Leo care??

[beardieman]

Okay im sorry first off for asking please dont flame me. I cant seem to find a good care sheet on leopard geckos. Im giving a breeder my bearded dragon and they are giving me 80 bux and a adult female leo (1.5 years old). Ive never had a leo and have no idea how to take care of one. I have a 20 gallon tank a 35 gallon tank and a 65 gallon tank, a trex active heat mvb, and about 1000 discoid roaches, multivitamin and calcium from beautifuldragons.com. So what do i need? What are the temp requirements? Humidity requirements? Basking spot? Things to climb on? Feeding requirements aka live feeders to greens ratio? how often do they need to be soaked for hydration? I have non adhesive shelf liner in all my tanks will this be ok for a leo? How big do they get?

Thats all i can think of for now. If you see something i left out please include it in your answer.

 

[Eriathiel]

Well you have pretty good items to start with - the 20 gallon tank should do! You will a UTH, since leo's get their warmth from the belly, and you need to have a hide on the warm side, a hide on the cool side, and a humid hide.

Now I'm fairly new to leo's and so I"m not sure if the roaches are good or not - most people use mealworms. It will need the calcium on its food. They do not eat greens.
If your leo is 1.5 years old, I would imagine its about as big as its going to get....

Oh and the cool side should be around 70 and the warm side no more then 96 degrees - it should be a bit lower then that in my opinion!

Welcome to the world of leos! I hope you like your new pet!

 

[Mel&Keith]

Here's a link to Marcia at Golden Gate Geckos care sheet, it's as good as it gets!
http://www.goldengategeckos.com/careleopard.pdf

If you have other specific questions you can utilize the search function at the top of the page. Believe me, you're not the first person who's been new to Leos with lots of questions around here. Welcome and you've come to the right place for great info on Leopard Geckos!

 

[LadyGecko]

This are my thoughts on keeping these wonderful creatures

The 20 gal or the 35 gal tanks would be fine

No greens

No bright white lights directly on the tank
You can use a low wattage red bulb for night viewing

Buy an under the tank heat mat rated for the tank size that you choose

The roaches are great food for a Leo

Temp over the uth of 88 to 92 degrees

Cool side can be room temp at night as long as the room is not below 65 degrees

plain/pure calcium and calcium with D3 ( your beardie calcium prob has D3)

multivitamin-which brand do you have now?

No basking spot-they are nocturnal lizards that do well with belly heat-that's why under the tank heat is usually used

At least 2 hides-more is better
One dry and one should be moist for aiding with shedding

Tank decorations-driftwood-grapevine wood and plenty of other reptile safe things
Fake plants and/or vines

Substrate usually used is non-particle-it's safe
If this is going to be a "display tank" you can use tile or shelf liner to make it pretty

Leos do not need to be soaked unless there is retained shed on parts of their bodies and you don't use as deep of water as you would for a beardie

Hope that this helps

Sandy