Hey everyone, I know this is stupid, and not many people can relate...but I'll do a Leopard Gecko Q&A. I grew up with a male called Papa, who now lives with my sister, and hes currently 19! I have three at home currently, starting from Sunshine who I adopted 5 years ago, trinity who I got as a hatch-ling about a week ago, as well as another One who's un-named. I know quite a lot of care for them, but to be honest (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AT ALL) they can live with no heat lamp, on basic sand at room temperature. But that is abusive, and wrong, was just saying they're not that hard (Just incase anyone wants one after they see this). So ask below, and If anyone wants ill upload pictures of mine, and give habitat details. Common Q and A: What temperature do they live best at? 78-79 Degree's and mine have live perfect, especially Papa What do they eat? Mealworms, Some dont eat crickets. (Coat them in calcium powder) Can more or one live together? Same sex, well for mine at least tend to be the safest. When multiple sex's, or a dominate sex occurs, they get aggresive.
I just got a leopard gecko the other day. Look at the thread I started. Its a very young hatchling from petsmart. honestly seems way too young to be sold... I have it in coconut fiber with two hides and a heating pad under the tank. Alot of people say use paper towels for the baby leos Look at my lizard thread for a pic.
alot of people prefer using plastic turf, or paper-towels because leos have an unfortunate habit of swallowing debris and suffering from fatal impaction, they're pretty clumsy hunters, lol.. What you should do, assuming you have enough room, is provide a humidity chamber, a simple small tupperware container with a large hole on the side to allow access, placed upside down, with soaked coco fiber, it helps them molt. You'll see them hanging out inside it when they're molting, it helps them peel the shed off easier, excessive dryness during a shed will cause it to fragment, leaving pieces on their toes that can constrict and cause the loss of toes. No heating pads/rocks!! get rid of them asap!! Heating pads can cause burns on their stomachs. An IR lamp (infra-red) is a much better way to heat a tank up. It also allows you to warm up a specific side of the tank. No UV light needed, as they're nocturnal. No sand, either! (especially not calci-sand!, it's shameful how pet-stores try to get you to buy that..) Go easy on the mealworms! Mealworms are very high in fat, and a diet consisting of mostly mealworms will result in an obese lizard of any kind. Here's a little trick for leos that wont eat crickets- Grab the cricket, and pinch both jumping legs at the joint, this will cause the cricket to detach them, and they wont be able to jump or run as fast.
Reptile carpet holds in heat, along with sand you can get at Petco, but the sand can cause impaction because if you watch when they eat like the dude above said, they can miss their worm/cricket a few times. So the best option is something they can't eat so the carpet.