New to owning a gecko and need feedback

[donna2782]

I just accidently deleted an entire post so here I go again

I am new to owning a gecko and was hoping that I could get some feedback from people here. I really want to make sure she lives a long time I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't do my homework before going to Petco (mistake #1) to purchase her.

So the kit we bought (mistake #2) is a Zilla Basic Tropical Kit.

It came with ~

a 10 gallon tank though I know now that I need a 20 gallon (30 inches long)

a terrarium liner that I replaced with play sand which will soon be replaced with porcelain tile as soon as I get a bigger tank and a thermostat. While I wait for that do I need to replace the sand with paper towel since she is so little?

a reflector dome and light bulb ~ replaced the day blue light with a 75W infrared heat blub. Does this need to stay on 24/7? When I upgrade to a 20 gallon does it need two domes instead of one?

a UTH which is on one side side of the cage with the hide sitting on top. The care guide that came with the kit shows the hide sitting in the middle with the warm and cool zone on each side. Which is better? I also know from the care sheet off of here that she needs 3 hides but there's just not enough room right now. Should I line one side of her hide with moist paper towels?

and one humidity and temp guage, do I need two instead?

I need to purchase some calcium carbonate (NOW brand) to leave in the cage all the time and some Zoo Med's Reptivite w/ Vit D3 to dust feeders with 2x/week.

My crickets are dying and I'm not sure why. I have one of those containers that have two black tubes for them to hide in. On the bottom I have sprinkled some dry oatmeal and some pieces of Kix cereal. I have also been putting carrots that have been soaking in bottled water in the bottom. I plan to purchase some poultry feed and alfalfa hay for my next batch.

She is being fed crickets every day and meal worms every 2-3 days. Where can I find different feeders? The sales lady at Petco only told me about crickets and mealworms.

Do all females become egg bound? If so when do I need to start looking for that to happen?

How often do they shed?

Is there anything else that I am missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated =)

 

[donna2782]

Oh and we have a water and food dish too. I tried posting a pic but I guess I haven't posted yet enough to post one yet.

 

[thorrshamri]

I just accidently deleted an entire post so here I go again

I am new to owning a gecko and was hoping that I could get some feedback from people here. I really want to make sure she lives a long time I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't do my homework before going to Petco (mistake #1) to purchase her.

So the kit we bought (mistake #2) is a Zilla Basic Tropical Kit.

It came with ~

a 10 gallon tank though I know now that I need a 20 gallon (30 inches long)

a terrarium liner that I replaced with play sand which will soon be replaced with porcelain tile as soon as I get a bigger tank and a thermostat. While I wait for that do I need to replace the sand with paper towel since she is so little?

a reflector dome and light bulb ~ replaced the day blue light with a 75W infrared heat blub. Does this need to stay on 24/7? When I upgrade to a 20 gallon does it need two domes instead of one?

a UTH which is on one side side of the cage with the hide sitting on top. The care guide that came with the kit shows the hide sitting in the middle with the warm and cool zone on each side. Which is better? I also know from the care sheet off of here that she needs 3 hides but there's just not enough room right now. Should I line one side of her hide with moist paper towels?

and one humidity and temp guage, do I need two instead?

I need to purchase some calcium carbonate (NOW brand) to leave in the cage all the time and some Zoo Med's Reptivite w/ Vit D3 to dust feeders with 2x/week.

My crickets are dying and I'm not sure why. I have one of those containers that have two black tubes for them to hide in. On the bottom I have sprinkled some dry oatmeal and some pieces of Kix cereal. I have also been putting carrots that have been soaking in bottled water in the bottom. I plan to purchase some poultry feed and alfalfa hay for my next batch.

She is being fed crickets every day and meal worms every 2-3 days. Where can I find different feeders? The sales lady at Petco only told me about crickets and mealworms.

Do all females become egg bound? If so when do I need to start looking for that to happen?

How often do they shed?

Is there anything else that I am missing? Any help would be greatly appreciated =)

Playsand is indeed too coarse to be used for young leopard geckos enclosures. You can safely use paper towels for now.

Shedding frequency depends on age and feeding- usually, adults shed once every 2 weeks, but it occurs more often with younger specimens as they are growing.

