I joined the leopard gecko club

On a whim, I ended up buying a leopard gecko yesterday. I have her all set up in her cage... at least I think that it's a girl. If I post pictures, would anyone be able to help me figure it out? I named her Foxy Cleopatra, so I need to change that if it is a guy.

Anyway, is there anything special that I should know about them? I've been doing research since I brought her home, so I'm pretty well off on the basics.

CaptainMorgantown said:

On a whim, I ended up buying a leopard gecko yesterday. I have her all set up in her cage... at least I think that it's a girl. If I post pictures, would anyone be able to help me figure it out? I named her Foxy Cleopatra, so I need to change that if it is a guy.

Anyway, is there anything special that I should know about them? I've been doing research since I brought her home, so I'm pretty well off on the basics.

Click to expand...

Tell me about your set up and post a pic of her/his vent and in between the legs males will have pores and females will not.

For my setup, I had several conflicting suggestions for substrate. I bought the reptile carpet thinking that it would be fine, but my friend that has a few leos of her own said that as babies, sometimes their teeth can get stuck in the carpet. I ended up buying the calcium sand, and that is what is in there right now. The tank itself is a ten gallon with a screen top. I have a 60 watt light in there now, and according to the thermometer, it is 80 degrees on the hotter side of the tank. On the cooler side, it is about 70-75. I have a small water dish in there, and I am planning on getting a small food dish for when I feed her worms. I also have one of those half a log things for her to hide under, and I am going to her one of those rocks that she can crawl up into for total darkness. The only thing that I am worried about right now is the substrate. It won't be a big deal to dump the sand out, so I will go with whatever you think is best. I will put some pictures of the vent on here as soon as I can.

Don't use sand it will be real bad news for a baby and the same as adults the way they strike there food is from above going down so they will eat sand evertime the repti carpet is fine and I have never seen a issue with that and I use to breed around a 100 + Leo morphs. I do not recommend a light they are not daytime animals or nocturnal like most people think they are active at dawn and dusk that is there times for most of there activity. Use a heat pad for belly heat that is what they need not above heat set it for 85 to 90 degrees on there heat pad / hot spot. Make sure it is on just one side of there cage so they can get away from it. Of coarse a worm/food bowl and water bowl is needed you will need 2 hides a dry hide like the half log you have in there and another moist hide something you can keep a damp paper towel in and check it everday to make sure it stays wet. They will stay in the damp hide most of the time and they stay in it for days when they need to shed and it really helps get another small bowl and put calcium in it they like to go and lick up calcium from time to time...... Check out Ron tremper on the internet he has a great care sheet. Hope this helps

This helped out very much. I will get the sand out of there tomorrow. I have never used a heating pad before. Will it mess up my table the tank is sitting on? I have the Repashy Leopard Gecko calcium powder. Is that good to put in the bowl? Should I dust the crickets if I just put the calcium in there? Will a small container be okay for the wet paper towel?

And thanks so much! I'm really glad that I decided to ask for more advice

I will have pictures of the vent and everything on here tomorrow evening. My camera is dead and is currently charging.

Yes a small container with a wet paper towel will work just fine. The repashy is good for dusting the feeders you need just plain calcium for the bowl get rep cal brand. And I am glad I was of some help I will be looking for pics tomorrow

O and on the heat pad no it will not hurt your table the zoo med brand comes with little plastic feet you put on there to raise it off the table and the other side is super sticky and sticks right to the bottem of the tank. The 10 gal. Tank is a perfect size for one Leo

Here ya go. Sorry it took so long. I wasn't able to get that many pictures. There is something wrong with my camera, so I had to take these with my cell phone. I hope that they are good enough

It's either a girl or to young to tell. Also a tip. Watch for shed build up on there toes. I got my male around 3 years old from a crap store and he only has a couple toes left. If shed gets stuck on there toes let them dance in a shallow (inch or less) pool of room temp water for a few minutes and gently rub it off. The shed build up cuts off circulation and there toes can fall off. I haven't seen infection from t but still un handy. snd i use slate tile for my substrate since its cheap and easy to clean and better replicates the rocky area of Iraq and such there from.

This is my girls set up. This was before I put the tile down. This is with carpet and i never had a problem I just find spot cleaning tile to be much easier. and with a half in. Tile i didn't need a thermostat the hot side stays right at 88-92. Glad u joined the club there lovely creatures.

Looks like you have a nice little female there

Thanks for identifying her for me. I thought that it was a girl, but I am obviously very inexperienced, so I didn't know for sure.

After looking at your setup, reptilover, mine is horrible. I definitely need to get some more stuff for my little girl to climb on. I have a frillion things like vines and stuff for frogs or chameleons to climb on, but nothing short or suited for a leo. I will be doing some online shopping like crazy the next few days.

Here are some pictures of her. Do you think you could identify her morph? I'm pretty sure she is a generic leo, but I just want to be sure.





The bottom picture is before I got the sand out. She now has brown reptile carpet in there. Also, the bowl wasn't filled to the top to where she could drown in it. I know that she looks a bit precarious up there.

She sure is gorgeous. I went to home depot and they have slate rocks for making like stepping stones.. I smashed it apart and used them to make wat u see

She is very good looking I would guess 2 months old. And her morph is a normal HET. For something maybe boldstripe very cool.

@ Texas ranger, what's my boy? Just normal? He's the one laying in sand that's a pic from when i got him.





Also that's my girl, but not my dirty hand also when I got her. My recent photos arnt here atm

Sorry for hi-jacking ur thread! Please forgive

reptilover said:

@ Texas ranger, what's my boy? Just normal? He's the one laying in sand that's a pic from when i got him.

View attachment 59148

View attachment 59149

Also that's my girl, but not my dirty hand also when I got her. My recent photos arnt here atm

Sorry for hi-jacking ur thread! Please forgive

Click to expand...

She looks like a normal yes but HET for maybe a albino just because she has a very light pattern ....... All leos now a days are HET for something it is illegal to import new blood the normal gene is expressed when you are working on a new morph... That's what there are still normale leos out there but they are all HET for some kind of morph.....

Hey so I might already have a problem. I think that my leo pooed, but it's liquid, and I think that it has sand in it. I know this is really really bad, but is there anything I could do before a vet visit, or is it off to the vet for this gal already?

(I hate Petco)

Okay, I literally just saw her poop again, and it looked like clear gel. What does this mean? I have only had her for a few days, did I do this? After she pooped, she went back to her long and started licking herself. I'm starting to get really worried.

CaptainMorgantown said:

Okay, I literally just saw her poop again, and it looked like clear gel. What does this mean? I have only had her for a few days, did I do this? After she pooped, she went back to her long and started licking herself. I'm starting to get really worried.

Click to expand...

Don't worry to much yet when leos move to new areas they have low levels of stress getting use to there new homes...... Sand it not a good thing in her poo but just make sure she has a lot of water to flush her system out they are pritty tuff ......I would not say soft or runny poo is a bad sign yet you just got her and age is steered a little give it a few weeks if it is still happening then you may want to get a fecal test done.

Being flat out honest with you. I have kept leo is calcium sand for years. I thnink the worry comes from ingesting the sand with no hydration available.

The clear gel. Could have been a slug.