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a few questions

H

Heis

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I am looking into getting some leopard geckos and have a few general questions I'd like answered. First, I have a 20 gal long and was wondering how many I could house? Second, what are the temps and lighting needs? What would be a good substrate? Finally, whats a reasonable price for an average leopard gecko? All answers are greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
Andrew
 
Andrew,

Inside of a 20 gallon long you could house 3 geckos that are within 5grams of eachother. You would need to monitor to see if any of the geckos were bullying around the other two. You would have to monitor food intake closely. You would also need to make sure that the 3 geckos came from the same breeder. Quarantine is a big part of keeping reptiles. This means that every new aquisition must be set up in a temporary enclosure so as to make sure that the gecko doesn't have any parasites or bacterial infections.

Heating needs, the hot side needs to be around 90F-92F. With a thermal gradient all the way down to the low 80's. They do not require any special lighting, but do require supplements. I suggest RepCal Calcium, RepCal calcium with D3, and RepCal Herptivite. Calcium without D3 needs to be kept within the cage itself, where as the Calcium with D3 and Herptivite need only be dusted on the feeders twice a week.

Substrate, I suggest either Newspaper or Paper Towels. This cuts down on the risk of impaction from ingesting particulate substrates.

Average price ranges anywhere from $20-$30 plus shipping and up depending on the size, age, and morph.
 
i agree with that 80% there is some that id like to change around. for substrate i use cage carpet and my vitamin powder is sandfire super foods leopard gecko ICB. other than that your golden. as far as size goes there is some discrepancy o nthat. it depends on the geckos. way back wehn i was 9-10 i had 3 geckos tha thad weights all over the place. but no bullying came in. i made sure they all ate. 2 of them died due to endo parasites. the other one that happened to be in the same enclosure didnt get affected at all amazingly enough. just watch them to make sure nothing "bad" happens. and make sure theres only one male
 
Tom,

I read a thread just a little while back where Marcia of GoldenGateGeckos actually reported having less egg fertility and a lower hatch rate whenever using ICB. That's why I advocate all of RepCal's products.
 
hmmmmm, never saw that one, i used repcal and reptivite for awhile but the leos refused to eat anything it was put on. for some reason my male is very very picky. seems like me when iwas 6. like leo like keeper i suppose.
 
There's a couple different things that you can use for a substrate. At one point we used reptile carpet in our 75 gallon display tank, but when the leos strike at their food item their teeth can get caught along with their nails. Plus, cleaning the carpet is seriously a royal pain. Paper towels are inexpensive and they make cleaning day that much easier! :)
 
i jsut tkae the carpets outside and use a power washer. lol. what brand did you use? some of them are amde of different amterials. i use zoo med.
 
I'm not sure what brand ours was, we bought it almost 2 years ago. I would be afraid that by putting that outside to power wash it that it would pick something up that I don't want in their enclosure. Plus..how do you clean in the winter? I live in PA and I surely wouldn't want to be power washing anything outside.
 
Isnt the Zoo Med, just piece of thick felt? I could see some toenails getting caught up on that stuff. Not that them trying to dig through paper towels wont do that. :hehe:
 
the plastic carpet can hook nails and teeth as can the felt type. With the felt type, it can harbor bacteria unless you seriously disinfect it at each cleaning which has got to be a pain. I tired it once with some babies...talk about little stinkers too...I just did not like the carpet..with paper towels you can just pick it up, ditch it and replace it....very easy and doesnt look all that bad if you get plain white ones....
 
I use Repcal and have no problem with the geckos eating it. I think mineral is alittle better but both are awsome products. As for cage substrate I use none for my racks.
 
I used to use Zoomed's felt like carpet, and altho i do recommend it to pet owners through our store, for the 37 geckos I own it proved to be unethical. Too much money, too much extra work.

I also swear by Rep-cal's vit and cal supplements :)
 
As far as substrate, a 12x12 floor tile will fit perfectly in a 20L and is easily disinfected and not bad looking with paper towels in the "poop area". I would reccomend you get juveniles of approximately the same size. I have had several of my adult females fight when put with a new cage mate. With multiple leos in 1 cage you need to be extra vigilant about who is eating and defecating. As mentioned, you need to get all of them from the same breeder. Prices depend on what morph you are looking at, but $20-45 should get you a healthy juvie at any herp show. Also a breeder is far more likely to give you the females that you need for such a living arrangement.
 
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