Need advice with leopard gecko

MissSkittles

Chameleon Enthusiast
Nine days ago I picked up a pair of leopard geckos off craigslist. I was told both are male and they have been kept in the same tank for who knows how long. I looked and found one is female, the other male and separated them. They look to be adults. He weighs 58 gm and she weighs 53 gm.The first night they both ate several feeders. Since then, only the female is eating and she is quite enthusiastic about it. The male has only taken a total of 3 lg bsfl and 1 med roach...only taking one of them per feeding day and has really no interest in food. I’ve tried bsfl, roaches, crickets and super worms...all no go. I know they go thru periods of not eating, but at what point should I be concerned? They were kept on sand before and I thought impaction, but he’s had several small but healthy looking poos. White urate so he’s drinking. Tanks are 20 gal long, paper towel substrate, 2 hides - 1 cool and 1 warm to high 80’s, moist moss inside warm hide, fresh water daily, cup of calcium no d, no lights but do have dim nightlights for them. Have Repashy super cal but haven’t yet dusted his feeders...the girl had a yuck reaction so don’t want that to further deter him from eating. He stays on the warm side of the tank all the time. Any advice?
 
Why no lights?
Why separated?
Being nocturnal, they spend all day in their hides so they don’t need basking lights and uvb. At least that is what all of the information I’ve scoured the web says. Is this incorrect? They are in the same room as my chams so it gets pretty bright in there during the day. The nightlights I put are to try to give the same degree of light as moonlight and are right next to their glass.
Separated as I don’t want babies. The girl may already be impregnated and I can handle that, but have no resources to home any more babies than one clutch.
 
Good reason for the separation!

I've kept Leo's for years and I use weak UVB lights on their cages all the time. Just because they stay in their hides most of the day IMHO shouldn't mean that there shouldn't be light. The last pair I had lived for over 20 years.

To maintain a healthy internal clock, leopard geckos require a balanced day (light) and night (darkness) even though they may not be sitting out in the us all day.

You might find his interesting...UVB...geckos skin...scan down...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/skintests.htm
 
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Good reason for the separation!

I've kept Leo's for years and I use weak UVB lights on their cages all the time. Just because they stay in their hides most of the day IMHO shouldn't mean that there shouldn't be light. The last pair I had lived for over 20 years with me.

You might find his interesting...UVB...geckos skin...scan down...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/skintests.htm
Any recommendations on what type/strength uvb to provide for a 20 gal long tank with screen cover?
Any ideas or input about his hunger strike? He’s alert...maybe not as active as the lady as he isn’t racing for the feeders like she does. At what point should I worry?
 
I used to use UVB bulbs that I had used on my chameleon cages for some time but that weren't to the point of needing to be replaced....figured they were good for,the geckos and gave me an "excuse" to replace the chameleons' UVB lights.

How are you heating the cages? How cool is it in the cool area?
 
I used to use UVB bulbs that I had used on my chameleon cages for some time but that weren't to the point of needing to be replaced....figured they were good for,the geckos and gave me an "excuse" to replace the chameleons' UVB lights.

How are you heating the cages? How cool is it in the cool area?
I ‘ve got heat mats set to thermostats set to 89* but they are reaching only 87-88*. Checked with heat gun. Cool side is 77*...same as ambient room temp. It was cooler but I closed the ac vent a couple of days ago as it was 73 in there. Heat mats cover about 1/3 of each tank.
I have a one month old T5HO with 5% bulb that is only 14” long. Not using it for anything...was for small cham enclosure.
 
I always kept a 75w basking bulb on my leopards warm side just to keep things as natural as possible and I've seen them bask on top of their warm side hide i feel it helps with shedding also.
 
Cool side always had moist mossy hide that they loved. As far as uv I just used the zoomed basking blue bulbs. My boy lived to be 14 yrs old and he never dropped his tail.
 
When I first got them, I thought there was something wrong with the females tail...so fat it looked about to pop. A little googling and I learned she must have lost her tail before.
I’ll be hitting up Amazon next week...what in particular should I be getting for them in terms of lighting? What exactly would be a weaker uvb bulb and fixture suitable for them?
 
When I first got them, I thought there was something wrong with the females tail...so fat it looked about to pop. A little googling and I learned she must have lost her tail before.
I’ll be hitting up Amazon next week...what in particular should I be getting for them in terms of lighting? What exactly would be a weaker uvb bulb and fixture suitable for them?

Honestly you should be fine with a 75w zoomed blue bulb that's what I used in a 40 gallon long when I wasn't using a standard incandescent. But if you want to go all out you could add a t-8 or t-5 HO uvb florescent im sure it wouldn't hurt the little middle eastern geckos :) oh and I always used eco-earth mixed with sand on the dry hot side and. eco-earth and moss on the cool.
 
The bigger question is, Where's the pictures?
Great question! I’ve been horribly negligent on this aspect of proper husbandry. :confused:
The female is very squirmy and active so I haven’t taken her out unless needed. My thinking is the male needs more time to adjust to his new environment so aside from offering him food, I’ve left him alone. All I have is the pics I took when I first brought them home. Male is the spotty one. AF300B13-3A09-47B2-AFEA-F714A622BD01.jpeg 8363CB29-17B6-4143-BAE2-A29212778FB3.jpeg
 
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