New owner, slightly used gecko

[STUTFL]

Okay, so I have a gecko. I used to own small, furry mammals so my knowledge of The Cold-Blooded Ones is limited, at best. Luckily, I'm pretty sure the STUTFL is more leopard than gecko.

Anyhow.
Before going into any detail about his current setup (admittedly not the best), I'd better let y'all know what his previous digs were like.
Same cage (ten gal.) as now, slightly different innards. Hidey-log, rock-shaped water dish (or just rock-shaped dish, when it dried up), and ... um ...
I'm thinking ...
Oh, right, there was lizard bark stuff for cage liner.
Did I mention the light?
Bright, bright thing over the cage all day. Probably what kept him from freezing, since the place was cold as death in winter and he was situated near what was either a door or a window in a better life ... but still. Even my tiny idiot brain could figure right off that he was a Creature of the Night, with those big cat eyes.
Feeding system: Dump two dozen chirpers (well, they weren't chirping crickets, but crickets'll always be chirpers to me) in the cage with him. Let the 20 or so he didn't eat climb all over him until he gets hungry again or they die.
Understandably, he took to sleeping on whatever was highest in the cage when the light was off.

Sooo, friend of mine permanently borrows him and his buddy Ed (tortoise) from their owner, and lets me choose who to look after. Naturally, I take the gecko.


So now he's here. Well, not here. I'm off for two days to see the MOA while I have a car. But any other day, he'd be "here."
He's got a big twisty stick and a coupla rocks added to his cage now, plus a little rock-ramp so he can sit half-in half-out of the water dish (which actually has some water in it now ... he drinks like a cat).

No proper heat source but me at the moment ... though half the cage's near the heater in winter and the (curtained) west window in the summer, and it rarely if ever gets under 70, so he's still better off in that department.
He's not incredibly active, which makes sense, though he does climb around on the stick and sit on top of his log when I'm not watching. And he definitely has the energy to run or jump if I'm carrying him and he suddenly sees somewhere he needs to be RIGHT NOW. Once this was a potted lemon tree. Interesting getting him out of there. If you weren't sure, lemons are majorly thorny trees.

He wasn't sure about being picked up at first (he squealed at me and ran), but we've got a system worked out. Well, he worked it out. I obediently followed along.
The chirpers stay in their own cage for now (can't help projecting bad memories for him, what with his old setup), so he gets ferried over to them when it's eatin' time.
Once it's sundown (he makes it very clear that he will NOT be taken out of his cage when daylight is present), I check to see if he's on his branch or peeping out from the hidey-log. If he is, I stick my hand in the cage. If he's not hungry, he closes his eyes and turns around so he's not facing me anymore, like I'm an insufferable bother to him. If he is hungry, he'll stick his head out until his throat is touching my hand. He "tastes" it a couple times (if I taste/smell like something weird, like lotion or oranges, he won't come any closer), then climbs on up. If he's cold, he finds a pulse point and flattens himself out for a few minutes. If he's warm, he'll climb up my arm and into my hair, if I'm not paying attention.
I take him to the chirper cage and let him down. If he's having a hard time finding them, I'll blow on their hiding places until they run out into his line of vision. I'd just hate to feed him from a dish, because it's so freakin' fun to watch him hunt.
When he's full, he climbs up to the highest point and paws at the walls until he finds my hand, which he sits on for a while to re-warm while I take him back to his cage.


Currently all I've got for him is the chirpers. Clearly, the setup could use work. It's not starting from scratch, exactly, but something parallel to it. Any advice will be appreciated, questions answered to the best of my recollection, and reprimands ... well, my handling of those tends to vary, but knock yourselves out.

