My first reptile ever, a leopard gecko, is going to be overnighted to me and arrive on Tuesday! Pretty excited. 
I bought her from crestedgecko.com. She is four months old and appears very healthy. There is a 24 hour health guarantee upon arrival. Here is her picture...
http://crestedgecko.com/uploads/_CGSmartImage/tangstripe12-184f-b15ba0b4fc933337c0eb672a39b535c6.jpg
I have been setting everything up in her terrarium in advance so its perfect for her when she gets here, and I'm worried that it is too crowded inside! Any input on my setup and how I can improve it would be appreciated. Advice in leopard gecko care is appreciated too. Currently I have dark construction paper taped around the outside so I can slowly adjust her to living in a glass terrarium instead of a plastic bin.
This is a 20 gallon long glass tank. I have a screen lid for it but am not planning on using it unless kids are at the house. Underneath the tank is the small size of the Repti-Therm UTH below the tree hide. The clamp lamp has a 75 watt Night Black Heat Incandescent Spot Bulb by Zilla. Barely any purpleish light comes from it at all, even in complete darkness! I have had both heat sources on for 24 hours now, and am keeping track of the temperatures with digital thermometers that have probes. Inside the tree hide reads 90.5, and the cool side inside the large rock den below the bulb reads 80.7. (I live in a basement in Oregon so my room gets a little chilly, which is why I placed the bulb over the cool side.)
There is a moist hide with some paper towel and moss in the middle. There are food and water dishes on either side of the moist hide. The magnetic rock den is in there as well. I have a cheap hydrometer in the middle that says the humidity is about 15% inside the terrarium. I'm guessing it's safe to assume the humidity is much higher inside the moist hide? There's repti carpet in there but for the first week or so there will be paper towel over it so I can learn where Cleo will like to poop.
For diet and nutrition Cleo will be eating two kinds of insects that I'll order in bulk over the internet. I have 1000 medium sized mealworms and 250 small dubia roaches. Every once in a while I might get some crickets for interest. She is 4 months old so I'll be feeding her as much as she will eat every day until she is about a year old, then work down to every other day. I am gut loading the insects with Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet & Cricket Quencher.
For supplementation I am using the Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D Powder & Herptivite Multivitamin. I am not entirely sure how often I should use these products for a 4 month old leopard gecko to adulthood. The directions say use 1 unit of both to dust insects with before every feeding. Unless told otherwise, this is what I will do until she is nearing adulthood. Then switch to using the Calcium with Vitamin D every other feeding and use the multivitamin twice a week. When I switch to this method when she becomes an adult, I plan on leaving pure calcium in a small cap sized dish in her terrarium at all times.
And that pretty much sums it up! Thank you for reading and for your advice. L)
I bought her from crestedgecko.com. She is four months old and appears very healthy. There is a 24 hour health guarantee upon arrival. Here is her picture...http://crestedgecko.com/uploads/_CGSmartImage/tangstripe12-184f-b15ba0b4fc933337c0eb672a39b535c6.jpg
I have been setting everything up in her terrarium in advance so its perfect for her when she gets here, and I'm worried that it is too crowded inside! Any input on my setup and how I can improve it would be appreciated. Advice in leopard gecko care is appreciated too. Currently I have dark construction paper taped around the outside so I can slowly adjust her to living in a glass terrarium instead of a plastic bin.
This is a 20 gallon long glass tank. I have a screen lid for it but am not planning on using it unless kids are at the house. Underneath the tank is the small size of the Repti-Therm UTH below the tree hide. The clamp lamp has a 75 watt Night Black Heat Incandescent Spot Bulb by Zilla. Barely any purpleish light comes from it at all, even in complete darkness! I have had both heat sources on for 24 hours now, and am keeping track of the temperatures with digital thermometers that have probes. Inside the tree hide reads 90.5, and the cool side inside the large rock den below the bulb reads 80.7. (I live in a basement in Oregon so my room gets a little chilly, which is why I placed the bulb over the cool side.)
There is a moist hide with some paper towel and moss in the middle. There are food and water dishes on either side of the moist hide. The magnetic rock den is in there as well. I have a cheap hydrometer in the middle that says the humidity is about 15% inside the terrarium. I'm guessing it's safe to assume the humidity is much higher inside the moist hide? There's repti carpet in there but for the first week or so there will be paper towel over it so I can learn where Cleo will like to poop.
For diet and nutrition Cleo will be eating two kinds of insects that I'll order in bulk over the internet. I have 1000 medium sized mealworms and 250 small dubia roaches. Every once in a while I might get some crickets for interest. She is 4 months old so I'll be feeding her as much as she will eat every day until she is about a year old, then work down to every other day. I am gut loading the insects with Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet & Cricket Quencher.
For supplementation I am using the Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D Powder & Herptivite Multivitamin. I am not entirely sure how often I should use these products for a 4 month old leopard gecko to adulthood. The directions say use 1 unit of both to dust insects with before every feeding. Unless told otherwise, this is what I will do until she is nearing adulthood. Then switch to using the Calcium with Vitamin D every other feeding and use the multivitamin twice a week. When I switch to this method when she becomes an adult, I plan on leaving pure calcium in a small cap sized dish in her terrarium at all times.
And that pretty much sums it up! Thank you for reading and for your advice. L)
