Okay. Im new at the whole lizard business. Im a 17 year old female wanting a leopard gecko. I have been researching these geckos for over a month. I plan to have one gecko, so should i have a 10 or 15 gallon tank? I definately settled on reptile carpet for the bottom. Crickets dusted with calcium fed on daily basis, or mealworms, and wax worms as treats. How often should meal time be? Should i get an adult or juvienile lizard to start? And my biggest question, where to get my lizard? A lot of people say ones from pet shop are mean/unhealthy. Im living in Rome, Georiga so what breeder does anyone recommend thats not too far away and is reputable?
Just a few more things to add to what has been said. I bought 2 reptile carpets. They are very easy to wash. That way when you take one out to wash you have a clean one to immediately put in while the other is drying. Once they are adults you don't have to feed them every day. You can if you want. It's what ever a person prefers. I know some people who feed their gecko about 3 meal worms or crickets every day and some that feed them a dozen or so once a week.
nylon brush, dishsoap, and lots of water / rinse well NO chemicals,tireshine, or armorall type stuff (makes tires slick, crack, etc.)
I have had leopard geckos for 3 years now and they are fairly straight forward to look after. 1) make sure they have a decent size viv 2) make sure they have access to a small dish of water at all times 3) make sure they have a heat mat underneath one side of the viv (not in the viv) 4) put a plastic tub 1/4 filled with vermiculite mixed with sand with damp moss ontop. they will lay their eggs in this + the humidity in the box will help the leo to shed its skin. 5) do not put a dusty substrate in the geckos viv as this will get in the geckos eyes and could cause an eye infection which could result in loss of eye if left untreated 6) keep the viv temp at around 90 degrees F for feeding the gecko can eat crickets, mealworms, mario worms only when full adult, wax worms, small pinkie once every blue moon to a breeding female (this will give the gecko more fat in the tail if it is loosing weight) roaches eg lobster cockroasches, babie madagascan hissing cockroaches. (cockroaches have a bigger meat to shell ratio compared to crickets and mealworms and are therefor a better choice of food as they contain more meat. make sure that you gut load the crickets, mealworms, roaches etc and then dust them with a supplement before feeding them to your leopard gecko to give the gecko the most out of the food. never leave the food in the viv for more than a day because the crickets, mealworms, roaches will eat the gecko poo and eat the worms, parasites that are in the poo and pass them back on to the gecko. also the crickets etc will nibble on the geckos toes, tail tips. always keep an eye on the geckos toes and tail when it is shedding as if some of the shed remains on these parts then it will constrict the body part and then fall off. if the gecko looses its tail it will grow a new one just not as nice looking as the old one. if it looses its tail then make sure that you feed it everyday or it will die because it stores all of the fat in its tail. hope this helped.
I would definitely get the 15 gallon tank especially if you are going to start off with the adult leo. As for choosing an adult vs. juvenile it doesn't really matter although the juveniles are a bit cheaper. I have had both of my leos for over 8 years and have had them since they were babies, I bought them from pet co and have had no problem with them. Be careful with the repti carpet because it can pull their nails out and also when your leo tries to eat a cricket and misses its teeth can get caught on the carpet and get yanked out. I feed my leo crickets about every week and use meal worms as their maine food and they love them. A lot of people say that meal worms aren't a good choice to feed your leo but I disagree just as long as you dust them with calcium it should be fine also meal worms are less of a hassle than crickets. Also if you are going to feed wax worms make sure your leo is full grown it wont be a good idea to give it to a juvenile.
