Alusdra
New Member
- Messages
- 475
- Location
- Washington, DC
So knew I was in trouble so far as knowing about leopard gecko genetics and how far they've come since I last looked when I went to the Mid-Atlantic Reptile fair last fall... I had no idea what all the blizzards and snows and bells were. And even a week ago I was still pretty clueless. But the confirmation took a while to go through so I figured I would look into it. I'm still a little mystified, but doing much better. The good news is... I didn't come on here looking for breeding advice. I do want to improve my setup and general gecko care for my three pets, though, and am relatively tired of muddling through by myself. Plus, I've been able to get such great advice for my parrot on parrot forums, so this seemed like a great place to be.
Here's my setup, please forgive the potty corner mess. I feel the 10 gallon is too small for the three geckos... it seemed ok for 2, but with 3 they seem to 'bump' each other out of the 'prime spots' like the one rock that Path is hoarding on the left or the mealworm bowl and log thing on the right that Eclipse has taken over. (Zat is hiding under the log that is really chewed up.) The heat pads are under about where the left-most rock is (but not under the water!) and there's another one more under the mealworm bowl, that log and the other rock. I like putting the rocks over the heat pad as then they get nice and warm, but not hot like the heat rocks, which I don't trust. Oh, and the escapes mealworm is a shell. I almost ran over when I was reviewing the pictures to look for it heh.
Here's a picture of the three together on the mesh lid I have, Zatoichi is about to shed...
So to get a better view of him I took this one:
And that brings me to the next question... what is he? *sigh* This should teach me to pay attention when I buy things. I got him from a breeder at the MARS thing for like $20 or so as a little wee thing. Is his tail that 'short tail' that you guys mentioned (I think) in the thread about the eyelid kink? Also- he seems to be blind (hence the name) or at the very least very sensitive to light- is that common in er... whatever he is? I know he's some sort of albino, but I don't know if there is a way to tell between the different strains (or is it lines?) His pupils certainly act strangely with regards to light and reaction times. He's a cutie, though.
My other two are brother and sister, both 7 years old. I got them from a hobby breeder (for free) after losing my first pet 'Leppy' (yeah, I know, real creative, but I think I was all of 5 years old) who died at 12+ years of age (I'm not sure exactly as I don't know when I got her, she could have been as much as 14 or as young as 9). She had a really cool '67' on her head. I don't know that I have any pictures of her, though. Anyway, Eclipse (top left in the group shot) grew up great and has (in my opinion) pretty neat spotting and I love the white belly. One of her toes got bit off when she was a baby and her one hip tends to go wide (probably from the aforementioned attack).
Path is another story... (he's top right). He got MBD, likely because he was a bit smaller when I first got them and Eclipse wouldn't let him eat. Long story short it was months and months of force feeding mealworms and vitamin supplement to keep him alive. He still has scoliosis and front legs that are curled under him from breaking and then firming and his jaw's a bit wonky. (Though he can eat! I don't want to be hand feeding a gecko for 10-20 years, thanks.) Actually, he rules the roost now and Eclipse is getting thin (karma, I guess, but I watch them closely).
Taking these pictures I realize I have a gecko 'type' I guess... I like lighter bellies and darker base on top with wide spaced fatter and somewhat irregular spots. I have a sneaking suspicion that's because of Leppy, who had similar coloring. She was such a good gecko. Came when she was called, even...
Oh- and I have a mealworm colony that is OLD- older than all my current geckos, certainly- but I seem to hit a dry spell just past the beetle stage. So this time around I added more mealworms in when the beetles started dying off- will this work (all on one cage) or will they all just cannibalize and nothing will survive? I put in fruits and veggies and recently those gel pack things (which work so well!) Some advice on that would be great, too.
Basically I hope I'm doing it right... otherwise I've been doing it wrong for decades. So feel free to get outraged and tell me what for. That's what I came for. Hopefully all these questions in an intro are ok. I could have done a couple threads... but then I would have to remember to check them all.
EDIT: I seems I'm also at a loss as to how to make the pictures appear not as links. Oops... If someone could tell me how to do that, that would be great, too. (All these boards do it differently, it seems...)
Here's my setup, please forgive the potty corner mess. I feel the 10 gallon is too small for the three geckos... it seemed ok for 2, but with 3 they seem to 'bump' each other out of the 'prime spots' like the one rock that Path is hoarding on the left or the mealworm bowl and log thing on the right that Eclipse has taken over. (Zat is hiding under the log that is really chewed up.) The heat pads are under about where the left-most rock is (but not under the water!) and there's another one more under the mealworm bowl, that log and the other rock. I like putting the rocks over the heat pad as then they get nice and warm, but not hot like the heat rocks, which I don't trust. Oh, and the escapes mealworm is a shell. I almost ran over when I was reviewing the pictures to look for it heh.
Here's a picture of the three together on the mesh lid I have, Zatoichi is about to shed...
So to get a better view of him I took this one:
And that brings me to the next question... what is he? *sigh* This should teach me to pay attention when I buy things. I got him from a breeder at the MARS thing for like $20 or so as a little wee thing. Is his tail that 'short tail' that you guys mentioned (I think) in the thread about the eyelid kink? Also- he seems to be blind (hence the name) or at the very least very sensitive to light- is that common in er... whatever he is? I know he's some sort of albino, but I don't know if there is a way to tell between the different strains (or is it lines?) His pupils certainly act strangely with regards to light and reaction times. He's a cutie, though.
My other two are brother and sister, both 7 years old. I got them from a hobby breeder (for free) after losing my first pet 'Leppy' (yeah, I know, real creative, but I think I was all of 5 years old) who died at 12+ years of age (I'm not sure exactly as I don't know when I got her, she could have been as much as 14 or as young as 9). She had a really cool '67' on her head. I don't know that I have any pictures of her, though. Anyway, Eclipse (top left in the group shot) grew up great and has (in my opinion) pretty neat spotting and I love the white belly. One of her toes got bit off when she was a baby and her one hip tends to go wide (probably from the aforementioned attack).
Path is another story... (he's top right). He got MBD, likely because he was a bit smaller when I first got them and Eclipse wouldn't let him eat. Long story short it was months and months of force feeding mealworms and vitamin supplement to keep him alive. He still has scoliosis and front legs that are curled under him from breaking and then firming and his jaw's a bit wonky. (Though he can eat! I don't want to be hand feeding a gecko for 10-20 years, thanks.) Actually, he rules the roost now and Eclipse is getting thin (karma, I guess, but I watch them closely).
Taking these pictures I realize I have a gecko 'type' I guess... I like lighter bellies and darker base on top with wide spaced fatter and somewhat irregular spots. I have a sneaking suspicion that's because of Leppy, who had similar coloring. She was such a good gecko. Came when she was called, even...
Oh- and I have a mealworm colony that is OLD- older than all my current geckos, certainly- but I seem to hit a dry spell just past the beetle stage. So this time around I added more mealworms in when the beetles started dying off- will this work (all on one cage) or will they all just cannibalize and nothing will survive? I put in fruits and veggies and recently those gel pack things (which work so well!) Some advice on that would be great, too.
Basically I hope I'm doing it right... otherwise I've been doing it wrong for decades. So feel free to get outraged and tell me what for. That's what I came for. Hopefully all these questions in an intro are ok. I could have done a couple threads... but then I would have to remember to check them all.
EDIT: I seems I'm also at a loss as to how to make the pictures appear not as links. Oops... If someone could tell me how to do that, that would be great, too. (All these boards do it differently, it seems...)
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