(Part 2) Best products from r/leopardgeckos

EDIT: Reptiles by mack has questionable feedback, ignore my recommendation for them!

We had a similar kind of problem with our very first gecko, but not as extreme. We'd only had him for a week and since day 1 he'd been acting like he had parasites (regurgitating constantly, not pooping at all, no drinking, etc), so we thought about it for a long time and eventually decided to return him (back to petco). It didn't feel good to send him back, but you'll feel a lot better once you have a healthy and happy gecko. The difference between our first gecko and our current little guy (who's from a breeder) is astounding, behavior-wise and overall wellness.

If you're worried about potential diseases or parasites being transmitted to the new gecko then definitely disinfect/sanitize the cage and its furniture with a reptile safe cleaner. I picked up some stuff called Nolvasan from our local herp shop and apparently it's on Amazon too! http://www.amazon.com/Fort-Dodge-104032-Nolvasan-Disinfectant/dp/B00061MT1Q I'd recommend it. It seems to have a good background and is safe for the animals of course. We disinfected our entire cage after having our first possibly infected gecko and it was easy. I was told that it's fine for killing parasites that may have been around but there are mixed reviews online. It certainly kills any bacteria, fungi, and viruses, so I think you'd be fine. Bleach is a bit much but that'll definitely kill ANYTHING in there.

Personally, if a breeder mislabeled their geckos age AND sent me a sickly one then I wouldn't offer them my business again. I'd return the gecko and search for a different breeder. Of course it could've been a fluke but I still would search elsewhere.
I recommend Reptiles by Mack http://www.reptilesbymack.com/leopard-geckos.aspx and Snakesatsunset http://www.snakesatsunset.com/leopard-geckos-for-sale/ . We got ours from Reptiles by Mack and he arrived very healthy, albeit a bit skittish (but babies are generally like that anyway), and he ate the same night. They've got a HUGE variety of morphs, which was nice! Snakesatsunset has great reviews and I really like that they're not a huge operation. You'd get a quality gecko from them, I believe.

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to send Haku back :( In my opinion, you should just get a refund and get your new gecko from a different breeder. It'd be nice to disinfect the cage too in case Haku had anything. I look forward to seeing updates!

It is urgent that you introduce calcium the day you get the gecko. It will help with a lot. Watch these videos for help with supplements. You need at least a 20-30 gallon tank for your Leo. If you have a new Leo, it is best to put paper towel down and use that for about a month. You should replace the paper towel daily or every other day. A mesh lid is fine but I think it is important that you use a uvb light. You will need a heat mat that covers at least half or more than half of the tank. If you need any help beyond this, look at the leopard gecko YouTube channel. She is very helpful and she has covered almost every aspect of taking care of Leo’s. Now onto food, I feed my Leo’s only crickets every three days. Every fourth feed you will want to feed you leo a multivitamin such as herptivite. If you need any other suggestions, please, please dm me for advice.

Leos enjoy small spaces, but not TOO small. They are flexible but probably don’t want to cram themselves into something if they don’t have to. Every gecko is different tho.

If you want store bought hides my guys seem to particularly love the different sizes of Exo Terra Gecko Caves. For their warm hides I put them in without the bottoms and they seem to like resting their heads on the openings.

But in reality any space that is dark will work. They just want to feel secure.

They will lay outside their hides at times. I take it as a sign they are comfortable with their environment. One of mine particularly likes laying at the back of his tank under one of his plants.

Sounds like you've done your research :)

I also don't recommend the kit, as the lamp and water conditioner is unnecessary, and repti sand is way more dangerous than regular sand. I would definitely just stick to paper towel or repti carpet as a beginner!

Make sure to gut load the mealworms before feeding them to the gecko, I recommend this one: https://www.amazon.com/R-Zilla-SRZ100011598-Cricket-Insect-4-Ounce/dp/B004LO7MO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1474434387&sr=1-1&keywords=insect+gut+load. As far as supplements go, it's best to dust feeder insects with calcium + d3 powder twice weekly, and to leave a dish of plain calcium powder (no d3) in the cage.

If you have any reptile expos happening nearby you soon, those are my preference for buying animals! I'm hitting the Sacramento Reptile Expo next weekend, thinking about getting a blue tongued skink. In general, just make sure your animal is active and bright-eyed with a fat tail. And older is better, brand new babies can ail and die very quickly!

Good luck and let us know if you have more questions!

Depending on the time of year you could make such a better setup yourself for a either a little cheaper or more or less the same price. Here's a little shopping list, some points have reasons by them.

• PetCo's 20 Gal Long Aquarium
  
  • During certain times of year you'll be able to get this in a sale called the Dollar Per Gallon sale. It'll be worth-while to DM them on Twitter and ask when it'll become available for your state.
    
  • Price: $39.99 + $13.00 for the lid. Sale Price: $20.00 + $13.00 for the lid. --- $33.00
    
• 11"x11" UTH/Heat Mat.
  
