Newbie ?'s & intro

[brookec]

I never knew that Leopard Gecko’s existed until a few months ago. My daughter kept telling us she wanted a lizard for her 6th birthday (Jan 14th). After doing research, it quickly became clear that the best reptile for us would be a leopard gecko. From what I read (and what we’ve experienced in the last month) they are easy to take care of, quiet, don’t bite and it is easy for a child to help with the feeding and care. So, on Jan. 15th we ended up getting a regular colored leo from Petsmart that my daughter named, Scooby. We’ve enjoyed Scooby so much we decided that my husband and I should each get our own gecko and figured we’d better get them before Scooby grew too much. We went to a local pet shop and I fell in love with a pure white guy labeled as a Blazing Blizzard. It has deep black eyes (I cannot see a pupil or anything!) and from what I’ve read I think he is a Blizzard. They had several others to choose from (one that looked like my blizzard but was more of a cream color with lighter eyes) and my husband chose an odd colored little guy. I’ve been looking around the web and have no clue what color he is, maybe albino something? His tail is banded (cream/light tan), but his body isn’t complete bands – more like huge spots (light tan/light yellow). He’s smaller and has no little spots yet (Scooby just got some when he shed). His eyes are not bright green like Scooby’s, they are a very, very light tan that is the same color as his skin on his head. The kid at the pet store that helped us out has a Jungle Leopard Gecko and had been to a herp show but didn’t know what color this guy was, he charged us the price for a normal color gecko ($45). When we got Scooby they had some labeled as albinos and they looked totally different from this little guy we just got. I have a ton of questions and hope to post some pictures and read some of your discussions so I can be sure that we are giving our geckos the best care possible!! Thank you! Any comments on the new guys color would be appreciated!

 

[brookec]

pic

I've tried to attach a pic of Fade, the gecko we don't know the color of. Sorry it is such a bad pic, will try to get a better one today.

 

[Ipsl]

I'll say it nicey before anybody else. I would suggest either repti carpet, tile, or paper towels for a substrate. Geckos can die on sand from impaction. Do you have a humid and a regular hide? One on the hot side and one on the cold? Surface temps on the hot side should be around 89-94. and Im at work so I cant go any furthur. But congrats and welcome.

 

[Bodon]

This site is full of information and full of great people as well. i would agree with paper towel or repticarpet, there is no reason to risk the health of your geckos. It looks like you have some really cool morphs there! Also i know its too late now, but 45 bucks for a normal is really high considering i got my patternless for 15 dollars at Petco, i only tell you this because if youre like the rest of us it will only be a matter of time before you are out getting another one! Anyways, welcome to the site.

 

[brookec]

The tank is a 20 gallon long with an under tank heater on one side so yes there is a warm and a cold side. We checked the surface temp on the warm side and it is 90. We have a humid hide on the warm side and a hide on the cooler side as well.

After starting to read these forums I see that sand is not preferred. The few sources I read before we got Scooby suggested sand. We also talked to 3 people that had kept leopard geckos before we bought Scooby. All had used sand and the one girl's gecko had just died that week at age 13 and the other 2 people had there's over 5 years and they were still doing fine. It was them that suggested the calcium sand.

After discovering the forum on Monday we have been talking over our options and are looking at the best thing to change to. We watch the geckos feed each night and luckily I have not seem any of them eat any of the sand when they snap up a cricket.

 

[brookec]

Our normal was $30 at petsmart (I had to drive an hour to get to the store). The blizzard (if that's what he is) was $55 and the other one in the picture (color??) was $45 - both of those were from a local pet store. I do not go in Petco anymore b/c it is an hours drive away and everything is always overpriced. I drove an hour (in the opposite direction of petsmart) to check some others out and all they had was normals for $25, but this was after we got Scooby and we were looking for other colors.

 

[Bodon]

Ya i was just saying, here our local pet store is the over priced one, i understand because its not a chain just a family run business but i still drive the hour to my Petco for some better deals. I also heard of a breeder who said they used sand with every gecko at every age and never lost one yet, but i took mine off when i did more research. (That breeders site was the first and only site i got info from before i got the gecko). I use tile in my adult leos tank and since i switched from repticarpet ill never go back. I find the tile is the easiest to clean, holds heat the best and looks pretty good too.

 

[rubym]

We got our first gecko a normal for $20 and our normal female was $10 but we got her from a breeder at one of the reptile shows. As for subtrate, we use tile and I really like it because it is easy to clean and I never have to worry about them getting impacted. I just wipe the messes up with the antibacterial baby wipes.

 

[liljenn]

Welcome, Brooke! We bought our daughter (4-yr old) a gecko for Christmas this year because she wanted a lizard. (She loves reptiles). As of tomorrow, we will now have 5! I hope you were warned of the addiction - LOL! I use ReptiCarpet in my 20L (which is divided in half) and paper towels in my rack. (yes, rack ... figured I would need room for MORE!) This is a GREAT site to learn from, a lot of helpful and knowledgable people!

 

[david13]

Pet stores try to rip you off (at least by me) i only by leos online. They sell normals at the pet store by me for 50 bucks and albino for like 60..

 

[Ccrashca069]

Fade looks very cool. Awesome pattern. If possible can you post an eye/head pic. I am thinking Fade is some sort of Bell.
I paid between $20-$30 for my normals. Leopard geckos definitely grow on you. I started out with 2 and now have 25. 4 of then I got when some eggs hatched. I now have 2 more eggs. I am using 20L tanks and a rack that was converted from a dresser.

Welcome to the Addiction

 

[LadyGecko]

Hi Brooke-Welcome to the wonderful world of geckos and believe me-once you're hooked you want to expand into other species of geckos-lol

I am guessing from your pic of Fade (cool name) -if your Leo is white and yellow and pink-that it is an aberrant pattern Tremper Albino

Not a jungle-unless the broken pattern/bands go down the tail but it looks to be a very pretty Gecko
:main_yes:

A pic from the top would give us a better view of his overall pattern/color
Post more pics when you can


Sandy

 

[Ccrashca069]

Darn if it is a Tremper lol......... If it is thats the 2nd Tremper I saw today I liked the pattern and coloring of. I didn't buy the Tremper I saw earlier. Because it was Tremper it wasn't going to work for the project I wanted it for.