breeders/general care questions...

Ok, so I'm not at all informed on leopard geckos... I have been looking at pictures and am starting to like them... they are really neat looking little guys!
Anyways, I need to know in terms of maintenance, what do they require? Also, how expensive are they (food and so forth)? Do they require lighting like say, the beardies? Heat? Also, where is a good, solid place to find them? I know about the classifieds on here and may look there but was wondering if there are any breeders online that I should look at/avoid like the plague if my hubby will go for ANOTHER lizard (currently we have an epidemic of babies; beardies that is)?
Thanks!

-Angelica

Angelica,

I love my leopard geckos. I just recently got back into them after I graduated high school. Anyways, they are extremely easy to care for rather than say a chameleon. They were first suggested to me around 5 years ago as a "great beginner's lizards". They don't require any special lighting. They do require belly-heat. I have many rack-systems which are God-sends, let me tell you. I feed my adult/breeders once every other day (superworms) and my hatchling/juvi's once a day (mealworms). I avoid crickets like the plague, lol. Whenever I had say 5-6 of these little guys I used just standard human-heating-pads to create belly-heat. Here's a quick little rundown of a caresheet I'm working on for my website (http://www.geckophiles.com).

Housing:

Leopard Geckos can be kept in anything from 10-20 gallon tanks to the sterilite/rubbermaid containers. Allow somewhere near twelve inches of groundspace per animal. They need belly heat to digest their food. We aim between 90 and 93 degrees Ferenheit.

Feeding: Mealworms and Superworms are what we use. We see that crickets carry too many parasites and are just unrealiable as a feeder. Hatchling/Juveniles are fed mealworms once every day. Adults are fed superworms once every other day. Hatchling/Juveniles are supplemented with Calcium/Vitamin powder every day, and their adult counterparts twice a week.

Hides:

Hides include tupperware containers with holes cut in the side. Clean sour-cream containers. A humid hide is a vital key to the leopard gecko. I use papertowels that I dampen every day inside tupperware containers with the tops on, hole cut in the side.

Substrate: We recommend papertowels, without getting into a heated debate. They are easier to clean and seem to be more sanitary.

That's about it for my caresheet, that's why it's not on my website, lol.

where in california are you? I have some for sale if you are near by.

Here is a good place to start for care info, the learning center at VMS Herps, It goes into details of caging, feeding (mealies VS crix), breeding, etc.:

http://vmsherp.com/LCKeepingLeopards.htm

IMHO leopard geckos are easy to keep and very easy to feed, cleaing can be a little more tasking based on your cleaning schedule and tactivs, its somewhat of a task to clean when you have a good deal of leos.

Cleaning for me is a bit time consuiming BUT I wipe out the poop corner every AM and virosan that area daily, then every Sunday (today) I run every tub through the dishwaher, including all feed dishes, hides etc. Replace all coco fiber after is is boiled into the humid hides and IF I am lucky and start early am I can get it done before 2am but most weeks it takes Sunday and Monday. But thats just me.

I use NO substrate at all, just a piece of tile suitable for the tub size over the heated area. That makes it easier for me to wipe clean daily.

Heat, heat tape on a thermostat set to 90 is what works best for me, it does flux from 89-91 a times but Id be sure to not let the "hot side" go below 89 and not over 91.

Vitamins, well I use calcium from premium reptiles daily, added to reptivite and a calcium dish is there at all times.

I go no less than a 20 gallon long for 3 adult leos.

Lots and lots more I could go into and will try to later but I have tubs still being cycled through the dishwasher as I type

Costs could range for feeders. I am a pet owner (breeding is starting! My first season, though its very late) and own 5 now. 4 dollars every month is good for mealworms. Getting new bulbs, 2 dollars for playsand every 6 months...paper towels... It's really not too much after you get set up (for a few leos.) It took about 120 for everything including the gecko. (Normal, 40 dollars.) It's really not that expensive. Good luck! All you need is a cute name!!!

Wow, I know I remember hearing they are easy for beginners. They sound really simple, and I love the look-neat coloration on some I've seen pics of!

With the heating, do they need the cool end/hot end like the beardies do? How long each day do they need the heat for and does that really affect your guys' power bills? lol, our beardies have begun to run up ours double (we have lots of babies right now!)

I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask in the last post- do they like to have "room mates" or does one do fine by itself?

Angelica,

I keep all of my breeders seperate. It's easier to feed, see who eats, and just make sure that they all are "happy" and healthy. I only put them together for breeding purposes. Heat is a 24/7 thing. As for the electricity bills, we haven't seen any differences from the months whenever we didn't have as many. They do need a cool/hot end. We use 3-inch flexwatt heat tape across the smaller-end of the tub.

Oh yeah, I also keep my hatchlings separate also. For the same reasons. It just seems that they grow quicker and are healthier whenever kept alone. They don't seem, in my opinion at least, to be very social.

I keep all of my breeders together all year, I remove the male for a couple of weeks if he starts to lose weight from beeding then put him back in. But I have 22X15X7 tubs. I have them in sets of 1.2 up to 1.4 in those size bins.

The babies I keep clutchmates together, if the cluchtmate does not hatch for some reason then they are kept alone. Those tubs are 11X15X7.

I also use flexwatt, only 1/3 - 1/2 needs to be heated with belly heat to 90 degrees, the cool side can range in the 70's.

You will also need a few hide spots, I use 1 humid (moist coco fiber on hot side), 1 dry on the hot side and 2 dry on the cool side plus a few scattered cardboard toilet tissue and paper towel rolls. I usually throw in 2 to 4 of them in each tub here and there, when they get a little dirty just throw them away.

For the babies I use deli cups with a hole cut in the side and for adults I use butter tubs, cool whip tubs are a good side too. Things that like are easy to throw in the dishwasher each week.