New leo and a lot of a questions

K

kaikorcha3

New Member
Messages
42
Location
ashton
Hi everyone

we have just purchased our first gecko who is very cute . but its all so new to me that I am researching and reading everything but there are so many different views , I was hoping you could answer some of my questiosn ( i know you have possibly heard each one a thousand times before ) Sorry in advance i just really want to get this right and have a happy healthy leo.

She is 3 months old and we got her 1 week ago she is in a ten gallon fish tank set up for now with carpet substrate a cold /warm and moist hide . temp on hot side varies between 30 and 33. cold side is about 23
she sleeps mostly in the cold side in the day and moist box overnight .
Shes ate 8 or 9 crickets since we got her. the first night she ate 4 then next 3 then 1 she ate none yesterday just point blank reused . same again tonight so we had some meal worms which were standard size I gave her 3 of them instead of the crickets and she came running out and gobbled them all up . i've not seen her that keen for crickets apart from the first day . shes pooping fine we've had 3 in the week .
We haven't tried to handle her yet as she tends to hide away if she knows we are around and i would like her to settle first really.
i dust and gut load the crickets and meal worm with powders (neutrobal multivit two to three times a week and pure cacium all the other days i also have water and pure calcium in the tank all the time .

so onto my questions

Are these powders the right ones i keep hearing about d3 but im a little confused about it will she get that from the multi vitamin i am giving her (neutrobal) and am i doing it right with the pure calcium (VETARK) ?

Are the standard sized meal worms too big for her she had no trouble with them but i kind of panicked after she started eating them as they looked so big once she picked them up in her mouth ( she liked them very much)


are these temperatures OK for her ?

shes in my sons bedroom but i am having to keep it very quiet as she hides all the time and very dark hes really keen to see her but we only do for food then she hides away unless we sneak in she will sometimes be warming her tummy on the heat mat but never for more than a minute or two and she goes back in if we make the slightest sound .

She was a present for my creature loving son hes a responsible 11 year old but were helping him with most of the care at the moment . do you think we are doing the right thing keeping it dark and quiet and delaying handling or are we just prolonging it because eventually we will want to handle her and she may be too afraid by then due to being left alone for so long ?

Thankyou in advance for you help its much appreciated .
 
C

crazylizardlady

New Member
Messages
106
Location
Jacksonville NC
Congratulations on your first leo and welcome to GF. Dont worry too much about her hiding out or not eating for a while, thats pretty normal and reptiles can go without food for a while with no adverse effects. So on to your questions.

The neutrobal is a multivitamin twice a week with that is sufficient the other 5 days she needs a calcium with D3 in it, thats how I do my supplements for babies there are other ways to do it of course thats just what works for me. The D3 allows them to process the calcium, but you dont want to leave the one with D3 in the tank as an overdose is possible, only pure calcium left in the tank. Repashy plus I think is an all in one but Im not 100% sure on that as I dont personally use it so hopefully someone else here can confirm or deny that.

Temps are good, if they are floor temperatures. The ambient temp doesnt matter so much as the floor temp as leos need belly heat of around 90 to digest their food. What are you using as a heat source?

As far as handing there are alot of ways to do it, some say the leo should be left alone for x amount of time, some say til they seem ready to come out and explore, some just go for it. With my very first leo I waited 2 weeks before I tried to do anything other than feeding and cleaning, with my guys I got as adults I waited until they were eating consistently, with all of my others I handled them the first night I had them and all of them are fine. There is no hard and fast rule on handling but if shes eating I would say you should be fine to try. Try at night as they are nocturnal and prefer not to be disturbed during the day. As far as how to actually go about the handling you can either just reach in and grab her, be aware if you do it this way she will most likely squirm around and move pretty quickly, or you can do it the slower way. Put your hand in the tank and let her get used to your hand there eventually (could be a day or a month+) she will come to investigate and crawl on your hand. Most leos in my experience will calm down pretty quickly but they can move pretty fast. They can bite but rarely do and esp with babies youll barely feel it if she does. Just be sure to supervise your son taking her out the first few times to make sure she doesnt escape you can also pick her up and hold your hands over the tank low to the ground the first few times in case she does manage to run off your hand.

One other thing to note they can get their toenails and teeth caught in the carpet fibers, something to watch for if you continue to use it. I recommend paper towels or tiles. Tile is my preference over everything else Ive used, its easy to clean, has virtually no risk of impaction, and just looks better in my opinion.

