Common Name(s): Leopard Gecko, Leo
Latin Name: Eublepharis macularius
Ease of Care: Easy
Native To: Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan
Adult Size: 7-11 inches (17-28cm)
Life Span: 10 years
Clutch Size: 1-3 eggs
Appearance: Leo’s are highly variable in coloration with many designer morphs being produced now. Normal phase leopard geckos however are short stocky lizards with large tails making up a good portion of the lizards overall body weight. They have a yellow background color with beautiful blacks and purples coming through in bands on the skin. Their eyes are large (as with most geckos) and are normally a beautiful hazel in nature. Make sure your gecko has all five toes on each foot as well because some geckos can have a bad shed in dry conditions and lose toes to necrosis.
Temperament: Leopard geckos are fairly docile creatures, but handling them is never going to be like handling a snake or a larger, calmer lizard. They are not calm by any respect, and will most likely try and jump and run if the opportunity is given. That said some can become very easy to handle with frequent handling and will subsequently relax and enjoy the warmth of your skin. Just take care to handle your gecko gently and never, under any circumstances hold it by the tail!!! This will result in the tail falling off, and while the tail will regrow itself this can be detrimental to the lizard’s health.
In The Wild: In the wild leopard geckos are strictly nocturnal creatures that live in burrows during the day and are solitary in nature. They are completely terrestrial and have claws for grasping and digging rather than pads like some other geckos for vertical climbing. They can breed multiple times in a single year and show no true paternal instincts. They reside in the desert and are extremely active at night, exploring their territory actively in search of food and just being their curious selves.
Caging: Caging leos is very simple and can be done in a variety of ways. They can be kept in breeding colonies of 1.2 to 1.4 (male.female), but proper care should be taken to make sure that multiple males are not housed in the same cage! They can and will fight, resulting in injuries that can be detrimental to the geckos’ health even resulting in death. We like to keep ours in a colony of 1.2 as these easily reproduced lizards will breed with little to no stimulation (more info in the breeding section). A properly sized cage for a trio like this is a 20-30g tank or something that is comparable in size. For breeding racks or “apartment style” caging we like to use a “sweater box” method that seems to provide enough room for the geckos to live comfortably. We only separate them to feed and that is just to make sure that each gecko is receiving the same, proper amount of food. A thermal gradient is needed with a warm side at 88F and a cool side at 82F. With a trio like this multiple hides are needed on each side of the tank to assure that the geckos are not fighting for the best spot and extra stress is not present. Make sure a water bowl is present on the cool side and fresh water is provided daily as they love to defecate in their bowls and it can get nasty quick! The only other necessary cage furnishing is a small dish or lid that contains a tablespoon or so of calcium supplement, because leopard geckos will regulate their calcium intake on their own if it is present in this fashion. The most important consideration in vivarium construction however is substrate. Young leos can become impacted extremely quickly on a substrate of sand or bark which can result in death most of the time. A good substrate to use is actually paper towels, and we suggest that this be the only substrate used for geckos under 6 months of age. With adult geckos we’ve found that the most aesthetically pleasing, safe substrate to use is the calcium sand that several different companies make. It is a little more digestible than regular sandbox sand, and we haven’t had any problems with impaction on this substrate. The only other cage furnishing we suggest is a “humid hide” that the leos can use when they are shedding or just feel that they need a little more humidity. This can be constructed easily by taking an empty butter dish and cutting a hole in the side. Fill the hid with a good layer of sphagnum moss and keep it damp. Other than these essentials, leopard gecko cages can be quite fun to decorate and should be changed around every so often to help stimulate healthy exploration as they are extremely curious animals.
Lighting: Unlike a lot of lizards, there are no signs that leopard geckos need UVB light, but these lights do allow for live plants to be placed in vivariums and the presence of UVB light may have some benefits to your leo’s health. A 10-12 hour light period during the day can be beneficial as well.
Temperature & Humidity: Ideal temperatures for leopard geckos should stay between 82-88 degrees with a basking spot on one side of the tank for digestion and other processes requiring more heat. I would suggest under tank heating source (NEVER USE A HEAT ROCK!) that is regulated by a thermostat or rheostat as opposed to lamps, but lamps can be used as well. Since these are primarily desert dwelling geckos, they do not need a high humidity but a “humid hide” can go a long way towards proper shedding. The ambient humidity can be kept at around 40% if a humid hide is provided, but since leopard geckos regularly drink from the stagnant water on rocks I would suggest a weekly spraying on rocks to ensure they are drinking. Provide a water bowl and clean water as well as they will regularly drink from a provided water source.
