NEWB From NC

[ncbeast]

Hello, just bought my 11 year old a Leopard Gecko off of craigslist where a mom was selling because her 5 year old son lost interest and she was tired of taking care of it. It looks very healthy and it came with a 10 gallon tank and wire top, water bowl/hide out that is on the cool side, soda cap of calcium on the cool side, rock hide out which she had in the middle but I moved it to the hot side, a glade container with moss for moist hide which is also on the warm side. UTH of coarse on the hot side and a 75 regular soft white GE light bulb for 12 hours of day light and warmth. Day time with the bulb and the UTH gets about 90-92 midway up the tank with dial thermometer and about 85-87 on the bottom floor, measured with a new digital thermometer that we just bought and ran the probe right down to the floor behind the wet box. She had a 50 watt infered heat bulb that she was using at night but the first night we tried it the temp rose above 90 so I just shut it off and the next day just bought a red cfl a Lowe's and the temp cools off to the low 70's at night now. She was also using paper towels as a substraight and we have switch to some think brown paper that we found at Wal-Mart in the paint section in a huge roll that we cut and cover the bottom with and cut out an additional square for the poop corner. We wanted to use sand for a more natural look but after researching it am afraid to even though he is older due to impaction. We also got a cricket keeper and the owner said he eats 3 to 4 large a night and she was getting them at bait shop so she could get bigger ones...about 1" it looks like. We got lots of other stuff like gut loads and different cricket food that we are feeding the crickets. Everything is going pretty well. I have told my son that he cannot handle him for a month so he can get used to his new home. When we picked it up he held him and he was very friendly but now just want to him to get use to the new environment without getting too stressed. He seems to be doing pretty well. He stays under the cool hide out during the day but as soon as the white light turns off (12 hour timer) and the red cfl light is on he comes out and goes to the hot side and lays under the hide on the hot side and will walk around a little and climb on the hides. We are going to try to get him used to eating every other day and have tried to feed him twice now (has only been 5 days) and he has just ate 1 cricket each time and after an hour we take the other 2 or three out. Hoping this will get better soon because my son is worried but told him as long as his tail is fat he is ok. The owner said she tried milworms one time but it would not eat them so he has only had crickets. We might try some again. They had him for 7 months and bought it as a juvinale at ***** so I would think it is about a year old, he is about 6-8" long...including tail.

How does all of this sound?

Any suggestions on different foods?

Thanks,

Greg & AJ

 

[clemsonguy1125]

Sounds good, I'd ditch any lights though. They put un neccassery stress on them. In the wild the are nocturnal so lights are not needed. Your uth should put out enough heat without the bulbs. If not put a sheet of aluminum foil under the tank. Also the 1 month handling limits is a bit extreme. A week should be fine. Also I prefer mealworms to crickets but that's a personal choice. They are cheaper, quiter, and don't smell as bad. As for calcium make sure the stuff in the tank has not d3. Dust with it every other feeding. Dust with vitamin with d3 once or twice a week at most. I prefer once. Welcome to the forums.