New juvienile leo gecko

Hopefully these pictures attached correctly.

We just bought a new gecko yesterday at a reptile convention here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We were told she is a 3-4 month old juvenile Super Hypo tangerine carrot tail baldy. We bought her from a well known seller here in the mid-west. She looks to be very healthy, nice chubby tail, her color is gorgeous. She is very skittish, and so far spends most of her time moving from the warm hide to the cool hide. The tank is a 20g long, currently using repi carpet, but I want to switch to a slate tile substrate. The warm side is reading about 89 to 92 degrees. There is also a screen top to the tank, it's just not on at the time of the picture.

This is our first juvenile leo. I have read to allow the leo to "settle in", which I can understand. But when can I begin to see the leo start eating? Or how long can the leo go without eating? I know we just just brought her home, but she does not seem interested in the meal worms. We were told that she was trained on meal worms. I have calcium w/ D3 to dust the meal worms, and will put a bowl of calcium w/out D3 in the tank.

I have also read to just leave her alone until that "settling" period comes to rest. Any recommendations to how long? A week? Two? I haven't attempted to handle the leo since we initially held her before we bought her. My kids wanted to be sure she wasn't aggressive, and she doesn't seem to be. She's just a bit skittish.

Any, and I mean any information from you would be greatly appreciated. If you have any recommendations too. Any improvements I should do? Anything I should change?

I appreciate it,

Thanks!

-DB

Congrats on the new gecko, and welcome to the forum!

Most people recommend leaving the gecko alone for up to two weeks after a big move like this. That means no disturbing unless you need to clean her cage. As for the food, I wouldn't worry too much for the first week if her appetite isn't good. It's part of the process of settling in. If she starts eating, great, but otherwise, it won't hurt her. The supplements sound good to start with, but a reptile multivitamin is also recommended in addition to calcium supplements. A lot of people, myself included, use Repashy Calcium Plus, which has calcium, D3, and other vitamins all included. Otherwise, you can buy a separate reptile vitamin supplement and alternate dustings (one time dust with calcium/D3, next time dust with vitamins...).

The setup sounds good. If there's a light on the cage (looks like there is in the picture), it shouldn't be on more than 12-14 hours a day to create a proper day/night cycle. You can put the light on a timer to keep the cycle steady. If your gecko is kept in a room with plenty of light from windows, you may not even need a cage light. If you want to view her outside of daylight hours, you can get a red night bulb, which doesn't bother geckos as much. Just be sure to turn that off when you're done watching her.

Thanks for the reply indyana, I appreciate the advice. I did get a bottle of the Repashy Calcium Plus and will use that with feedings. If our gecko isn't eating yet, is it OK to have the Repashy Calcium Plus separate in the housing? Or just dust the feeders?

Thanks again,
-DB

She's beautiful!

I would just dust the feeders with the Repashy calcium, I wouldn't leave it in the cage 24/7. It's easy to overdose on things like vitamin D3, so we want them to have access to just plain calcium so they can ingest more of it if they feel they need it without all the other additives. It's significantly harder to overdose on plain calcium, so it's safer to do it this way.

Olympus said:

She's beautiful!

I would just dust the feeders with the Repashy calcium, I wouldn't leave it in the cage 24/7. It's easy to overdose on things like vitamin D3, so we want them to have access to just plain calcium so they can ingest more of it if they feel they need it without all the other additives. It's significantly harder to overdose on plain calcium, so it's safer to do it this way.

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Thanks for the response Olympus, I appreciate it!

Also acquired a gecko this past week, and missed the very show you purchased this little girl from! Was a bit bummed about that but had only found out about it after the fact.

For my new little one, I tweezer fed it the first day (tuesday) to see if it was hungry. It gobbled up the ones that I offered, but wasn't yet comfortable going after the ones I'd left for it in a dish.
Sometime this morning was the first time it ate from the dish, though I was not awake to witness it, but at least it's getting more comfortable with its new home.
I'm still offering it meals with tweezers, but will be doing so less and less since it now knows where to get mealies if it's hungry. This might work for you.

By the by, do you go to Twin Cities Reptiles at all?

rothsauce said:

Also acquired a gecko this past week, and missed the very show you purchased this little girl from! Was a bit bummed about that but had only found out about it after the fact.

For my new little one, I tweezer fed it the first day (tuesday) to see if it was hungry. It gobbled up the ones that I offered, but wasn't yet comfortable going after the ones I'd left for it in a dish.
Sometime this morning was the first time it ate from the dish, though I was not awake to witness it, but at least it's getting more comfortable with its new home.
I'm still offering it meals with tweezers, but will be doing so less and less since it now knows where to get mealies if it's hungry. This might work for you.

By the by, do you go to Twin Cities Reptiles at all?

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I was just there this weekend, went in to look around and pick up some meal worms. It's a great store.

I also haven't been able to see our gecko eat. She only eats at night, but has a huge appetite. She's been eating roughly 15-18 medium size mealies per night. Our little girl is doing great, couldn't be happier.
And good luck with your little one too!

BTW there is another reptile show June 28/29 and September 20/21.

Thanks,
DB

xrayeyes1502 said:

I was just there this weekend, went in to look around and pick up some meal worms. It's a great store.

I also haven't been able to see our gecko eat. She only eats at night, but has a huge appetite. She's been eating roughly 15-18 medium size mealies per night. Our little girl is doing great, couldn't be happier.
And good luck with your little one too!

BTW there is another reptile show June 28/29 and September 20/21.

Thanks,
DB

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Was also there this weekend, asked about a few feeders and they no longer carry phoenix worms or butter worms. A shame since I really wanted to give phoenix worms a shot after this coming shed.

Right now mine is eating sparingly with its shed approaching, maybe 2-3 by tweezer feeding and it will usually eat a few if left in its dish (the bottom of an Icebreakers container works perfectly as a mealie dish. Nice treats for me, great dish for the gecko).

Thanks for the dates, will be writing those down for the future! Are they also going to be at the fair grounds?

rothsauce said:

Was also there this weekend, asked about a few feeders and they no longer carry phoenix worms or butter worms. A shame since I really wanted to give phoenix worms a shot after this coming shed.

Right now mine is eating sparingly with its shed approaching, maybe 2-3 by tweezer feeding and it will usually eat a few if left in its dish (the bottom of an Icebreakers container works perfectly as a mealie dish. Nice treats for me, great dish for the gecko).

Thanks for the dates, will be writing those down for the future! Are they also going to be at the fair grounds?

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It should be at the fairgrounds. Here's where I came across the info. Minnesota Reptile Show and Sale | Cold Blooded Expos
Thanks


-DB

About 3 months later and she's doing great. Just thought I would share.

Thanks,

-DB

Awesome! Looking very healthy.