Theres a channel on youtube leopardgeckotalk that has some great information on all things leopard gecko. She has some videos on handing and set ups as well as feeding and issues that might come up. Good luck with her sounds like you are on the right track :)
 
K

kaikorcha3

New Member
Messages
42
Location
ashton
crazylizardlady said:
Congratulations on your first leo and welcome to GF. Dont worry too much about her hiding out or not eating for a while, thats pretty normal and reptiles can go without food for a while with no adverse effects. So on to your questions.

The neutrobal is a multivitamin twice a week with that is sufficient the other 5 days she needs a calcium with D3 in it, thats how I do my supplements for babies there are other ways to do it of course thats just what works for me. The D3 allows them to process the calcium, but you dont want to leave the one with D3 in the tank as an overdose is possible, only pure calcium left in the tank. Repashy plus I think is an all in one but Im not 100% sure on that as I dont personally use it so hopefully someone else here can confirm or deny that.

Temps are good, if they are floor temperatures. The ambient temp doesnt matter so much as the floor temp as leos need belly heat of around 90 to digest their food. What are you using as a heat source?

As far as handing there are alot of ways to do it, some say the leo should be left alone for x amount of time, some say til they seem ready to come out and explore, some just go for it. With my very first leo I waited 2 weeks before I tried to do anything other than feeding and cleaning, with my guys I got as adults I waited until they were eating consistently, with all of my others I handled them the first night I had them and all of them are fine. There is no hard and fast rule on handling but if shes eating I would say you should be fine to try. Try at night as they are nocturnal and prefer not to be disturbed during the day. As far as how to actually go about the handling you can either just reach in and grab her, be aware if you do it this way she will most likely squirm around and move pretty quickly, or you can do it the slower way. Put your hand in the tank and let her get used to your hand there eventually (could be a day or a month+) she will come to investigate and crawl on your hand. Most leos in my experience will calm down pretty quickly but they can move pretty fast. They can bite but rarely do and esp with babies youll barely feel it if she does. Just be sure to supervise your son taking her out the first few times to make sure she doesnt escape you can also pick her up and hold your hands over the tank low to the ground the first few times in case she does manage to run off your hand.

One other thing to note they can get their toenails and teeth caught in the carpet fibers, something to watch for if you continue to use it. I recommend paper towels or tiles. Tile is my preference over everything else Ive used, its easy to clean, has virtually no risk of impaction, and just looks better in my opinion.

Theres a channel on youtube leopardgeckotalk that has some great information on all things leopard gecko. She has some videos on handing and set ups as well as feeding and issues that might come up. Good luck with her sounds like you are on the right track

Thanks for your response.i will get some calcium with d3 then today and dust with that instead. It can be confusing as so many people have different views. Its the same with the carpet , lots of people say its good for babies as there is no risk of impaction so I went with that. She is turning out to be an expensive little thing but one look at her and she is worth it.

I am using a heat mat with thermostat set to 30 but it doesn't go off till floor temp gets to 33 for some reason but she seems Ok with it.

I couldn't find any mini mealworms so had to give her regular size which seem fairly big but thin ( quite shocking how fast they move) are these ok I would say they are Sightly bigger than her head. ?

Thanks again for your help we may try handling her over the next few days I will let you know how we get on ;)
Click to expand...
 
C

crazylizardlady

New Member
Messages
106
Location
Jacksonville NC
They prefer right around 32 so thats fine. For feeders dont feed anything wider than the space between her eyes. Small mealies are probably fine or the pinhead crickets. You can look into dubia roaches as well theyre much less of a headache and dont smell nearly as bad as crickets.
 
K

kaikorcha3

New Member
Messages
42
Location
ashton
Thankyou . I couldn't get mini mealworms anywhere just the standard size which is what she ate last night she didn't appear to have problems it was gone in 3 bites and she was super keen had a little happy face on her :D I wish I knew how to add a picture as the pet shop didn't know how old she was just said a few months .( 3 or 4)
 
K

kaikorcha3

New Member
Messages
42
Location
ashton
This was when I first bought her I am going to get a pic tonight of her to see what you think and if she looks healthy . Sorry for all the questions etc I just want her to be ok :main_yes:
 
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