Leopard gecko care & setup

At a glance

• Name: Leopard gecko
• Scientific name: Eublepharis macularius
• AKA: none in common use

Distribution

Semi-desert areas of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Wild status

Still widespread in the wild, but populations are declining as habitat is lost to human encroachment.

Description

This is a sturdy, medium-sized gecko from the family Eublepharinae, the “eyelid” geckos. Leopard geckos live entirely on the ground and do not climb walls like other geckos. They are also one of the few gecko species with eyelids. Leopards get their name from the spots that cover adults. Hatchlings are born with dark bands that lighten and break up into spots as they mature. Their base color is a mix of yellow, lavender, white and sometimes orange.

Adult leopard geckos are usually very docile, good-natured and hardy. Still, handle them with care, because their thick tails can drop off as a defense. Never grab a leopard gecko by the tail; broken tails do grow back, but rarely look as nice as the original. Juveniles are often squirmy and flighty and take some time and growing to settle down. When you’re 3″ long, EVERYTHING looks like a predator, and all you want to do is HIDE! With gentle handling, they outgrow this phase quickly.

Leopard geckos are easily the most commonly bred lizard in captivity, so finding a good, healthy captive-bred gecko is simple. Look for one that is alert, bright-eyed and somewhat active. Check for stuck skin around the toes; it means a shedding problem that should have been fixed before the animal was offered for sale. First-time owners should look for well-started juveniles at least 8 weeks old.

Size

Hatchlings: about 2″. Adults average 6″–9″. Maximum size is around 12″; geckos this size are considered large.

Lifespan

Leopard geckos may live 20 years or more in captivity.

Color mutations

Leopard geckos come in many color and pattern mutations, including jungle, pastel, high yellow, striped, reverse-striped, tangerine, carrot tail, blizzard, patternless, patternless-albino, tangerine-albino, hypomelanistic, super hypo, banana and many more.

Difficulty level

Beginner. Easy, but the keeper must understand the animal’s basic needs. A proper diet, including calcium and vitamin supplements, is essential.

Enclosure

Enclosures can be as simple or as elaborate as you can keep up with. Remember that the more “stuff” you put in a cage, the more “stuff” you have to clean and disinfect regularly. Many different enclosures work well for leopard geckos, including plastic sweater boxes (e.g. Rubbermaid), melamine racks, Freedom Breeder cages and store-bought plastic reptile cages (e.g. Vision Herp and similar brands). Glass aquariums also work very well for this species. See our Lizard Caging care sheet for more. Remember that ALL enclosures need a proper temperature gradient, with a hot spot on one end and a cooler spot on the other.

When choosing a cage, think about how many geckos you want to keep. A single leopard gecko can live in a 10-gallon aquarium. Multiple geckos need a larger enclosure with room to interact and to get away from each other. A 36″ x 18″ x 16″ enclosure can house up to 10 adult leopard geckos. Groups of one male and several females often thrive and breed in this setup.

NOTE: NEVER house more than one male leopard gecko in the same enclosure. Males are extremely territorial and will fight, causing injury or even death.

Substrate

A few substrates work well. Newspaper is the cheapest and easiest to clean and disinfect: out with the old, in with the new. Paper towels are also very popular with leopard gecko breeders. Calcium carbonate (available at feed stores) is often recommended as both a substrate and a calcium supplement; leopard geckos will eat small amounts of it while feeding. Avoid substrates like crushed walnut shell, corncob and sand, which can cause impaction if swallowed in large amounts.

Temperatures & heating

Give your gecko a basking spot of 85–88°F and an ambient (background) temperature of 78–80°F. The ambient temperature should not fall below 75°F. It is vitally important to KNOW the temperatures you are keeping your gecko(s) at. DO NOT GUESS! A digital indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe works well. Stick the thermometer inside the cage on the cool end and place the probe on the warm end, and you’ll have both sides covered at once. Under-cage heating pads, ceramic heat emitters and red “night” basking bulbs are easy to find and work well for leopard geckos.

Humidity

Leopard geckos typically thrive in a dry environment, but they need a humidity chamber to shed properly. One is easy and cheap to make: pack a plastic container with damp sphagnum moss (think of a well-wrung-out washcloth), cut a hole in the top or side and place it in the enclosure so your gecko can use it whenever it likes. Peat moss or vermiculite also work in place of sphagnum moss, and all are easy to find at garden stores.

Check the box at least a couple of times a week and mist the moss as needed to keep it damp. Leopard geckos spend more time in the humidity chamber as they get ready to shed, because the moisture helps them remove all the old skin.

