Newbie with lots of questions, including morph ID

[Jadie.Glitch]

I just rescued a gecko from craigslist for my husband and now I have some questions. I had been doing my research beforehand so I understood the basic ideas behind owning one. I had planned on getting a setup ready then getting one from a petstore or a local breeder but then I found this unwanted one on craigslist that came with a full setup and I couldn't resist. Then I get to the place and the guy hands me this tiny 12"x12" tank with a 6"gecko in it (poor thing barely has room to turn around!). I was a little put off by that but everything, plus the gecko, was only $30 so I figured I could use what I have at home and use the little cage as a backup or travel cage.

Anyway, that aside, we're planning on putting her in a 15 gallon tank (12"x18"x24"). I bought some purple calcium sand because my husband's favorite color is purple, but now after doing more reading I think we're going to put reptile carpet and some rocks and tile pieces in there instead.

My questions (so far ) are as follows:

1. Are these good vitamins? http://www.bigappleherp.com/Essential-Vitamins-8-Oz-. We're gonna get reptile calcium too, but the description on this multivitamin says I should ALSO supplement with probiotics, which I have never heard of doing for a gecko yet.
   
2. Are these Cricket bites a good idea for both water and food supplements for crickets? http://www.bigappleherp.com/Nature-Zone-Bites-Foods?sc=2&category=25
   
3. I have a snake rack that I've been meaning to get proper heat for and have been looking at this: http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-1000-Thermostat I see that it has two outlets for plugs. Can I plug my heat rope into one (for my snake rack) and the UTH for our gecko into the other and the thing will control them independently or do I need to buy two?
   
4. Do you suggest any other thermostats that are cheaper?
   
5. The guy told me she (confirmed she; no bold V or bulges near the vent) was of the Aptor Morph, and he mentioned "Her orange is coming in right now and should get really bright when she grows up". I've never heard of Aptor before... is it a real thing? Below are pictures. The flash was washing her out a bit and making her nervous so I could only take a few and they aren't that good. She's a light yellow with faded spots all along her body. Near her tail the spots become more bold. The base of her tail and head are gaining some orange as he said, and between her eyes there is a bit of lime green. She was kept on tan calci-sand (or at least, I HOPE it was reptile friendly sand) so the extra colors or orange and green aren't from color leaching from the sand.

Here are the pictures. In some of them she looks like she's about to shed, but in person she just looks dilute, as if that's her natural peachy/brown/yellow color, so I'm not really sure...

Like I said she was annoyed with the flash so I couldn't take any more pics. I was worried about hurting her eyes and she was so darn cute as she closed them and turned away from the flash. They have the neatest personalities! We're so happy to have her.

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

Anyone? Even if you can just answer one question or so I'd be appreciative. Also, I already have some "ZooMed Real Forest Floor" that I use for my snakes. If it's dry and not moist, will it work for a leopard gecko? Just a thought, since I already have it.

 

[Wowoklol]

Welcome to the world of geckos! Adorable arent they!?

Looks like it has a bit of a hypo in her. Some sort of snow? That or its ready to shed. Dont think so on the APTOR... Check this link out for some decent morph info. http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Category:Morphs APTOR is an albino morph with red eyes.

Wax worms to fatten her up. Tail looks a lil skinny


Calcium supplement yes. That particular one? Not sure. Look at the Repashy site. http://www.store.repashy.com/
We're doing calcium all the time(in a dish). Calcium with D3 occasionally on food(they can OD on D3) and a multi-vit. D3 is required to process the calcium.

Crickets from the pet store probably have very little in their stomachs or possibly something bad(feces etc). Recommended to "gutload" them for 24 hours or so on the good stuff. You can get a cricket diet or come up with some high protein concoction of your own to feed them. Otherwise you aren't feeding the gecko much more than an insect shell imho. I'm trying to get my 2girls on dubia roaches. Meal worms work as well. We aren't big fans of crickets in this household. Noisy smelly things I dunno. lol


You can try the dual thermo deal? I'd just get a temp gun so you can check proper temps throughout the enclosures. Heat is going to do more harm short term. Make sure you don't cook em!

Calci sand is ok just be aware of them ingesting it. Too much may lead to impaction in the lizard. Feeding from a bowl cuts down on that. Some people do all sand all day and have no issues with adult lizards. You'll find people on both sides. I personally do paper towel in the bottom of a plastic bin. Much easier to clean up

Make sure you have a dry hide and a humid hide. The lizard will not shed well without the humid hide. And generally just wont be very happy.

