LEOPARD GECKO CARE SHEET
Eublepharis macularius
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: Leopard Geckos are an incredible addition to your family! With basic care requirements and often having mild to sweet temperaments, they are great introductory reptile for new owners. With proper care, your gecko will be your companion for 30-40 years. My geckos never fail to bring a smile to my face!
DIFFICULTY: Beginner
LIFE SPAN: 10-20 years. Poor genetics and husbandry may result in shorter livespans.
ACTIVITY: Leopard Geckos are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dusk and dawn. During the day, you will find your gecko napping around their enclosure. When extremely relaxed you may see them “sploot”. This refers to when they lay down with their arms and legs parallel to their body. This is a sign of comfort within their home.
You will often find your gecko beginning to explore their enclosure as the sun sets. They will bask, dig, shed, and hunt into the night. Your gecko may occasionally explore during the day, often to move to a warmer place in their enclosure.
ENCLOSURE: Leopard Geckos require a relatively simple enclosure compared to other species of reptiles, making them a great first reptile. However this is not an excuse to provide the bare minimum. While not described in this care sheet, bio-active enclosures are incredible choice for Leopard Geckos. These enclosures do require a certain level of skill and experience to properly create and maintain. If you are a beginner, you can always upgrade your husbandry after a few years of ownership!
Leopard Geckos require a heat gradient. Reptiles are ectothermic, relying on environmental heat sources and moving in and out of heat to regulate their body temperature. Without a range of temperatures within their enclosure, your reptile will be unable to function healthy. One side of the enclosure will be the dedicated warm side, with your heat source. Opposite will be the cool side. It is recommended to place their water dish and humid hide on this side to avoid desiccation. A humid hide is a dedicated area that has increased humidity. Often a hide with an opening just large enough for your gecko to easily enter and exit. Fill the hide with mosses and often mist inside. This gives your gecko a place to shed with ease.
For substrate, you may use paper towels, natural slate tiles, or a loose substrate of soil. After adopting your gecko, having a quarantine period is recommended. In this time, provide paper towels as the substrate. Have your gecko seen by an exotic vet for an overall wellness exam and have a stool sample checked for parasites. Paper towels are easy to clean and can make treatment more successful. Suggested quarantine times range from 30 days to 1 year. At minimum, I recommended your new gecko be seen by a vet and kept from other reptiles for 3 months to ensure there is no infection disease. If this is your first gecko, after a negative fecal test is acquired, meaning parasites are not present or treatment was successful, you may look into different substrates. I personally use a loose substrate of top soil and eco earth coconut fiber with slate under the basking point. These geckos do love to dig and the loose substrate provides enrichment. Never use sand, calcium sand, or walnut shells. Leopard Geckos are native to rocky semi-arid regions in South Asia. Sand may be ingested and cause impaction. Walnut shells can also cause impactions and scrape up the soft underbellies of your gecko. Avoid “reptile carpet”, fabric holds and grows bacteria. There have also been reports of geckos’ nails becoming stuck within the material and causing stress.
Leopard Geckos require at minimum three hides. A hide below the basking point, the top serving as an elevated basking point. Leopard Geckos digest by warming their abdomen. Your warm hide should conduct heat to replicate the natural warming of rocks under the sun. Pick a material that can withstand heat, avoiding plastics and cloth. A hide for humidity may be situated near the middle. For information on creating a humid hide, click the button below. Lastly a hide is needed within the cool aspect of the enclosure.
Hides from most major reptile brands are suitable. Avoid hallowed out decor, typically used within aquariums. Geckos will often explore a little too much and become stuck within the hollowed inside of the decor. Removing them from the decor often involves breaking the piece with the gecko inside which can result in injury. 3D printed hides have become more popular in recent years. They tend to have unique designs and colors. These are great choices but I would selected a rock, ceramic, or concrete hide for under the basking spot.
Fresh water must always be available in a small dish on the cool side.
Hides and a small water dish are necessities, but more leads to a better and healthier life! Think of your own bedroom. All you truly need is a bed and place to put your clothes. However, adding more makes it more enjoyable and livable! Hammocks, leafy vines, drift wood, live or false plants, and dig bins are great additions. I highly suggest low hanging hammocks as my geckos have greatly enjoyed the addition to their enclosures.
