If you are looking for a lizard as a pet, the Leopard Gecko might be ideal for you. It takes up little space, has simple food requirements, and comes in designer colors & patterns. The babies are excitable, but the adults become very tame...even taking food from your fingers. With a maximum adult size of 7-10 inches, the leopard gecko is easily handled, but remember... their tails can break off (and be regrown) so make sure you never grab them by their tails. Leopard Geckos have been reported to live as long as 27 years in captivity with a proper nutritional foundation, especially during the first year of their life.

Natural Habitat
Leopard Geckos originate from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northern India. They are nocturnal (mostly active at night), and are rather secretive, living in burrows under stones and in holes underground. Compared to the hot dry rocky desert above, these burrows are rather cool and damp. Leopard Geckos simply are not found above ground unless the weather conditions permit which is usually at night... especially following rains or at the very least... periods of increased humidity.

Housing
There are a couple of ways to successfully house Leopard Geckos. A ten gallon aquarium will comfortably house a pair of adult Leopard Geckos. Of course they would appreciate a larger cage, so you may want to consider a 20 gallon long, especially if you may want to expand your collection, or are considering breeding. Even though the Leopard Geckos can not climb smooth surfaces, a screen top will help keep other household pets out, or possibly keep things from falling into the enclosure. It is always best to err on the side of caution. A screen top will also prevent crickets from escaping the aquarium by climbing the strips of silicone in the corners.

The other way to house Leopard Geckos is in a rack system. This type of system is what most of the professional breeders use. A rack system utilizes inexpensive plastic containers manufactured by Rubbermaid or Sterelite. These are lightweight, stack neatly and are easy to clean and sterilize. Many sizes are available, and the most common ones used measure about 16" x 24" and approx 6" tall. This size can maintain from one to five geckos successfully. These plastic containers slide into a lidless ‘rack system’ whereas a solid sheet of melamine acts as the lid (and also as the shelf supporting the box above). The melamine is quite smooth and this prevents noses from getting rubbed raw by active geckos. While this type of ‘lid’ prevents escapes, it does little to provide ventilation, therefore it is best to melt small holes in the ends of the container to provide a little airflow. An inexpensive soldering iron is perfect for the job. Avoid drilling the holes because this can create sharp edges on which the geckos can cut their noses. For the same reason, try to place the holes high on the sides of the box.

Never have more than one male gecko per cage. Adult males of all types of lizards will fight each other, 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.

Multiple females can be housed together (if approximately the same size), as well as a single male with multiple females, without any problems. However you may not want to introduce them until they are of a safe breeding size (approx 45 grams for both males & females). If you purchase a male and female, and intend for them to live together in the future, you may want to consider raising them to their adult size in separate enclosures. Males grow faster and get larger than the females, and a drastic size difference can develop. The larger animal is better able to compete for food and will possibly steal it away from the smaller animal. Males also become sexually mature at a smaller size than females, and will breed females as soon as they are able to reproduce. This may not be in the best interest of the female's overall health. Also keep in mind that if you are raising multiple females together in one cage that sometimes one female grows faster than the others, and can out compete smaller cage mates at feeding time. If a drastic size difference does develop you should separate the largest animal from the smaller ones. You can keep a male with 1 to 10 females all their life. Cage size is the only limiting factor.

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 hind legs 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.

Substrate
There are different substrates available on the market today. Some substrates (like sand) can cause impaction when eaten. Leopard Geckos sometimes ingest the particles of substrate to use as grit. It is said they do this to help grind up the exoskeleton of the insects they eat. Hatchlings and young Geckos should be kept on paper towels. Once they are big enough, around 6 inches in length, they can be moved on to something else. Many breeders will use either plain paper towels, floor tile, newspapers, or just the plastic or glass bottom of the enclosure. If using something else, use caution, but why risk impaction and the health of your leo?

Hide Boxes
Leopard Geckos are nocturnal, and in the wild they remain hidden under rocks or other debris during the day. For these reasons, they appreciate some sort of shelter to hide in during the day. If you're using an all glass vivarium covering it on 3 sides will also help to increase the feeling of security of your gecko.

The hide can consist of may things: paper towel roll, small cardboard boxes, small plastic cottage cheese or margarine containers. Each of these shelters should have a hole cut on the side large enough for the gecko to enter. It is good to have several shelters in your cage, one on the warm side, one on the cool side. There are a lot of choices available if you want to get a fancier shelter for your gecko. Many different shelters are available at your local pet store or reptile show including ceramic caves, half rounds of wood, or you can fashion your own hiding place out of loose rocks attached together with silicone caulk (used for constructing aquariums). If you do make a rock cave with loose rocks, be very sure that it is sturdy and will not collapse and crush your gecko.

