New leopard gecko in the house

[octanejunkie]

Checking in from Los Angeles, first-time leopard gecko owner but not new to reptiles. My daughter and I have a few tarantulas but she really wanted a gecko so I picked a baby / juvie leo up from PetSmart yesterday.

We've got it convalescing in a 3 gallon quarantine tank on paper towel with a hide and some leaves and a water bowl with an under tank heating pad on one part of the tank.

Our feeder plan revolves around Rusty red roaches (B. lateralis) that we already raised for our tarantulas. Wondering if this is enough for what if we should supplement with mealworms also. We will include a calcium tray in the tank and our roaches are continually gut loaded as they live on a protein and veggie rich diet.

We are looking for feeding and housing advice. We already have a 10 gallon tank and just need to set it up but are more concerned about establishing good feeding protocols. We'll start a animal specific thread soon. Thanks for having us!

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[acpart]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new gecko. The general wisdom is to provide any reptile with a variety of feeders. The roaches are fine and adding some occasional alternatives wouldn't hurt. Juveniles are fed every day and older geckos are fed every other day. I feed 3 times a week. It will become obvious when the gecko isn't hungry enough to eat every day. Ultimately, an adult leopard gecko will be happiest in a 20 gallon long. Be sure to dust feeders with vitamin D3 and calcium every other feeding.

Aliza

 

[octanejunkie]

Thanks for the reply @acpart

I'm concerned that the animal has done nothing but hide the entire time we've owned it, which is about 24 hours at this point. Even in the store the animal was hiding in the enclosure and seemed agitated when handled by store staff and us; hissing and being defensive, skittish.

Here is a pic of the enclosure. The animal is holed up inside Exp Terra Dinosaur Bone.

Is this just a tough adjustment or should we be concerned? I've not tried to feed it yet.

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[acpart]

It's very normal for leopard geckos in a new place to hide. Unfortunately, some of them do seem to hide all the time. I had a leopard gecko for more than 10 years that I named "Cameo" because she never made more than a cameo appearance in "public". Hopefully as it gets more accustomed to its surroundings it will be out and about more.

Aliza

 

[octanejunkie]

Woke up to a poop in the tank this morning so I know it's been out and about, so I dropped two small roach nymphs in the tank this morning but both were still there when I got home from work.

I'll leave them in overnight to see if Rocco gets peckish in the dark. LoL my daughter named it already.

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[octanejunkie]

UPDATE
Removed Lat nymphs and put pinhead lats in and boom, Rocco is eating. Saw the lizard with a food item in it's mouth

Since then I added mealworms and pinhead crickets, now 3 feeder types, and they all seem to be disappearing from the tank

No more poop has been found but it appears the leo is eating

 

[acpart]

I only feed pinhead crickets to my Spherdactylus geckos which are about 1 1/2" long as adults. Even a juvenile leopard gecko can eat full sized crickets, which I recommend. Glad she's eating.

Aliza

 

[octanejunkie]

I only feed pinhead crickets to my Spherdactylus geckos which are about 1 1/2" long as adults. Even a juvenile leopard gecko can eat full sized crickets, which I recommend. Glad she's eating.

Aliza

It wouldn't eat larger roaches, like 15mm size, and the medium crickets the pet store had we like 30mm

At least it's eating something

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[octanejunkie]

I put a wifi cam on the side of the tank and we see Rocco moving about all around the tank when when we are not around or are quiet - it still tends to hide when we are around or active.

Rocco is also eating everything we put in there, medium crickets, roach nymphs and mealworms. We will get some butterworms this weekend and maybe small hornworms too.

We are working on a 10g tank build and wish we could use calcium sand or similar vs paper towels. Might build a cave and background using the Zoo Med Cavern Kit.

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[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[octanejunkie]

4 month update

Rocco has basically doubled in size since we got her, probably because she eats like it's going out of style.

We had to start handling her very slowly as she is young and timid, and got defensive easily, and often hissed. After slowly working with her to build trust (starting with hand feeding) we can now easily handle her and she's comfortable being out of her tank and climbing all over us.

She eats crickets and dusted mealworms and the occasional roach. She has shed several times already and does so with ease on her own. Once we were concerned about a strip of skin on her head that didnt teleaae so a few hours in a humid box and she was right as rain. Last 2 sheds, no issues.

She is still a young and instinctive lizard, but we are hoping she continues to become more personable and outgoing as she grows up. She is very pretty and we are planning a 20L showcase tank for her.

Lol that sleeping position

 

[acpart]

Nice looking gecko!

Aliza