Forget about Reptivite. I have explained in another post all the negative aspects of it. Buy Miner-All I(for Indoors) with D3 instead, gutload properly prey insects, and you can use SMALL amounts of NektonRep every 3-4 weeks. Calcium carbonate in a small dish is a good idea though. You can also add calcium gluconate (in drops) to the drinking water every now and then.

Leopard geckos originally come from more or less mountanous rocky deserts. In their native habitat, temps lower considerably at night. Without dropping temps to such extremes, they NEED cooler temps at night so your heating aggregates have to work for:

8 hours/day From mid-November to December
10 hours/day in January, February, October til mid-November
14 hours/day in Spring and Summer (from March to September)

This applies both for lighting AND heating. Night temps should be room temps, 70-72°F or so but they are quite tolerant to a bit less or a bit more, depending on seasons.

IMO mealworms are to be avoided,even if you dust them with calcium. They contain a lot of phoshore, ridiculous amounts of calcium, are hard to digest and also very fat. Likewise, completely avoid waxmoth larvae. You might want to try roaches as feeders, f.e. dubia roaches or red runner roaches. Leopard geckos also LOVE locusts and grasshoppers. Google for online insects suppliers, you will find these insects at lower prices than in pet stores and coming in all sizes (f.e. only small to medium locusts stages should be fed to leopard geckos, same with dubia roaches).

Forget about the humidity gauge/hygrometer. As you heat the tank, humidity lowers to an adequate % unless you live in a particularly moist area. Such devices are also known to be more or less precise, misleading Noobs and making them freak out for no reason.

About egg-binding: it happens with females which are bred too early (less than 18 months of age, even if they are sexually mature well before that; think about the effects of pregnancy on a 12-14yo girl...). It happens too when females don't have proper laying sites. A moist hide will both avoid this and enable your gecko to shed properly. Shedding often goes unnoticed as it is a quite quick process (the whole process takes a few hours) and they generally shed at night.

Hope that helps

Hervé

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Everyone has different methods. More than one way to raise a leo!

Yes, paper towels till she is at least 1 yo!

Some people advise leaving the UTH on 24/7 and just turning off the overhead light at night. What you ultimately decide depends upon the lows in that room at night. Ceramic heat emitters are good too.

Here is what I do for crickets: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/feeders-food-nutrition/14280-cricket-guidelines.html

There is a caution about Nekton-Rep NOT containing the ingredients it states on the bottle. Research done by a veterinarian.

[#16---Nekton-Rep vitamins---Do NOT use!!!
Nekton-Rep

"Unfortunately, label reading doesn't always guarantee you are getting what the label says. Reptile vet/nutritionist Susan Donoghue found when doing analysis of reptile and mammal vitamins that Nekton Rep didn't include four of the minerals the label said it did, including calcium!"

Quoted from this link: http://www.anapsid.org/vitamin.html]

For active links, go to post #16 following the main care sheet section of the Leo Guidelines.

Hornworms are a proven feeder for leos. Hornworms need to be kept about 55 F. If you already have a wine cooler, you are set! Check post #33.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Oh and we have a water and food dish too. I tried posting a pic but I guess I haven't posted yet enough to post one yet.

Don't know the reason why, but some people are able to post pictures right at the beginning.

http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/n00b-central/64511-posting-pictures.html

 

[donna2782]

How often do I need to change the paper towel? And what should I use to wipe down the inside of the cage?

 

[thorrshamri]

Change the paper towels every time there is a poo.
Clean the inside only with water, no soap. You can use a natural sponge (no "industrial" sponges, all of them contain chemicals and detergents).

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

How often do I need to change the paper towel? And what should I use to wipe down the inside of the cage?

Change the paper towels every time there is a poo.
Clean the inside only with water, no soap. You can use a natural sponge (no "industrial" sponges, all of them contain chemicals and detergents).

Donna ~

:idea: Very often leos choose one spot as their "outhouse". So placing an additional several layers of paper towels right there for "spot cleaning" will make housekeeping super easy.

 

[donna2782]

Once again thank you for all your help!

I've dumped the sand and am using the liner that came with the kit for now. After that I'll go to paper towels.