Some professional breeders utilize very lightweight plastic plant trays as hides. These are available at nursery stores and are very inexpensive. You can melt holes (or drill... but be sure there are no sharp edges) in all four sides (mostly so you don't have to worry about which way it's placed in the cage) allowing easy access for the geckos. During feeding time, a nose can often be seen grabbing crickets at each opening.

These trays are easy to clean and so light in weight that they will not damage a gecko if dropped accidentally. They measure about 13" square and 3" in height. Male Leopard Geckos love to sit on top of them - a vantage point for spotting rival males I suppose. Having all that extra surface area on top of the box adds about 50% more useable cage space for the geckos - a real plus.

The large size of this type hide has another important function. It is large enough to provide a thermal gradient within it. Leopard Geckos need to feel secure and will often stay in a hide box, even if the temperature within is uncomfortable. Giving them large hide areas allows them to choose both security and temperatures which are to their liking.

Utilizing this type of large hide has another advantage as well. You must provide your gecko with a humid hide for shedding and egg laying and by utilizing the plant trays as hides, you can cut a hole in the center to accept a standard 16oz deli cup. A hole large enough to permit access by the geckos is cut in the lid of the deli cup. The cups can be filled with either lightly dampened sphagnum moss or dampened bed-a-beast. By following this method you minimize the amount of floor space being taken up, and it also keeps the geckos from pushing the moist hide all over the cage.

Cage Maintenance
Leopard Geckos only require minimal routine cage maintenance. They are fairly clean and usually poop in only one corner of the cage. The cage should be cleaned at least once a week or twice a week if there are several geckos in the enclosure. Sterilization of the entire cage is not required each week, but should be done at least every two months. This can be accomplished by either using 1 part bleach to 9 parts water or by purchasing some Nolvasan (diluted to robin’s egg blue). You should be able to order Nolvasan thru some of the larger online reptile supplies stores. Currently www.proexotics.com sells Nolvasan.

Heating & Temperature
Heating and temperature are very important to the health of your Leopard Geckos. Leopard Geckos need an external heat source to thermo-regulate, as they do not produce their own body heat internally. All reptiles require a temperature gradient that will allow them to select the temperature that best suits their needs at that moment. Sometimes your Leopard Geckos will want to heat up, other times they will want to be cooler.

The best way to heat your gecko enclosure is with an under-the-tank heater (UTH). The UTH should be placed all the way on one side of the tank, creating the thermal gradient that is required. Currently there are a couple choices that are commonly used ... Flexwatt and Reptile UTH mats. Hot rocks or heat stones should be avoided for the safety of your pet.

With the Reptile UTH mats you can peel the back off of the UTH heat mat and stick it directly onto the aquarium, but once you stick it to the tank it cannot be removed (if the tank breaks in the future or you decide to use it on a different cage).

Heat tape (Flexwatt) is another alternative and it works equally well for heating Leopard Geckos enclosures. Flexwatt uses less energy to heat your enclosure compared to the Reptile UTH mats, however it is a DIY product. You will have to attach a power cord to the flexwatt which is easy to do with the appropriate connectors. Flexwatt come in several different widths and perfect for using in a ‘rack system’ because you can customize the length.

Which ever heat source you choose... you should connect it to either a thermostat or a rheostat in order to control the amount of heat provided. Most of these heat sources get way too hot for geckos.

You should have a thermometer available to check the temperature gradient of the enclosure. I do not recommend you purchase the fancy reptile thermometer that sticks to the side of the tank, as these will only give you the temperature of the air inside the tank. Instead I suggest an Infrared Temperature Gun which reads surface temp... not air temp. These devices have become very inexpensive, and are much more accurate than a stick-on thermometer glued twelve inches off the floor of the cage. After all, you need to be concerned about the temperature of the geckos, not the air temperature above them. During summer months, provide a gradient from approximately 80-85F at the cool end to approximately 90-95F at the warm end, and during winter months allow this to drop about five degrees. These temps are taken at the surface, using an infrared temperature gun.

Lighting
Leopard Geckos are typically not active during the day and therefore do not require any special lighting or any UV bulbs. They prefer to remain in a dark hiding place during the day, and bright lights constantly shining in their eyes can stress them out to the point to where they may stop eating and eventually die. If you want to observe your geckos at night, I suggest one of the Red bulbs because red light is invisible to reptiles.

