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Anonymous
Okay, I think I've decided on getting a leopard gecko. I know I'll need a glass tank, a heating pad, some simple substrate, hiding places, water dish, etc. I know of two places where I can get a leopard gecko: PetSmart, which has juveniles, and a local place which has adults but is a bit pricier. I'd like to raise a juvenile myself but I've never owned a reptile before so I'm afraid it might die on me if I'm not careful. Is the juvenile not too big a risk or should I play it safe and go with an adult?

Also, any general advice on leopard geckos would be appreciated.
>> Anonymous
General advice: Always buy crickets from a pet store. Wild crickets will inevitably have some nasty sickness that'll kill your gecko. Also, don't forget the calcium powder!

I believe the gecko I got when I was a kid was a juvenile... she was probably half the length of my hand today. Her spots had just begun differentiating. We had a great time watching her grow for years and years... the only difference we made was we gradually gave her bigger and bigger crickets.

I'm not an expert on them, though, so maybe someone better can chime in. About how long is the juvenile, though? Does it have its spots yet?
>> Anonymous
>>317464
Ones at PetSmart are about four inches.

To be honest I'm trying to think hard about this. It's either a leopard gecko or some more rats (10 rats for the price of one gecko!) Either way I need all new equipment since my rat cage was broken.

But I don't want to spend 40 bucks on a lizard and almost 100 on equipment if he's going to be boring or difficult to care for.
>> Anonymous
bumpan

The thing is, cost is a factor here, too. PetSmart has the lizards for 30 bucks, the tank is 12, screen top 11, heating pad 20, carpet substrate another fifteen, and then whatever accessories and dishes I might need. That's a $100 fucking lizard right there. If I do invest in one of these cute little guys I want to be sure that he'll be safe on top of my dresser with little more than a heating pad and a fake hollow log for comfort.
>> Anonymous
>>317528

>That's a $100 fucking lizard right there.

Welcome to the hobby. This is what all new owners encounter first. It's an inevitable experience that you must go through. But you will find ways around overly expensive setups if you stick to the hobby for more than 1 or 2 years.

Leopards are easy to care for, but almost without exception, lizards are the most costly reptiles to setup initially. If you want a cheaper alternative, get a snake. Or you could be cheap with the gecko and still be successful. Forget glass tanks, get a Sterilite bin from Wal-Mart for $8, buy a couple bricks of coconut fiber or something similar for substrate, use whatever you have around the house for a suitable hide and water dish, and get a heat lamp instead of heat pad. It shouldn't cost you more than $40 if you're smart about it, with the majority going into the heat lamp and bulb housing. You will, however, need to shell out some money for a vitamin supplement with D3. I've used Miner-All with success for a long time, and that's usually $12 and lasts for years.

Adults or juveniles, it doesn't matter. They're extremely easy to keep and raise.

You could also find one of these fuckers for $10 if you ever visit reptile shows or order from breeders. Pet store chains are overpriced.
>> Anonymous
how long to they usually live for?
>> Anonymous
>>317542

Depends on your ability to care for it. 15-20 years is exceptional. 10 years is average. 3-5 years if you're failing hard.
>> Anonymous
Another gecko-owner here.

Get a juvenile. Both of mine were bought as juveniles. It's really fun to watch them grow, and they're cheaper when younger cause every other fag wants a BIG LIZIRD.
Only thing that changes with age is the size of the food, and the frequency of feeding. Juvenile's eat smaller food more often. Adults eat larger food not as frequently.

No "risk" in getting a younger lizard. They arn't THAT fragile, and leopard geckos are pretty easy reptiles to keep.
>> Anonymous
>>317557again

Any new pet is expensive to start up. But, the costs pretty much end at the beginning with these guys. Food isn't expensive, and you rarely (if ever) need to replace anything. Just the food and vitamin supplements.

Log and heating pad he will appreciate very much.
Make sure you give him a hot-side and a cool-side of the tank. This way he can regulate his body temp as he sees fit.

For substrate, dont' use sand. They eat substrate and sand can cause blockages. Since you're going cheap, just use some contact paper. Or if you want it to look less ghetto, there are gecko-safe substrates for sale.

You're also going to need a light. You CAN use just a every-day lightbulb fixture, but it's way better if you get a specially made reptile light, instead of artificial light that doesn't give them the UVs they need.