Google is your friend! These forums are very helpful as well, but goto all the breeders sites and check their care sheets. THey all offer very good advise. These are the pros who some of them have been raising lizards and other reptiles for 20+ years. JMG Reptiles, OHIO Gecko, HISS(People who run this site), Repashy etc all are wealths of info. Have fun!

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

Awesome, thanks for the welcome and thank you for getting back to me .

I looked at all the pictures of snows on leoapardgeckowiki.com and none of them looked like her, but yeah I suppose she could have some hypo in her. When a leopard gecko is a normal het hypo, does this show through? Because I don't think she's full hypo...

I'll get her some wax worms, thanks for the suggestion .

Thank you for the clarification on the D3! I had no idea that I couldn't put that in there all the time. I'm glad I don't have it yet. I'll make sure to get both kinds.

I'm going to order some crickets online but I went ahead and got a small group today from our PetCo and I'm gut-loading them right now so they'll be ready for her dinner tomorrow . I have freeze-dried mealworms in there right now but she hasn't touched them I don't think...

I'm setting up her new enclosure now, so she at least has room to walk around while we wait for her extras to arrive. She'll definitely get a moist hide today just in case the dilute-ness I'm seeing on her really is a shed waiting to come off.

Thanks for the help! Still awaiting responses on a few questions though. I'm doing my best to research independently too.

Unanswered questions:

1. Will ZooMed Real Forest Floor work at all as a substrate?
   
2. What is her morph? (still not entirely sure...)

 

[Wowoklol]

I wouldn't use the zoomed. Their skin is a bit thin on the underside.. Not too many setups if any at all use that stuff. Not sure even for snakes. I'd only use cypress if you have to keep it very humid as it holds humidity better.

Are her eyes red?

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

Nope, not red. In fact they're black with a hunk of metallic-looking silvery-grey towards the rear of each eye.

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

The closest thing I've stumbled upon so far has been this RADAR:

 

[roger]

Welcome to the world of geckos! Adorable arent they!?

Looks like it has a bit of a hypo in her. Some sort of snow? That or its ready to shed. Dont think so on the APTOR... Check this link out for some decent morph info. http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=Category:Morphs APTOR is an albino morph with red eyes.

Wax worms to fatten her up. Tail looks a lil skinny


Calcium supplement yes. That particular one? Not sure. Look at the Repashy site. http://www.store.repashy.com/
We're doing calcium all the time(in a dish). Calcium with D3 occasionally on food(they can OD on D3) and a multi-vit. D3 is required to process the calcium.

Crickets from the pet store probably have very little in their stomachs or possibly something bad(feces etc). Recommended to "gutload" them for 24 hours or so on the good stuff. You can get a cricket diet or come up with some high protein concoction of your own to feed them. Otherwise you aren't feeding the gecko much more than an insect shell imho. I'm trying to get my 2girls on dubia roaches. Meal worms work as well. We aren't big fans of crickets in this household. Noisy smelly things I dunno. lol


You can try the dual thermo deal? I'd just get a temp gun so you can check proper temps throughout the enclosures. Heat is going to do more harm short term. Make sure you don't cook em!

Calci sand is ok just be aware of them ingesting it. Too much may lead to impaction in the lizard. Feeding from a bowl cuts down on that. Some people do all sand all day and have no issues with adult lizards. You'll find people on both sides. I personally do paper towel in the bottom of a plastic bin. Much easier to clean up

Make sure you have a dry hide and a humid hide. The lizard will not shed well without the humid hide. And generally just wont be very happy.

Google is your friend! These forums are very helpful as well, but goto all the breeders sites and check their care sheets. THey all offer very good advise. These are the pros who some of them have been raising lizards and other reptiles for 20+ years. JMG Reptiles, OHIO Gecko, HISS(People who run this site), Repashy etc all are wealths of info. Have fun!

You are wrong.An aptor does not have red eyes.A raptor has red eyes.Also I would not suggest wax worms.If u give her wax worms you will have a hard time getting back on proper food.You should only give wax worms if its an emergency.Make sure her belly heat is between 88-95 degrees and give her a proper mix of crickets ,superworms that are gutloaded

 

[NinjaDuo]

He is wrong about the raptor part, but I disagree with you Roger. I have fed all my leos from time to time wax worms. For a day or two I fed waxies(my BEE wasnt eating anything for a few weeks) and I fed them and he switched over to mealies just fine... Same with many other of my geckos. But I don't see what's wrong with waxies. Just don't feed them all the time.