Shedding
Leopard Geckos, like all reptiles, shed their skin. The frequency of shedding varies, depending on the age and growth rate of the gecko. Babies will shed much more often than adults, due to the increased growth rate. You will know when your gecko is preparing to shed because its colors will get duller, and then it will turn whitish immediately before the shed. After it sheds, the colors will be much brighter. If everything goes well your Leopard Geckos will shed and consume its skin with a minimum of difficulties. Leopard Geckos eat their own shed skin in order to harvest some of the vitamins and minerals from it.

The best way to assure proper shedding is to offer a humid hide. This is a shelter or a deli cup with a hole cut in the side for an entrance. Fill with a small layer of moist peat moss, sphagnum moss, or Bed-a-Beast, and keep an inexpensive spray bottle filled with water to keep the bedding moist. Your geckos will normally lay in the humid hide during the day, as the humidity helps soften the skin for shedding. If your geckos are reluctant to use the humid hide, and appears to be having problems shedding you can mist the enclosure with water.

After the gecko has shed it's skin it is important to check that the skin has been totally removed. Places that you should pay close attention to are the toes and tip of the tail. If dead skin is still located in these areas a gently misting or raising the humidity in the hide may help the skin shed.

If the gecko is still struggling to shed its skin then you need to lend a helping hand. Place the gecko in a small plastic container with a lid, and create a bath of lukewarm water or shed-ease about ½ an inch deep (the gecko SHOULD NOT be swimming), and let the gecko soak in it for 20-30 minutes. High humidity will develop in the container and this should loosen the skin enough to allow you to remove it easily with a moist cotton bud. If the skin has not loosened enough for it to be removed easily, repeat the soaking process for another 30 mins.

If dead skin is not removed promptly from a toe it will become constricted, and as the lizard grows the toe will become constricted to the point where the dead skin can cut off blood flow to the toe. If this is not caught in time the toe can die and fall off. This is not a big problem, as it usually heals quickly, but I think they are probably happier with all their toes!

Water
Leopard Geckos come from a dry environment, but require some humidity and water. Water should be available at all times. Any type of dish will work, although it should not be too tall - a maximum of twice the height of the geckos is a good rule. You can use anything from the standard ‘crock style’ water bowls to bottle tops from a 1 liter soda. I would recommend placing the water dish on the cool side of the cage otherwise the water will evaporate too quickly. Clean your water bowls completely every other day, or sooner if soiled. In spite of rumors to the contrary, de-chlorinated water is not a requirement. Some professional breeders have been using plain old tap water for nearly thirty years now. In fact, the chlorine will prevent rapid bacteria build-up within the bowls - a definite plus (this is why the water department puts the stuff in there in the first place).

Diet
Believe it or not, one of the most dangerous items in your gecko cage is the food! Hungry crickets can be extremely aggressive, often turning the tables on your beloved pets and making them into food! That's right, hungry crickets will eat a Leopard Gecko. OK, not the whole gecko, but they will sure nibble on the soft parts, like the eyes. Just drop a couple of kibbles of dog or cat food in the cage for the crickets to gnaw on if they get hungry. Take them out immediately if they get wet or they will get moldy.

In the wild, Leopard Geckos will catch and consume nearly anything small enough they can overpower. This includes a wide variety of insects and arthropods, nestling rodents and even hatchling Leopard Geckos! Needless to say, such a varied diet would be impossible to duplicate in captivity... let alone the distasteful idea of feeding baby Leopard Geckos to your adults!

Consuming a variety of prey items provides a variety of nutrients and minerals which we must try to match for our captive geckos. The biggest problem you will face is that dried up and malnourished pet store crickets & mealworms are essentially useless. A dehydrated and unfed cricket contains almost no nutrients at all, refrigerated mealworms are even worse. A lot of the variety in nutrients found in wild insects is actually in the stomach content - usually plant material. Once again, we need to duplicate this to provide the best for our geckos!

To combat this problem... Enter the catch phrase ‘gut-loading’. This is where you feed your prey insects a wide variety of food items so they have some nutritional value when you feed them to your geckos.

