Newbie Questions

hi guys, ive been reading around on here for a while now, and figured might as well introduce myself. I own a book on Leos, and am going to be buying one or more in the next few months. Ive been keepin reptiles since i was about 7, my first lizard was an iggy that we had to sell cuz he got to big. After that i got a ball python that i loved, but, died after a year of having him because of impaction . then i got a Blue tongue skink thats pretty cool and i likem. My dad after i got my skink, restricted me to him and my pit bull. But recently my dad brought up the subject of what im going to do with my life. And he asked me what i really like, and i said herpetology. So, he figured, if i get enough practice and truly do love it i can make a living out of it. So intern, hes givin me permission to get all the reptiles i can fit into my room. I would love to fill every square inch of my room with cages and reptiles. But I dont have THAT much money, so im taking cash donations jk.

But i have a few questions.

How many female leos can i fit into one tank without them getting territorial? is it just a 10 gal per leo rule?

What kinds of substrates do you guys use? Carefresh, sand, paper towels? Ive heard paper towels are the best because they cant get impacted, but sand is good because the leos normally eat a little bit of the sand because it gives them calcium or somethin? and also looks more natural.

Do you use over head ceramic heat emitters for heat at night? I wouldnt want to use a heat rock or anything because of the risk of them getting burned. Also UTH's, i use one for my BTS and it works great. Should i use one for the leo to?


What kinds of food should i feed? I hear crickets are good, but so are waxworms. Which is the best? I plan on breeding silkworms if i get really into it, because theyre REALLY good for reptiles.

Thanks for any and all replies this gets, thanks and hope to hear from ya guys.

Originally Posted by Hurricane916

How many female leos can i fit into one tank without them getting territorial? is it just a 10 gal per leo rule?

it depends on how big the tank is, a 10 gal would be good for just one
20 gall can fit 2-3
30 gal can fit about 3-4

Originally Posted by Hurricane916

What kinds of substrates do you guys use? Carefresh, sand, paper towels? Ive heard paper towels are the best because they cant get impacted, but sand is good because the leos normally eat a little bit of the sand because it gives them calcium or somethin? and also looks more natural.

Papertowel and tile are probably the best, tile looks more pleasing than papertowel, personally i house my geckos in a rack system and dont use any substrate at all, i would never reccomend sand, the commercially made reptile sands are horrible, if you leo licks any up it has a great chance of becoiming impacted

Originally Posted by Hurricane916

Do you use over head ceramic heat emitters for heat at night? I wouldnt want to use a heat rock or anything because of the risk of them getting burned. Also UTH's, i use one for my BTS and it works great. Should i use one for the leo to? .

UTH's are what to use, belly heat helps them digest food, and they can regulate themselves better this way, an overhead light wouldnt hurt, but i would duggest getting a low wattage blue or red light

Originally Posted by Hurricane916

What kinds of food should i feed? I hear crickets are good, but so are waxworms. Which is the best? I plan on breeding silkworms if i get really into it, because theyre REALLY good for reptiles.

Crickets are okay..but they can carry parasites that can kill your leo if not treated quickly, mainly the ones that carry the parasites are the ones that come from pet stores, you can order them online at grubco.com, or reptilefood.com, waxworms are fine as a treat, 3-4 every 2 weeks is good
mealworms are also a very good choice, i and many others keep my geckos on a staple diet of mealworms and superworms

oops i meant mealworms not wax, have you heard of the ceramic heat emitters? they dont produce any light at all.

I thought about making a rack system, but, i dont plan on doing anything large scale anytime soon, but it would save a lot of money on glass cages. But, how do you put UTH's on plastic, doesnt it melt?

With the heat mats, it's a good idea to get some kind of device (rheostat, thermostat or dimmer) to regulate the temperature. Most get way too hot (will melt plastic and burn geckos). The only ones I haven't had a problem with are the T-rex cobra heat mats, they seem to stay cooler.

If you have a heat mat, you don't really need any lighting or heat emitters. You can get a red light, however, for nocturnal viewing purposes.

-Alice

Originally Posted by Tokay_Dude

Crickets are okay..but they can carry parasites that can kill your leo if not treated quickly, mainly the ones that carry the parasites are the ones that come from pet stores, you can order them online at grubco.com, or reptilefood.com, waxworms are fine as a treat, 3-4 every 2 weeks is good
mealworms are also a very good choice, i and many others keep my geckos on a staple diet of mealworms and superworms

A couple of questions for Tokay Dude:

I've never heard of a cricket carrying a parasite that can kill a leo. Exactly what is that parasite?

Also why would the pet stores have this parasite infecting their crix when they are buying the crix from the same place you're getting yours?

Karen, it is well known that crickets can carry parasites..... The reason it is more likely to get parasite infected crickets from a pet store is because when a pet store gets a delivery, they put the crickets in an uncleaned bin..... How do the parasites get there???? Here are two simple reasons but there are more..... #1 Some places that farm crickets, can ship infected crickets to the pet store..... Crickets can natuaraly harbor parasites just like any living animal..... #2 Alot or atleast some pet stores usually through uneaten crickets back into the cricket bin after being in another reptiles cage..... I am sure you can see how easy it is for parasites to be spead....

Dan is 100% correct in what he said and I dont understand how one could even question it actually.....

another reason, which i have seen in every pet store i've been too...

moldy food, they dont change the food in the cricket bins, it gets moldy, mold = bacteria, the crickets eat it, and become infected

the parasites are, pinworms, hookworms, both can be fatal IF not treated

Well, I wonder why I completely clean the cricket bins twice a week and spot clean them every day at the PET STORE I work at if pet stores don't clean their cricket bins? I can imagine how much an unclean cricket bin would smell, yuck. As for mouldy food, not at our store. The crickets eat it too fast for it to go bad. We've never had a problem with crickets, period and I've never heard of crickets carrying parasites that other animals can get.

We certainly don't go through all the cages and pick out all the uneaten crickets just so we can put them back in the bin. Also we don't overfeed therefore there are very little to no uneaten crickets left in cages.

I posted this because I'm really tired of people putting down pet stores, lumping them all into one category. It really gets old.

LOL relax!

no one here accused you of doing that..some pet stores are good, some are bad..the ones here do not clean their bins. so i am speaking from experience.

i had 7 leos die on me last year, 5 were infected with pinworms, only thing i fed them were petstore crickets, so relax, again, no one accused you of selling, or feeding unclean crickets, you never heard of thses worms because YOU DO clean out the bins, everyone here can tell you what parasites crickets can carry and transfer to you're reptile if eaten

The truth of it all Karen is that not all people that work in pet stores are like you and not all pet stores operate like the one you are in..... Some pet stores are good but most are not good...... I have been to many pet stores and only saw 2 or 3 that did not keep their leos on crushed walnut shells.... I can list many more issues but that is just one good example..... But just to back what you are saying, it can come from the distributer but most of the problem crickets come from pet stores that do not care as much as you do..... I think you are giving pet stores more credit than they are worthy of.....

Anyway, like I said, it is pretty common knowledge that crickets can and do carry parasites that will harm your reptile..... At one time I did not think so either but there were just too many people saying the same thing so I researched it...... And my findings told me that they do infact carry these parasites that can be transmitted to you pet...... The most common are pinworms..... Pin worms do not discriminate..... They will live inside any host they can get into..... There are also other pathogens carried by some crickets that can be harmful as well..... Just do a search and you will find out...... If I recall correctly, someone on another forum was having a problem with leos dropping off and had the crickets examined..... Only to find that it was infact the crickets that were killing his leos....