new owner, have questions

[sahmlaura]

My mother in law brought my daughter up a leopard gecko. they made the cage and have a thermometer on the wall. From reading, it sounds like its more important to measure the temperature of the floor? What do we need for that and what temperature does it need to be? She has a warming pad thing under the cage and we have a log with wet moss on that end and a regular hide in the center and a hide on the cool end.

The gecko is just a baby she said, its about 4 inches long. What size crickets should we be getting and how many should we give him each day? We've given him up to 6 and he has eaten them all like he's starving (They were about 1/4").

We've been putting our hand in several times a day, but not trying to pick him up or anything, just so he doesn't see our hand as a threat. He doesn't run the other way when we put our hand in now, but he still doesn't really come up to it either. Is there anything we should do to get him to be more social? Do you have to pick the gecko up or when they're ready will they crawl onto your hand?

Sorry for all the questions, but we weren't prepared! Thanks for info
Thanks,
Laura

 

[Dan K.]

I keep the moist hide on the cool side and have log hides in the warm side right on top of the heat pad. I use a temp. gun you can find them at most hardware stores for about $20.00 these are perfect for getting floor temp's. keep the warm side 85-93F and the cool side 78-85F, and I uesaly feed my leo's meal worms in a dish and just keep some in there at all times(let that little guy eat and GROW!!). .If you have any more Q. or if I missed any thing let me know I will gladly answer or someone else will ( this site is FULL of amazing breeders!!):main_thumbsup:

 

[silent183]

If you don't want to spend $20 on the temp gun right now you could go to walmart and get a digital thermometer with a probe and put the probe on the ground over the uth. Now for the temps your gonna get different ones going on from everyone, like Dan said he likes his warm side 85-93F, I myself have mine from 88-96F.

As for getting him/her to come on your hand just give it time to adjust to it's new home and soon s/he will warm up to you

 

[Superior]

I got a thermometer for 3$ from walmart, it works perfect. Crickets should be no larger than half the size of the gecko's head, and you should let him eat as many as he wants. You should also have calcium in a bowl always available and you should dust your food items with it too.

 

[justindh1]

Your are doing alot of things right so thats always good for a first time gecko owner. Many arn't as set up as that.

Your crickets seem to be about the right size. You want the prey to be no bigger then half the width of the head and no longer ten the head, preferably shorter. A gecko will eat about 4-6 if they are the right size. Make sure you dust your crickets to complete the nutritional value of them. Your geckos won't get what they need if the crickets arn't dusted.

You can use any tempurature thermometer of temp gun you want. I have one inside to measure they ambients temps which need to be around 80-85 degrees. I have my hot side around 90-95 and they cool side stays around 75-80 degrees. I have a temp gun and i measure boths sides periodically to check on them. You can have any where from 0-3 thermometers, hot side, cool side, and ambients, what ever makes you comfortable. The gun just takes more time to check on everything beside just lloking at a screen.

As for being social, it takes a while to get your gecko use to people. Sometimes they just don't like to be picked up and some always do. Its depends on each geckos personality and they do have them.