newbie questions - son bought a leopard gecko

[garygecko]

My 8 year old son has been researching leopard geckos for a school project. This weekend he went to petco with a $20 gift card to buy a beta fish with his Dad. They came home with a leopard gecko... So I am trying to make sure we have a good setup and do a good job caring for Gary the Gecko. I've read a bunch of threads and gotten wonderful info. I have a few questions:

- We have a 30" x 12" glass aquarium that came as part of a leopard gecko kit. I don't think the lights that came with it are keeping the hot side warm enough. I got a 6"x11" heater that goes underneath. Is that big enough? Or should I order something bigger? I am also going to get a thermostat that can measure the temp on the ground as we only have the round one that sticks on the wall. The light has a 55w day light and a night light.

- He is pretty small. Maybe 3-4" long. How much should he be eating? So far he is eating about 1 cricket a day. He refuses mealworms. He is pooping about once a day - we think the crickets ate it one day. Is that possible? Yuck!

- How do you deal with the crickets chirping 24/7??? I got a cricket keeper and am gutloading and it is making them very very happy and loud. Is there a way to get him to eat mealworms or are we doomed to crickets chirping for the next 10 years? :^)

- He is hiding in his cave on the cool side almost all the time. Should I move that one to the warm side to encourage him to warm up or just leave him alone? Is it normal for him to hide all the time? He has whitish skin that is kind of translucent. I can see some faint stripes on his back. Do you think the light bothers him??? My son picked him because he had his face against the glass and asked him to take him home, not because he was particularly nice looking!

- So far we have a larger hide that he loves, a smaller one on the warm side. One fake plant which unfortunately has driftwood at the bottom that the crickets are hiding in, a food dish and water dish, calcium in a little cap that he is eating, and lights. I'm going to check into vinyl tiles this weekend and get the underneath heater installed. We are also ordering cricket food to gutload. And I'm looking into supplements. The store sold us a calcium/vitamin powder but it seems like we need two separate formulas?? Any suggestions/hints/tips for a newbie?

- One more thing - am I right in thinking you can't tell the sex this early? My other son now wants one and I am scared to get another as males fight??? And I don't want to end up with two adult males. I'm trying to convince him to get a beta fish and dh is not allowed in the pet store anymore with out supervision. I have to admit though that Gary is kind of cute in a so ugly he is cute kind of way.

 

[Leosrule]

My 8 year old son has been researching leopard geckos for a school project. This weekend he went to petco with a $20 gift card to buy a beta fish with his Dad. They came home with a leopard gecko... So I am trying to make sure we have a good setup and do a good job caring for Gary the Gecko. I've read a bunch of threads and gotten wonderful info. I have a few questions:

- We have a 30" x 12" glass aquarium that came as part of a leopard gecko kit. I don't think the lights that came with it are keeping the hot side warm enough. I got a 6"x11" heater that goes underneath. Is that big enough? Or should I order something bigger? I am also going to get a thermostat that can measure the temp on the ground as we only have the round one that sticks on the wall. The light has a 55w day light and a night light.

- He is pretty small. Maybe 3-4" long. How much should he be eating? So far he is eating about 1 cricket a day. He refuses mealworms. He is pooping about once a day - we think the crickets ate it one day. Is that possible? Yuck!

- How do you deal with the crickets chirping 24/7??? I got a cricket keeper and am gutloading and it is making them very very happy and loud. Is there a way to get him to eat mealworms or are we doomed to crickets chirping for the next 10 years? :^)

- He is hiding in his cave on the cool side almost all the time. Should I move that one to the warm side to encourage him to warm up or just leave him alone? Is it normal for him to hide all the time? He has whitish skin that is kind of translucent. I can see some faint stripes on his back. Do you think the light bothers him??? My son picked him because he had his face against the glass and asked him to take him home, not because he was particularly nice looking!

- So far we have a larger hide that he loves, a smaller one on the warm side. One fake plant which unfortunately has driftwood at the bottom that the crickets are hiding in, a food dish and water dish, calcium in a little cap that he is eating, and lights. I'm going to check into vinyl tiles this weekend and get the underneath heater installed. We are also ordering cricket food to gutload. And I'm looking into supplements. The store sold us a calcium/vitamin powder but it seems like we need two separate formulas?? Any suggestions/hints/tips for a newbie?

- One more thing - am I right in thinking you can't tell the sex this early? My other son now wants one and I am scared to get another as males fight??? And I don't want to end up with two adult males. I'm trying to convince him to get a beta fish and dh is not allowed in the pet store anymore with out supervision. I have to admit though that Gary is kind of cute in a so ugly he is cute kind of way.

Congrats on the new. Leo what's the gallon size of your tank. One cricket a day is fine for a newly housed leo but try to feed some more later down the road. The lights are fine they only add like three degrees they only mimic they sun. As long as day temps reach close to 90 you are fine. Night temps can go down to 75 but be safe and keep at eighty. Only at six months of age you can really sex the leo. Upside down v for a male pre anal pores also bulge bellow the vent. Female has none., only after six months this will begin to show. Otherwise you will need a dna test probe. Light color means close to shedding. Babies due that a lot. The leo will tell you if its too hot or too cold by switching sides. Hopefully I could help

 

[Spots]

Congrats!

There is a search function on this forum that can help you with your questions, and a care sheet link at the top of the site too.

the UTH (under the tank heater) should cover about 1/3 of the tank and the temperature measured using a probe thermometer but you already knew this. lol I've used lights in the pass and heat emitters to supplement heat when the UTH was too cold but I don't think lights are necessary. It can cause stress to the little ones as their eyes can be sensitive to the light. If you keep them in a room with a window (not in the direct sunlight though) that light should be enough to mimic the sun (well..it is the sun) so a light won't be needed unless you want to use the night bulb for viewing purposes.

