I'm new! Intro and just a question

SpankQueen

SpankQueen

New member
So a friend of mine that had these 3 leopard geckos all in one 50g tank for awhile, (about a year I believe) and for some reason, he neglected taking care of them. Horrible, horrible things I saw when I visited his apartment last. First, he was using reptile sand, then he was using a daytime heat lamp, and a ceramic heat lamp AT THE SAME TIME. But that's not all...he at first told me he housed 2 females and 1 male that were all born together and were raised together...but little did he know, he actually had 2 males and one female...

Anyways, fast forward. Now I own these geckos, and it's been 3 weeks. I've bought everything they needed in a period of 2 weeks until I've achieved correct set-ups for them all. One of them, his name is Gary, was completely malnourished. He's been separated from the other two geckos and I've been hand-feeding him ever since and he's slowly gaining weight.
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The other two geckos are currently in a 20g tank.
Terry is the yellow one and Pheobe is the other. :)
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The only question I really have: is a constant temperature of 91 F ok for the warm side of the tank? Earlier I had a scare when I bought the probe and the Under tank heater from Zoo-Med and I saw it go up to 101F. I went out and bought ceramic tiles, put it directly under the reptile carpet and it has stayed at a solid 91 degrees. My room gets a bit chilly (around 70 ish degrees).

Current info about the tank:
-20g long
-Feeding small crickets and mealworms (sometimes wax worms are hand-fed to Terry cause hes a little skinny)
-Temp
  • 91 F(warm side), 75 F (cool side)
-Humidity is at 34%
-2 dry hides, one on each side and 1 humid hide for shedding with shallow plate, water and sphagnum moss to aid the humidity


My name is Teresa and I'm happy to join this community :)
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
A warm welcome to you all, Teresa!

Gary has made remarkable progress in the short time you've had him. :cheer: Always keep him separated since 2 males will fight. Gary was no doubt bullied and that's why he was skinny.

Each gecko needs 3 separate hides: warm moist, warm dry, and cool dry. These caves can be homemade.

20160129_212143.jpg IMG_0235.jpg

Are these geckos related? If so, keeping Terry and Pheobe together is not a good idea no matter how old they are. Really it would be best to house them all separately.

Place the digital's probe directly on top of the tile/reptile carpet right underneath the warm dry hide. That's the temp your leos will feel when they lay there. :)

Temp range:
  • 88-92*F ground temp underneath the warm dry hide
  • 68-75*F cool end ground temp
What do you have for calcium, vitamin D3, and multivitamins? Brand names? May I make some suggestions?
 
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SpankQueen

SpankQueen

New member
Elizabeth Freer said:
A warm welcome to you all, Teresa!

Gary has made remarkable progress in the short time you've had him. :cheer: Always keep him separated since 2 males will fight. Gary was no doubt bullied and that's why he was skinny.

Each gecko needs 3 separate hides: warm moist, warm dry, and cool dry. These caves can be homemade.

View attachment 39835 View attachment 39836

Are these geckos related? If so, keeping Terry and Pheobe together is not a good idea no matter how old they are. Really it would be best to house them all separately.

Place the digital's probe directly on top of the tile/reptile carpet right underneath the warm dry hide. That's the temp your leos will feel when they lay there. :)

Temp range:
  • 88-92*F ground temp underneath the warm dry hide
  • 68-75*F cool end ground temp
What do you have for calcium, vitamin D3, and multivitamins? Brand names? May I make some suggestions?
Click to expand...




I'm always open for suggestions!

And I used to keep Terry and Pheobe separated, but I noticed Pheobe was bored and depressed and I guess back when all three were together, she was used to the company. Rare, I know, but keeping them together seemed pretty nice to me!


I use Rep-Cal (Calcium with D3, no phosphorus) and the other one is Rep-Cal's Herptivite with Beta Carotene.

I dust my crickets and mealworms 2 times a week, with the first brand, and the Herptivite i use once a week for Gary
 
Zux

Zux

New member
You have done a wonderful job since taking them on, kudos on that.