 

[AndyRC]

Well, Right now I would say the most important thing is to get the little guy a heat source. Lamps are not needed as much with leopard geckos as they are with other reptiles. But I would suggest getting an under tank heater. They absorb heat through there bellies, so it's the best way to get them warm. Lamps can be used with under tank heaters if you feel the temperatures are not getting warm enough (which usually isn't an issue) I would also suggest getting another substrate for him. Bark is O.K. But there's always risks with substrate he could potentially swallow. You can use paper towels, Tile, or repti-carpet, which they sell at most pet stores. It sounds like your doing good with the food, keeping crickets in a seperate cage is always a good idea. And if you need more things for the cage, you can make a lot of things using materials found around the house. Overturned yogurt bottles, sour cream bottles, ect. make great hides. And all you have to do is make a little door. It doesn't look fancy, but it's better then nothing Other then that.. Sounds like your on the right track!

 

[STUTFL]

Thanks, RC.

Yeah, I've noticed he absorbs heat through his belly! :laugh2: He'll sit flattened down on my wrist for half an hour after a big feed, just sucking up the warmth. He's a little heat vampire.

I've got plenty of junk to toss in the cage ... I'm a pack-rat, and also the aforementioned little furry mammals were easily bored. The coconut shell and the pine cones are in the cricket cage, but everything else is up for grabs for m'gecko. I mix things up once in a while, though I try to leave the big hidey alone so he doesn't feel "lost."


There was some smaller stuff in the chirper cage, which I scrapped because he was getting bits caught up with them when he ate, and I'd have to yank 'em out of his mouth before he swallowed. He's got great accuracy, though, he can pick one of those ridiculously tiny "Small" crickets (pet store messed up one day) off a hunk of bark the size of my thumbnail. If I find something else I'll try it, though, since with his moving around he just ends up kicking all the bark away from under the hidey anyhow and sleeps on the bare glass.

The pet store here sucks, though. I'd never buy anything alive from them except for the feed, the place reeks. They've got a room o' reptiles though, so they might have some good gecko stuff if I look around.

 

[ariana]

UTH would be good,
i recommend tile, its a one time buy easy to clean and theyll cut it to fit for you from lowes.
good luck with STUTFL

 

[STUTFL]

I'm sort of limited to stores near me, which is why I'm stuck getting crickets from aforementioned sucky pet store. But I'll see what they have.

 

[Khrysty]

If you can borrow a credit/debit card from somebody (parents are always good for this, especially if you promise to pay them back lol) you can order some worm-type food online. Mealworms keep for a long time, don't smell, and are less bite-y than crickets are

 

[leonewbie]

He will also need a warm hide over the uth, a moist hide (you can fill tupperwared with damp paper towel and cut an entry hole in it) to help aid in shedding. A milk cap or similar with calcium powder (minus d3) in the tank at all times, and the crickets should be dusted with calcium with d3 a few times a week and multivitamins a few times a month or so.

 

[ajveachster]

If you can borrow a credit/debit card from somebody (parents are always good for this, especially if you promise to pay them back lol) you can order some worm-type food online. Mealworms keep for a long time, don't smell, and are less bite-y than crickets are

There are some suppliers who use paypal as well if you have an account set up.

 

[STUTFL]

He will also need a warm hide over the uth, a moist hide (you can fill tupperwared with damp paper towel and cut an entry hole in it) to help aid in shedding. A milk cap or similar with calcium powder (minus d3) in the tank at all times, and the crickets should be dusted with calcium with d3 a few times a week and multivitamins a few times a month or so.

He sheds out alright ... he's just gorgeous when he's got a brand-new skin on. :tongue3: But I'll see what I can put together.

 

[STUTFL]

If you can borrow a credit/debit card from somebody (parents are always good for this, especially if you promise to pay them back lol) you can order some worm-type food online. Mealworms keep for a long time, don't smell, and are less bite-y than crickets are

If I can't get anything nearby I can order online; I'm always concerned about the quality when I'm buying food (people or animal) online though.

Mealworms do keep forever (though once I forgot about them and they hatched out ... in case you were wondering, hamsters will NOT eat darkling beetles :laugh4: )

I've only been bitten once by a cricket. Normally I don't have to handle them at all. They're in glass, so chewing isn't an issue (unlike rodents, who *will* chew glass when they're bored ... ! ).

SPS (that's, Sucky Pet Store) has a lot of little bug-eating junk like hamsters, mice, small birds, lizards, etc. , so they may have mealworms somewhere. I'll ask, and if they don't I'll loudly mention that I guess I'll just go to the pet store up north that has everything. Which it does, though it's expensive. Maybe that'll get 'em to think about stocking something.

 

[STUTFL]

The cricket feed says "high-calcium," though I'm guessing that depends on them consuming *all* of it instead of nitpicking out the bits they like.

 

[ariana]

lol probably

 

[STUTFL]

Pet store doesn't have much for heating (surprise surprise), just some bright lights for day critters and a couple sizes of hot rocks.

 

[Astrael]

For heating, I don't know if it's a permanent solution, but I use to human heating pad under the tank for the roaches I keep. Just make sure it doesn't have an auto-shut off. And maybe a towel or something if you have the tank on something like wood.

I think it's wonderful you're working so hard to improve his life. I'm sure in his own lizard way he appreciates it.

 

[lillith]

I like your narratives, you write awfully well for someone produced from the current public school system.

My only two cents is that you really should get him a little dish with powdered calcium and vitamins. I use lids from juice bottles (like Odwalla or Naked juice; it's a good excuse for the smoothie drinks: "Oh-oh, my geckos need another calcium dish! time for another vanilla al'mondo!"). Anywho, I fill them half and half with vitamins and calcium, some people mix the two together. I notice that they like their vitamins more, I fill my dishes to look like little yin-yangs (roughly). I usually replace it every other tank cleaning, sooner if it gets wet or dirty.

Keep up the great efforts, STUTFL appreciates it, I promise. :grin2:

 

[STUTFL]

I like your narratives, you write awfully well for someone produced from the current public school system.

My only two cents is that you really should get him a little dish with powdered calcium and vitamins. I use lids from juice bottles (like Odwalla or Naked juice; it's a good excuse for the smoothie drinks: "Oh-oh, my geckos need another calcium dish! time for another vanilla al'mondo!"). Anywho, I fill them half and half with vitamins and calcium, some people mix the two together. I notice that they like their vitamins more, I fill my dishes to look like little yin-yangs (roughly). I usually replace it every other tank cleaning, sooner if it gets wet or dirty.

Keep up the great efforts, STUTFL appreciates it, I promise. :grin2:

:laugh4: Why thank you (though technically, I'm not )

As I mentioned, I'm a packrat, so lids and stuff won't be a problem. The cricket waterer right now is a big flipped-over plastic lid filled with water, with one of those microwave-in-the-container soup lids on top of it - the steam vent holes in the top lid are small enough to drink from, but too big to drown in.
The one success from the pet store jaunt was a little jar of powdered vitamins. Although, it says "with D3," so I'm guessing it's not something I'll want to offer him free-choice?

 

[STUTFL]

For heating, I don't know if it's a permanent solution, but I use to human heating pad under the tank for the roaches I keep. Just make sure it doesn't have an auto-shut off. And maybe a towel or something if you have the tank on something like wood.

I think it's wonderful you're working so hard to improve his life. I'm sure in his own lizard way he appreciates it.

You know, I was thinking about that. I do have a hot pad, though it's buried somewhere in The Bathroom Closet.

If this next trip doesn't turn up anything of use, I'll give that a go.


He does seem a little more comfortable than he used to. And the cool factor alone is definitely worth any effort. Have you ever had them go after a cricket while you're still holding them? He buzzed his tail like a rattler and just rocketed off my hand. It's like having a tiny little trained falcon with spots.

 

[STUTFL]

I finally found a heater.

Here he is, reading the instructions to make sure I put it on right (he's a bit of a control freak):

 

[lillith]

with D3 is ok free range.

 

[STUTFL]

Yeah? Okay, seems like a nocturnal wouldn't be used to having access to that much D3 24/7.