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Leopard Geckos! Who's got 'em? Anonymous
Hey /an/, I'm thinking of getting a leopard gecko. Doing research, but still have lots of questions 'cause 20 years of life is a long long time.

1) I have a 10gal acrylic aquarium. If I do the obvious mods (new top, heater, light) will this work as a home for 1 gecko?

2) Is a gecko fine to be left for a weekend? (feed Friday, feed Sunday night?)

3) I have no problem handling bugs, but I live in 1br apartment and I'm concerned about cricket noise. Can mealworms or grubs be used as the 'staple' diet instead?

4) In order to deal with moves/longer vacations, what is the best way to 'move' a gecko, and how long can it comfortably go without heatsource? (ambient temperature above freezing)

Thanks!! :)
>> Anonymous
Only question I can answer is 3- the crickets sold at pet stores don't chirp. I dunno how, but they don't.
>> Anonymous
>>304788
Bullshit.

1) Probably.
2) Probably.
3) Variety is best. Some geckos will even eat dried food. They should have calcium dust, too. So keep mealworms and waxworms on hand, feed crickets occasionally, etc. Look into their diet more.
4) Probably like a small ventilated container with paper towel. That's how they ship them. Not sure about how long they can go without heat but I believe leps are pretty forgiving in that aspect. You could probably use one of those microwave heat things (but not too hot).
>> Anonymous
>>304794

I work at a chain pet store, and have crickets bought from there in my room 24/7. I have never heard a peep.
>> Anonymous
1) 10 gallon is fine for a hatchling or juvenile but you'll want a 15-20 gallon flat for them to wander around in when it's larger

2) yeah

3) No. I mean sure you could, but crickets are heavily recommended as a staple food because of their chitin to digestible content ratio, amount of phosphorous, fat, etc. Crickets aren't 'ideal' either but they're a great deal better than mealworms or waxworms and they're readily available.

4) they're extremely hardy.

>>304788
>>304797
I lol'd. I've got a dozen crickets I bought today gut-loading and chirping away like 3 feet away from me. Either your store doesn't sell adults or you keep them in the cold.
>> Anonymous
>>304802

OP here, thanks muchly for your replies :)

Do you think crickets would survive on a covered deck? In the summer I know they definitely could, but in the winter it *can* dip below freezing where I live. Obviously I wouldn't put them out if there was snow on the ground, but how cold could the crickets go and still be good for feeding?
>> Anonymous
>>304808
You might want to keep them inside. You buy crickets from a store so they aren't sick with anything that'll kill the gecko. I knew a family once that caught wild crickets and fed them to a gecko, and it was dead pretty soon after. I don't know if being outside among the other bugs would contaminate them, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

When I had a gecko, we kept her crickets in the laundry room, in a nice secluded place. They won't stink up the place if you clean it fairly often, and hopefully then the crickets won't be too loud (maybe shut the door). Our crickets could be heard throughout the house, but you get used to them. We never tried closing the door, though, as our cats' litter boxes were in there.

Ask a vet or someone who'll know better than me if clean store crickets being outside will make them ..not so clean.

They can eat mealworms and citrus fruits, dusted of course with the calcium powder, but often they find it hard to see and catch things that don't move much.

Geckos are great to leave for a weekend, there's pretty much no trouble as long as you give them plenty of water, and do not leave the heat source on over the weekend as it may melt/start a fire/kill the gecko. Also, don't leave for a while with crickets still in the cage, as they can bite/harass the gecko. (Once the white calcium power wears off, they're hard for the geckos to see).

I'm ashamed to admit that I rarely ever gave my gecko a heat source after the first few years, but that thing grew and grew and seemed to be quite healthy. Move a gecko very carefully, just don't drop it/bump it around a ton or it'll get stressed.
>> Anonymous
I have a leopard gecko, and am a very neglectful owner of it. It is very low maintenance, i basically leave it in the aquarium and feed it... sometimes (couple dozen crickets every so many weeks, water now and then). It seems to do fine (i think it wants more room). I've left mine without a bulb in the lamp for over a week with no ill effects (mind you, he's in a house kept 'comfortable' for human habitation).

The crickets get annoying.
>> Anonymous
>>304814

Yeah, I'm just not sure keeping them in the laundry room is an option. The apartment is very small and I would be forced to listen to them allll night long. There's not much distance between... anything in here.

Really? Even if I kept them in one of those cricket keeper things they could get contaminated on a deck? I'm on the 14th floor, so it's not like ants would be crawling up here.
>> Anonymous
Crickets should be fine outside so long as they don't freeze. Just beware of any pesticides and make sure the container's covered well enough to prevent loose leaves and such from blowing in and potentially being devoured.
>> Anonymous
>>304814
>>304817
There seems to be quite a few people like this, and I'm one of them. They kind of lose their appeal after 6 months or so, especially since they're not quite the cuddliest little animals. And the crickets are the most annoying thing fucking ever.
>> Anonymous
>>304857

>>And the crickets are the most annoying thing fucking ever.

truth, I once brought some for my hedgehog, fucking things dont keep still, and my hedgehog was scared of them. Not sure what happened to them in the end.
>> Anonymous
My lil sis has had one for a few years and yeah she never feeds the damn thing... like you can feed it every other week and honestly instead of feeding it a bunch of crickets i recommend doing the snake thing... what i mean by that is buy what is called a "pinkie" whick is basically a baby rat that is still pink furless and doesn't even have it's eyes open that will last your geko liek a week but i'd wait like untill it's mouth looks big enough to eat a "pinkie" like after having ir for like... a good number of months cause if you are getting a baby it won't be able to eat the pinkie at first but when it's older one pinkie a week and it's good to go
>> Anonymous
>>304997

...this is why people shouldn't come to /an/ for advice.
>> Anonymous
>>304821
Actually, that sounds like it might be good. As long as there aren't any 14th-story wild crickets to contaminate them. ;)
>> Anonymous
I used to own one about two years ago. Poor thing caught a diseaseand died. i had him for about 4 or 5 years I believe. I got another one shortly after that one and he died sometime later. I took relatively good care of them, but i probably should have supplemented the crickets more. I miss them. ;_;
>> Anonymous
i have a pair of them, and the crickets i buy chirp sometimes and sometimes a different batch doesn't. i only feed my geckos once every two days just because they will have a tendency to over eat.

just be careful not to let the feed escape
>> Anonymous
>>304784
that things' eyes are badass