Domingo
New Member
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- 3
- Location
- United States
This is my second post here, so I hope I am in the right forum. I have had two leopard geckos for about 10 days now. I have previous experience with reptiles, but never with geckos. I have been reading a couple of different care sheets and forums every day, and I am frankly getting a little overwhelmed with the conflicting info. Most advice is the same, but there are enough small differences to confuse me. So basically I am going to describe my set up and you all can tell me what is good/bad and whether I need to adjust anything. Thanks in advance for your time, I know this is a long post.
First let me introduce my geckos...Frodo and ToBeNamed (I'm working on it, I don't like to rush these things...suggestions welcome)
Frodo is about 4-5 inches long and weighs 9 grams, sex is unknown
ToBeNamed is 5.5 inches long and weighs 15 grams, sex is unknown
Housing
They both currently reside in a 40 gallon breeder tank (18x36x16). I understand that I will most likely need to separate them when they get a little older. I will either divide this enclosure, or add a second one soon.
Substrate
Cage carpet. Most of what I heard online was that sand was bad for the little guys.
Heating and Lighting
Gradient from 78-85 with a basking spot of 88-92 degrees. UTH provides the majority of the heat. A low wattage red bulb provides the basking spot. Temps are pretty consistent day and night. No UV at this time. I have a low wattage day bulb for 12 hours each day. It does not affect heating.
Furnishings
Being that these guys are small and have a big tank, I over-furnished. I have to look for a while to even find them. They have a rock-hide/water-bowl combo, a bamboo hut hide, a natural mopari wood log with room to hide underneath, several smaller driftwood branches, lots of artificial greenery. The greenery and driftwood are arranged so that they also make good hiding places. All the wood is firmly on the ground, so no risk of accidents.
Humidity
This is tricky for me. My tank has a screen top, so a lot of humidity escapes. I have also read a lot of conflicting info on this. The major pet store care sheets offer completely different advice and online sources are varied too.
Right now, I can easily maintain about 15%. I provide a moist hide at all times. At least once daily, I mist everything lightly which raises the humidity to 50% for about 2 hours, then it slowly goes back to 15%.
Feeding
I keep a small cap of Fluker's phosphorous free calcium with D3 in the tank at all times. I am feeding 5-6 crickets per day for each gecko. They are 2 week old crickets and range from 3/8" to 5/8". I also hand feed worms to make sure they both get a good meal. I fed mealworms the first 10 days and am trying phoenix worms now. In addition to the crickets, they get a couple of worms each per day. All are gut loaded at the store where I buy them, then I continue gut loading till they become food. I dust everything with the same calcium everyday except Sunday. On that day, I dust with repti-vite. Three small water bowls are in the tank. One is under the heat light to help raise humidity, and the other 2 are really shallow (1/2").
General
I am not handling much yet, just letting them get used to their new home. I do put worms in the flat of my hand and let them come grab them. This is purely an effort to get them used to me. They are both active around feeding time, with lots of roaming around the tank. Good poops and urates, which are removed from tank daily. Both have had a successful shed since I got them. No retained shed for either one, which makes me very happy.
Well, that's it. Am I missing anything? Am I messing up anywhere? Advice welcome, but please be gentle...
First let me introduce my geckos...Frodo and ToBeNamed (I'm working on it, I don't like to rush these things...suggestions welcome)
Frodo is about 4-5 inches long and weighs 9 grams, sex is unknown
ToBeNamed is 5.5 inches long and weighs 15 grams, sex is unknown
Housing
They both currently reside in a 40 gallon breeder tank (18x36x16). I understand that I will most likely need to separate them when they get a little older. I will either divide this enclosure, or add a second one soon.
Substrate
Cage carpet. Most of what I heard online was that sand was bad for the little guys.
Heating and Lighting
Gradient from 78-85 with a basking spot of 88-92 degrees. UTH provides the majority of the heat. A low wattage red bulb provides the basking spot. Temps are pretty consistent day and night. No UV at this time. I have a low wattage day bulb for 12 hours each day. It does not affect heating.
Furnishings
Being that these guys are small and have a big tank, I over-furnished. I have to look for a while to even find them. They have a rock-hide/water-bowl combo, a bamboo hut hide, a natural mopari wood log with room to hide underneath, several smaller driftwood branches, lots of artificial greenery. The greenery and driftwood are arranged so that they also make good hiding places. All the wood is firmly on the ground, so no risk of accidents.
Humidity
This is tricky for me. My tank has a screen top, so a lot of humidity escapes. I have also read a lot of conflicting info on this. The major pet store care sheets offer completely different advice and online sources are varied too.
Right now, I can easily maintain about 15%. I provide a moist hide at all times. At least once daily, I mist everything lightly which raises the humidity to 50% for about 2 hours, then it slowly goes back to 15%.
Feeding
I keep a small cap of Fluker's phosphorous free calcium with D3 in the tank at all times. I am feeding 5-6 crickets per day for each gecko. They are 2 week old crickets and range from 3/8" to 5/8". I also hand feed worms to make sure they both get a good meal. I fed mealworms the first 10 days and am trying phoenix worms now. In addition to the crickets, they get a couple of worms each per day. All are gut loaded at the store where I buy them, then I continue gut loading till they become food. I dust everything with the same calcium everyday except Sunday. On that day, I dust with repti-vite. Three small water bowls are in the tank. One is under the heat light to help raise humidity, and the other 2 are really shallow (1/2").
General
I am not handling much yet, just letting them get used to their new home. I do put worms in the flat of my hand and let them come grab them. This is purely an effort to get them used to me. They are both active around feeding time, with lots of roaming around the tank. Good poops and urates, which are removed from tank daily. Both have had a successful shed since I got them. No retained shed for either one, which makes me very happy.
Well, that's it. Am I missing anything? Am I messing up anywhere? Advice welcome, but please be gentle...
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