For general advice...
-Always calcium powder the food.
-Always feed the food. Extra nutrients for your gecko.
-It's better not to handle them (for their sake), but this isn't saying that you can't. With a lot of handling, they become very people friendly.
-Don't buy heating rocks! Use under-tank heating pads. I've heard horror stories of them breaking, overheating, and horribly burning geckos.
-If the tank isn't heated properly, you'll find your gecko's appetite and desire to move will vanish compleatly. This is because their metabolsm drops, and this can be bad-news-bears for extended periods. Would be a good idea to get a thermometer if this becomes a problem so you can avoid this.
>> Anonymous
The only real risk of an juvenile vs adult is the potential to fuck-up by not feeding them enough or not providing supplements, etc, and stunt their growth.

Apart from that make sure to stick a wad of moss of in a hide log and keep it moist or provide some other humid spot for them to prevent problems with moulting which results in toe loss and scratched eyecaps and is way more common than it should be, especially in older specimens. I've also seen a lot of cases of mouth-rot in them but that may just because they're a common 'beginner reptile' and often neglected.

Leopard geckos, being predominantly nocturnal, don't absolutely NEED a UVB full-spectrum bulb like a lot of reptiles do but it'll be beneficial in the long run, especially to a juvenile.
>> Anonymous
>>317541
I've heard that a heat lamp will dry them out or overheat them, that they can eat coconut fiber or sand substrate and get impacted colons, and honestly 12 bucks is not a bad price for a ten-gallon glass tank. The problem with a plastic bin is that they're rarely easy to see through and they're very poor conductors of heat, which means I'd have to put the heating pad on the inside, where it can get cricket shit all over it.

Speaking of heating pads, is it better to put them on the bottom or on the side of the tank, and why?
>> Anonymous
Also, on top of this, I was advised that a light bulb is really not necessary for a leo, since they're largely nocturnal anyway.
>> Anonymous
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>>318193
The lamp I bought was an incandescent infrared, one of the red glass ones, and together lamp and fixture were fifteen bucks. It keeps the tank nice and toasty for him but I have noticed him hiding in the corners underneath his hide log where I put some moist moss.

I have a pretty damn big window. Would leaving it open during the day get him the UV light he needs? I mean, the guy at the store said he wouldn't last six months without the UV but I get the feeling he says that about every reptile regardless of species.

Again, for the D3, would gut-loading his crickets with this stuff be enough? Says it has vitamins A, B12, D3, calcium, etc. I was going to supplement it with dusting every once in a while and the occasional mealworm for a treat.
>> Anonymous
>>318211

>I mean, the guy at the store said he wouldn't last six months without the UV but I get the feeling he says that about every reptile regardless of species.

I've had a female Banded Gecko in my care for over 2 years with no UV. She's not dead or unhealthy in the least. I just use the D3 supplement.

>Again, for the D3, would gut-loading his crickets with this stuff be enough? Says it has vitamins A, B12, D3, calcium, etc. I was going to supplement it with dusting every once in a while and the occasional mealworm for a treat.

That stuff could possibly work, but I've found that it tends to cause impaction in the crickets. They never lasted more than a week when I was feeding them similar crap. It's good for gutloading a day before, but not a good staple diet, which should just be something like vegetables. I use romaine lettuce. They actually grow on it unlike the gutloading stuff.
>> Anonymous
>>318218
Okay, after looking it up it seems you're right about the Fluker's shit. Some say it will kill more crickets than it feeds. What do you use for cricket gut-loading besides romaine lettuce? Do they prefer fresh or rotten? Is it better to dust the crickets themselves or their food?
>> Anonymous
>>318211
I meant if the UV light you bought was incandescent you got ripped off. They still sell them at some places despite their comple inability to produce UVB.

UVB is filtered out by glass but if the tank is low enough and the window high enough for the light to pass through the screen then that should be fine, so long as you don't flood the tank with bright light and stress it. Twilight or moonlight would be best.

Gut loading is important but even then despite being the most common staple crickets aren't exactly a perfect substitute for a wild diet so yeah, dusting is important. I usually gut-load with yams, orange slices, collared greens, ground egg shells and ground dog chow. Not all at once though though. Then I dust every other week with a mix of calcium powder and ground centrum multivitamins. I used to breed a couple different species of eublepharines and had a leopard gecko that lived for 20 years so it seems to work pretty well.
>> Anonymous
>>318228
I'm returning the UV light anyway. PetSmart's return policy is pretty damn permissive, and I have all the packaging and the receipt anyway.

As for the window, I'm on the side of the house with a tall fence about 10 feet away. I don't really get much direct sunlight in here but when it's open it's about 3 feet by 3 feet and it's finally getting cool enough to keep it open and un-shaded during the day.