i have a few Qs about leopard geckos

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redbellyPirahna4

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2008
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in front of my cichla tank,IL
my buddy is giving me 1 or 2 of his baby lep geks
and i he told me that for now i can keep them in a 10gall with a undertank heater and just anytype of light.
i was wondering wat i should use for subtrate?
i have like 10-15 pounds of fiji live sand left over from when i set up my sw nanocube and i was wondering if i could just dry it out and use it for the lep gek.
 
whenever i watch videos of leopard geckos its always sand, i could be wrong though because i don't even own one i own a gargoyle gecko but im pretty sure that sand should be ok.
 
Hi there :)

Is this your first reptile?

Ok for sand, I wouldn't use the stuff that was in your Nano. If you really want to use sand, you can use Playsand that has been baked. There is still a risk of ingesting it, but it is very fine , small grain smooth sand.

- You need to attach your heatmat to a stat, and depending what the temperature is on that, I can advise you what heat bulb to get.

This is the most important thing to remember when keeping reptiles. Usually, anything that goes wrong with a reptile is due to husbandry, and temperature.

- Leopard Gecko's don't need UV light aslong as their food is supplemented well.

- You will need at least 4 hides for two leopard geckos. Two on the warm side, and two on the cool side.

- You need a humid box. I live foodtub is good, cut a hole big enough for the geckos to get in comfortably. Put some moss (soaked in some water) in there.

These are the very basics. I would put secure rocks, false plants etc in there.

Good Luck & keep us updated!
 
Decoration isn't necessary aslong as you provide good hides. The best and cheapiest substrate is paper towel. 1 dollar a roll and lasts months. Otherwise the best would be tile. Don't use sand for young leos they will most like become impacted since they aren't experienced hunters quite yet. Gut load your feeders before feeding. Mealworms are the easiest to use as feeders and are healthy if you gut load them first, otherwise crickets will do as well just gut load them. Make sure to have a bowl of water and calcium in the tank at all times. Dust your feeders every other day. A nocturnal heat bulb will work since they are nocturnal but a ceramic heat lamp is best. 10 gallons will due while they are small but really 10 gallon per leo is what should be expected. If you plan on getting 2 I would recommend a 20 long minimum. Also make sure that they are not 2 males. Males cannot be housed together and will usually fit to the death. Best bet with youngsters is keeping them seperate until you can properly sex them.
 
evilxyardxgnome;2084169; said:
Don't use sand for young leos they will most like become impacted since they aren't experienced hunters quite yet. Gut load your feeders before feeding.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that EYN I forgot to mention that. It is best to keep them on kitchen towel while they are young. And gut loading is a must aswell (feeding the live food up well with supplemented food).

However, I slightly disagree with your statement about decor. No its certainly not neccasarry but the animal will definately enjoy it and benefit from it. I believe giving your pets the most and best you can.

However its up to the owner themselves.
Valuable information there though!
 
I kept and bread up to 300 babies from the adults I kept on very fine pet sand.Never had any issues.Kept the babies in plastic shoe boxes until old enough to sell.VF I think keeps all his adults on sand too so you might want to talk to him.Ppl keep calling for paper towels for adults too but keep in mind that it looks like crap.Half the reason we got into this is because we like the vivs also.So do your research and talk to ppl that successfully kept them on different substrates over a long time and then decide.I know that might piss some ppl off but newspaper and paper towels look like crap.Figure out what is closest to what they have in the wild and try to recreate it.Sure the other stuff is easier but its supposed to be about the animal more than us.Its cheaper too but then again,dont buy an animal if you dont want the upkeep expense.The most fun you can have in this is a healthy herp in a natural looking viv.With you because I think they are still babies then the towels should work.As adults though you might want to step it up unless you just like paper towels,maybe get some with little flower pots on them or teddy bears.
 
im not saying sands bad i have mines on sand but for a beginer who doesnt know what to look for on his geckos its a bad idea to use sand just because me and you do it and have no problem doesnt mean someone else will have the same luck thats all im saying so for some one who is new i say paper towels untill you have more exp.
 
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