I too would strongly recommend separating them, Reptiles do not like change and they may seem annoyed at being separated at first, this is not one missing the other and depression, that is merely our human interpretation of the situation and certainly not how they perceive things as they are simply not capable of such emotional reasoning. The stress of the change will be very short term and they will live much happier, and indeed, healthier/longer lives if they have their own enclosures, particularly the female.

Do ensure, as Elizabeth has said, they all have a humid warm hide at all times since your room humidity is similar to their natural environment where they spend all day with the humid micro-climate of a burrow, not having this would result in shedding difficulties and dehydration due to moisture loss over time.

You can also offer Gary 5-7 Waxworms at least once a week in order to help build his reserves.
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
SpankQueen said:
I'm always open for suggestions!

And I used to keep Terry and Pheobe separated, but I noticed Pheobe was bored and depressed and I guess back when all three were together, she was used to the company. Rare, I know, but keeping them together seemed pretty nice to me!


I use Rep-Cal (Calcium with D3, no phosphorus) and the other one is Rep-Cal's Herptivite with Beta Carotene.

I dust my crickets and mealworms 2 times a week, with the first brand, and the Herptivite i use once a week for Gary
Click to expand...
Do you know whether their former keeper used supplements? Terry and Pheobe look good!

  • I'd remove any supplements from their enclosures to prevent accidental overdose.
Rep-Cal's Calcium with D3 has 17x the amount of D3 that Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 has. That could easily be too much D3. In addition Herptivite contains vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. It's been shown that lizards need pre-formed vitamin A acetate (retinol) instead!

Some people like Repashy's Calcium Plus multivitamins.

I like and use Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 and Zoo Med's Repitivite multivitamins without D3.

There are 2 schedules (124 & 126) following my Leo Guidelines. Can you find them?
 
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SpankQueen

SpankQueen

New member
Elizabeth Freer said:
Do you know whether their former keeper used supplements? Terry and Pheobe look good!

  • I'd remove any supplements from their enclosures to prevent accidental overdose.
Rep-Cal's Calcium with D3 has 17x the amount of D3 that Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 has. That could easily be too much D3. In addition Herptivite contains vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. It's been shown that lizards need pre-formed vitamin A acetate (retinol) instead!

Some people like Repashy's Calcium Plus multivitamins.

I like and use Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 and Zoo Med's Repitivite multivitamins without D3.

There are 2 schedules (124 & 126) following my Leo Guidelines. Can you find them?
Click to expand...

I'll keep all of these noted as I'll be ordering the Zoo-Med's Repitivite multivitamins online! (My local petstore doesn't have it in stock)
For now, I'll remove the calcium from the terrarium! The previous owner only provided them with gutloaded crickets and rep-cal w/D3.

Thank you for all the advice, everyone has been so nice so far here :)
Later in the future, when I do have the money, I'll have them in separate tanks, but I believe I've spent over 200-300 bucks on two separate ones already (food cost, heating, hides...etc)
T_T, a college student can do so much haha.

I shall post 1 photo every 10-15 days of Gary of his progress!
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Here's what I recommend for Gary.

  • Use Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3 1x per week. Lightly dust it on half the crickets or dubia, not every one.
  • Use plain (no D3) Zoo Med ReptiVite multivitamins lightly dusted on crickets or dubia every other week or 2x per month. Maybe only half of them.
  • Use some plain precipitated calcium carbonate (purer than oyster shell calcium). The NOW brand sold in health foods stores is ideal.
Feed finely ground Zoo Med's Natural Adult Bearded Dragon Food (or an equivalent high quality dry diet) 24/7 to the insects and worms to cover the basics. Add high calcium, low phosphorus veggies like collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and pesticide-free dandelion flowers/greens off to the side in a dish for extra calcium and for moisture! Vary your leopard gecko's diet. Crickets, Blaptica dubia, hornworms, Phoenix worms, and silkworms are all good.

