First things first:
When you bring your new leopard gecko home, you should already have a quarantine tank set up and ready to go. Place fresh water in the tank, but it is not necessary to put food in for a couple days, as it is completely normal for them to refuse food for the first couple days, or even longer. You should keep this new gecko separate from your existing collection for 90 days, to ensure there is nothing it could spread to your other animals. Monitor it's eating and fecals. It's fecals may be strange for up to a couple weeks, but this is due to a new diet, supplements, and environment. We recommend not handling your new gecko for the first 24-48 hours and then keeping it to a minimum until it has started eating on its own. Always keep in mind, your new animal is in a new tank, with new decor/dishes/hides, and new faces watching them. They need time to become acclimated to it all. After this quarantine process, they can be safely introduced to their permanent enclosure if it's not already.
Housing
Enclosure
Depending on your need, there are a couple different ways to house a leopard gecko. For the single gecko owner, an aquarium would be the most appealing. The general rule of thumb, is to have 10 gallons of tank per gecko. So if you are housing 2 of them together, you’ll need a 20 gallon tank. If you do choose to house more than one gecko together, they should be all female and of the same size. Males will fight with one another, and geckos of different sizes will bully and attack one another. The second way to house, is a rack system, most commonly used by breeders to use their space most efficiently.
Substrate
Leopard geckos thrive best on simple substrates such as paper towel, reptile carpet, newspaper, or tile. They should never be housed on sand of any kind, as they will ingest it causing impaction and, if not caught early enough, will cause death. For those of you looking for the naturalistic enclosure, I would recommend tile, which comes in many colors and styles at your local hardware store. For those, like us, who prefer easy cleaning, I would recommend paper towel.
Heating
Leopard geckos are cold blooded, so they rely on their environment to regulate body temperature. It is important that the temperature be around 90-94 on one side of the tank, while the other side of the tank be in the upper 70s or lower 80s so the gecko can thermo regulate by moving from one side of the tank to the other. The heat source should come from below the enclosure to aid in digestion. So with a glass enclosure, an under tank heater is best, but for a rack system, heat tape with a thermostat is most efficient. They should be exposed to 10-12 hours of light per day, but because they are nocturnal, they do not need UVB lighting. We recommend just allowing natural light into the room they are housed in, to be their only light.
Shelter/Hides
Since they are nocturnal, they need to have places to hide from the daylight to sleep. These hides can be as fancy as you prefer, from something store bought to an overturned plastic container with a door cut out. There should be at least 2 hides, one on the cool side which should be kept moist to aide in shedding, and another should be kept on the warm side.
Water/Minerals
To ensure proper bone development and overall health, a shallow dish of calcium powder should be kept in the enclosure at all times. Also a dish of fresh water.
Food
Typically, their diet consists of mealworms, or giant mealworms. Other insects like dubia roaches, crickets, and superworms are acceptable as well. Waxworms, phoenix worms, and horned worms can be given as well, but should not be a staple, as they are not high in nutritional value. Geckos that are under 4 months old should be fed daily, about 5 small mealworms. Juveniles and adults should be fed giant mealworms three times a week, or kept in a dish at all times for the gecko to eat at its leisure. Insects should be gutloaded with a commercial gutload product. Gutloading the insects is a way to get beneficial nutrients to your gecko. Also, every couple feedings, the insects should be dusted with calcium powder, and a supplementary vitamin should be dusted around once a week. Crickets can be placed in the enclosure during feeding time, but uneaten crickets should always be removed. Mealworms can be kept in a shallow dish. Here at Fire n' Ice, we use escape proof dishes with their supplement powder in the bottom, for the worms to crawl around in. This method also allows for the gecko to lick up the powder alone if they need a boost in nutrients.
Shedding
Leopard geckos will shed their skin about every 3-4 weeks. You’ll notice their color will appear dull when they are about to shed. It is important to have a moist hide in their enclosure to aid in the shedding process. Generally, the gecko will eat all of their shed, but you may see some of the shed skin in the cage. Some geckos will have unshed skin on their toes, we suggest letting your gecko soak in a shallow container of luke warm water for a few minutes and you can assist the process by gently removing the skin using tweezers.
Handling
Leopard geckos are usually open to being handled and with regular contact, can become very tame. When handling your gecko, never hold or grab them by their tail. They have a natural ability to drop their tail as a defense mechanism. If this does happen, they will regrow their tail, but it will look different than before.
