Leopard geckos are originally from India, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan. They live in deserts, and grasslands throughout their range.
They are a nocturnal (active at night) lizard. Adults are about 8"long,
and weigh around 45-75 grams, with some males reaching 12", and weighing well
over 100 gs. Leopard Geckos are a very common reptile found in pet stores,
almost all geckos seen for sale now-a-days are Captive bred. You can
purchase babies as cheap as $20 from small private breeders, but if you want
an adult, or one of the "designer" leopards, it will cost considerably more.
Housing
Housing leos is very easy.
All you need is an aquarium with a screen lid. The tank should allow an area
of atleast 10"x10" for each gecko, but the more room, the better. To give
you an idea of tank size a 10-15 gallon tank(18"x10"x12"-24"x12"x12") is
good for a pair, and a 20 gallon "Long" (30"x12"x12") can house up to
4 (1 male with 3 females). Many breders use sweater boxes in large rack units,
this is very cost effective, and allows you to house lots of leos in a relatively
small area.
Furnishings
Geckos naturally live in deserts/dry grasslands, so a tank
with a sand substrate (only for adults over 5" long-use newspaper for hatchlings
to avoid sand impaction), and lots of rocks, logs, stumps and caves is ideal.
There should be atleast 1 hiding area for each gecko in the tank. A few artificial
plants can be added to make the tank a little nicer to look at. If using the
rack unit described above, all you need is paper towels, a water bowl, a
moist hide, and a dry hide as well.
Lighting/Heating/Humidity
Being nocturnal leopard geckos don't need any UV lighting.
Heating a Leo's tank can be done with a 40-60W heat lamp, resting on the screen
top, or an under tank heater, if you use a rack system, you can use heat
cable, or heeat tape, but be sure it is hooked up to a quality thermostat
to control temperature fluctuations. The temperature should range from 75-85*F
in the day, and from 65-70* at night.The humidity in the tank should be fairly
low (30-40%), with a "moist hide" around 60-70% to aid in skin shedding.
Feeding
Feeding Leos is quite simple. Because Leos are nocturnal
they should be fed in the late afternoon/early evening. Adults feed
on 3/4-1" crickets, waxworms, large mealworms, kingworms, and large breeding
leos will benefit from the occassional "pinky" (baby mouse). Adults should
be fed 6-8 items every day or two, depending on the size of the food items.
Water should be present at all times, in a small bowl, that the geckos can't
tip over.
Breeding
There is no secret to breeding leos, just have a healthy
pair, and put them in the same cage! It is often that simple, occasional specimens
seem to require a winter coolng for 6-8 weeks where you drop temps about
5-10*F, and offer food 2 or 3 times/week, rather than 5-6. When females become
gravid, they will look for a good place to lay eggs. Often, this is the moist
hide box,. Watch for her to start digging in here, she may dig in here
gfor a few days before laying, but it is a sure sign she is ready to lay
her eggs, it is oftena good idea to add a moist hide box to each end
of the cage, 1 at the warm end, 1 at the cool end, so she can pick the better
of the 2. Once she has laid, CAREFULLY remove the eggs, without rotating
them, and place them in a deli-cup 1/2 filled with moist vermiculite or perlite.
I recommend buying an incubator if you are breeding leopard geckos, it is
far more dependable than other methods. Leopard geckos hatch after
45 days at temperatures of about 85*F. Incubating at 80*F will yeild almost
all femelas, but trhey will take closer to 60 days to hatch, incubating at
90*F of the first 2-3 weeks will yeild almost all males, which hatch after
about 40-45 days.
Raising the Young Animals
Raising the young animales really comes down to personal
preference. you can use any number of caging options from small sweater boxes,
to aquariums, but whatever you use make sure it is escape proof, well ventilated,
and roomy enough for your baby to move around. Feeding is very simple, about
4-7 days after hatching, start offering small 1/4-1/2" crickets, and small
mealworms, offering 3-5 items/gecko/day. Make sure water is present at all
times in a small, shallow dish, that they can't tip over.
Colour Phases
There are many phases of leopard Gecko available. The most
common phases available are the normals, high-yellows, tangerines, snow, hypo
snows, jungle, leucistic (patternless), pastel, lavender, stripe, ghost,
albino, circleback, hypo-tangerine, carrot-tails, "masked" jungle, albino,
designer albino (albino x Jungle, striped, etc), blizzard, melanistic. These
are just a few,there are many more, new, amazing phases cropping up annually!
Links
This page was last updated on February
27, 2002
All imaes and texts property of Shawn "ANOLeMAN" Hunking