Feeding: Leopard geckos seem to do best when they have a relatively well rounded diet consisting of different insects of the proper size. A good feeding regiment for leopard geckos is as follows: 5-20 insects, once a day for juveniles; and 2-10 insects every two days for adults. A good staple diet should consist of crickets and mealworms that do not exceed a length equal to the width of the gecko’s head, and these should be supplemented with wax worms and silk worms once a week to once every two weeks. I suggest that you only feed 1 or 2 wax worms at a time as they are very high in fat content and overfeeding on these can be harmful to your gecko’s nutrition. Diets should also be supplemented with a calcium supplement that contains vitamin D3 (the same supplement that is offered in your in-cage dish). Repti-Cal® is the brand that we tend to use, but we have used many different types and never had a problem with any of them. The food items should be dusted once a week with the supplement for adults, and once every two feedings for juveniles and hatchlings. Make sure you only offer as much food as the gecko will eat in a single feeding to keep insects form chewing on your gecko and causing infection. Make sure your gecko is eating what it wants and that it doesn’t get overweight because only a few grams overweight in an animal this small can be very detrimental to your gecko’s health in the long run.
Sexing: Sexing leopard geckos is actually rather difficult to do, and cannot be accurately done until the gecko is at least 5 months old. The best way to sex these little lizards is by looking at the underside of the gecko where the tail meets the cloaca. In this area there are normally bulges present as well as 5 or 6 pores that are easily visible in males, where there are none present in females. This is truly the only assured way to sex your gecko and it is easiest to see a known male first in order to truly know what you’re looking for.
Breeding: There really is no trick to breeding this simple species. Leopard geckos have been bred year after year with little to no brumation period necessary. They don’t require a true temperature drop, nor do they require a change in photoperiod. The small temperature change that will most likely occur in any American home during the winter is normally enough to stimulate breeding during February and continue into July and August. During these times you’ll see the male courting the females by biting the on the tail and neck and flicking his tail to stimulate her by releasing pheromones. If she is receptive, she’ll lift her tails and you’ll see him mount her by sliding his tail under hers and wrapping himself around her. Eggs can be seen developing shortly after and most often come in clutches of 2. They can be seen through the skin as oblong shaped white spots in her belly surrounded by pink vascular systems that are nourishing the eggs. When this can be seen it is normally a good idea to provide a good laying area, which can normally be a setup much like the humid hide described earlier in the caresheet. After she has laid it is good to pull bag the sphagnum moss and remove the eggs so that other females can utilize the same spot, and the egg can be incubated at the desired temperature. Temperature during incubation can be very important in creating the desired sex. Eggs should be incubated between 79-85F with females being produced at the lower side of the temperature range and males being produced at the higher end of the range. A good incubation chamber should allow for multiple clutches of eggs, be regulated by a quality thermostat, monitored by a good temp/hydrometer gauge, and have enough air circulation so that the air does not get stagnant but moisture is not allowed to escape at an unhealthy rate. There are many commercially available incubators that work perfectly, and homemade incubators can work very well too. The incubation medium can be sphagnum moss, vermiculite (preferred), or Hatchrite®. I prefer vermiculite and water should be added to the point where it clumps together, but no access water can be squeezed out. Water can always be added later, but too much moisture will ruin the eggs very quickly. A good size container to keep the eggs in is a shoebox style container with a few holes in the lid for air circulation. The biggest thing to remember is humidity! Humidity is vital and the humidity level of the incubation medium should be easily checked and checked often. If mold is seen on the eggs then humidity should be lowered, and if the eggs appear dry or dented in humidity should be added. In 6-12 weeks you should see your new babies pipping, with the eggs incubated at the higher temperature hatching first.
Care of Young: Young leopard geckos are relatively easy to care for. They should be separated immediately and placed into separate “shoe-box” style containers that are available for most commercial breeder racks. All the gecko really needs is a paper towel substrate with a hide and a shallow water bowl. Neonates should generally be kept at a higher humidity than adults and will do well with a misting 2-3 times weekly. They should be fed daily with 5-20 appropriately sized insects. Smaller insects are generally better for neonates because they are easier to digest and tend to be higher quality in nutritional value. Other than that, keeping is relatively straight forward and you should be able to enjoy your newly born leopard geckos!
In summary, leopard geckos are absolutely wonderful little pets for the entire family. They are completely harmless to human beings and are docile in nature, so they can be perfect for an introductory reptile to small children. They also come in such amazing varieties that even the most skilled of herpetoculturalists can find joy in keeping leos. Their individual personalities never cease to amuse keepers, and I’ve found myself watching these funny little geckos for hours on end. I hope that this caresheet has helped you learn more about the care of leopard geckos, and persuaded you to keep them in your collection sometime in the future.