The Comment!