Hide problems

[Sulphur]

So I'm pretty new to this.

My kids got a pair of Leopard Gecko's a "while back." Being teenagers they just didn't care for them well so their mother took them on. I have since moved them into my space as I kind of like the little buggers. All this has taken more than a year. (Don't judge, none of us knew what we were doing. I am trying to learn now.)

My problem is several fold:

1. They are in a sandy bottom and I've learned that this is a BAD idea. I know what to do about it but I'm concerned. They haven't been socialized much and they FREAKED out when I "redid" their cage, for aesthetics and to add a hide.

2. The hide. They won't use it. They've never had one and don't go in it at all. Ever. (Only been a couple of days. I'm trying to let them settle from the rearranging of their space.) They do, however, seem to enjoy climbing on top of it. It's a simple pyramid looking thing, with a flat top, in which I've put some moist moss. Stinks the place up it does, but they don't go in it at all so far.

3. Food. They've been fed crickets but it didn't take long to gain a dislike for dealing with the noisy, smelly things. I'm not too concerned as they both seem to be ok with eating mealworms so far, even with the calcium/d3 powder that they've never had.

Near as I can tell (from what I've read here) they should have been dead a long time ago, but they not only aren't, they have fat tails and seem healthy. One is a bit aggressive if you try to handle him and weirds right out when I open the top of their home. I'm relatively sure this is just fear aggression and time should cure that. (I hope.) He sheds pretty often. The smaller one (that we refer to as "she" though we don't really know) is a lot more docile and doesn't hardly shed at all.

Seeing as they seem pretty healthy and adjusted to their current space should I worry about the hides much? The sand has to go, I know that. I am giving it a couple of days for them to settle down before I put them through a change in their floor. I can't imagine they are going to take it well. All I did was add the hide and a couple plastic plants for aesthetics and they climbed the walls for HOURS.

Any help/ideas will be met with thanks and enthusiasm. I actually do like having them in here and I want to do right by them.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Okay, a few questions.

1) Correct, it would be best to remove the sand. Don't worry about them freaking out, they will get over it and be fine. You can socialize them by gently handling them each day.
2) There could be a few reasons they won't go in the hide. The first I can think of is temperature. May I ask, what are you using for heat, how are you measuring it, and how is it regulated? If the hide is too hot inside, they might not want to go in.
Do you only have 1 hide? It's generally recommended that you have 3; a cool hide, a warm hide, and a moist hide. I also prefer to have two cool hides and two warm hides if I'm housing geckos together. This will stop any territorial bullying and allow them to get away from each other.
3) Mealworms are fine, keep up the supplementation. I would recommend not dusting with d3 every time. You can either dust with the d3 two times or so a week and pure calcium the rest of the time, or get an all-in-one supplement such as Repashy Calcium Plus (what I use). It's also important to add vitamins to your supplementation because lack of things like Vitamin A can cause skin and eye issues.
4) Do you know the sexes of the leopard geckos? If you need help sexing them, you can post pictures of their vent areas. This is very important to know, as males will fight to the death and a male will stress out a single female. Only females should be housed together.

You mention one of them is smaller and sheds less. Are you monitoring how much the geckos eat individually? It's very possible there could be some bullying going on, preventing one from getting enough food and causing stress. Typically, I don't recommend keeping leopard geckos together, mostly because they are solitary and bullying often occurs. But what will ultimately determine how able you are to keep them together will be their sexes.

 

[Sulphur]

They have a UTH and I have no idea what the temperature is. I'll be getting a thermometer but I haven't yet. They do have a couple of slate pieces on top of the heated area and they love laying on them. I initially put the hide there and they crawled all over it but wouldn't even act like they were interested in entering. I eventually moved it to the cooler end and while they still like climbing on it nether has shown the slightest interest in entering it. I seriously doubt they know they are supposed to like it as they've never had one. This setup is what they have lived in since we've had them.

As far as getting along they seem to do just fine. I don't know the sexes of them. From what I understand the bigger one wasn't very happy when the second was introduced and was fairly aggressive but got over it in relatively short order. I watch them feed and they do just fine. The little one is a little quicker to go to the bowl, but they don't fight over it at all. I'm a little concerned that the big one may be getting shorted since "he" takes his sweet time coming to the bowl, but like I said, they both look healthy to me, and their tails look like most pictures I've seen so I think they are storing fat just fine. They will both approach the bowl without fighting over it too. I haven't seen any aggression towards each other, just the one towards me.

The female parental unit was thinking about getting rid of them completely, and like I said, I kind of like 'em, so I thought I'd give it a go. I wish I'd stuck my nose into things earlier so they would have had things better, but it is what it is. I'm a "learny" kind of guy (my kids term for me) and I started looking into it right away and went . . . "Oh. Oh my." So now I get to play catch up. So far it looks expensive, but fun. hehe.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Okay, excellent. It shouldn't be terribly expensive. =)

So here is a list of things you may need (not sure what you have and don't)
Thermometer (digital, with a probe) (warm side should be about 90 degrees on the floor)
Thermostat or light dimmer (light dimmer is cheaper, but requires more tweaking regularly)
Two hides of your choice, one over the cool side and one over the warm side (preferably two of each)
1 Tupperware with a hole cut in the top or side
A bit of coconut fiber (for inside the tupperware, moist to serve as a humid hide)
Whatever you choose to use as substrate (tile is excellent for good looks, or slate. Paper towels if you don't care too much about looks)
Pure calcium, calcium w/D3, vitamins OR Repashy Calcium Plus

From your description of their behavior, I'm going to guess they are both female. However, if you have the means, some pictures would be great so we can confirm that. They sound like they are healthy.

 

[Sulphur]

I got a thermometer and the warm side is a balmy 92 F. 76 on the cool side. I put a moist hide at the warm end and they are actually really curious. I even found the larger one in the other hide. I was excited like a little kid. LoL.

I haven't gotten rid of the sand yet, but that's next on my list. I'm gonna have to try to tame the larger one before I can even figure out sex, but I'm pretty sure you're right and they are both female. I did some "research" and saw how they act and I've not seen anything like two males fighting or one trying to mount the other. I'll be investigating that too though.

I also got a jar of Repashy Calcium plus. I am prefeeding their mealworms with a carrot for tomorrow's feeding as we "speak." (That's kind of fun to watch too!)

I'm easily amused! Thanks for your help.

Edit: Annnd now they are both in it. LoL.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Fantastic. =) You're set up sounds great now! Once the sand is out, it will be perfect, and you'll have two happy leopard geckos!