Nutritional Comparisons of Insects & Worms

Monthly Schedule for Leopard Geckos 12 months old and under​
Week 1:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or duba>Tuesday
Mealworms>Wednesday
Crickets or dubia>Thursday
Crickets or dubia>Friday- plain calcium carbonate
Mealworms>Saturday
No food or free choice>Sunday

Week 2:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or duba>Tuesday
Mealworms>Wednesday
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- plain (no D3) ReptiVite multivitamins
Crickets or dubia>Friday- plain calcium carbonate
Mealworms>Saturday
No food or free choice>Sunday

Week 3:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or duba>Tuesday
Mealworms>Wednesday
Crickets or dubia>Thursday
Crickets or dubia>Friday- plain calcium carbonate
Mealworms>Saturday
No food or free choice>Sunday

Week 4:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or duba>Tuesday
Mealworms>Wednesday
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- plain (no D3) ReptiVite multivitamins
Crickets or dubia>Friday- plain calcium carbonate
Mealworms>Saturday
No food or free choice>Sunday

Week 5
Start the cycle over with week 1
 
Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Pheobe and Terry may be ready for this version.

Feed an adult leopard gecko crickets or dubia 2x per week and mealworms 1x per week:
Crickets or dubia>Monday
Crickets or dubia>Thursday
Mealworms>Saturday

  • Use Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3 1x per week. Lightly dust it on half the crickets or dubia, not every one.
  • Use plain (no D3) Zoo Med ReptiVite multivitamins lightly dusted on crickets or dubia every other week or 2x per month. Maybe only half of them.
  • Use some plain precipitated calcium carbonate (purer than oyster shell calcium). The NOW brand sold in health foods stores is ideal.
Feed finely ground Zoo Med's Natural Adult Bearded Dragon Food (or an equivalent high quality dry diet) 24/7 to the insects and worms to cover the basics. Add high calcium, low phosphorus veggies like collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and pesticide-free dandelion flowers/greens off to the side in a dish for extra calcium and for moisture! Vary your leopard gecko's diet. Crickets, Blaptica dubia, hornworms, Phoenix worms, and silkworms are all good.

Nutritional Comparisons of Insects & Worms

Monthly Schedule for Leos 18 months old +​
Week 1:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- no dusting
Mealworms>Saturday- no dusting

Week 2:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- plain (no D3) ReptiVite multivitamins
Mealworms>Saturday- no dusting

Week 3:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- no dusting
Mealworms>Saturday- no dusting

Week 4:
Crickets or dubia>Monday- D3 Repti Calcium
Crickets or dubia>Thursday- plain (no D3) ReptiVite multivitamins
Mealworms>Saturday- no dusting

Week 5:
Continue this every other week schedule.
 
Zux

Zux

New member
One other thing I forgot to mention, Geckos that have been poorly taken care of in the recent past, while obviously suffering other issues, are almost always dehydrated to one degree or another on top of that.

It is my feeling that while many Geckos can and do drink from standing water, species that rarely drink like this in the wild are often slow to do this unless becoming dehydrated in the first place due to other husbandry issues. For that reason, it is therefore wise to ensure all feeder insects are well hydrated, much as they would be in the wild.

With that in mind, try to gut-load the feeder insects with things like butternut squash or high calcium leafy greens exclusively for a couple of weeks, in order to significantly raise their water content and combat the dehydration the Geckos may well be suffering from.
 
Zux

Zux

New member
SpankQueen said:
Both of you guys, Elizabeth and Shane, are so wonderful for this advice! :)
Thank you!!
Click to expand...

You're most welcome, though I must admit, Elizabeth is the true workhorse here on GU, I just chime in with a rant every few days !

You're doing a great job, those Geckos were lucky to find you as their new keeper !
 
SpankQueen

SpankQueen

New member
Update!!!

Now, I went and found an older photo of Gary just to show you guys what he really looked like the first time I've seen him and I apologise in advance with what you're about to see.

This was him when I first saw him at the apartment Gary used to stay at with the friend of mine:
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But what a change Gary has gone through! This is him as of 20 minutes ago!!

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Elizabeth Freer

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
Thank you for sharing. Gary had really been suffering. You found him before it was too late.

You guys have made remarkable progress in a very short time!

:cheer: :yahoo: :banana:
 
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