Thanks for all the advice. I went shopping around today and ended up going for a standard 15 gallon glass tank. It's a good 24"x12"x12", so I think should be a good size and the price wasn't bad. Also picked up an actual under tank heater, and plastic dry hide, a fake plant for decoration, a food dish, water dish, and a digital thermometer with a probe and a cheaper hygrometer. Since I am just going to use paper towels for a substrate for now, and make my own humid hide, it should be enough to get it set up and provide the necessities of life for the gecko when I go pick it up in a few days after his/her home is all set up and regulated. I figured since it was my first time owning a reptile I would be better off with more standard equipment than trying to make my own tank and use a human heating pad. This way I can worry about my pet and not his home as much, even if it cost me more money than I had hoped. The tank has no top atm, but buying a screen top from the store was almost as much as the tank, so I think I am just going to make one from mesh and pieces of wood from a hardware store.

I'll make sure to take some pics when I have him/her settled in

Thanks again for all the advice so far, this is such a great little resource here!

Here's an article on making screen tops. It may help you get an idea of how to go about it. Or if it doesn't help with what you need than it might be good for later on down the line if you decide to do something like it for something else.

Custom Enclosure Screen Tops - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database

Good to hear you're getting everything before the leo. That way his/her home can be set up and have the correct temps before he/she comes home.

Just remember, give your leo about a week to settle in and let him adjust to his new surroundings. Don't handle him or go in his enclosure a lot for that week, it'll just stress him out more. Also, don't be surprised if he won't eat for the first week or so. After he's adjusted, he'll eat when he's good and ready. He'll be too concerned figuring out new things.

Good luck!

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Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
http://niksscalesandtails.com/



yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot (RIP) and Bear

I got my gecko today! I don't know if it's a he or a she yet, I forgot to ask and I think it'll be awhile before I can pick it up to check. It was quite feisty when being caught at the store, apparently it's a bit of a biter, at least with scary people disrupting it's sleep and trying to catch it
My undertank heater unfortunately didn't work so I swapped it for a ceramic heater. I went with a 60W ceramic bulb, and it's only getting the tank to 86 degrees. I'm going to try and go soon and swap it out for a 100W bulb and a dimmer switch as it would be better if it were a bit warmer, but it should do ok for a couple days I think.

Anyway, as promised, here are some pics of my new friend (still nameless until sex is figured out)!


he/she wouldn't come out of the box it came in for a few hours, was probably a little scared and sleepy.

its whole enclosure, I've since adjusted heating/lighting so it's warmer, but still a little cooler than I would like.

finally, venturing out for the first time. I took this pic from my desk chair. It was watching me as it ventured out.

coming over for a closer look at my desk below and the outside world

It's since spent most of its time hanging out around the fake plant or climbing on top of its dry hide, though its now checking out the inside.

Its very curious, I am so far very much enjoying it and look forward to being able to handle it!
Its even already started eating! I wasn't expecting it to eat for a few days based on what I read, but already eaten a few super worms. The store was unfortunately sold out of mealworms until Friday, so I had to buy some superworms. I was concerned about the size of the worms, since they are a good 4ish cm long, and the gecko is still young, only a few months old. I cut the worms in half and fed him the still living head half. As long as I dropped them into the hide where he was, he happily chowed down on them before they died. Is this a good idea to continue until I get my mealworms, or am I being a nervous parent and he's fine eating whole superworms?

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice!

He's a real looker.

The basic rule of thumb is that you should never feed anything larger than the space between his eyes.

I use the same containers for my moist hides, I found that they got a lot more use when they were covered so they stayed dark inside, like a burrow. I just used electrical tape to block the light.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Very pretty gecko. Looking forward to more pics after he/she settles in.

__________________
Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
http://niksscalesandtails.com/



yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot (RIP) and Bear

I just thought I'd bump this thread a little with some updating pics of Arthas, his name after I determined he was in fact a he.



I couldn't resist buying him this fake stick thing when I saw it. This was him checking it out for the first time. he's never climbed out of that hole that I have seen since though. The tunnel he's in also leads to another one below and behind, he likes to hang out in that one

He's actually gotten pretty good about being handled


He's been great. He eats happily every 2-3 days when I give him mealworms. He sometimes gets all excited when he sees me come to the tank with the baggy I use to dust them with his vitamin powder.
I did take the advice and covered his moist hide with duct tape and he really likes it now, he spends a lot of the days in it now.
I've also never ever seen him shed, or any evidence of it. He doesn't have exactly vibrant colours as he's pretty much solid yellow except for his pale pink tail, so I figure it could be easily missed and he just sheds at night and eats it and I never even know!

He's even quickly become pretty good with being handled. I bring him out for a few minutes sometimes and let him climb around on me and my bed. He likes to climb up my arm onto my shoulder. I've very gentle with him though once I let him wander around my desk and he fell off the back! I was so scared he hurt himself, but when I was finally able to coax him out he was fine and uninjured.

Overall he's a happy little guy! I just wanted to thank everyone here for the wonderful advice on him.

EDIT: Of course the day after I talk about never seeing him shed I hear some unusual noises and find him shedding in one of his hides. It was actually quite fascinating to watch, what I could see that is (didn't want to disturb him). Luckily even his shedding goes well!

good to hear he's getting on well! i love the pinky tail

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He's beautiful! How much did you pick him up for?

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Gerp, Gerp, Gerp.

He was $70 Canadian at a local pet store. Pretty much all of the other stores in the area were 60-70 for Leopard Geckos, but the one I got him from had a few different morphs and ranged from $50-70.

I knew I picked the right one when the clerk was trying to fish him out and said "Oh he's probably gonna bite me!", I like em fiesty Thankfully he's only bit me twice, once the first time I let him run around my bed and was catching him to put him in his tank again, and the second time he missed the cricket I was holding, lol, I can't blame him for that one!

He's a little extra shy and cautious lately as I just moved houses on Saturday. I only moved a block so I didn't even take him out of his tank to bring him over, just covered the tank in a sheet and carried it all over at once. So he's mildly traumatized, but he still got super excited last night when he saw me pulling out mealworms He's never had trouble eating

Hahaha, sounds great!!! I've never really heard of a leo biting hahaha, that's funny. It doesn't seem like it would hurt though.

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Gerp, Gerp, Gerp.