Enter Bahamut, my leopard gecko

[Sinosauropteryx]

Hey board,

This is where I will introduce my two leopard geckos and post pictures of them. I got my first leopard gecko Bahamut from a local gecko & snake breeder when I was still in high school. That would make him atleast 8 years old but I am willing to bet he is quite a bit older, more like 10 or 11 years old. I can't remember what year I got him in but I know he was a juvenile when I got him so he can't be much older than the number of years I have had him for. I originally got the name "Bahamut" from the dragon in the Final Fantasy video game series but, as it turns out, Bahamut was a giant primordial fish in pre-Islamic Arabian folklore that carried the world on its back. Since leopard geckos come from western and central Asia, I figured the name could still be aptly applied.

And now, without any further ado, here are the pictures:

These pictures were all taken in a single night a while back when I noticed Bahamut being unusually active. He went everywhere in his terrarium so I took the opportunity to take some pictures and I saved 10 of them which are the ones you see here. Ever since then he comes out from under his log whenever he sees me or notices the screen top lifting. And he goes everywhere. He even runs around in circles on the clear area in the front left corner.

One thing I have wondered about Bahamut was what kind of morph and (if possible) what Eublepharius subspecies he could be vecause I have never seen any other leopard gecko that looks quite like him. So any assistance anyone could give me on this issue would be appreciated.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will post more of Jubjub, my second leopard gecko, sometime soon.
Carl.

 

[Palor]

He is a great looking gecko.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Nice looking normal. Hard to find these days.

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

And here's Jubjub

Thanks for the comments, guys Yeah I thought he would be a normal. He seems to shift from dark grey to a light sandy colour throughout the year. Maybe he does that to absorb more heat in the winder, or maybe for camoflauge? I don't know. Still, it is good to finally get his morph properly identified.

And now here is my second leopard gecko Jubjub. We think he's older than Bahamut is because he was already full-grown when my brother-in-law acquired him from a friend of his shortly after I left highschool. Jubjub stayed at our house for about a year or so while being looked after by my brother-in-law while he was also living there with my sister (sort of like a homestay arrangement). The terrarium Jubjub had up until earlier this year was originally used by my brother-n-law to keep fish in but the fish all died off from some sort of disease so it was renovated into a terrarium. It is a 36"x12.5"x18" tank which is now being occupied by my fire skink while Jubjub now has the 24"x12.5"x16" that Bahamut used to live in. Bahamut now has another tank that has the same amount of floorspace but it is a few inches shorter. After about a year or so, my brother-n-law moved out and gave Jubjub to me but I was also moving out west to go to university so my mum agreed to put him on display at the library where she works. I do not know where the name "Jubjub" came from but he had it before my brother-in-law acquired him so we figured it meant something. I am not sure what morph he is but, from looking at photos of other leopard gecko morphs, he looks like a high yellow to me. Then again I could be wrong so someone with more experience with leopard gecko morphs could help me out with that. Anyway, there is more information on Jubjub in this post if you are interested.

Here are the pictures of him that I took of him earlier this spring. There's ten of them, just as with Bahamut, so I apologize if this thread takes a bit longer to load.

Yes, there is a Zoo-med heat rock in the last picture. It had a cord with it but I snipped it at the base because I read on a site somewhere (I think it was Anapsid.org) that you could do that with heat rocks if you wanted to leave them in for decorative purposes. I will take it out if anyone thinks I should do that.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and thanks for commenting.

 

[geckofreak]

nice, the first one is a beatiful normal, hard to come across these days, he sure hasent been missing any meals

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Stunted growth and loss of apetite

Thanks Bahamut used to be a great eater but in the last year or so he has stopped eating as much. He now eats only once every week or every other week. He has eaten large crickets throughout his entire life (smaller ones when he was a juvie) so maybe he is just bored with them by now. He will eat super worms. He eats one, sometimes two in a row, and then loses interest. Roaches are not an option unless I have them shipped to me from a Canadian supplier. Another problem is that no one else will tolerate them in the house. I got lucky with the supers.

Not sure if you can tell but Bahamut is shorter than Jubjub by an inch or two and I am not sure if that is being caused by something or if his growth was stunted, or if he's just a miniature (different subspecies maybe?). Any insights would be appreciated because I have no clue. That is one of the things that kinda makes him unique.

Also, does anyone know what I should do with my snipped hot rock? It doesn't work anymore (obviously) but I am still concerned that something will happen if it gets wet or if something else happens to the snipped part where the cord used to be. Jubjub still likes sitting on it for some reason so I thought I would leave it in for now for his sake. If someone thinks I should remove it then I will do that.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

The snipped heat rock should be fine as just a decorative object in the enclosure. But don't you guys in Canada have real rocks? They're so much nicer looking than some old heat rock.

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Using a real rock

Good point. For some reason he still sits on it a lot - I think he thinks he can still get heat from it, or maybe it just feels nicer - but I don't see why he wouldn't do the same with a real rock. It would need to be smooth and be able to trap heat easily from a heat lamp or UTH. Unfortunately I can't use a UTH with the tank Jubjub is in now because it has a crack in it. I can use a heat lamp over the rock though, if that would work. I'm already doing this for Bahamut and he's doing OK so far.

One last question: how can I safely discard of the heat rock that won't result in it or its parts winding up in a dump or landfill? Can it be taken apart and recycled? If so, where would I need to send it?

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Try using some slate pieces. You can go to any place like Home Depot and purchase slate tile for fairly cheap. Take the tile (make sure it's real slate...not cermaic made to look like slate) and hit it with a hammer. It'll break into several pieces that will then look like real rocks instead of a tile. These are great for setting under a heat lamp. They're smooth and flat which makes them comfortable and they absorb and retain heat well. They also make for a good aid in shedding.

As for recycling the heat rock, it's just cement w/ a heating element stuck in it. So, I don't know of any particular way to recycle it.

 

[Kazska]

Haha! I LOVE Final Fantasy, great name! :biggrin: He such a little cutie too!

X

 

[MellowMan24]

very nice i cant wait to get a leo of my own soon and i think the 7th picture of Jubjub looks like hes showing you his food lol:biggrin:

 

[Sinosauropteryx]

Using slate to store heat

Try using some slate pieces. You can go to any place like Home Depot and purchase slate tile for fairly cheap. Take the tile (make sure it's real slate...not cermaic made to look like slate) and hit it with a hammer. It'll break into several pieces that will then look like real rocks instead of a tile. These are great for setting under a heat lamp. They're smooth and flat which makes them comfortable and they absorb and retain heat well. They also make for a good aid in shedding.

Cool. I'll try that then. Thanks for the tip

As for recycling the heat rock, it's just cement w/ a heating element stuck in it. So, I don't know of any particular way to recycle it.

Alright then, so I can dispose of the cement easily enough. What about the heating element? Is there a place that will take in electrical equiptment for recycling?

And thanks to both Kazska and MellowMan24 for your comments. In that seventh photo MellowMan24 pointed out, I had just given Jubjub his cricket and he hadn't tried to swallow it yet. The way I had planned it, I was taking the picture just a second before he bit into the cricket so that I would get a shot of it still in his mouth before he swallowed it. That particular shot was rather difficult to get, both in the timing and the angle. Try clicking on the photo or copying the image address to see if you can access my Photobucket account. I describe how I took each picture there.