  • A heat pad is crucial piece of your enclosure as it'll make it super easy for your little friend to get his stomach to the necessary temperature to digest food - (90F). for $10.00 this seems like an adequate purchase.
    
  • Price: $9.56
    
• Thermostat
  
  • A thermostat is mandatory. You will need one whether you go down the light route or the heat-mat route. You'll use the probe on this device to stop the heat mat from exceeding 90F as much higher may cause significant burns.
    
  • Price: $16.59
    
• 3 Hides. Cool Hide | Humid Hide | Hot Hide
  
  • 3 Hides is the recommended minimum. Humid hide should be half-on the heating pad in order to raise humidity. This is easily achievable with a 20 gal-long... much harder with a 10 gal.
    
  • Price: $30-50
    
• Supplements -> Multivitamin | Calcium + D3
  
  • These two supplements are mandatory. Both will last you atleast half of the reptiles life time. I ordered 500g of Calcium powder to be used between my three Geckos and I've not even touched the surface in 3 years.
    
  • Price: $25.00
    
    Decor/Plants/Bowls can be added if and when necessary. Substrate can be of your choice, as this is your sons reptile I'd avoid the loose-route for now. This brings our grand total to, roughly, $114.59 - Preshipping at the cheapest route. You can knock a few dollars off of this if you manage to find some cheaper hides and cheaper supplements. Since I'm in the UK I couldn't find the products that I'd normally use as supplements, ours are a lot cheaper - seemingly.
    
    ​
    
    If you need any more help/advice you're more than welcome to reply or PM me.

If you can't find someone to watch him for you, I recommend putting a good amount of mealies and using one of these for water. The Large one was more than enough for my vacation, which was a little longer than yours. Obviously finding a sitter is better, but this isn't going to hurt the gecko in any way. Good luck and have fun on vacation!

This stuff? https://www.amazon.ca/Calcium-Plus-6oz/dp/B00K6ZDF4W/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549712544&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=repashy+leopard+gecko

Just so I understand, you use this for every feeding non-stop? Like, no days with non-dusted insects? I've dropped like ~$40 on supplements thus far but this would totally be worth it just for the peace of mind xD

Juanita took a few days to adjust before she would eat. She lounged around in her hides until she got used to the enclosure, on day 3, she ate one mealworm, it took a week for her to eat 8 at a time (she was somewhere between hatchling and juvenile).

When the time came, I found it easiest to release one mealworm at a time within eyeshot, and when she noticed it, she'd hunt it down. She still prefers to eat that way, but now it's about 15-17 mealworms at a time.

TL;DR: Just give your leo some time to get used to being there. Try allowing releasing one at a time instead of a bowl.

Edit: read the rest of your post. There are more expensive probes for monitoring floor temp, there are also infrared pointer thermometers at most pet stores. I just use 3 classic thermometers with the little clock hand. I combine a UTH and a 60w infrared bulb at night and a daylight blue bulb during the day though to get the ambient temp right and to keep the substrate warmer.

As for crickets, they're only occasional for Juanita. She loves hunting them, but I have to take her hides as well as the waterbowl (they'll drown) out and I'll only go one at a time to make sure they don't find their way into crevices in the substrate. Don't leave them in there, they'll bite your leo in his sleep and stress him out. As for gutloading, I use [these] (http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Zone-SNZ54512-Cricket-24-Ounce/dp/B002GCHENG) for all of my insects. You can get this stuff in little packets at petco for like 2.50, and they last over a month for me.

We actually only have one of these at the moment. We bought the tank and accessories off someone on craigslist and at the time thought it was adequate. I'll be stopping by petco later today to pick up a thermometer that can read the belly temp. She does have an UTH that feels nice and warm to me but definitely going to get that thermometer just to be sure. Thanks for the advice!

Woke up this morning to find that she'd pooped a niiiice big log, although she still wouldn't eat more than one worm. Maybe she's too sleepy. I'm definitely less worried now though.

Once you have a under tank heater, it will probably be warm enough that you won't need the lamp. I'd also get a thermostat, in my experience heat pads will be 10-20 degrees above where I want them depending on what substrate I'm using (With slate tile it's 95 on full blast, with paper towels/news paper it will get up to 110). You could also just use a lamp dimmer from Lowes/Home Depot attached to the UTH.

Lamps will raise the ambient temperatures more and UTHs will directly heat the ground, which is what leos need, so they're always the best choice. You'll want to get a reliable thermometer that measures ground heat. So, a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun. Temp guns are great and can be bought at home improvement stores (but they're cheaper online). The warm side should be around 90 and the cool side should be around 75.

