In general, how healthy are leos, usually?

[scottm91]

My leo is still less than 3 mos old, and she's our first, so I know next to nothing. And I also know that these boards and FB groups often have people posting problems. After all, why post "Things are going great!"?

So, in general, how healthy are these things? Discounting bad luck, which you can't prevent, if you keep a clean habitat, feed them store bought food, and keep their temps regulated well enough - aren't they pretty healthy?

 

[Neon Aurora]

Very healthy. They are probably one of the hardiest reptiles. Most of the time, problems people have come down to improper husbandry. Not always, though. I did have a gecko that developed gout, not due to my husbandry. So health problems out of your control do happen, but it's really not that common.

 

[indyana]

Leopard geckos are survivors. They do have basic requirements: a properly-heated surface to digest food that is not in direct light (not basking lizards!), live insects for food, supplementation with calcium/D3/vitamins, and available hydration sources like humid hides. If you neglect those requirements, you will have issues.

A couple of the most common problems are stuck shed (caused by poor hydration or nutrition in most cases) and internal parasites like pinworms (can get them from the insects they eat). Both conditions are easily treated.

Here's a page with a lot of the typical leopard gecko issues. While these guys are very healthy when provided with the right home, it's good to be familiar with these conditions so you can prevent them or treat them early:
http://sleepydeegeckos.webs.com/health.htm