Help Gecko's

[apietoetoe]

Hello everyone!
Sunday I will pick up my first two reptiles! I am super happy and very curious.
Still, I had a few questions and I'm not sure what to do, I hope you can help me?

So I bought 2 leopard geckos that I can pick up this Sunday. These are two male geckos.
I have already researched a lot and saw that this is actually not the intention. But today's owner says they interact very well.
The gecko's are 10 to 11 months old and have been interacting with each other all their lives. Could this be a problem?

There are also 3 lamps: 1x UV light, 1x heat lamp, 1x night lamp, I already saw that the heat lamp is not a good thing because the bugs can become blind from the red light, so I had already looked at heat mats but I have here no experiences with it. The soil of the terrarium is also made of sand, apparently this is not because they can get blockages, does anyone have any possible alternatives where the heat mats are also an option. Preferably no newspaper, because II think looks ugly haha.

The owner says he feeds them 3 times a week, I thought this is not a lot, how many times do I need to feed them and how much?

With best regards,
Louis

 

[acpart]

Some people do keep their geckos on sand. However, it's not their natural environment and there is always danger of impaction. I use ceramic tile that I get from Home Depot or equivalent and it looks pretty good (and is easy to clean).

I have heard that if 2 male geckos are kept together from the time they are juveniles and there is never a female around for them to smell, they may do OK. I do think it's a bigger risk than having 2 females together. I keep my geckos in small groups of 2-3 and there have been times where geckos living together for years have had trouble with each other and I've had to separate or re-combine. I urge you, if possible, to separate them for best outcome.

The problem with the heat lights (and I really don't think it matters much if the bugs are blinded, if that's even true) is that they not only provide heat but they also dry out the air and can dehydrate the gecko. I have had the best luck with ZooMed heat cable because you can tape it on a tank and then if you switch tanks, you can pull it off and tape it somewhere else. For a 20 gallon tank, you need either the 14' size or the 25' size (about 6' of the cable is not heated). When I need heat cable I look on eBay where I get the best price and usually free shipping. I use Nashua Tape (looks like a roll of shiny duct tape but it's actually sticky aluminum foil tape with a peel-off backing that holds up the best under the tank).

I feed my adult geckos twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) and it works well. Remember, since geckos are cold blooded, they don't need the steady calories that mammals need to keep themselves warm.

Aliza