Do you know their sexes? Leos can only be housed together if they're both females and very similar in size. Males will fight and males with females can breed and/or fight. Even if they are both females, I'd be very careful. Bullying can happen even with females, and sometimes it's hard to see the signs because reptiles' social cues are way different than humans. They really always do best when housed alone. If you do choose to house them together, I'd double your hides. Two cool hides, two warm hides. The more hides there are, the less chance of fighting there is.

edit: forgot to say, yes that UTH should be fine. A rule of thumb is that it should cover about a third of the bottom of the tank.

Yes. A thermostat is very important to maintain the appropriate temperature range. Heat mats can get very hot, too hot for your gecko. But a thermostat will keep it just perfect for your little friend.

My favorite thermostat is this Inkbird one from amazon.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01N1EOR0K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_P.7uCbXYV8D2Q

I have that hide. I just add moss and spray it down when my gecko is getting ready to shed and it does an amazing job, but like I said, you can always make one out of tupperware and it'll work perfectly. There's plenty of youtube videos on how to make one.

So would the heat mat thermostats work with the lamp, and for the dimmer do you mean something like this? Thanks for all your help.

This is what I feed her
https://www.amazon.com/Flukers-1-2-Ounce-Freeze-Dried-Crickets/dp/B0002DRJDG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=OEX3N98TKKR&keywords=freeze+dried+crickets+for+leopard+geckos&qid=1568307646&sprefix=freeze+dried+cri%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-3
and it claims that they have been gut loaded and the reviews seem pretty positive overall

Hi all,

So I did something not so smart and bought a gecko from petsmart. I had done research beforehand and while doing some research on supplies, ran across this guy (not named yet), and found him too cute to resist. This was about two weeks ago. I'm not sure how old he is, but he's about 4 inches long at the moment.

Before you comment on my hygrometer reading, the picture was taken right after I set up/misted the tank. It is currently and normally at ~40% humidity. I have a 10 gallon tank with warm, cool, and moist hides, and the surface temperature on the warm side is in the mid 90s.

Onto my actual concern: Should I be worried about indigestion? So I've been feeding him crickets, and he eats about 2-3 every night. I also leave a bowl of mealworms in the tank, which he's only touched twice when I came home later than his usual feeding time. However, I notice that he is pooping irregularly. He was pooping the first three days I got him, and now it's only every other day. I've also noticed that the poop seems drier than it was before, and possibly pieces of undigested cricket shells and some white stuff that might be extra calcium powder? I know geckos need belly heat to digest properly but this gecko really likes to climb things. If he is done eating or pooping, he immediately climbs up into his hide and doesn't come out. He also seemed pretty shy and I would have to leave the crickets, turn off the lights, and come back later to take out the extra. It's not too hot on the warm side, and he never uses his cool hide, so I guess he just likes to be in total darkness. But is this an issue that affects digestion? The only time I've seen him actually sit on the warm side after eating was the one time I caught him eating and snatched the tree away (terrible, I know).

I've removed the tree hide because I have a problem with him climbing up and never coming down, like this. It was a problem for me in terms of cleaning the terrarium, so I've recently replaced it with a rock hide so he has his total darkness but I can secretly peek too, and he loves it. But once again he's climbing up onto the upper shelf asap, and I haven't seen poop yet after two days. He came out of the rock just now (noon) and walked over to his usual pooping corner, looked around and opened his mouth a few times (didn't make sounds though), made some jerky movements with his head, then crawled back into his rock. I'm worried about possible constipation. It's probably not impaction since I've been using a carpet and not sand. How bad does this look? Should I wait it out or try to find a vet asap?

edit: holy crap that was long. Tl;Dr Gecko doesn't like to use heat pad for belly warmth and isn't pooping regularly. Should I be worried?

Really appreciate the reply! Was unsure about a regular lamp dimmer, had been looking at this one on Amazon, so it's good to know something similar will work. Thanks again.

These bowls are awesome. If I'm not hand-feeding, I just throw a bunch in there and they cannot escape.

Exo Terra Reptile Den, Medium https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002AR5BU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RLPBDb53G529P

I got mine off of Amazon here :)

I got it from someone who makes them on amazon :)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N6MRGN3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_X5dUDbMYA8D2S

here's the link to the item, enjoy!

Looks like this one. I think they are designed so mealworms can't get out.

This is the thermostat I own.

You simply plug the heat pad into the thermostat and set the temperature. The thermostat will turn the heat pad on until set heat is reached, then turn it off after a bit. When the temperature drops back down, it will turn it back up. Another good thing to own is a heat gun to verify floor temps and adjust the stat if necessary. Also, like most technologies, thermostats can and will eventually fail. That's why it's important to check the temp everyday even when using a thermostat, to ensure it functions properly. I've had a friend use lower quality stats that failed and sadly led to the death 10 of his reptiles. Better safe than sorry.

Here ya go! This is the one I use.

Here is the mobile version of your link

ONESHOT3D Gecko Park - Reptile Habitat Decor - Jurassic Park Themed Gates - Enclosure Hideaway https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N6MRGN3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_12AsDb2JV53EE

is this what you seek?