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Congratulations on your newest addition. Leopard Geckos are an exciting and fun species. As juveniles they can be jumpy and easily excitable, but as adults they can become very tame, and even enjoy being hand fed.
A single gecko can be happily housed in a 10 gallon aquarium (10" x 20"), 2-3 geckos should have at least a 20 gallon (10" x 30") enclosure. You may house as many geckos together as you like, but keep in mind to leave adequate living space for them. Also keep in mind that you may only house 1 male per enclosure because males will fight, possibly to death. When housing juveniles together you must also make sure that they are the same size, if one grows faster than the others, or is bigger than the others, he can consume all the food and not allow the others to eat.
Although sand is probably the most appealing substrate to house geckos on, it is not always the best. Young geckos (less than 5") may swallow the sand and impaction may occur which can be fatal. Some acceptable substrates are, paper towels, newspaper, butchers paper, play sand(cleaned and sifted), and astroturf. DO NOT use calcium sand, because it can be even more enticing for a gecko to digest, which can still cause impaction. We house all of our geckos, regardless of size, on paper towels. Even though they might not be the most appealing, they are totally safe, and simple to change.
A shallow water dish that cannot be spilled should always be available to your gecko. Leopard Geckos are normally fed crickets or mealworms as their stable diet. At our facility all of our geckos are feeding on mealworms.
It is also important to keep a calcium powder bowl in your geckos cage at all times because it aids in the growth and strength of your geckos bones, and is a necessity for a gravid female to aid in egg development. It is possible for a gecko to 'overdose' on vitamin D3 which can be harmful, so Calcium without D3 should be used. A multi-Vitamin is also important to make up for the Vital vitamins missing in captive bred feeder insects. Vitamin D3 is important, but can only be given in small amounts. In our facility we supply Rep Cal calcium without D3 every day. We dust the mealworms twice a week with Rep Cal Herptivite as a multi-vitamin, and every 2 weeks we add Rep Cal calcium WITH D3 to the calcium bowl. If you are short on floor space for bowls, you may put your calcium right in with the mealworms, and then rotate it with the multi-vitamin.
A hide box is also important to aid in shedding. It is recommended that the box be approximately 6 inches in length, and have approximately a 1 1/2-2 inch opening in the lid for the gecko to get in and out of. The container should be filled with 2-3 inches of moist peat moss, vermiculite, or coconut compound like eco earth.
A daytime temperature of 85-90 degrees should be maintained. The night time temperature may drop as low as 65 degrees without hurting your gecko. You can use a heat bulb available at most any pet store to achieve these temperatures.
Leopard Geckos are nocturnal so they do not need UVB lighting, but 12 hours of artificial daylight should still be given. Make sure your cage is not in direct sunlight because it could overheat your cage and possibly kill your gecko.
Geckos are usually rather easily, visibly sexable once they have reached approximately 5 inches in size. Males have a distinct "V" shaped line of small pores between their hind legs and 2 bulges at the base of their tail. Females usually show little to no pre-anal pores and lack post-anal bulges. Below are examples of the male and female pore area.
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Leopard Geckos usually become sexually mature around 10 months of age. Females tend to lay their eggs from the months of January to August. During the female's first season, she may only lay 1 egg. A sign of a well raised female is to have laid two healthy fertile eggs. Even if a female is housed alone, she may still lay eggs, but they will not be fertile and may be disposed of.
