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Leopard geckos, or commonly nick-named leos, (Eublepharis macularius) are one of the most popular lizard pets, second only to the bearded dragon. They are possibly the first recorded domesticated lizard species! Leopard geckos are one the best beginner reptiles to own. They are relatively easy to care for and if properly cared for, can even live up to 25 years!

Background:

Leopard geckos are a ground-dwelling lizard native to the rocky dry grassland and desert regions of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Leopard geckos are nocturnal. 

During the day they retreat to burrows and sheltered hiding spots, becoming most active at dusk. At night, leopard geckos get their heat from rocks, which retain the warmth of the sun for several hours after sun set. 

Leopard geckos do not require a lot of enclosure maintenance, but you should still give their environment a lot of attention. They are generally docile and easy to tame. Unlike most geckos, Leopard geckos do not have sticky toe pads and have eyelids! They are not prone to biting and are usually slow-moving, docile animals.

Leopard geckos can be very vocal, creating “barking/squeak/chirp” sounds when feeling threatened or hungry. They will tolerate a certain amount of contact, but be sure to keep handling for about 30 minutes a day. 

Leos use their tails to communicate. Tail waving, a slow back and forth motion, is a sign that your leopard gecko feels threatened and is about to strike to bite. Understanding leopard gecko behavior is important when socializing your animal so you can limit the amount of stress your gecko friend is under. Tail rattling, similar to rattle snakes but not dangerous, usually means your gecko is excited to eat or mate!

Sadly, like a lot of other lizards, leopard geckos are known to self-amputate their tails as a defense mechanism. Their tails can grow back after amputating, however, they will never look the same again. Be sure to feed your gecko more vitamins, minerals, and food when this happens, as most of the nutrients they consume is stored in their tail. 

Diet:

Leopard geckos are insectivores (meaning they ONLY eat insects) and will accept only live insects in almost all cases. IMPORTANT: Leopard Geckos NEED Multivitamin powder and Calcium w/D3 on their meals. Vitamins and minerals should be given on a specific schedule (see below). DO NOT feed wild caught insects to your gecko. Parasites could live in those insects and eventually cause your pet to be ill.

Since leopard geckos are crepuscular, the best time to feed your gecko is in the morning or evening. You should only ever feed the amount of insects that your leopard gecko can consume in 10-15 minutes. DO NOT let the insects roam loose in the enclosure as they can and WILL bite and start to eat your gecko. 

Fresh water should constantly be provided for your gecko in a small shallow dish. Leopard geckos are not great swimmers, so in order to prevent drowning, provide a shallow water dish that is not big enough for the gecko to enter. 

MUST Staple Insects:

• Mealworms
  • Perfect as an all time feeder
• Roaches
  • Size small to medium. Nutritionally dense!
• Black Soldier Fly Larvae
  • The best for calcium and phosphate- nutritionally dense!
• Crickets
  • Not our favorite since they smell and make loud noises, but do offer great nutrition!

Treat Feeders (Do not feed more than 2x a week):

• Waxworms
  • Similar to our fatty treat! Not a ton of nutrition
• Silkworms
  • Great amount of fluids and vitamins
• Hornworms
  • The candy of the herp world! Tons of fluids, not a ton of nutrition

Where to Buy Feeder Insects:

• Dubia.com
• Tastycritters.com
• Rainbowmealworms.com

Dusting Insects with Vitamins & Minerals:

Dusting involves “dipping” the insect into calcium & multivitamin powder right before it’s fed to your pet. Follow these steps to dust your insects:

1. Find a plastic or glass box with a lid
2. Pour some vitamin powder in the box
3. Put the insect’s inside
4. Close the lid
5. Shake the box or bag with up-down and left-right motions
6. Take the insects out and put them on the gecko’s feeding bowl 

As the gecko eats the insects, it will also ingest the vitamins and minerals. As long as you perform this action, there will be no need to “gut-load”, or the method in which you feed insects with nutrients and supplements before giving them to your gecko. 

The amount of supplementation is different based on the age of the leopard gecko. 

Supplementation & Feeding Schedule:

Baby Leopard Geckos (0-4 Months Old):

Feed every day

Calcium & Vitamin D3: 3x per week

Multivitamin: 1x per week

Juvenile Leopard Geckos (5-18 Months Old):

Feed every day

Calcium & Vitamin D3: 2x per week

Multivitamin: 1x per week

MALE Adult Leopard Geckos (1-2 Years Old+):

Feed every other day

Calcium & Vitamin D3: 2x per week

Multivitamin: 1x per week

FEMALE Adult Leopard Geckos (1-2 Years Old+):

Feed Every other day

Calcium & Vitamin D3: 3x per week

Multivitamin: 1x per week

We recommend these products:

Repashy Calcium Plus

Repashy Vitamin A Plus

Heating & Lighting:

Leopard geckos do very well with UVB added to their enclosure. UVB bulbs (Specifically T5 UVB 5.0 Lamp Bulbs) have been proven to encourage calcium levels to remain even and should be added on their enclosure on a 12 hours on, 12 hours off cycle. You can achieve this by plugging in any light fixture to a smart outlet or remembering to shut off the light manually yourself.