SIZE OF ENCLOSURE: A front opening glass enclosure that is 24 X 18 X 12 ” or a 20 gallon long glass aquarium are suitable juvenile sizes. A 36 X 18 X 18 ” or 40 Gallon breeder glass aquarium are perfect homes for adult Leopard Geckos. As care standards continue to evolve, larger enclosures are recommended. Transitioning Geckos to a larger space can sometimes result in elevated stress leading to hunger strikes. Provided ample foliage and hides will help your gecko adjust.
HUMIDITY: 30-40% (Average overal humidity, humidity should stay above 80% within the humid hide)
TEMPERATURE GRADIENT: Leopard Geckos require a heat gradient. Reptiles are ectothermic, relying on environmental heat sources and moving in and out of heat to regulate their body temperature. Without a range of temperatures within their enclosure, your reptile will be unable to function healthy. One side of the enclosure will be the dedicated warm side, with your heat source. Opposite will be the cool side.
A surface basking temperature of 90-95°F is ideal. Overhead heating from a basking bulb is recommended. While under tank heating from a heating pad may create the proper heat gradient, your gecko can easily burn themselves. To avoid injury, using overhead heating products like ceramic heat emitters and basking bulbs is ideal.
Monitoring the temperature of your basking spot is important. If temperatures are outside of your reptiles preferred optimal temperature zone (POTZ) – a range of temperatures where your reptile can perform all necessary physiological and metabolic functions, discomfort and illness will occur. Too high of temperatures result in chronic dehydration which leads to kidney disease and gout. Too low of temperatures results commonly in respiratory illnesses. A thermometer probe should be placed at the basking point. A hygrometer to measure humidity near your humid hide is ideal. Linked below is a recommended style of thermometer & hygrometer.
Temperatures should gradually reach an ambient 70-75°F on the cool side. An infrared temperature gun may be used to check the gradient.
LIGHTING: UVB lighting is essential to the wellbeing of certain captive reptiles and amphibians. However, the quantity of which each species requires is still actively being researched. Exposure to UVB allows for the synthesis of vitamin D3 within their skin. An essential micronutrient needed to metabolize calcium for healthy bone development, muscle function, immune function, and overall growth. UVB lighting is sold based on intensity or output of UVB. Commonly sold in 10%, 5%, and 2% UVB output. It may also be marketed as 10.0, 5.0, and 2.0 bulbs. 10% UVB caters towards desert animals and 2% for shade dwellers. UVB lights are sold in three different variations, T5, T8, and compact. Compact UVB is never recommended as it only provides UVB to one specific area of the enclosure. Therefore it poorly mimics natural environments, often leading to the animal not properly metabolizing calcium. Linear T5 or T8 bulbs are best. T5 High Output bulbs are more efficient and can penetrate through mesh screens better than the older T8 models. UVB bulbs should extend across most, or ideally the entire distance of the enclosure. Distance from where the animal resides is an important factor of what intensity bulb the species may require, as UVB intensity decreases by distance from the bulb. All UVB bulbs must be replaced every 6 months as the amount of UVB produced is no longer sufficient at the 6 month mark. Trusted brands include Arcadia, ZooMed, and ExoTerra.
Leopard Geckos require moderate UVB exposure. As a crepuscular species, research has found 1 hour of UVB exposure at dawn and 1 hour at dusk created ideal levels of vitamin D within the body. A 5% UVB linear bulb placed 5-10 inches from where the animals reside is best. It is important to provide ample plants or structures to create the natural dappling of light the geckos would experience in their natural habitat and a place in which they can fully retreat from UVB exposure.
Continue reading to the “supplement” section for more important information on calcium and vitamin D3.
Visible light should be set on a 12 hour timed light cycle. 12-13 hour light cycles mimic summer conditions and can prevent brumation. Shorter light cycles of 8-10 hours mimic winter months which can result in symptoms like hunger strikes. It is important to note that UVB is not full spectrum and will not provide proper lighting for plant growth. A grow light may be needed if live plants are a part of your enclosure.
