GECKO`S
Welcome to the Gecko care page.The Gecko you see in this picture is a Leopard Gecko or a Eublepharis macularius. In the pet trade these little beauties are sometimes sold under there common name of Indian or Pakistani fat tailed gecko or even spotted fat tail. There are literally hundreds of Gecko`s out there. Of all shapes and colors, split into a bunch of species families and sub families but I will get into that later.And I`ll try to help you out a little bit with identifying them.
The first thing we did before picking out any Gecko was go thru all of these pics of all the different Gecko`s out there and found the most appealing species with the most appealing colors. In our opinion the Leopard Gecko as well as the Australian velvet and the Panther Gecko are our favorites. There care and keeping are all basically the same for these Gecko`s. So for the sake of argument any advice given in these articles are refering to the Leopard Gecko.
Selection:
When selecting your Gecko look for obvious signs of health such as, make sure they are alert and if possible try to see them feed. Look at the outline of the body it should be smooth, the outline of the hipbones should not be visible. The tail should be fat and rounded no wrinkles; see if they are captive bred, if the tail is wrinkled it could mean that the Gecko has not fed for some time and could have more underlying problems, this animal should be avoided. Also the mouth when closed should appear even, without any jutting jaws. Examine the toes, they should all be there and not swollen. The eyes should be of same size and not sunken or buggin out of there head, if so stay away from this one. Also if feces is present in the enclosure make sure it is not pale, light colored or yellow-orange, feces that are patty shaped or runny, these could all mean possible disease. Ask to see the belly area, the vent should appear flush, clean with no swelling or fecal smearing or caking.
Acclimation
A very important rule is once you get the little fellow home hands off. Thats right for the first 2 days at least leave em be in there to allow them to get used to there surroundings. They will be highly stressed for a little while, with being in a new place and all, so they need some time to adjust. Offer them a cricket or 2 after this initial period to see if there ready to except food,  if they dont take it in a few hours without you watching,  take out the food and try again in a couple more days. If you do this a few more times and they still are`nt interested you may want to see a vet. But if they do start eating then you can try to hold them. If they put up a fit , dont let them scare you , cause if they see that what they do makes you go away, they will always do it. Just remember be very gentle hold them a little bit here and there, then slowly increase the duration as the weeks go on. Gecko`s are known for there tails falling off if they become to stressed or scared, so just be easy and take your time. The tail will eventually grow back but nothing like what it once was.
Appearance:
Leopards are one of the largest with adults reaching sizes of up around 9 inches. Hatchlings have a total length of 31/4-31/2 inches. They can reach adult size in 18 months. And can live upwards of 30 years. Every year seems to bring new variations of colors in these babies, but most leopards are yellow with brown spots, babies look striped for awhile but fades to spots. There are also some very nice color variations to the Australian velvets as well as the Panther Geckos. With all the breeding projects going on out there you never know what your gonna see next. Thats why its a very good idea to do your homework first so you can have a better idea as to what has  the most aesthetic appeal to you before you invest your hard earned money.
Housing:
I have always felt that housing is mainly up to the owners personal preference.I have seen the most elaborate (did I say expensive) cages all the way down to the bare minimum cages. But for all sake and purposes we will just talk about minimum requirements for your basic Leopard Gecko. The cage you see here is your basic ten gallon aquarium with all your Gecko`s basic needs taken into account.
A ten gallon aquarium is the perfect home for 1 at the most 2 Gecko`s. Any more and we are gonna need bigger. But people are known to use plastic sweater boxes. Only house 1 male at a time as they will fight eachother to the death. You can add as many females with one male as you want. For a substrate people say you can use anything from sand to newspaper. But this is not entirely true because the Gecko`s lick the sand in hopes of providing more calcium to there system and if your substrate is nothing but sand your Gecko may become impacted. Though this is more common in very young juveniles. I prefer to use Repterra, reptile substrate. It is a very good soil mixture, highly benificial to your geckos health. Make sure you dont use cedar because it is toxic to your reptiles. If you prefer using repti bark make sure it is fir- bark.You do need to provide a small container of calcisand for supplementation, a small cap to something works well as a container. A small water dish, since they are from an arrid area a large water source is not needed, and they might just drown if they cant get out. Make sure the water is changed every 2 days at the most. Gecko`s are nocturnal and aboreal (meaning they come out at night and live in burrows) so you need to provide a small hide box. (more than 1 for multiple Gecko`s) You can use a small soft butter container with a hole cut in the side. Or they sell alternatives at your local pet shop. Also the hide needs to have damp vermiculite or spagum moss in it to aid in shedding (which they eat) and for females to lay eggs. There burrows are usually damp anyways so we are trying to make it feel like home.Spray the hide daily with a light misting to keep it damp. And last but not least something to climb on. Anything that will hold em like a thick enough branch should suffice. One small piece of advice, keep it off the floor, the little guys stressed enough as it is.
Heating and Lighting:
Ok well like I said before Gecko`s are nocturnal so no need for special uv bulbs is necessary. A simple incandescent bulb in a reflector of proper wattage can provide adequate heat as well as light. When placed on a screen top. For most enclosures a 60 watt bulb will suffice.  Red bulbs can be used day and night. Daytime temperatures should be around 90 degrees directly under the spotlight, and nighttime temps. can be in the low 70`s. A reptile heating pad directly under the tank works well to provide heat. I do not like to use heat rocks because you cannot control the rocks surface temp. and they can burn up your poor lizard from the inside out. Reptiles perform best when they are allowed to thermoregulate. That is you need to provide a temperature gradient in your enclosure, one side of the cage they can go and get nice and toasty and the other side they can go and cool off.
Feeding and Supplements:
Gecko`s love to eat bugs. Thats right you get them crickets and they`ll love yah forever. Feed juveniles every day 2 or 3 crickets and adults every other. You should gut load your crickets before feeding them to your gecko. Meaning feed them a bunch of good supplements and cereals and chicken mash and fruits&veggies. Gecko`s also like mealworms, superworms and wax worms. Put them in a small container so they dont crawl away or burrow into your substrate, you can also crush their heads so they dont crawl anywhere. Adult Gecko`s can also be fed small pinkie mice on occasion. I always dust my crickets and worms with some kind of supplementation such as cricket dust, calcium and d3 supplement, miner-all, reptocal, repcal, trex ...Juveniles need supplementation every feeding, adults every other. Gravid females need supplements every feeding to,  to make up for there loss of vitamins due to egg creation and laying.
FOOD & SUPPLEMENTS:
HEATING & LIGHTING:
HOUSING:
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