NOTE: Like many geckos, leopard geckos eat their shed skin, so you’ll find little of it in the enclosure. Check your gecko’s toes and tail tip to make sure all the old skin came off. Stuck skin there can eventually cut off blood supply and cause tissue death.

Lighting

Extra lighting isn’t necessary, as leopard geckos are completely nocturnal. If you want to watch your gecko at night, we recommend red night bulbs, which give off heat and can double as a warm spot in the cage.

Water

Always give your leopard gecko fresh, clean water in a wide, shallow dish. Check it often and change it as needed. A spare bowl helps, so one can be in use while the other is being cleaned.

Accessories

The one accessory a happy leopard gecko needs is a good hide box, or even a couple. These are nocturnal, somewhat secretive lizards that use and appreciate a hiding spot. Put one on each end of the enclosure so your gecko doesn’t have to choose between temperature and security. Clay flowerpots, plastic flowerpot trays and store-bought hide boxes all work well. Leopard geckos will climb under and through many things in their enclosure, and they will probably use cork bark slabs as hiding spots. They are a great choice for a “naturalistic” vivarium, because they don’t tend to “trash” their enclosures the way some heavier-bodied lizards do.

Feeding

Leopard geckos are carnivorous and thrive on crickets and mealworms. Match prey to your gecko’s size: feed young geckos small crickets and mealworms, and move up to adult crickets and mealworms as your gecko grows. Feed young leopards every other day, offering as many insects as they will eat in one sitting. Crickets can roam the enclosure, while mealworms can go in a shallow dish so your gecko can find and catch them easily. Remove any uneaten food within a few hours.

Supplementation

Leopard geckos need calcium and vitamin supplements throughout their lives. Supplement young geckos at every feeding and older geckos every second or third feeding. To “dust” insects, shake a small amount of calcium and vitamin supplement into a plastic bag, add the insects and gently “shake and bake” until they are coated, then feed them to your geckos. For older geckos, you can also leave a shallow dish of calcium/vitamin supplement in the enclosure; they will eat it on their own.

Note: Before feeding live insects to your geckos, it helps a lot to “gut load” them for 24–48 hours. Give the feeders a mix of fruits and vegetables dusted with calcium powder, or a store-bought gut-load diet made for feeders. Well gut-loaded crickets and mealworms help give your leopard geckos a balanced diet.

Other prey items

Adult leopard geckos can be offered waxworms and small pinky mice once in a while. Both have more fat and protein than a standard leopard gecko diet needs, so use them sparingly or as an extra boost for breeding adults.

Maintenance

Spot-clean your leopard gecko’s enclosure as needed, removing feces, urates and uneaten prey as soon as possible. Leopard geckos make this easy: they often pick one corner as a bathroom, a “leopard gecko litterbox” of sorts. Once your geckos have chosen their spot, line it with paper towel or newspaper and swap in clean paper when needed. Clean and disinfect the water bowl weekly. Depending on cage conditions, remove all substrate and cage furniture and fully disinfect the enclosure with a 5% bleach solution about every 30 days. Rinse thoroughly and let it dry before putting the furniture and your gecko(s) back.

Basic reproductive info

Leopard geckos reach sexual maturity at around 18 months under ideal conditions. Mature males are easy to sex by their hemipenal bulges and femoral pores, which form an obvious V shape just above the vent. Females have these pores too, but they are much less noticeable. Geckos should be well established and in excellent condition before you try breeding them. To start breeding, cut the daylight period to 8 hours and drop nighttime temperatures to 70°F for about 4–6 weeks. Do not feed the geckos during this time. After the cooling period, slowly raise temperatures back to normal over several days. Mature males will usually breed with any receptive females several times a year. A breeding group of one male and several females can share an enclosure as long as there is room for all of them.

Gravid females are easy to spot: the eggs, usually two, show through the skin of the belly. Provide an egg-laying box similar to the humidity box and place it on the warm side of the enclosure. Check both boxes daily for eggs and keep an eye on the humidity in each. Once eggs are laid, you can check them for fertility by “candling” with a small flashlight. Fertile eggs glow pinkish, with a network of blood vessels visible inside. Incubate leopard gecko eggs in slightly moist vermiculite for about 60–70 days. A leopard gecko’s sex depends on incubation temperature: temperatures in the low 80s°F produce mostly females, and 88–90°F mostly males.

Leopard geckos are considered very easy to breed and make an excellent first breeding project.

Notes/comments

Leopard geckos are a mainstay of the reptile hobby. Their bright colors, docile nature and simple care make them a great pick for beginners and experienced keepers. Because they are bred so widely in captivity, many color and pattern morphs are available across a broad price range, so it’s easy for anyone to own and enjoy one.