FEEDING: Leopard Geckos are strict insectivorous, meaning they only eat insects! Crickets and/or Dubia Roaches should be their staple diet. For a young Leopard Gecko, under a year old, feed daily. About 2 crickets/roaches per inch of your gecko from head to tail. For adults, feed every other day. I personally feed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Feed 3 crickets/roaches per inch. Remember a diverse diet leads to a happy and healthy gecko! Horn worms, meal worms, wax worms, and other bugs serve as great treats to incorporate in their meals. Check the chart below for snack instructions.
SNACKS:
- Horn Worms: Wonderful way to hydrate your gecko. These large green worms are full of good nutrients and are fun for your gecko to eat. Beware though that they are very fatty! I would feed only 3-4 Horn Worms a month. (Tip! Only get 3 or 4 at a time because they grow insanely fast!)
- Wax Worms: These worms are a great way to fatten up a rescue gecko. However, they are addicting, literally! Just like little kids who want chips for dinner, your gecko will only want these tasty treats if you give them too often. I personally suggest only using these to fatten malnourished geckos and using horn worms as a treat for healthy geckos.
- Meal Worms & Super Worms: Why are meal worms not apart of their staple diet? Unlike what most pet stores say, meal worms are actually very difficult for geckos to digest! Their shell is made of chitin which can cause impactions if given in large amounts. I would only give 1-2 worms a month as a crunchy treat.
- Black Soldier Larvae: These bugs are relatively new to the reptile world. Studies so far state that they are a great source of calcium. Giving a few of these larvae here and there can be very beneficial to them!
SUPPLEMENTS: Dusting your feeders with calcium with D3 greatly improves your gecko’s health and is needed. Calcium with D3 is required if you do not provide UVB. Only give calcium if you do provide UVB. Their body used UVB light to produce D3 and they can overdose if given it supplementary too!
A multivitamin should be given in conjunction with calcium. I personally use Repashy Calcium Plus. Dust all of your gecko’s meals with calcium and at least once a weekly, use your multivitamin.
Do I need a calcium bowl? Depends on the gecko! I highly suggest leaving a small dish full of powder in your gecko’s enclosure. Geckos who need more calcium will eat it straight from the dish. However, this easy access may lead to something called “armpit bubbles”. Under the front arms of your gecko, they begin storing the extra nutrients in large bubbles. In the wild, they use this to store nutrients that may become unavailable. However, in captivity they can become overweight. Whether your gecko should have a dish or not should be discussed with your exotic vet.
HOW TO SEX: Male Leopard geckos have a line of femoral pores cranial to their vent. Caudal to their vent, hemipenal bulges are present. Females do not have pores or hemipenal bulges.
SIZE: Depending on your gecko’s morph, size varies. The average size of an adult ranges from 7-9 inches (17-23 cm). Males tend to be larger than females.
GECKO TAILS: Leopard Geckos can in fact lose their tails and they have the ability to grow back. However certain conditions like poor husbandry may lead the tail to grow incorrectly or smaller. You do NOT want your gecko to drop its tail. The ability to disconnect their tail is used when they believe prey is about to consume them. The tail drops in hopes that the animal trying to eat them will go for the detached twitching tail and not them. If your gecko drops their tail, they are in unfit, stressful conditions that needs immediate change.
After the tail has dropped, the open site is prone to infection. I recommend visiting an exotic vet to ensure the wound is clean. Most tails grow back deformed and your gecko may have a lack of movement in the tail.
What does a healthy tail look like? Chunky! Fat tails mean a healthy gecko! You may notice that most pet store geckos have thin tails. Bad genetics, poor enclosures, and diets lead to thin tails. While your gecko’s tail may not be as huge as others, because it can be genetic, you still want the gecko to be “large” for the body type!
I AM NEW TO REPTILES, ARE THEY GOOD FOR BEGINNERS?
Yes! Leopard Geckos are my number one suggestion for new reptile owners. With simple care and enclosure maintenance, they are great for someone who has never done care like this before. Please remember though that they are living beings and exotic animals who require an exotic vet and checkups just like a dog or cat!
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References:
https://www.reptifiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Geckos-and-UVB-paper.pdf