Care Sheet

Leopard geckos are a small, ground dwelling, nocturnal lizard. They grow to between 6

and 9 inches and are around 3 inches when they first hatch. Leopard geckos can live for up to 20 years, some sources have reported up to 25 years! (something you should consider before getting one as a pet). As babies their colours are

thick yellow with black bands going across the body. After a few months these bands are

lost and the body colour goes to yellow with black speckles.

The leopard geckos’ natural range is the arid, rocky scrubland of Afghanistan, northern

India and Pakistan.

Leopard geckos are insectivores that means they eat bugs. For example, mealworms, wax worms, crickets and when they get older, they will occasional eat a pinkie (day old mouse). It is extremely important that all feeder insects be fed a highly nutritious diet prior to being fed to your leopard gecko. The process of "feeding the food" is called gut loading. In order to gut-load your feeder insects, simply place them in a container for 24 hours prior to feeding them to your gecko, and offer them a highly nutritious insect diet then just before feeding them to your gecko cover them with a vitamin supplement, (see picture below) which you can get from most reptile shops. Be sure to replace food and sources of moisture daily to prevent various fungi and bacteria

You can leave a dish of mealworms in the cage at all times. As a general rule, food items should be no longer than the width of the leopard gecko’s head (this should prevent them from choking on food, and should also prevent impaction, which can occur following the consumption of food which is too big). Adults can be fed either once per day or every other day. It is important to remove any uneaten crickets. Crickets have been known to nibble on geckos.

 Even though Leos come from a dry and hot terrain they do need water at ALL times. A water dish for drinking should be available Fill it with water; make sure it isn’t deep enough for them to drown in.

A suitable hiding place should be provided at all times, ideally a hide at either end of the

vivarium. The gecko must be able to fit comfortably in the hide and there must also

be no sharp edges or points that the gecko can harm it on. With leopard geckos it is

advisable to have a retreat lined with damp sphagnum moss, as this will help the gecko

lose its skin when shedding. Leopard Geckos do not need a lot of humidity. Too much humidity can cause respiratory infections. The only place they need humidity is in their humid hide. Some care sheets say to spray them. Don’t. This will cause high humidity and plus they have their water dish if the want something to drink.

A pair of leopard geckos will live happily in 24”x15”x15” wooden vivarium with glass

sliding front doors. Any more than 2 geckos then a 36”x18”x18” vivarium is needed.

Leopard Geckos require a daytime temperature of between 83º and 87º F, and can

withstand a drop of between 15º and 20º at night. The heat source should be a

thermostatically controlled heat mat.

It is generally accepted that leopard geckos don’t require any specialist lighting.

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Specialist reptile calcium based sand is a suitable substrate it’s important to leave a calcium dish in the cage. Leopard geckos know when their body needs more calcium so they will go searching for it. This is where the sand as substrate problem comes in. They start eating the sand because they think that it has the calcium they need but actually they end up killing their self because of impaction. Get a milk bottle cap and fill it with calcium only supplement and put it in the viv.

To keep your gecko healthy you’ll need to keep their cage clean.

Clean out their cage once a week. Change the water, fill the calcium dish, sieve the substrate etc. You’ll need to spot clean everyday. Do a total cleaning about every 6 months.

Leopard Geckos are pretty clean They pick one place in the viv and do their business there. If you want to pick the place that you want them to do their business, you can take a stool and set it where you want them to go. To make clean up easy you can place a jam jar lid in their business spot. All you have to do is pick up the lid to clean the area.

There are few problems generally encountered with leopard geckos provided the

husbandry and feeding regime is correct. The two main problems that can be encountered

is the under use and occasional over use of the vitamin powder which can lead to

metabolic bone disease. The second being not having the moss hide retreat for shedding,

not having this can lead to shed skin being left on the toes. After several sheds the toes

can be starved of blood with them eventually dropping off.