While this subject is far too large to be covered completely here, a partial list (mostly fresh vegetables & fruit) of items that can be fed to crickets is: dry dog food, chick starter mash, oatmeal, bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, carrots, green beans, squash, zucchini, kale, spinach, and just about anything else you can think of. Usually provide the dog food and/or chick starter mash, along with kale at all times, rotating the other food times through in succession. Again, the key is variety. What you are trying to do is offer your geckos crickets with guts 'loaded' with fresh foodstuffs. Don't offer more crickets than the geckos will consume within a few hours, so you know the crickets will still be full of the good stuff when eaten.

Mealworms present a greater challenge. While refrigeration is fine for temporary storage of these beetle larva, they need to be warmed to room temperature to start to feed. It is recommended that you keep them in plastic storage trays at room temperature with fresh foodstuffs for at least two days before feeding them to your lizards.

As you may have guessed... Leopard Geckos are insect eaters. So lets discuss the different types of insects you can feed to your new pet. It is important to select the proper prey size for your gecko. Smaller geckos need to be fed smaller prey items than larger geckos. The general rule of thumb for selecting the proper size is the prey item should be no longer than the length of the gecko’s head. For hatchling geckos this usually means 3/8- inch crickets (cricket age 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks old), for juvenile geckos ½- inch crickets (3 weeks old), and sub-adult geckos can handle smaller adult crickets (male crickets are generally smaller) by the time they are 6 inches long. Note: cricket size varies by sex, but it can also vary greatly depending on your cricket supplier. Also keep in mind that since Leopard Geckos are nocturnal, it is best to feed after dusk since this is when they will normally be hunting food.


Crickets are a good staple diet for your Leopard Geckos if ‘gut loaded’ first (preferably 24hrs in advance). Crickets are active and thus appear to stimulate geckos more than mealworms. Crickets are also nutritionally superior to mealworms, containing more moisture, protein, calcium, and vitamins than mealworms.

Crickets are known to nibble on geckos, therefore the number of crickets in the cage at one time should be limited. To prevent this you should only feed as many crickets as your gecko can eat in 10-15 minutes. Also it is not advisable to leave crickets in the enclosure overnight without something to eat like a small amount of grated apple or carrot.


Some have said that Leopard Geckos can be maintained solely on a diet of mealworms... sadly this is not the case. The simple truth is that mealworms have an incredibly bad balance ratio of calcium to phosphorus. Providing an excessive amount of phosphorous in the diet can cause severe problems with calcium absorption. The exoskeleton of mealworms is also more difficult to break down than that of crickets.

While many keepers will dust the mealworms with calcium supplement in an effort to offset this, the reality is that mealworms are very smooth and little of it sticks. The best you can hope for is to put the mealworms in a small dish along with the calcium supplement and hope the geckos lick up some supplement at the same time they get the mealworm.

Some pro breeders only feed mealworms as a backup food source (as they are not recommended as a primary diet source), should they have trouble acquiring crickets.


Superworms are very similar to mealworms. They are however a different species that just get larger in size.


Wax worms are very high in fat, and are very useful to help a skinny or sick gecko gain weight. They can also be fed as part of the normal diet, but should only be used as an occasional treat rather than a mainstay of the diet as they can prove addictive.


To help vary the diet locusts of the appropriate size can offer a high protein package. It is usually only the high cost, which prevents locusts from being considered as a staple dietary item.


Silkworms are sometimes difficult to get hold of, but if you can they are a very good source of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Only purchase enough to last you one to two weeks as they have a short shelf life.


Many adult Leopard Geckos will also eat live pinkies. These are one or two day old baby mice. Most professional breeders offer these to their breeding females no more than once a week. If you will dust them in a calcium/D3 powder it will give the females a large calcium boost. It is important to offer calcium/D3 powder to breeding females daily, for egg production uses much of the calcium that is stored in the females tail.


Roaches make both great feeders and interesting low maintenance pets. There are several different species of roaches that you can feed to your geckos. Even some of the larger species like the Madagascan Giant Hissing Cockroach can be fed.... as long as you feed them the babies. There is no way a Leopard Geckos can take a Giant Hisser (adults average almost 3 inches in length). Most all roach babies are about the size of a ladybug, so you will easily have the appropriate size feeder available for your baby geckos and your adult geckos.

If you plan on breeding your own feeder insects... Roaches have a lot of advantages. Roaches are more nutritious than crickets or mealworms, and have a higher meat to shell ratio vs. crickets or mealworms making them easier to digest. Unlike crickets, roaches are quiet and they wont drive you nuts with their constant chirping. Roaches don’t jump all over the place making them easier to contain. And the Number One advantage roaches have over crickets.... Roaches don’t smell like crickets do, and don’t need their cages cleaned as often.