Do you think using alfalfa hay is enough for the crickets? The kind I bought is made up of 17% protein and 1.5% fat. Their little container doesn't seem like it will hold much else.

I pulled the big cave hide because I couldn't get the paper towels to stay moist. In it's place I used a plastic container with a door cut into the side along with some moist paper towels in the bottom and now she won't go inside of it. She hid in the cave all the time. Any idea why she won't go into the other one?

 

[donna2782]

Here is a pic of her home. It's small and plain but I am hoping to change that soon. The sand is gone and in its place I am using the liner that came with the kit. I let my son pick out the cave only to realize later that it's to big and won't keep the paper towels moist though now she won't use the plastic container that I put in there. And I'm worried she's going to stress herself out if she doesn't have a place to hide.

Oh and this is Liz~

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Once again thank you for all your help!

I've dumped the sand and am using the liner that came with the kit for now. After that I'll go to paper towels.

Do you think using alfalfa hay is enough for the crickets? The kind I bought is made up of 17% protein and 1.5% fat. Their little container doesn't seem like it will hold much else.

I pulled the big cave hide because I couldn't get the paper towels to stay moist. In it's place I used a plastic container with a door cut into the side along with some moist paper towels in the bottom and now she won't go inside of it. She hid in the cave all the time. Any idea why she won't go into the other one?

Hey ~

You are welcome! I see Liz peeking around the corner ;-). In your second picture Liz looks really healthy and a good size!!!!

Make sure she has a small bottlecap of pure calcium carbonate in her tank 24/7 as well as light dustings of a calcium with vitamin D3 and a multivitamin 2x per week total. Check the Leo Guidelines for three different vitamin and calcium protocols.

I recommend especially three dry foods for the crickets and a few other things once in awhile: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/feeders-food-nutrition/14280-cricket-guidelines.html

Liz really would appreciate a 20 gallon LONG tank where it will be easy to achieve the proper difference between the temps from the warm side to the cool side.

At least for the present make sure she has a warm moist hide and a cool hide. Best to have a warm dry hide too.

Maybe she is not using the humid hide cuz the towels are too wet or cuz it is new.

---another Liz :biggrin:

 

[thorrshamri]

The hide looks fairly large for a gecko. Usually, they feel more secure (so they are less easily stressed out) with a hide barely high enough to let them in. I use cork bark oak tiles for that purpose, or half a small coconut shell with an entrance/exit hole

 

[donna2782]

Elizabeth, I put a small bottle cap of the calcium carbonate in her tank the other day and have been using this multi-vitamin ~ Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamin. So I still need to buy calcium with D3 to mix with the multi-vitamin to dust the crickets with correct?

And if I use oatmeal for my crickets can it be the old fashioned kind? I noticed it's not enriched with anything like the ones that come in packets. I will also go and buy some poultrey feed for them too. I'm happy to say they're all still alive =)

Thor, she actually likes the cave and would go it in way more than she's went into the new container. It's just to big for her little tank. I like the look of the coconut shell hide but where do I find them? Is it something that's ordered online?

I would have saved a lot of time and money if I had done my research first but it would have been even better if Petco would properly train their employees.

 

[thorrshamri]

Where to find a coconut shell? At your local supermarket, eat it, then make the inside all clean. $1 for a coconut+food+ a shelter for your gecko, now you can also order some from online pet shops for $5+ shipping :biggrin:;-)

 

[donna2782]

Where to find a coconut shell? At your local supermarket, eat it, then make the inside all clean. $1 for a coconut+food+ a shelter for your gecko, now you can also order some from online pet shops for $5+ shipping :biggrin:;-)

So don't laugh but I have no idea how to cut a coconut. Just open it down the middle? After it's open and the meat part is cleaned out what do I have to do with it? Just wash it with water and cut a door entrance?

 

[donna2782]

Got it cracked open and cleaned out. Do I need to sterlize it before it goes in the tank?

 

[thorrshamri]

Yes you can sterilize it, one minute in the microwave oven will do.
Sorry about forgetting to mention how to open a coconut. They have 3 darker spots on one end. I use a screwdriver on one of these spots and a hammer to open them. You just have not to give too strong hits with the hammer or the coconut will break into pieces.

Ok, my Internet nick is Thorr, and I have something special with hammers...:biggrin: