congener329
New member
Hi, we have had our gecko for a little over 2 months now and he settled in really well. My son can now regularly handle NEO with no obvious signs of distress. However we have noticed a few changes which I hope you can help me with as petstore owners seem to contradict each other!
As said, NEO settled in well - he feeds well, seems happy to be handled and was usually poking around his tank from early evening time. He would regularly sit on one of his rocks just basking. However over the last 2-3 weeks, NEO has stopped coming out of his hide - he comes out at feeding time, then goes straight back into the hide again. I have checked temperatures (around 70 in the cool zone and about 85-88 in the warm zone) He still eats fine, and does not seem to show any objection to being handled. I have searched many sites, but they all come back to geckos being nocturnal, which is fine, except NEO was always out and about of an evening time....so why the change? Is hiding away typical behaviour for a leo or is this indication of some problem??
Second question - I have realised just how many people do not recommend the use of sand, so I will be removing the sand this weekend. The one half of NEO's tank is 'decorated' with a selection of rocks that we collected (they were all washed thoroughly in boiling water). Are rocks suitable substrate for the whole tank, or does NEO still require something like the papertowels or tiles?
Final question - we were told NOT to keep a moist hide in the tank as this caused respiratory problems. We were told a moist hide should only be used when there were signs of NEO shedding, but this seems contrary to posts various forums? Should NEO have a warm dry and a warm moist hide all of the time? And on that score - we have had NEO for 2 months now, but there has not been any signs of him shedding at all. Is that normal?
I think that's it for now
on behalf of NEO we would really appreciate any guidance or thoughts - particularly in relation to the possible reasons why NEO has stopped coming out of his hide.
As said, NEO settled in well - he feeds well, seems happy to be handled and was usually poking around his tank from early evening time. He would regularly sit on one of his rocks just basking. However over the last 2-3 weeks, NEO has stopped coming out of his hide - he comes out at feeding time, then goes straight back into the hide again. I have checked temperatures (around 70 in the cool zone and about 85-88 in the warm zone) He still eats fine, and does not seem to show any objection to being handled. I have searched many sites, but they all come back to geckos being nocturnal, which is fine, except NEO was always out and about of an evening time....so why the change? Is hiding away typical behaviour for a leo or is this indication of some problem??
Second question - I have realised just how many people do not recommend the use of sand, so I will be removing the sand this weekend. The one half of NEO's tank is 'decorated' with a selection of rocks that we collected (they were all washed thoroughly in boiling water). Are rocks suitable substrate for the whole tank, or does NEO still require something like the papertowels or tiles?
Final question - we were told NOT to keep a moist hide in the tank as this caused respiratory problems. We were told a moist hide should only be used when there were signs of NEO shedding, but this seems contrary to posts various forums? Should NEO have a warm dry and a warm moist hide all of the time? And on that score - we have had NEO for 2 months now, but there has not been any signs of him shedding at all. Is that normal?
I think that's it for now
on behalf of NEO we would really appreciate any guidance or thoughts - particularly in relation to the possible reasons why NEO has stopped coming out of his hide.
