Questions before I buy

[Memo]

I have been researching and forum stalking about leopard geckos for about a year and have finally decided to take the plunge and buy one to three. I have kept snakes before for a family who vacations over the winter, my dad has a cornsnake, and I cared for the reptiles and amphibians at our local nature center till a new naturalist felt offended that she might need help, but have never had any gecko experience.

I am scared to death of shipping reptiles to where I live because the temperature is extreme both directions. After a massive amount of searching I found some for sale that were not from a pet store and look nice and healthy. They were bred by this woman and the two I am interested in are surplus sub adults. She says they are RAPTORS, but neither has red eyes. Because of this I think they are APTORS, but feel free to voice your opinion. Both are female and the breeder says they are full siblings. The breeder says she will sell them for $60 for one or $100 for both.

I have a 20 gallon long tank with three hides, paper towels acting a substrate till I can get ceramic tiles, a water dish, food dish, heated rock with room for one or two geckos on it at a time, a heatpad, and a red light for night.

Whew! That was a lot of background! Anyways, are the prices reasonable and do I have enough room for one or both? These are only 45 minutes away and I feel far safer picking them up than shipping. They will also be pets only. I have to go to college in two years and I'm only allowed 3 - 4 small caged pets in all five of the colleges I plan to apply to. So both being females is a plus.

Thanks!

The top two are Girl A and the bottom two are Girl B

 

[brettw903]

I wouldn't suggest a heat rock, and the red light for night isn't really necessary. The only thing I see missing is a dish for the calcium w/o d3

 

[Music City Geckos]

Don't forget the thermostat to control the heating!

 

[acpart]

It's hard to see the eyes, but if the gecko has snake eyes (half dark, half light colored) it may very well be a raptor.

Aliza

 

[Memo]

Good thing I checked here! I knew I was forgetting something. I'll make sure to pick up a calcium bowl and a thermostat. And I even have calcium powder but forgot a bowl!

Girl A has half black and half brown eyes. Girl B has brown eyes with a black slit in the middle,

 

[marcia]

That first photo is definitely a raptor, you can see the snake eyes. The bottom one I'm not sure about, can you photos of just their eyes?

 

[Memo]

I don't have them yet and those are the only photos I've got. The second one has one eye that is solid brown with a black slit in the middle and one that has light and dark brown mottles with a black slit in the middle.

So these aren't her, but it's pretty similar to what each looks like.

 

[SBP]

Actually our weather isn't THAT extreme. I have reptiles shipped to me all the time and I received a Leopard Gecko from Florida last week. Most breeders/operations look into the weather they are shipping to. Its up to you if you want them. Don't be afraid to order one you really want.

Steve

 

[Memo]

Well... Summer shoots up to over 100 and winter down to -10 regularly in my part of Iowa. Can't speak for the rest of the state or midwest at all though. I also had a terrible experience with shipping a snake for our nature center due to temperature reasons.

And don't worry, these girls are beautiful. The breeder had a couple others I looked at and while I was looking for a bell albino at the time I am now totally in love with the various tremper morphs. They are what I really want

Someday when I am more experienced with geckos I may feel comfortable shipping. Right now I don't want to risk having a repeat of the snake fiasco.

 

[brettw903]

I got one of my girls shipped from Arizona to Texas at the end of July. As long as it's a reputable breeder who knows to either heat/cool the box and you're home for pickup it shouldn't be a problem. And, you really dont have to spend a bunch of money on a calcium dish I just use Gatorade caps. They don't use that much calcium. Put that extra few dollars towards your thermostat. If you haven't bought a uth yet I'd recommend ultratherm. They're reusable and have better heat displacement than zoomed or other models in my experience.

 

[gomugomuking]

Like it's been said heat rock is unnecessary and Sometimes have been proven to be bad for geckos health (I've heard... I'm not to sure I just stay away from them) they are pretty versatile reptiles as long as you have a good variation of heat from one side to the other of the tank... And as long a the humidity stays down, if you have a under tank heater and dry paper towels the humidity will stay fine. Your gonna love the ceramic tiles though. Slate has a cool look to it too.

 

[Herbiebug]

just a couple tips for supplies:

-no need to buy a bowl for calcium. the amount you want to put in the tank is quite small. a plastic bottle cap from a soda bottle or prescription drug bottle is more than sufficient.
-for a 20 gallon long tank, I recommend the 8"x12" size undertank heater. the 6"x8" is too small
-strongly recommend a thermostat. you will need either a thermostat or a rheostat (dimmer) to control the heat output of the heater. rheostat requires fiddling all the time to keep the temperature steady and it will get tedious really fast.

some extra thing:
-a few plastic containers to house your feeders in
-one bag of wheat bran for mealworm/superworm substrate. small bag of carrots for moisture and gutloading.
-start saving your papertowel, toilet paper rolls, and egg cartons. they make excellent housing for the crickets.
-water crystals for cricket's moisture source. any pet store will sell them. alternately, you can just put fresh greens in with the crickets but i find that gets to be a hassle.
-small pair of tongs for the grabbing of worms and crickets. or chopsticks if you're comfortable with them.
-this is not super important for leos, and depending on your area's water treatment procedure may not be necessary, but it's not a bad idea to buy a bottle of water conditioner to remove chlorine/chloramine from your leo's drinking water. any pet store, fish section. 5 bucks.