Like in the wild, leopard geckos absorb heat through their bellies; which also helps them digest their food. To achieve the perfect temperature, provide an under tank heater (UTH) on one side of the tank to replicate a warm stone in the wild. 

Every enclosure needs to work like an ecosystem. You have three temperatures to keep in the tank; the warm side, cool side, and ambient temperature.

Warm Side: 90-94°F 

Cool Side: 70-80°F

Ambient Temp: 70-80°F

To measure these temperatures, I would highly suggest purchasing an infrared temperature gun and for the ambient temperature, using a thermometer.

Humidity & Shedding:

Leopard geckos require an ambient humidity level of 30-40%. Anything higher than this could cause respiratory infections while anything lower could cause issues with shedding.

It is necessary to provide a humid/moist hide (which is a plastic container with holes poked into it for air flow, a hold for the gecko to climb in on the lid, and paper towels on the bottom with warm water wetting the towel just enough to create a humid container (see image).

Keep in mind that geckos can be secretive when shedding. This is because shedding is a vulnerable process for a gecko. Be sure to give your gecko space during this time and ensure their humid hide has what it needs in order to function for the gecko.

Don’t be worried if you notice your leopard gecko eating their shed. Leos eat their shed for nutrients! Geckos shed as they grow, so there is no set amount of times a gecko will shed. It just depends on the gecko. 

If you notice your gecko has problems shedding or signs of stuck shed, please refer to our file regarding “Removing Stuck Shed”. 

Housing:

The Enclosure:

A 40-gallon front opening breeder tank is the minimum size for one leopard gecko, but a larger tank (like this one) is preferable. Old fish tanks that cannot hold water anymore make great enclosures for leopard geckos, however, be sure to only get a tank with a lot of horizontal surface since leopard geckos cannot climb vertically. 

Please DO NOT cohabitate geckos together, including males and females. You do not want gecko babies and the mating process is stressful for them. Like most reptiles, leopard geckos are solitary animals and do not feel lonely or desire the company of other lizards other than for the sole purpose of mating.

Inside the Enclosure:

Provide up to 3 different hides for your leopard gecko. Commercial reptile caves, half logs, cardboard boxes, paper towel tubes, stacked rocks, and other hides are perfect for them. 

As discussed in Humidity & Shedding, it will also be important to add the humid hide somewhere in all the other hides. Your food bowl and shallow water dish should be somewhere on the cool side of the tank.

Solid Substrate Options:

Paper towels, kitchen liners, and tiles make amazing substrates for leopard geckos. Bioactive enclosures make beautiful display enclosures, while adding a naturalistic enrichment for the leopard gecko.

Pros For Solid Substrate:

• Easy to clean and sterilize
• Quarantine or hospital enclosure friendly
• Reduce the risk of impaction related to ingesting loose substrate*
• Lower initial cost
• Less heavy for enclosures that cannot support a heavy load

Cons For Solid Substrate:

• Doesn’t provide natural digging
• Some options may be slick or not allow for proper grip
• Potential for some options to be hard on limbs and joints over prolonged use, especially if other textures are not offered

Loose Substrate Options:

• Commercially available arid substrate mixes (Arid ABG mix)
• Topsoil/sand mix
• Super-fine quartz sand / Washed play sand
• Excavator clay
• Natural collected desert soils (such as Exoterra Stone Desert or Jurassic Natural Desert Sand; both naturally collected, commercially available desert soils)

Pros For Loose Substrate:

• Provides for natural digging and burrowing opportunities
• Bioactive compatible
• Less maintenance to keep clean if bioactive

Cons For Loose Substrate:

• Higher initial cost to adequately fill a large terrarium
• Impaction risk – Many studies have been done and it has been determined that the loose substrate alone does not cause impaction, but multiple factors along with the use of loose substrate including:
  • Incorrect loose substrate material (calcium sand, large materials like stones, gravel, or large chip mulch)
  • Dehydration
  • Improper diet and/or supplementation
  • Low basking temperatures
  • High parasite load in the gut
  • Metabolic bone disease or other ailments that may hinder proper digestion

*Disclaimer: An animal kept improperly can become impacted without the presence of loose substrate. A healthy, properly kept animal should easily pass small amounts of ingested substrate material, such as getting dirt in their mouth when trying to catch a bug or getting soil in their mouth while digging a burrow.

