Hello. New leopard gecko owner.

[Taako]

Hello!

I have recently adopted a leopard gecko. His names Rocky. He was surrendered by his previous owner to the SPCA wildlife center I volunteer at horribly emaciated with severe eye infections in both eyes. I spent a good few weeks helping give him medication and feeding him. He couldn’t eat on his own with no vision. Or he was refusing to eat he was very likely all kinds of stressed out. When he was healthy enough to be adopted and eating on his own again I adopted him. We all though he was going to be blind and never be able to even open his eyes again. And I wanted to make sure he was properly cared for.thankfully over time he came to be able to open both his eyes again and now looks as if nothing was ever wrong. He still spends all day in his hide though. Only comes out to eat drink and poop. And occasionally to lay on the hot side. And almost exclusively at night. I don’t think he trusts me or humans at all. But he doesn’t run from me when I pick him up. And never seems to scared or nervous when I hold him (I usually only do so when cleaning his tank). So hopefully he’ll get comfortable with his environment and me over time.

I joined this forum to use as a place to research more about these geckos. And learn what the best terrarium setup is going to be. He is about 9 I Che’s nose to tail and fairly heavy. He seems like a pretty big gecko and he’s definitely an adult. I haven’t seen him shed at all since I’ve had him. I have him in a 20gal with 3 hides. Water bowl and an under tank heating pad. Heat and humidity sensors on both sides. And I use butcher Paper and paper towels as substrate. I want to find a way to set it up that will be more stimulating for him if I can though.

Cheers

 

[Papillon]

Great rescue story!
I'm new here also, so can't answer your questions, but good luck, sounds like Rocky is in good hands!

 

[acpart]

Welcome! The behavior you describe is pretty normal. Many of these geckos spend a lot of their time in their hides and they are nocturnal so will come out at night. One thing you could do is to build a second level with a ramp for him to walk up, or something else for him to use to climb on (I use a gladware container for a humid hide and they can climb on that and then get up to the second level). They also make reptile hammocks. I used to have some of those and the geckos really loved to climb up there and sit.

Aliza

 

[Taako]

Welcome! The behavior you describe is pretty normal. Many of these geckos spend a lot of their time in their hides and they are nocturnal so will come out at night. One thing you could do is to build a second level with a ramp for him to walk up, or something else for him to use to climb on (I use a gladware container for a humid hide and they can climb on that and then get up to the second level). They also make reptile hammocks. I used to have some of those and the geckos really loved to climb up there and sit.

Aliza

Great I’ll look into a good way to build him a second level that sounds fun. And a great use of the empty space above everything. Thanks!

 

[New gecko mom]

Here's a picture of the hammock and 3 layer hide I have on the cooler side if my 20 Gallon long. They love this thing and are always up on it. I git it on Amazon.