New Gecko Owner new here

[ladyblues1965]

Hello All
I am new to Geckos and new here . I have one female leopard gecko and im in love!! she is very tame and seems to love the attention I give her. she eats like a horse crickets and wax worms so far. I have been only giving her a worm or two a week. I am powdering her crickets and she also has vita sand ( calcium and vitamines )wich from what I have read will not harm her digestive track. When I first got her she layed two eggs and they didnt make it as I didnt know how to care for them. Now I do and I am interested in getting a male. No huge breeding operation just company for her. If anyone in ARkansas or Memphis area has a male I would love to buy one.
Thanks Im looking forward to reading posts here
ladyblues

 

[clemsonguy1125]

IMO vitasand is as bad or worse than play sand. I have heard it does not dissolve as it claims to and can encourage her to eat it. Their are several better choices for substrates. Geckos are solitary animals and do not need company. Also if you do not want to breed, why not get a male. If you insist on housing 2 together, get another similair sized female. They may or may not get along. Good luck.

 

[LeopardShade]

Welcome! Hope your experience on here is a good one.

But, I must say I do agree with the post above, ditch the sand. You risk impaction of your leo, and that is not good. Don't listen to any of the claims that it is digestible, it's complete baloney. Any loose substrate should always be considered potentially dangerous when used with leopard geckos.

Go with paper towel instead, it's cheap, easy to clean, and 100% impaction-free!

 

[ladyblues1965]

wow all I have read is the vita sand is good for them . I do not want to harm my baby and I will go back to paper towels. I just wanted a more natual enviroment for her. they dwell in the desert and I thought this was a safe substrate from what I read. Ok on two other points. I do want to breed her. she had laid a couple eggs when I first got her . At that point i didnt have any knowledge of how to incubate them so they went to waste but I have since read up and have set up an incubation for them with vermiculite. I am new to all this so please be patient with me if I am making a mistake . . I will make mistakes as I learn(Im Sure) . thanks for your help I do appreciate it.

 

[clemsonguy1125]

Paper towels are better than sand for your leo for sure. As for breeding what morph is she, this should help decide what morph male you want. Good Luck and I forgot to say earlier, welcome to GeckoForums.

 

[ladyblues1965]

I have no idea what morph she is . I just thought she was pretty. Ill try to post some pics of her . I own a restaurant and night club and time is an issue so it may take a day or two to get back to them .

 

[LeopardShade]

I just wanted a more natual enviroment for her. they dwell in the desert and I thought this was a safe substrate from what I read.

If you still want a aesthetically pleasing tank without the risks of impaction from loose substrates, you could try slate tile. That's, in my opinion, the most natural-looking solid substrate there is for leopards.

Repti-Sands and Calci-Sands constantly make claims that their products are "100% edible and digestible." While sand can occasionally be passed in small amounts, there is still too much of a risk of the gecko consuming larger quantities of it, leading to a more lethal situation. Any loose substrate, as I mentioned before, should always be considered dangerous when keeping leopards.

Hope that helps, we'd love to see pictures of your Leopard Gecko!

 

[moonlitegram]

I just wanted a more natual enviroment for her. they dwell in the desert and I thought this was a safe substrate from what I read.

You know I thought about that too. The conclusion I came to was - nature is dangerous. There's a species of bison ( i believe) that feed in yellowstone park. And their food source is actually an area of natural occuring cyanide; they slowly poison themselves as they eat.

Id imagine there are geckos in the wild that impact themselves and die young. It might be a form of natural population control.

As a pet owner I'm not looking for natural - i'm looking for a long and happy life for my pet. So as long as its healthier and my pet is happy with it - I'll follow that path. No loose substrate for me!

 

[touch 13]

welcome to the forums, if you'd like further information on leopard geckos and their husbandry, try the search bar in the top, and look through previous posts and threads. Good luck!