I fed mine a couple a day and the crickets should be as small as the distance between their eyes. Being that small, those crickets don't chrip I don't think? I saw a documentary on crickets and I remember them saying that the crickets only chrip in their 7th week of life (their last stage). My crickets never chirped but they smell! so be prepared for that. you can try leaving worms in a dish and seeing if he will eat any when you are not looking.

I would like to see pictures! He can't be that ugly. No gecko is truly ugly
He could be hiding a lot from the stress of the move. They are also noctural so they usually come out at night, although mine are comfortable to sleep outside during the day so I can watch them lol I would leave the hides alone. They just close the one they want and sometimes they like it cold, sometimes they like it warm.

Supplements...you'd better research this. It gets tricky with all the D3 and pure calcium stuff. I use pure calcium in the tank at all times. I dust D3 once or twice a week and dust vitamins inbetween D3 dusting. But I'll let you research that as I find it a bit confusing at times. Especially dusting worms because it doesn't stick so I hope they are getting enough lol



males will fight but females can fight too if they don't get along. My two females (bought as babies) did not end up getting along and the one bit the other so they are seperated now. So you have to be prepared that they can fight even if they are both females.

Hope it helps!

 

[Fencer04]

I would ditch the lights, I think that it stresses out the geckos more than the heat it gives off is worth. They really require belly heat with a probe thermometer reading about 90 to 95 degrees on the hot side of the floor. You may also try feeding mealworms. I find them much easier to deal with than crickets. Also be sure to provide two hides one on the cold side and one on the hot one so that the little guy can thermoregulate. I wouldn't be too worried about him spending all his time on one side. He will know where to go and when. Good luck with Gary, I hope you and your sun catch the gecko bug like the rest of us sickos

 

[ajveachster]

You are doing fairly well I'd say for an impulse buy you ended up getting. Lights are not needed, but some people do like to use the red bulb for night viewing. If you have questions about your supplement you can tell us what's on the label. More than likely anything you got at a pet store somebody on here is using or has used, and can give you info on it. Since the animal is fairly new it might not eat a whole lot. Also it does sound like it is close to shedding, and sometimes they don't eat a day or two around that time. It will more than likely eat its old skin, so don't panic if you don't see the old skin later. I agree that checking out the care sheets should answer most of your basic care questions. Have fun with your new little one.

 

[garygecko]

Thank you so much for all the great advice!!! I didn't see the care sheets - they are wonderful! We have been very busy getting Gary settled. We got another hide so he has a warm and cool side one. We also purchased high quality vinyl tile and a better UTH which we will install tomorrow and a container for a moist hide. The stick on thermometer fell off the wall and landed in the vitamins, so quite a mess, but we did find out that the temp on the floor is about 88-90 so warmer than we thought. I'm going to have to order a thermometer with a probe as they are out at the local store.

We have been turning off the lights and removing his hide to make sure he is OK each night as he is so small we can't see him in there. Then we release the crickets. We had to take the tree out as they were hiding in the driftwood base - it was hollow. Last night we watched him catch a cricket and then the other two were gone this morning so he is eating more. They were way too big. Thanks so much for suggesting smaller ones. It turns out the big box store sold us large size. I found a small pet shop with a colony and bought babies this morning. Tonight Gary ate 5 while we were watching and was stalking another as we left. We released the adults we had left outside and our home is a much quieter place! I'm going to look into supplements next. The pet shop dusted the baby crickets for us with the mix they use for their leo and I have a supplement in a little dish too. I'll post the brand later to see what you think. I'm feeling much better about the whole situation now that I can hear myself think! The chirping was driving us all bonkers.

Thanks again! I'll try to get a picture once we get everything setup. His stripes seem darker than a week ago, but maybe he is just growing on me. He's actually kind of cute!

 

[Kotori]

Luck with the gecko! His stripes could actually be darker if he was about to shed when you got him.
For my gecko, I have a 55 gal tank (quite a roomy place; they do well in 10 gal I heard)
With a UTH. I don't test the temperature, but he seems to know where to go when. I have a warm hide and a wet hide.No cool hide because he stays there all the time and was always too cold.I have a piece of driftwood mounted on slate, and he likes to be under that during the day as opposed to the hide. 100 watt bulb on a timer for the day.
I use coconut shavings, as it makes it easy to regulate the heater- too hot? add another inch of bedding. Dusting...I use a calcium dust with the phosphorus (sp?) every 5 or so crickets. Tip: if your gecko doesn't have enough calcium, his eyes will stick shut. It is not fun having to open an eye so he can hunt.

 

[garygecko]

Here are some pics I took today. He is more active now and eating a ton of baby crickets. He is so translucent that I can see through his skin. His midsection is darker, but I think that is because he is eating so much. And his stripes are getting darker too. Does he look ok to you? He seems a little skinny to me but he is up to 6 small crickets a day and going strong.



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[Jordan]

He looks okay.
Admittedly i haven't read this thread fully so this may have been mentioned. BUT

i heard the mention of lights.

Your gecko is an Albino, which are sensitive to light, so you need to get rid of any lights because of this. (gecko's albino or not shouldn't need lights anyway)

 

[garygecko]

Thanks! And no - I didn't know he was an albino. But I can tell he doesn't like the lights. I just got a UTH and need to get it installed today or tomorrow so we can turn off the lights. I did move his favorite hide to the warm side and now he is staying in there during the day and eating more. I think he likes it because it is big enough for him to go in and around the corner like a cave. We can only see him through a little hole in the side - usually just his foot. For the first few days we were having to pick it up to make sure he was OK, but now he comes out when the lights go out and runs around chasing crickets.