New Owner of a Leopard Gecko.

[alexispvris]

Hello! My name is Alexis (or Alex) and I finally got the chance to adopt a what I think is a newly hatched leopard gecko yesterday night. Since I am undetermined what his gender is, I decided to name it Castiel [emoji5] I already got its tank, some calcium, moss, a hide and two bowls for its food and water thanks to the help of my best friend.

So far they've been very good and haven't screamed or made any displeased noises, it even pooped last night - I do get a bit worried though because whenever I try to hold Castiel he does tend to wobble around a lot in my hand...

If there's any advice you could give me it would be much appreciated! Thank you for your time! [emoji5]

(By the way - last night his poop was a yellowish-brown colour, is this a bad sign? Please let me know!)

xøAlex

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[JessJohnson87]

I would put another hide in the tank on the warm side and put the moss in that, for a humid hide to aid in shedding and hydration.
-What kind of heat source are you using? Heat pad or light?
-What substrate are you using? Loose substrate is not a good idea for the little guys, they will lick everything and could ingest it and possibly become impacted.

https://geckcessories.wordpress.com/leopard-gecko-care-sheet/ this is a care sheet on them that Aliza, one of the moderators has on her sight. Lots of good info.

As far as the poop. Keep an eye on it, if it's still yellowish brown next time, I would find a really good reptile vet to take it to for a fecal exam and overall health check. I would limit handling of it for a couple of weeks so it can settle in, the little guys get stressed out easier than older ones. What kind of food are you going to feed? And don't worry if it doesn't eat for a couple of days to a week, it's normal.

 

[alexispvris]

I am using a heat pad and the substrate is carpeting. Within the hide, I put in moss at first to see if my gecko would like it but since it didn't I replaced it with a moist paper towel. He is going to get another hide soon as well, but right now he has one hide and a toilet paper role

And I am planning to feed it crickets/waxworms



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[JessJohnson87]

I would do mealworms instead of wax worms. Wax worms are fatty and the equivalent to a human consuming an entire tub of ice cream. There is such a wide variety of feeders out there. I feed mine roaches, mealworms, hornworms and phoenix worms when he will eat those. You can still give the wax worms as a treat here and there. I made all my hides out of food containers and glued river rocks to 2 of them.

Keep an eye on the floor temps where the heating pad is, sometimes those things can get really hot.

 

[alexispvris]

I don't feed him mealworms due to the hard shell and how hard it is for them to digest it considering he's only a few days old
I plan on giving him more hides wether they're food boxes or the ones you get from the store
I will keep my eye on the heat pad, my house is normally warm especially during the winter time


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[JessJohnson87]

With proper temperatures, they can still digest mealworms. I'm just giving the suggestion that wax worm should not be part of the staple diet, just an occasional feeder.

This is a nutritional breakdown of all the feeders available.