New Gecko. A few questions

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AdamGM

New Member
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10
Greetings all,

I got my fiance a leopard Gecko yesterday and she loves it :) These questions probably would fit into a subforum, but I have a few across the various categories so I hope it's ok that I post them all here.


The gecko is quite young, and I got it with the Zilla desert kit. I was told to use the liner that came with it until it's older, and use a substrate at that point.

I got him a moist retreat and a half log for the dry one, the moist has some of the prepackaged moss inside that I have been keeping damp. (He's currently in there now). There is also a water dish, and a branch decoration stuck to the walls.

Question 1: The pamphlet I got with the gecko said the humidity should be around 30%. That's pretty dry for a house, and when the terrarium has a water dish and a moist retreat in it... how is that possible to attain? Is it ok more damp than that?


2: With regard to crickets, what should I gut load them with? Anything added from the store? I know of those powders you can get.

3. Is a salt lick needed?

We are bringing it to her place today, it was at my place last night. Technically, it is 5 degrees colder than it should be, but that is ok I think? Her place is warmer I think. The warm side is at 80 degrees during the day.

Anything I didn't mention that perhaps should have been?

Thanks in advance!
 
Russellm0704

Russellm0704

Active Member
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1,070
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Marietta, Ga
welcome to geckoforums and congrats on your new pet. For substrate, use something that your gecko can not digest. Tile, reptile carpet, paper towel, or newspaper will work fine. Even adult geckos should not be housed on loose substrate or they can become impacted. For your humid hide, I would get rid of the moss. Leo's are notorious for ingesting moss and getting impacted. The best thing to do is to use put paper towel in your humid hide and just mist it to keep it moist. Don't worry too much about humidity because geckos are desert animals. As long as you have one hide with moist paper towel in it, then you are fine on humidity. You should also have 2 dry hides. One should be on the hot side and one should be on the cold side. You will need an undertank heater for this. Place the undertank heater on 1/3 of the tank and make sure the temperatures on the hot side are around 90 degrees F and the temperatures on the cool side are anywhere from 70-80. do not use lamps because they are nocturnal and lamps will stress them out. For suppliments you will need to buy calcium. I recommend repashy calcium with D3. It provides all the calcium, minerals, and vitamins necessary for your gecko. For juvies, dust the crickets in the calcium every feeding, for adults only dust once or twice a week. For gutloading i just use potatos and carrots
 
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scm133

GULFCOASTGECKOS
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1,285
Location
Alabama
As far as humidity goes, your gecko can handle higher %. Main thing is to keep his home dry. Important to keep water in dish and humid hide damp.
Crickets can be gut loaded with Flukers Cricket diet and fresh carrots.
You need a under the tank heater for belly heat. Warm side should be closer to 90 degrees and cool side around 75 ish.
No salt lick. There is a care sheet at the top margin of this page that will also help. :)
 
tiedxupxinxknots

tiedxupxinxknots

Animated Geckos
Messages
617
Location
Southern California
Russellm0704 said:
welcome to geckoforums and congrats on your new pet. For substrate, use something that your gecko can not digest. Tile, reptile carpet, paper towel, or newspaper will work fine. Even adult geckos should not be housed on loose substrate or they can become impacted. For your humid hide, I would get rid of the moss. Leo's are notorious for ingesting moss and getting impacted. The best thing to do is to use put paper towel in your humid hide and just mist it to keep it moist. Don't worry too much about humidity because geckos are desert animals. As long as you have one hide with moist paper towel in it, then you are fine on humidity. You should also have 2 dry hides. One should be on the hot side and one should be on the cold side. You will need an undertank heater for this. Place the undertank heater on 1/3 of the tank and make sure the temperatures on the hot side are around 90 degrees F and the temperatures on the cool side are anywhere from 70-80. do not use lamps because they are nocturnal and lamps will stress them out. For suppliments you will need to buy calcium. I recommend repashy calcium with D3. It provides all the calcium, minerals, and vitamins necessary for your gecko. For juvies, dust the crickets in the calcium every feeding, for adults only dust once or twice a week. For gutloading i just use potatos and carrots
Click to expand...

I agree with this but im going to add that you should record the temperature with a digital thermometer and that it should go no higher than 95F so you might need a thermostat or a dimmer so your gecko does not get burned. It is also crucial that you get a under tank heater as soon as possible. In order for a gecko to digest food it'll need around 89F on the hot side and over exposure to cold weather can cause upper respiratory infection. Also the repashy calcium is good, but it has been said that geckos can overdose on D3 so id only dust feeders 3 times a with a d3 calcium, and having a calcium dish in the enclosure is also needed in case if you havent done that yet, and welcome to the forums.
 