 

[Wowoklol]

http://www.leopardgeckowiki.com/index.php?title=APTOR

APTOR ecplise?

http://www.leopardgecko.com/raptors-aptors-eclipse
It really helps to know the breeder and parents heh.. Either way, shes a pretty lizard.

Probably should have stated it as *waxworms will fatten her back up quickly. Not to be used as primary diet.

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

Okay, I'm a little torn now on weather to get wax worms, but the fact that she's taking small crickets readily is a good sign. She even took some from fingers but was more interested in my orange nails than the crickets a lot of the time. My husband couldn't convince her to eat, but as soon as I held up a cricket in my orange fingernails she was all over that. She was actually aiming for the nails but there was a cricket there too so she actually got a snack.

One more question: I bought a bottle of freeze-dried mealworms and she doesn't appear to have touched them, nor will she take them from our fingers. Is this a bad food choice for leopard geckos? I have no problem getting live ones, I was just traveling (I was 500 miles from my home visiting a friend when I picked her up) and thought the freeze-dried ones would travel better. I think I'm going to return them though when I return the sand I bought...

 

[Wowoklol]

He is wrong about the raptor part, but I disagree with you Roger. I have fed all my leos from time to time wax worms. For a day or two I fed waxies(my BEE wasnt eating anything for a few weeks) and I fed them and he switched over to mealies just fine... Same with many other of my geckos. But I don't see what's wrong with waxies. Just don't feed them all the time.

I didn't say anything about RAPTOR.... APTOR. Either way both are albino. Not sure how an albino can have black eyes but OK!!

 

[Wowoklol]

Okay, I'm a little torn now on weather to get wax worms, but the fact that she's taking small crickets readily is a good sign. She even took some from fingers but was more interested in my orange nails than the crickets a lot of the time. My husband couldn't convince her to eat, but as soon as I held up a cricket in my orange fingernails she was all over that. She was actually aiming for the nails but there was a cricket there too so she actually got a snack.

One more question: I bought a bottle of freeze-dried mealworms and she doesn't appear to have touched them, nor will she take them from our fingers. Is this a bad food choice for leopard geckos? I have no problem getting live ones, I was just traveling (I was 500 miles from my home visiting a friend when I picked her up) and thought the freeze-dried ones would travel better. I think I'm going to return them though when I return the sand I bought...

I think they really key in on their prey moving.. Mine are a bit less enthusiastic about eating these roaches over the squirmy meal worms. I mean, she doesn't look emaciated so no need to panic and go all fatty all day but.. She just looked like she could use a treat I've gathered wax worms are the "big macs" of the worm world.

 

[Jadie.Glitch]

She looks a lot like this baby Eclipse to me, as if maybe this is what she looked like when she was a baby. Would I be safe classifying her as an eclipse? Because the RAPTOR and APTOR just don't quite fit her imho.

Here is her again, for comparison:

Also, her eye color is almost identical to this (Marble Eye):

 

[Wowoklol]

APTOR and RAPTOR are both albino. So unless the eyes are a dark ruby.. My money is on Eclipse as well

 

[roger]

He is wrong about the raptor part, but I disagree with you Roger. I have fed all my leos from time to time wax worms. For a day or two I fed waxies(my BEE wasnt eating anything for a few weeks) and I fed them and he switched over to mealies just fine... Same with many other of my geckos. But I don't see what's wrong with waxies. Just don't feed them all the time.

Let me rephrase it .What I am saying is wax worms should be used with a sensible combo of prey or in an emergency situation where a leo is rail thin .I personally use wax worms once every couple months.If u can avoid it try not to get your leo accustomed to the wax worms to long b4 u make the switch

 

[PaladinGirl]

I would not advise using any kind of sand or other loose substrate. Use newspaper or paper towel. I actually use brown paper lawn bag, it looks more natural. I'd stay away from reptile carpet, also. I used it for Toon when I first got her and her little toes kept getting stuck on it, making it hard for her to hunt and move about.

 

[theWayden]

Definitely looks like an eclipse to me, and wax worms are really used as a way to put weight on a gecko quick. If you feel she is too skinny then feed her a few (very few) and switch back to crickets next feeding.