leopard

Family - Eublepharidae, the eyelid geckos. Some hobbyists and scientists consider Eublepharidea to be a subfamily of the family Gekkonidae, so Leopard Geckos may be seen being reffered to in that family.

Care Difficulty- Easy.

Size - These are small lizards, reaching a maximum size of nine inches, but they are usually smaller. The males of this species is usually a little larger than the female.

Range - Leopard Geckos can be found in Iran, Afghanistan, Nothwestern India and Pakistan. Most of todays captive bred Leopard Geckos are descendants of the imported Leopard Geckos from Pakistan.

Habits - Leopard Geckos are primarily nocturnal, sheltering themselves beneath rocks and deep burrows during the heat of the day. These burrows provide them with cooler and moister conditions than the surface. They emerge at night when temparatures are cooler. They then hunt for invertebrates and smaller lizards. When disturbed they give off a creaking groan and thrash their tails. These geckos will also shed their tails if they feel severely threatened.

Sexing - Visual sexing is hard. The male usually has a broader head and neck than the female, but this is not always necessarilythe case. Sexing has to be done by looking at the underside of the lizard. Adult males have a prominenet row of pre-anal pores. These are in the shape of a "V". Females' pre-anal pores are hardly visible. Also the adult males have a hemi penile swelling and a broader tail base. When these lizards are just eggs, thier sex is determined by temperature. 79F - 83F are generally female. 84F - 86F are generally half and half.. 87F + is generally male. In this way, they take after their cousins the crocodiles and aligators.

Description - These are yelowish lizards with darker spots, hence the name Leopard Geckos. The spots can be brown to purple to black. Aslo these are sometimes arranged into loose bands accross their backs. The tails of these lizards are whitish to pale purple to gray with dark spots Leopard Geckos are bred in great numbers by hobbyists and commercial breeders, and the trend has been to selectively breed them for interesting color morphs and patterns. These new and interesting color morphs bear little resemblance to their wild counterparts. The colors range from solid yellow to orange backgrounds. Some have spots that are elongated into stripes. The most commonly seen variety is the high-yelow. the lizards have a brighter yellow background with reduced spotting. Albinos have also been bred in rather large numbers but they still command very high prices.

Juveniles look rather different from the adults. They are banded instead of being spotted. They are whitish to yellow with two or three large brown bands across the body, and three to four bands accross the tail. The head is usually brown witha white semicirce around the neck region. Unlike other geckos, the Leopard Gecko has claws instead of climbing pads. The ear drum can be seen on either side of the head, just behind the jaw bone. These lizards have strong jaw muscles, and even though they are quite docile, they can still give a good bite.

Handling - To handle or not to handle. If you would like to have a tame Leopard Gecko that you can feed by hand, then you must handle it quite often. Just be careful as their tails break off quite easily as a defense mechanism. Do not worry it will grow back. Take note though, it will not grow back to look like the original. It will grow back to be short stocky and ugly. It is about half the original length, generally fatter, and the coloring and texture are uneven.

Housing - a ten gallon aquarium will adequately house 1-2 Leopard Geckos. up to 5 can be housed in a 20 gallon long aquarium. When housing in groups be sure there is only one male, or they will fight with each other. Leopard Geckos are relatively clean animals. Most will designate an area as the "bathroom" and only use that one area, therefore making it relatively easy to clean. Also be sure to provide at least two hiding places. One on the warm side of the aquarium and the other on the cooler side of the aquarium. these hiding places are detrimental to the mental health of this gecko as well as most other reptiles. Also you can fill one of the shelters withmoist sphagmum moss. If your geckos breed, they will use the moistened shelter to lay their eggs. Hiding places can be from, cork bark, wood, rocks, cardboard boxes, pvc pipes and other non toxic material.

Substrates - These can include newpaper, paper towels, sand, potting soil mixture, reptile bark, cypress mulch , shredded paper and astro turf. A few things to remember though. Some potting soil contain perlite which can cause impaction. Astroturf edges have to be melted, otherwise the lizards eat the particles that fray off and can cause impaction as well. Sand for geckos under 6 months of age can cause the aforementioned problem. And last but not least, cedar and pine shavings are generally bad for reptiles because of the chemicals they release.

Diet and Feeding - Leopard geckos are insectivores, they should be fed insects like crickets, mealworms, kingworms, waxworms, earthworms, grasshoppers, locusts, roaches and newborn pinkie mice. Guess that means they are carniverous too. Note that pinkies are not good as a staple food because of their high fat content. They should only be given as a special treat. Leopard Geckos can be fed every other day. Note that if your lizard gains to much weight from this schedule then you can cut back on the feedings to wice a week. Hatchlings should be fed once or twice daily and every third or fourth meal should be dusted with calcium and vitamins before being fed to them.

Temperature and Humidity - even though these are desert dwelling lizards, they do not like overly warm temparatures. A week light or a heating pad that provides a temperature of up to 85F will be acceptable. the cool side of the cage can be room temperature. And the temperature at night can drp down into the 60s without a problem. Relative humidity in the cage should be low to moderate.

Temperament - Hatchlings are usually nervous, but with gentle handling can grow very tame. Adults are usually tame animals that will tolerate some handling. As aformentioned, care must be taken to avoid grabbing the tail which can fall off.

Pet Suitability - Excellent. Small size, ease of care and relatively docile temperament. They are also a good choice for the begining breeders since they are easy to breed..