These geckos are docile, long lived, and a favorite of both beginning and advanced keepers. With all of the color and pattern choices available, you can always add new and exciting friends to your collection.

Leopard females may be kept in groups or solo. Males should not be housed together as they usually fight and cause stress for the whole group. We also suggest housing males separately from females to avoid excessive breeding and stress. Glass enclosures work best for viewing, although many breeders house Leopard geckos in Rubbermaid tubs or large sweater boxes. A 10-gallon enclosure is the minimum size for an adult.

Rocks, fake plants, and logs for basking and hiding are preferred enclosure furniture. Make sure ample cave space is available, both on the warm side and cool side of the enclosure. Substrate choices can include playsand, newspaper, bed-a-beast (coconut fiber), and peat moss. For adults, we suggest a mixture of playsand and coconut fiber. We suggest keeping young leopard geckos on paper towels until they are at least six months-old to avoid impaction.

A range in temperature is much appreciated by geckos so they may thermoregulate. Temperatures may range from 90 degrees F down to 75 at nighttime. We suggest overhead bulbs for heating, unless you are housing in Rubbermaid and need to use undertank heaters. Place the heat source on one side of the tank only. Red bulbs are nice for viewing nocturnal geckos. Don't use heat rocks.

Make sure a shallow water dish is available inside the cage at all times. We also suggest lightly misting the enclosure three times a week. Make sure the substrate is never wet for long. When a leopard gecko is preparing to shed, they appreciate moister caves. We suggest using moss that can be misted daily inside one of the caves.

Crickets and mealworms make up the majority of the Leopard gecko diet. Hatchlings should be fed 2-week-old crickets. Adults can handle adult crickets. Mealworms may also be offered. Try to acquire the cleanest and healthiest crickets possible from a reputable source and feed them fresh food (you may use "gutload" if you like) and water. Do not feed moldy food to your crickets (this can cause serious disease). Small pinky mice may also be offered to adults occasionally. Gravid females especially relish these.

Be sure to supplement the diet with calcium and D3 and vitamins. We suggest a 1.3 ratio of herptivite to repcal calcium with D3. Place crickets in a tall cup, add the supplements and shake to coat crickets. Do this every other day for young geckos and then taper off to once or twice a week for adults (especially reduce the vitamin supplements). Make sure to offer more calcium to gravid females.

Leopard geckos can be quite easy to breed, although they do require a period of hibernation or brumation. Only breed your geckos after temperatures are back to normal, and your gecko is healthy, eating well, and has a substantial fat & water deposit (a nice fat tail). For proper breeding, females should be at least one year old; although, they will often cycle eggs before reaching a year-old if the proper condtions exist. To induce breeding, simply introduce a female into the male’s tank (or even vice versa) and copulation will usually take place. You may opt to leave the male and female together overnight or for a few days. It is thought that they prefer to breed in the early evening hours, but I have witnessed copulation at just about any time. Remove the male from the female after copulation to avoid stress. A female will retain sperm and can produce multiple clutches from just one breeding. Eggs are usually laid in twos. Make sure the female has a lay area (cave) with moist substrate to dig into to deposit her eggs. Gently place eggs in a dish of moist vermiculite and incubate at around 80-88 degrees F. The eggs will hatch in 45-90 days. Make sure the vermiculite stays moist but not wet. Leopard geckos are temperature sexed. Incubate at 80-84 degrees for female hatchlings, 86-88 degrees for males and 84-86 for a mix.

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