New to leos (sorta) and need pre-buying help

[Allee Toler]

You can use sand. Just when your baby is older. To fill the gaps temporarily, just use like, I don't know. I use clay... I guess you can use clay to fill it in? Impaction happens more from mealworms than from sand. When you do sand, get play sand at home depot or Lowes. It's fairly cheap, and doesn't have calcium in it.

Dustin forgot to add in a food bowl. But that's pretty obvious.

 

[MellowMan24]

i was wondering what does het mean? (eg het tremper albino)

 

[Allee Toler]

"heterozygous"
–adjective Biology.
1. having dissimilar pairs of genes for any hereditary characteristic.
2. of or pertaining to a heterozygote.

aka, the babies carry the gene, and can produce the gene.

If you breed a normal to an albino. You get 100% normal het albino. Meaning if you bred them to another albino, they then can have some albino babies.

Make sense? Lol. I'm trying to explain it how I was explained it. =]

 

[MellowMan24]

yea makes sense thanks thats going to help be buy a good gecko

 

[berry]

I was wondering if I could use pebbles? They are for fish, but they aren't the really small ones. They are about 1 cm long by 1 cm wide, and about half a cm thick. He wouldn't ingest those right?It's just to fill in the gap, 1 inch on the back and left side. I can't WAIT to get the stuff, but I can wait for the lizard. I'm going on a trip for 2 and a half weeks, so I get it when I come back. Hopefully I can buy him Friday though, and pick him up later so he doesn't sell. Cute little guy! I should pick him up August 29th or 30th, the 6th at the latest. Although a weekend isn't the only possible date, as the store is near my mom's office. I', going to look at him Tomorrow most likely, check prices on shopping there, and look at him, to see age and health. If it's more expensive there I'll go to petsmart. This pet store is really good, it's been around 40 years, and it still has the original leo color of a dullish brown and gold for the babies, as well as high yellow, and MY mystery baby. Yes, I call him mine, because I want him, and I can get him. Hope I can buy him Friday and pick him up later! I forgot about the calcium dish, but will have it. And I will get a log to hide in. If I don't get the humid hide of the rock, could a hamock with moss under it make a humid hide/basking area?

 

[Allee Toler]

If you're using them to fill the gaps, just made sure you keep on top of cleaning them. Poo, dead feeders, etc, can fall down. It will also harbor more bacteria than say... a flat surface where it's cleaned more frequently.

I use many rocks in my tank. Every time after I feed them, or after they poo, I take out all the rocks, clean under them, and wash them all with dish soap in hot water, dry them off, and put them back in.

I see no reason why to not use the pebbles. As long as they're pretty big and heavy, and you clean them frequently.

They may be ingested. But what are really the chances of it? Lol. I can swallow a rock too if I tried...

You'll need a humid hide. Just take a tupperware container, put moss in it, wet the moss, and put the lid on it. And a cut a hole in the side. Lol. You can disguise it by putting fake plants around it, and putting a hammock on top.

For my hammock, I got a yellow hermit crab exercise ladder that I stuck to the glass next to it so she can climb up and down easily. It was only $3. Lol.

 

[berry]

So they could cause impaction, but it's not likely? This is a very small area! Would rocks or sand be better? I held an adult carrot tail yesterday in the store, and when I put it back, I was sad... I loved holding him (or her?), and he seemed to like me... He even tried to climb up my shirt, but I was afraid he'd fall, so I didn't let him. I finally found out the baby isn't a blizzard cross, but a regular leo, but in the darker shades versus the commonly available high yellows, typically sold as normals. Like a REAL normal. At 2 WEEKS! (Born in-store, typical there, unless bought locally) Setting up the tank in 2 days, really want to know what the best substrate for the side is! To buy: stronger uth (I have the rainforest one) or light, decor, another hut (I can make the humid hide and use silicone or something to decorate it with rocks or moss), calcium, background. Do they like to be misted?

I have set up:
light uth, water dish, tiles, temp. and humidity gouges, a rock and a stick. Do I need the rock and stick? They are very clean, but the rock has sharp edges...

To make/find: small calcium dish, humid hide.

Later upgrades:
20 gallon, nicer humid hide, more tiles, more decor for 20.

 

[Allee Toler]

Use a mixture of the pebbles and sand. The sand can act as a glue to keep the pebbles from moving, and the pebbles can lessen the change of ingestion of the sand. It's really up to you. Everything has it's risks, and everyone has different opinions. If the pebbles aren't lose, then the chances of them going up to one and trying to swallow it is pretty unlikely. But they CAN swallow it. Just like 2 year old's can swallow legos. Because they can, doesn't mean they will. It's just a rare possibility.

The rock and stick aren't necessary. But if they look good, then put them in. Rough rocks can help aid in shedding. I have driftwood logs in my tanks to help them shed. As with everything, make sure to clean it good every week to keep bacteria from growing in the cracks of the rock/stick. Run it through the dish washer, or soak it in boiling water for an hour or so. I use the dish washer with no soap.

Some geckos like to be misted. My GiGi loves to be misted and loves to soak in water. I'll put a bowl of warm (90-95F) water into her tank and she'll crawl into it and soak. She's just an odd one. But my Lucie, she HATES water in all forms. Then again, she hates everything and everyone. Except chow time. Just try and spray them once they settle in. If they put their head straight up, and stand on their tippy toes and look mad/try to hide from it, then they hate it. If they try to get closer, walk towards you, keeping their eyes open and relaxing, then I'd say they like it. Lol.

My Lucie was Luther (Just called Lu, so we'd have an asexual name until we could tell). I need to change my sig. Lol. But as of today, she's 21g, and 11 weeks old. No signs of a male at all. Normally they'll show some signs to make you go "Is it a boy?... not quite... but it could be... maybe... I'll wait a little longer...". But today, no pores, no bulges. Totally a girl. Lol.

 

[zack]

the parent to the side is homozygous witch means it carrys two of the same gene for a trait like red or black eyes. the parent on the top is heterozygous witch means it carrys one gene of each of thos two traits

 

[Jordan11]

leopard gecko newbie

hello, i am new to keeping leopard geckos and before i buy one i wanted to ask a few questions. i have recently got a 24X18 exo terra terrarium and wanted to know how to set it up and how many geckos it can hold. i know, a loaded question, but i have been reading everything i can find on these little guys and there are many contradicting opinions. i plan to use a sand substrate but only keep adult geckos. i need to know about heat. there is a heater pad already on the side of the terrarium (the terrarium was used originally for snakes) i was planning on buying a heater for one side of the bottom of the cage to create a heat gradient, and buy a red light heat lamp for up top and also a heat rock. this sounds like too much, but being new i don't know what i can do without. thank you for your input

 

[Jordan11]

hey zack did you take genetics, i remember learning about all that

 

[MellowMan24]

dont use a heat rock they can cause very bad burns on the gecko(s) because they wont get off them. some people dont recommend sand because it can cause impaction, i use tile because it looks better than paper towels.