A

AdamGM

New Member
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10
Hm, ok.
The people at the pet store said the lamps would be enough and that I wouldn't need an under tank heater...
They also recommended this moss stuff.

*confused*

For the night, I have a black lamp that had the temperatures spot on last night.
 
leezard

leezard

New Member
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167
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
AdamGM said:
Hm, ok.
The people at the pet store said the lamps would be enough and that I wouldn't need an under tank heater...
They also recommended this moss stuff.

*confused*

For the night, I have a black lamp that had the temperatures spot on last night.
Click to expand...

Sadly many pet stores don't give out very good advice. The people on this board are some of the most knowledgeable Leo people around.

Leopards do best with belly heat. Moss is okay but can cause issues if eaten so it's better to go with paper towels. As Tied said it is better to have plain calcium in a dish for them at all times and use the calcium with d3 and multivitamins once a week.
 
tiedxupxinxknots

tiedxupxinxknots

Animated Geckos
Messages
617
Location
Southern California
Yeah, they tend to give out the wrong advise. It is best option for leopards is that you use under tank heaters. The reason is because they are crepuscular(mainly active between dusk and dawn) and all the light might cause them to become stressed they also dont need all that UV stuff, but mainly warmth for their stomach area to diguest and to thermoregulate. I also recommend that you take the advice that most people give you on here, since they have been keeping leopard geckos for years.

AdamGM said:
Hm, ok.
The people at the pet store said the lamps would be enough and that I wouldn't need an under tank heater...
They also recommended this moss stuff.

*confused*

For the night, I have a black lamp that had the temperatures spot on last night.
Click to expand...
 
grboxa

grboxa

New Member
Messages
689
Location
Mississauga
All advise here is great:main_thumbsup: UTH is needed with 88(atleast)-95f for warmhide, and I do agree pet store employees sometimes give false information...when I first got my gecko an employee sold me a 100w daylight bulb for a 10-20 gal stating it should be sufficient to give you 85-88f ground temp, with coco husk.:main_huh::main_thumbsdown:..I would of fried him if I didnt get on these forums as quick as I did. You did the right thing by coming here and asking questions.
 
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A

AdamGM

New Member
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10
grboxa said:
All advise here is great:main_thumbsup: UTH is needed with 88(atleast)-95f for warmhide, and I do agree pet store employees sometimes give false information...when I first got my gecko an employee sold me a 100w daylight bulb for a 10-20 gal stating it should be sufficient to give you 85-88f ground temp, with coco husk.:main_huh::main_thumbsdown:..I would of fried him if I didnt get on these forums as quick as I did. You did the right thing by coming here and asking questions.
Click to expand...

Youre saying the bulb was too powerful? I'm not sure what the wattage is on mine, he is in a 10 gallon tank atm.
So, if I go get the UTH tonight, I use that with the daylight bulb, and just the UTH at night?
 
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AdamGM

New Member
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10
Ok, well I got 2 lights with the kit :mad: that was a waste.

Would you put the UTH on the side with the moist retreat or the other one?
 
S

scm133

GULFCOASTGECKOS
Messages
1,285
Location
Alabama
AdamGM said:
Ok, well I got 2 lights with the kit :mad: that was a waste.

Would you put the UTH on the side with the moist retreat or the other one?
Click to expand...
Hey, you are not alone. I got suckered into a kit by pet store employee. I have a surplus of lamps, bulbs, etc. He even told me to put the UTH on the side of the tank!! :main_angry:
Yes, I would put the UTH where the moist retreat is located.
 
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A

AdamGM

New Member
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Well, thanks. For the time being I turned the day light lamp off and put the black light on for warmth. Were going to get a UTH soon.

Live crickets in the tank is enough for food?
 
S

scm133

GULFCOASTGECKOS
Messages
1,285
Location
Alabama
AdamGM said:
Well, thanks. For the time being I turned the day light lamp off and put the black light on for warmth. Were going to get a UTH soon.

Live crickets in the tank is enough for food?
Click to expand...
Crickets and mealworms in a dish should be good. I would only put enough crickets to be consumed, and remove the rest. They have a tendency to stress the geckos. Mealworms in dish can stay in 24/7. Just change the worms out periodically.
 
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