Leopard Geckos

Leopard geckos make lively pets for beginner lizard-owners, boasting a docile and easy-going nature with plenty of personality. Regular handling will ensure that your Leopard Gecko enjoys your company, but when you’re not around they will be perfectly happy on their own. As nocturnal creatures, they’ll snooze most of the daylight hours away but they’ll come out to play as soon as the sun goes down.

Leopard Geckos

Overview

  • Behaviour: Crepuscular
  • Diet: Insects
  • Ease of care: Beginner
  • Handling: Beginner
  • Humidity: 20% to 40%
  • Life span: Upwards of 15 years
  • Origin: Middle East
  • Potential adult size: 7 to 9.5 inches
  • Scientific name: Eublepharis macularius
Download Care Sheet

Top Tips

  • House your adult Leopard Gecko in its own vivarium

  • Mix up your Leopard Gecko’s diet to prevent boredom and create a balanced diet.

  • Spot clean using a sand scoop

  • Create a damp hidey-hole for a humidity boost and a place to shed its skin

Housing

Your Leopard Gecko will be most at home in a vivarium, an enclosure that you can adapt to imitate its natural habitat. To help you get started, you can use a HabiStat Leopard Gecko Accessory Kit, which will give you all the light, heat and safety elements you need to make your lizard feel right at home.


In the wild, Leopard Geckos live in desert areas, so you will need to heat your vivarium. This temperature should be 20-24℃ (68-75℉) during the day to keep your lizard warm, dropping to 18-23℃ (68-74℉) at night-time. Your lizard will also need a hot spot to bask in at one side of your vivarium, which should be 30-32℃ (86-90℉). To do this, you will need a heat bulb that runs through a dimming thermostat. A dimming thermostat will help you to control the temperature, which you will need to check regularly to ensure that your lizard does not overheat or get too cold.


Your Leopard Gecko will appreciate a darker, damper area to hide in too. You can put this area in the middle of your vivarium. This will give your gecko a boost of humidity that will help it when its skin sheds. A moss hide will be ideal for this.


Your Leopard Gecko will also need plenty of light. You can fix lighting such as an Arcadia Pro T5 ShadeDweller UVB Kit to the inside roof of your vivarium. Make sure you read the instructions that come with the lighting to ensure it has been set up properly.


To keep your lizard feeling cosy, you’ll need to decorate your vivarium. Line the bottom with bedding, and then add in some cork, tea tree or grapevine branches for some shelter. You can also add in live or fake plants to make your vivarium really eye-catching!

Care

Vivariums will need to be checked regularly and kept clean. It’s a good idea to give your Gecko fresh water, do a spot clean and check your vivarium’s vents to make sure they aren’t blocked every day. Once a week, set aside some time to clean the water bowl and wipe down the glass and walls with a reptile-safe disinfectant. This is also a good time to take out any dirty bedding and give the rest a bit of a shake-up to prevent nasty bacteria building up. You’ll need to do a deeper clean once a month, removing all of the old bedding and wiping down the whole vivarium and any decorations with a safe disinfectant. Once this is done, you can put in some nice fresh bedding for your pet.

Equipment Needed

Diet

Your Leopard Gecko will enjoy a varied and interesting diet, so you’ll need to feed it a mix of insects.
Leopard Geckos particularly like to see crickets, locusts and roaches on the menu!
To keep your lizard healthy, it’s also important to give them some calcium and multivitamin supplements, such as Arcadia Earth Pro-A and Arcadia Earth Pro Calcium Mg. Follow the instructions on the packets so you know how much to give your gecko.

Additional Information


Remember: always wash your hands, equipment and surfaces immediately after cleaning your vivarium or handling or feeding your Leopard Gecko.
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