Cleaning:

Leopard geckos are very simple to clean up after! Fun Fact: Like cats, leopard geckos tend to defecate in the same spot of their tank every time! It will be important to spot clean your leopard gecko’s enclosure and change your substrate once a week.

Common Illnesses:

Leopard geckos are prone to some illnesses. It is important that you know your nearest exotic vet in case your leopard gecko ever shows signs of illness.

• Parasites
  • Oxyurids (pinworms) are frequently found in small numbers on fecal examinations of leopard geckos and are rarely overtly pathogenic. They should only be treated if clinical signs are present or if high numbers are present
    
    Signs include: diarrhea, weight loss, anorexia, and reduced growth. It should be noted that oxyurid number increases may be an indication of concurrent health problems. Please visit your local exotic vet for treatment.
    
• Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD)/Nutritional Secondary Hyperparathyroidism
  • MBD is a frequently seen problem in many captive reptiles. Failure to provide the right requirements for appropriate calcium metabolism leads to demineralization of the bones.
    
    MBD is a common pathology in leopard geckos as they are frequently kept without UVB lighting, vitamin and calcium supplementation, or appropriate heating.
    
    Geckos present with pathological fractures like: twisted or bent looking bones, inability to feed due to mandibular softening and pain, neurological symptoms, or chronic wasting should be seen by an exotic vet IMMEDIATELY.
    
    Sadly, advanced cases of leopard geckos should be euthanized due to the permanent damage to the bones, compromised feeding and mobility, and the decrease in quality of life.
    
• Dysecdysis (Difficulty Shedding)
  • The failure to shed normally is a common problem in leopard geckos. Juveniles shed frequently, up to every 10 days during rapid growth phases, and adults typically shed every six to eight weeks. Fluid is secreted between the old and new skin to encourage separation of the old skin. The shed skin should be removed in large pieces over a short period of time (one to two hours) and most will be eaten by the gecko.
    
    When dysecdysis occurs, shed skin tends to be retained on the toes, with skin drying, shrinking, and constricting, leading to avascular necrosis and loss of toes if untreated. Treatment involved removal of retained skin by soaking the affected area in warm water and gently teasing loose fragments away with a damp cotton bud.
    
    Dysecdysis can affect the eyes as well by leading to conjunctivitis and keratitis and predisposition to secondary bacterial or fungal infections. When Dysecdysis gets this bad, please refer to your local exotic vet for treatment.
    
• Hypovitaminosis A (Vitamin A Deficiency)
  • Vitamin A deficiency is common in captive leopard geckos due to the fact that they are insectivores. Crickets are unable to store vitamin A hepatically; geckos living on a non-gutloaded or non-dusted diet of crickets will invariably develop clinical or subclinical hypovitaminosis A. If you believe your gecko is struggling with Vitamin A deficiency, please visit your local exotic vet.
    
• Hemipenes Infections (Penis Infections in Males)
  • Poor hygiene, trauma from non receptive females, and Vitamin A deficiency can lead to hemipene infections. These can develop abscess with a swollen tail base, lethargy, anorexia, and straining. Visit your local exotic vet for care.
    
    In some cases, with older male geckos, Kidney failure can mimic Vitamin A deficiency. If your gecko is above the age of 16 and is showing signs of Hemipene infection, please visit your local exotic vet.
    
• Egg Binding (Eggs Stuck Inside the Females)
  • Retention of formed eggs due to failure of an appropriate nesting site, or inability of the oviduct to contract due to calcium deficiency is more common in female leopard geckos. Geckos will often present with distended coelom, indiscriminate digging, straining, or lethargy. The large eggs are often clearly visible through the ventral coelomic wall.
    
    Inability to pass eggs may result in an ovariectomy. Please see your local exotic vet if you suspect egg impaction or binding in your leopard gecko.
    
• Autotomy (Tail Dropping)
  • Leopard geckos are able to auto amputate their tails when threatened. The vertebrae have lines of weakness that cleave with intense muscular contractions causing the tail to separate from the body. The ongoing muscular contractions cause the dropped tail to separate from the body. The ongoing muscular contractions cause the dropped tail to continue to twitch, thus distracting the “predator” and allowing the gecko to escape.
    
    Tail dropping can be stimulated by rough handling, particularly of the tail, acute stress or trauma from unsafe tank décor or tank mates. The remaining stump will bleed very little but appears as an open wound.
    The gecko should be moved to paper towels as a substrate to help keep the wound clean. The feeding of crickets should be avoided as it may cause further trauma to the open wound. As the gecko has lost its store of energy and fluid, the gecko should be fed daily to prevent tissue catabolism.