| Enclosure |
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| A 20 gallon tank makes a fine enclosure for one leopard gecko. Anything larger than a 25 gallon tank is fine for two or more leopard geckos. Tops are just used to keep in crickets, keep out other pets, reduce the temptation that small children may have to handle these animal, and hold the heat lamp over the selected location in the enclosure. You can use something as simple as chicken wire or as fancy as a metal top specifically made for reptile use. These tops can be bought at most pet stores, although they are fairly expensive. I would highly recommend purchasing a metal top; they last for many years, finish a tank off nicely and just over all have a nicer look to them. |
| Substrate |
| In captivity, the prefered substrate of most breeders in astro-turf(plastic grass) This material is relatively inexpensive and redily available at local harware stores such as Home Depot and Revy. However some breeders prefer to keep their leopards on a more natural substrate such as fine grade sand or a mix of sand and soil. This makes a very attrative set up but remember leopard geckos can suffer from impaction if they induce any sand. Impaction is often fatal if it's not cought early enough. |
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| Shelters |
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| Leopard Geckos are nocturnal animals that usually avoid any bright light. Most of their time is spent hidden away in their enclosure under or in shelters. A shelter can be something as easy as a rock crevice or a piece of drift wood.(But if you use drift wood make sure you boil it, as anything else you use from nature, to avoid any bacteria from entering your gecko.) I have noticed that captive bred leopard geckos have seemed to adapted to our diurnal(awake during the day, sleeps at night) lifestyle. And have seemes to have lost their nocturnal instincts. |
| Enclosure Maintenance |
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| The Maintenance of a leopard gecko's enclosure is fairly simple, as leopard geckos are relatively clean animals. They will always defecate in one location in the enclosure, and their stool is dry and easy to clean up. This one spot is called a defecatoria or for more than one gecko a defecatorium. The water should be replaced daily as to prevent the growth of parasites and bacteria. The enclosure should be wipe out with cleaners such as Repti-Por which is reptile friendly, every three to four weeks. Make sure not to use any house hold cleaners as they can have a harmful effect on your leopard gecko. |
| Housing |
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| Water |
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| Water should be provided in a shallow dish and replaced every day. This helps to prevent the growth of bacteria and parasites. The dish should be cleaned once a week with a reptile cleaner such as Repti-Por, which can be purchased at most pet stores. |
| Shedding |
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| Like most lizards, leopard geckos will shed their top layer of skin. This cycle repeats itself faster when the geckos are juvenile because they are growing rapidly. As adults the shedding cycle tends to slow down a bit (around a month or so). Just before leopard geckos shed they tend to look dull in color and have a rather "ghost like" appearce. Once they are ready to shed they will tear the skin with their mouths and swallow it. This is thought to provide them with extra calcium and other nutrients. To assist in the shedding process you will need to spray the gecko when they appear to become this pale white colour. They may hiss or run away and hide but continue this process about three or four times for about twenty seconds. As my geckos have aged they have gotten use to me spraying them and don't run away. They actually seem to kind of like it. |
| Tail Loss |
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| Like most other geckos, the leopard gecko posses the ability to drop its tail when they feel threatened, disturbed, or if grabbed by the tail. This is also refered to as autotomy. After the gecko has dropped it's tail it will twitch on the ground. In the wild this would destract an emeny and give the leopard gecko a chance to get away. The tail will usually disconect just below the hind legs(this part of the tail is called the base) although sometimes it will disconnect further down the tail in between to of the rings on the tail. When the tail disconnects there will be no blood as the nerves go through a process called Vasconstriction, which stops the flow of blood to the damaged part of the tail. Recentely my cousin's leopard gecko fell out of his hands and was frightened. When the gecko hit the floor it's tail started to bounce back and forth every 1-2 seconds. My cousin put the gecko back in it's cage, it hid under a log with her tail still bouncing. When I looked underneath the log I saw that her tail was disconnecting. It disconnected about half way down the tail, but the tail was still attatched by a little bit of "skin". About five minutes later she bit the end of the tail and pulled it off. She then went and laid down. With in two days my cousin saw the new tail starting to form. Within two weeks it had started to push out. After about two to three months the tail was almost back to normal and within four months it was fully regenerated. The regrown tail isn't as pleasing to the eye as the original as they are smaller, bulbous, unringed and often less spotted. By dropping the tail they have lost a large amout of stored fat. If the gecko is in a comunal setting it should be removed immediatley and put in a sterile enclosure by themselves. When the new tail is fully regrown it can then be put back in it's original enclosure(with the other geckos) |