When you bring your new leopard gecko home, you should already have a quarantine tank set up and ready to go. Place fresh water in the tank, but it is not necessary to put food in for a couple days, as it is completely normal for them to refuse food for the first couple days, or even longer. You should keep this new gecko separate from your existing collection for 90 days, to ensure there is nothing it could spread to your other animals. Monitor it's eating and fecals. It's fecals may be strange for up to a couple weeks, but this is due to a new diet, supplements, and environment. We recommend not handling your new gecko for the first 24-48 hours and then keeping it to a minimum until it has started eating on its own. Always keep in mind, your new animal is in a new tank, with new decor/dishes/hides, and new faces watching them. They need time to become acclimated to it all. After this quarantine process, they can be safely introduced to their permanent enclosure if it's not already.
Housing
Enclosure
Depending on your need, there are a couple different ways to house a leopard gecko. For the single gecko owner, an aquarium would be the most appealing. The general rule of thumb, is to have 10 gallons of tank per gecko. So if you are housing 2 of them together, you’ll need a 20 gallon tank. If you do choose to house more than one gecko together, they should be all female and of the same size. Males will fight with one another, and geckos of different sizes will bully and attack one another. The second way to house, is a rack system, most commonly used by breeders to use their space most efficiently.
Substrate
Leopard geckos thrive best on simple substrates such as paper towel, reptile carpet, newspaper, or tile. They should never be housed on sand of any kind, as they will ingest it causing impaction and, if not caught early enough, will cause death. For those of you looking for the naturalistic enclosure, I would recommend tile, which comes in many colors and styles at your local hardware store. For those, like us, who prefer easy cleaning, I would recommend paper towel.
Heating
Leopard geckos are cold blooded, so they rely on their environment to regulate body temperature. It is important that the temperature be around 90-94 on one side of the tank, while the other side of the tank be in the upper 70s or lower 80s so the gecko can thermo regulate by moving from one side of the tank to the other. The heat source should come from below the enclosure to aid in digestion. So with a glass enclosure, an under tank heater is best, but for a rack system, heat tape with a thermostat is most efficient. They should be exposed to 10-12 hours of light per day, but because they are nocturnal, they do not need UVB lighting. We recommend just allowing natural light into the room they are housed in, to be their only light.
Shelter/Hides
Since they are nocturnal, they need to have places to hide from the daylight to sleep. These hides can be as fancy as you prefer, from something store bought to an overturned plastic container with a door cut out. There should be at least 2 hides, one on the cool side which should be kept moist to aide in shedding, and another should be kept on the warm side.
Water/Minerals
To ensure proper bone development and overall health, a shallow dish of calcium powder should be kept in the enclosure at all times. Also a dish of fresh water.
Food
Typically, their diet consists of mealworms, or giant mealworms. Other insects like dubia roaches, crickets, and superworms are acceptable as well. Waxworms, phoenix worms, and horned worms can be given as well, but should not be a staple, as they are not high in nutritional value. Geckos that are under 4 months old should be fed daily, about 5 small mealworms. Juveniles and adults should be fed giant mealworms three times a week, or kept in a dish at all times for the gecko to eat at its leisure. Insects should be gutloaded with a commercial gutload product. Gutloading the insects is a way to get beneficial nutrients to your gecko. Also, every couple feedings, the insects should be dusted with calcium powder, and a supplementary vitamin should be dusted around once a week. Crickets can be placed in the enclosure during feeding time, but uneaten crickets should always be removed. Mealworms can be kept in a shallow dish. Here at Fire n' Ice, we use escape proof dishes with their supplement powder in the bottom, for the worms to crawl around in. This method also allows for the gecko to lick up the powder alone if they need a boost in nutrients.
Shedding
Leopard geckos will shed their skin about every 3-4 weeks. You’ll notice their color will appear dull when they are about to shed. It is important to have a moist hide in their enclosure to aid in the shedding process. Generally, the gecko will eat all of their shed, but you may see some of the shed skin in the cage. Some geckos will have unshed skin on their toes, we suggest letting your gecko soak in a shallow container of luke warm water for a few minutes and you can assist the process by gently removing the skin using tweezers.
Handling
Leopard geckos are usually open to being handled and with regular contact, can become very tame. When handling your gecko, never hold or grab them by their tail. They have a natural ability to drop their tail as a defense mechanism. If this does happen, they will regrow their tail, but it will look different than before.