The leopard gecko, (Eublepharis macularius), is an ideal pet that takes up little space, has simple food requirements, comes in designer colors and patterns and can withstand the life dealt out by even the most absent-minded of keepers. They are excitable as babies, but harmless, and as adults they become very tame; taking food from your fingers. With a maximum adult size of 7-10" this lizard is easily handled by supervised children. But remember, their tails can breakoff (and be regrown), so make sure you never pick them up or grab them by that fleshy tail. For decades this lizard was the only species being bred in captivity generation-after- generation. It has a fantastic tract record and is probably the most widely kept pet lizard next to the sometimes troublesome green iguana, (Iguana iguana). Since 1992 serious breeders have developed striped, high yellow, "jungle", "ghost", and "leucistic" forms from the original wild-caught imports, which originate in Pakistan and India. Being a terrestrial type of gecko makes keeping them at home a snap. They are easily kept (our caging system) in a glass or plastic cage that offers 10" x 10" of floor space for each gecko housed and that is at least 12" high. Now that you have a cage in mind, here's your gecko recipe for success: Use paper toweling or newspaper for the cage bottom. You can see when it is soiled and the cost is low. Never use fine sand as a substrate since geckos up to 5" in length may eat the sand and become impacted. Always provide water in a shallow lid or bowl that won't spill. Use a gallon jar lid or shallow plant dish to serve as a food bowl. It's nice if the insects you are using as feed don't escape from this bowl.. Use a 6" wide plastic container for a hide box. Fill the container with moist peat moss or Vermiculite and cut a 1 1/2" diameter hole in the lid or side to serve as an entrance for your pet. Mist the hide box medium daily. This aids in skin shedding, which they eat. Provide a screen top for your cage; especially if you have young children or cats. Keep the gecko cage off the floor and create a temperature of 82-88 F for the daytime. The night temperature can go as low as 64 F with no ill effects. Heat can be gained from commercially available reptile heat tapes, hot rocks or a 40-watt light bulb placed over to screen cage top to reach the needed daytime high temperature. Twelve hours of light is fine. Feed four live food items daily per gecko. Never let direct sunlight strike your cage, since it will overheat quickly, like a closed automobile standing in open sun, and kill your pet. Never have more than one male gecko per cage. Adult males of all types of lizards will fight each other, and sometimes to the death, if they come into contact. A male will vibrate its tail rapidly when it sees another gecko. If the other gecko in turn vibrates its tail in the same fashion then each of them knows that contact has been made with another male and a fight will occur. If, however, a male signals his presence via the tail shaking and the other gecko does not respond in like fashion, then the male knows that the gecko near him is in fact a female. This behavior is one means of determining their sex. Sexing your gecko is not very difficult. Male geckos are larger, heavier in the neck region, have a line of small pores on their belly between their hindlegs which are just in front of the anal opening or vent and they exhibit two swellings at their tail base and just past the vent. Females lack the large size, in general, and the pre-anal pores and post-anal swellings are missing. Sex can't be easily seen until your gecko reaches 5-6" in total length. Most of the geckos sold in pet shops are females. You can keep a male with 1 to 10 females all their life. Cage size is the only limiting factor. Keep a jar lid full of vitamin-mineral powder available in the cage at all times. SelectionWhen selecting your gecko look for obvious signs of health. The gecko should be alert and if possible try and see the lizard feed. Make sure the gecko is captive bred and not imported. With the massive quantities of geckos being produced by captive breeders each year this shouldn't be a problem.AppearanceLeopard geckos are among the largest geckos with adults attaining a length of around 8 or 9 inches. Most leopard geckos have a yellow background with brown spots covering the adults. Juvenile geckos have a predominantly striped pattern that fades to the spotted pattern with age. They also have a very obvious outer ear and differ from many geckos in that they have eyelids and lack adhesive lamellae, meaning they can't walk up vertical services.HousingAn aquarium is a perfect home although many people have success with plastic sweater boxes. Since they are a terrestrial species, a long aquarium is better than a high one. A 20 gallon long aquarium is adequate for 3 or 4 geckos. Make sure that you only have one male per enclosure as males will fight each other. The substrate can be anything from sand to newspaper. Sand creates the most natural setup, and you can buy playground sand from any hardware store. Rocks and logs can make the terrarium more natural looking and they provide your lizards with places to climb and get exercise. A hide box is also recommended for each lizard for use in times or conflict and for sleeping.Lighting and TemperatureLeopard geckos are a nocturnal species so no form of UV lighting is necessary. A simple spotlight with the appropriate wattage bulb can provide both daytime light and heat. Daytime temperatures should be around 90 and the nighttime temps can go down in the low 70s. When I say 90 degrees I mean this should be the temperature directly under the spotlight. This will allow the rest of the cage to remain from anywhere to the 80's to room temperature. I feel that it's best to provide any reptile with a temperature gradient and let them regulate their temperature. I have problems with undertank heating pads and hot rocks as they don't raise the ambient air temperature in the tank and their surfaces often produce extremely high temperatures.Feeding and WateringLeopard geckos are relatively easy to feed because they will thrive on insects. A staple of crickets along with occasional waxworms and mealworms make a good diet. Adult geckos can also be fed an occasional pinkie mouse. Juveniles can be feed every day and adults every other day. Supplementation is a must for leopard geckos. Two supplements should be used: one that is just calcium/D3 and another that is a reptile multivitamin. Juveniles should be supplemented at every feeding and adults at every other feeding. Gravid females should also be supplemented at every feeding to make up for the large nutritional depletion caused by egg laying. Insects can be coated with these supplements and it's always a good idea to feed the insects a high quality diet so as to "gut-load" them and increase their nutritional value. If your geckos don't mind being handled it may be a good idea to feed them in a separate container. This reduces the chance of impaction from ingesting the substrate in the aquarium and allows for you to monitor how much each gecko is eating.A shallow water dish should be provided at all times and changed daily to stop bacteria and fungus growth. Allowing leopard geckos access to a moist area is a good idea that aids in shedding. Even though they come from arid climates their burrows tend to have moderate humidity. People can supply this humidity by moistening the area under their hide boxes. Make sure that the overall cage isn't wet or overly humid.BreedingLeopard geckos are relatively easy to breed. One male will mate with several females so people tend to keep them in groups of one male to 3 or 4 females. Pregnant females can usually be detected because of a bump on each side of her abdomen. If provided with a laying box females will tend to use it. Something like a cool whip tub with a hole cut in the side that is filled with moist moss or vermiculite will provide an attractive place for the females. Females will usually produce multiple clutches of eggs during breeding season. The eggs should be removed from the egg laying box and incubated in vermiculite with a 1:1 ratio of water to vermiculite by weight. The plastic shoebox inside of a ten gallon aquarium makes an adequate incubator. If incubated at 85 degrees they should hatch in around two months. A higher incubation temperature will produce more females although de Vosjoli mentions that this may result in overly aggressive females. The newborn geckos will not eat until after their first shed (usually after about a week). they can then be started on appropriately sized insects. It's also best to house them separate, such as in plastic shoeboxes.PriceWith so much captive breeding going on the price of leopard geckos has decreased dramatically. In pet stores they still usually cost between $60 and $70, at least they do in Maine at the moment. They can be purchased much cheaper directly from breeders or at reptile expos. It's not uncommon to see them for $20-25 for one.AND LEOPARD GECKOS DO NOT BITE!!!!!! BEARDED DRAGONS NEED 55GALLONS EACH LEOPARD GECKOS NEED 10!!!!
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