The roaches that I am referring to are NOT the pest species of house roaches seen running for cover when the lights go on. These roaches are from Tropical, warm faraway places and can not reproduce without additional heat. Most like it around 90* to produce young and the majority of us don’t keep our houses that warm.

The best options for roaches as feeder insects are the Guyana Orange Spotted Roaches (Blaptica dubia), Turkistan Roaches (Blatta lateralis), and Discoid Roaches (Blaberus discoidales). The Discoid’s are the largest species mentioned and will reach an adult size of around 2 inches long. All three species can be kept in plastic Rubbermaid containers due to the fact they can NOT climb smooth plastic. You will probably want to avoid Lobster Roaches (Nauphoeta cinerea) because they CAN climb plastic and there is a great chance they will escape into the house.

The hardest part about keeping and breeding roaches as a prey source is getting over the....

"Ewww! It’s a roach! Syndrome".

Vitamins & Supplement
The diet and dietary supplements of your Leopard Geckos are very important in order to maintain their health. It is essential that calcium be available at all times because geckos can often be seen lapping it up. Vitamins should also be given but no more than once a week as adults or twice a week as youngsters as more often than this equally can lead to health problems, i.e. more vitamins does not mean healthier geckos!

'Dusting' refers to the process of coating food items with various vitamin or mineral powders before offering them to your geckos. The typical method of administering these vitamins to your geckos is the “shake and bake” method. Put a small amount of the vitamin supplement in a jar, plastic bag, or other small container, place the crickets in the container, and shake until the crickets are covered with white powder. This should be done immediately before you feed your geckos because the crickets will clean themselves and remove the powder.

While an important part of the feeding process, it is NOT a substitute for providing your feeders with good nutrition as described above. Coating a dried up pet store cricket with vitamin powder and expecting your geckos to thrive on it is foolish. Would you expect to live a long and happy life on a diet of toast and Centrum tablets?

However, dusting should still be a key component in your feeding strategy. Correct use of vitamin and especially calcium supplements can go a long way to providing your geckos a balanced diet.

Along with providing the geckos a nutritious ‘gut-loaded’ insect, you should dust your food items with a vitamin powder once per week, and also with a calcium powder once per week. During breeding season, increase the calcium dusting to twice per week for breeding adults and hatchlings. Non-breeding adult geckos do not require as much calcium, so supplementation twice a week is sufficient. Egg-laying females require a lot of calcium; so all prey items should be dusted with calcium powder.

Health and Disease
Leopard Geckos being quite hardy and very tolerant with their environmental requirements makes it unlikely that you will have any health related problems with them at all. They will not often suffer from the diseases and ailments list below, they are included here only to make you aware of some of the medical problems that can occur in rare situations.


You should quarantine every new reptile for at least 3 months to prevent the spread of disease and parasites between your animals. Once you are completely satisfied that your reptile is healthy should you introduce it to your other animals.


MDB is caused when a Leopard Gecko's diet does not contain enough calcium. In order for the leo to attain higher levels of usable calcium the leo's body then begins to extract calcium from its own bones. Symptoms associated with this include lethargy, painful swollen joints, unusual curvature of the legs, soft jaws and an overall weakness in the animal. With Leopard Geckos being somewhat more resistant to complications regarding low calcium levels and this being one of the most easily preventable diseases that can occur you should almost never see this problem. To prevent MBD, all you need to be aware of is that you need to add calcium supplements to the live food you are providing to your geckos, be they meal worms or crickets etc


Gecko's will drop their tails if they are threatened or grabbed by the tail. Cage mates have been known to accidentally grab the tail of another, which has caused the tail to drop. If this happens you should remove the gecko as soon as possible, keep them warm, fed and watered regularly as they use their tails as fat reserves and are more vulnerable to stress at this time. The tail will grow back but it will not look the same as the old one. It will be shorter and fatter than the original.


With Leopard Geckos, respiratory infections can be caused by prolonged exposure to temperatures less than 73 Degrees Fahrenheit or humidity levels that are too high. Low temperature causes a suppressed immune system, which allows respiratory infections to take hold. Symptoms are usually not easy to identify and may just be the signs that your leo is in a distressed state and seems to be panting and leaving the mouth slightly open most of the time. Mild cases can easily be cured by making the temperature in the enclosure slightly higher, a day time temperature of around 84-90 degrees Fahrenheit with a night time temp drop to no less than 80 degrees. If symptoms persist it is recommended that you seek expert advice from your local veterinary surgeon.