Moving with a leopard gecko

[morganna_banana]

I have had my little Leo a few weeks now, some unexpected life circumstances have arisen and it looks like I will be moving from Michigan back to Illinois to be by my family. It's roughly a 5 hour drive. I was curious if anyone else has ever moved with a Leo and what advice you have to offer? Her UTH will not be able to be plugged in in the car and I am worried about her getting cold. I will also be traveling with my 3 year old son so I can't really crank the heat in the car... If I was traveling alone, I totally would. I don't want to stress her out too badly and just want to get her there in one piece and as happy as possible. Any suggestions would be super appreciated!

 

[Zux]

That is not too long so there is a few simple solutions, you can get a cheap heat pack and place it beneath her temporary moving container. An alternative to this would be to place a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel beneath her container.

The second solution wont keep her warm for as long so the first is preferable, if you cant find a heat pack anywhere the water bottle should stay warm long enough to mean the time she is cold is much less and she should be just fine.

You will want to check the temps before you leave to ensure either solution wont overheat her and be sure to place a hide inside the container so she has somewhere familiar to feel safe in. Then place a cloth or something over the whole thing to make it dark and keep her as still as possible without keeping shoved around.


Hope that helped,

Good Luck !

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

You might be able to get a couple 40 hour Uni Heat packs to wrap in a washcloth to keep your leo warm in your car.

Click: Heat Packs - Reptiles Express - Discounted Fedex Shipping Labels and Reptile Shipping Supplies

 

[Yoshi'smom]

I moved from Buffalo NY to Detroit MI with my one leopard gecko and it wasn't too bad. It's about the same time you'll be travelling.
I had him in a travel container and provided him a hand warmer wrapped in a few paper towels. I also covered the travel container with a towel so that all the speeding objects wouldn't further stress him. He did end up regurgitating a bit of his last meal but was no worse for the wear. He ended up settling in quickly after we got to our new place.

 

[Zux]

Oh Yoshi'smom reminds me of another point, I would suggest avoiding the feeding just prior to her departure, I too have found Geckos as with many animals will often regurgitate when traveling in a car for any length of time. If you can avoid this you probably should as it will only further stress her to go through that.

 

[morganna_banana]

Thank you guys for the great suggestions I was contemplating keeping her in her tank and setting her in the back seat, snugly somehow, seat belted in and with some balled up towels or blankets to keep her in place. Do you recommend me taking her out of her tank and putting her in something else? Thank you so much again for the help!

 

[Yoshi'smom]

That's what I did. I put the tank in the trunk and had my boy up front with me so I could monitor him in his covered kritter keeper with the hand warmer. I didn't drive, so I held onto him in the passenger's seat with me.