Leopard geckos will accept a wide variety of prey, some of the most common including crickets, mealworms, superworms (kingworms), waxworms, and often the adult will eat pink mice.

Feeding schedules are really up to the gecko, but its most common for juveniles to eat several times a week or every day and adults to feed 3-5 times a week. Food should be offered early evening as leopards are nocturnal, but a hungry gecko will readily eat anything provided throughout the day. Its often best for mealworms to be offered at all times in a shallow dish.

(slippery sides that will prevent escape is best) for in between meal snacking.

Leopard geckos usually know their own feeding limit, but newly aquired specimens and/or stressed ones occasionally vomit their food if they have overeaten. A good approach to this is to feed the individual only 3-4 mealworms at 30min-1hour intervals.

All the prey provided needs to be "dusted" in some form of mineral and calcium supplement as they are low in nutrition. The best way to do this is to put the bugs in a bag or cup (something that will hold them), sprinkle the powder directly on them, and shake the container around till all the bugs are covered in a fine dust.

The bugs also need to be "gutloaded" with nutritional foods high in minerals and calcium. You can find many types of cricket and mealworm food available commercially or you can --make your own--.

(note: please don't let your crickets wander through the cage unattended--they need human supervision or they may stress the gecko out)


Heating

There is a bit of a debate on the “correct” temperatures needed for proper leopard gecko keeping, and I don’t feel the need to dispute the fact that many healthy specimens are kept at different temperatures. Strictly speaking, 80 degrees F is the minimum and 90F is the max. The cage should have varying temperatures at different parts, allowing the gecko to regulate its temp as necessary. A “hot spot” may include a basking light and a rock or log that the gecko can warm itself on, but take care that the light isn’t close enough to burn the gecko’s skin. UTHs, heat lights, human heat pads, and heat tape all work, although heat rocks should be avoided.

About 90F at the basking spot, 85F in the hidebox and 80F at the end of the cage gives a comfortable atmosphere, although some people would suggest more or less heat.

Housing

A ten gallon glass aquarium can house an adult leopard or two or three juveniles. A twenty gallon long aquarium can house a trio of adults, and another gecko for every ten gallons added. (the floor space of the caging is a lot more important then the height as leopards are not a tree dwelling species)

Most breeders use tubs, crates, sliding drawers, or containers in a rack system for housing their leopards. More natural set ups are easily obtained, and are just as nice (if not nicer) than the simplistic housing arrangements breeders use. If you are planning on keeping a large quantity of leopards, some forethought is certainly needed to prepare for the number of things that could happen. If you only have as many cages as needed you may not be able to quarantine sickly or injured geckos to care for them individually. Likewise, you may find you have two males and they will need to be kept separately. Any practical, well ventilated, easily cleaned and sanitized housing possibilities work well, as long as the proper heating and space requirements can be reached. Groups of females do well together with one male if they are breeding, but all males must be kept separate from each other as two subadult-adult males will fight tooth and nail until one or both flee the territory. (Often this is not reached without severe injuries to both parties.) A male will occasionally attack a female that has another male’s scent on her, and the scent will often send them into a frenzied breeding mode. (Females Beware!)

Breeding

Mating will occur between September and June during the "breeding season". Only well prepared, healthy adults should breed. It is not recommended that any leopard gecko female under 45 grams be bred as egg production will most surely slow or stunt her growth. Males become sexually mature alot sooner than females are the correct weight to breed, so males should be seperated from the females (and other males) as juveniles. The female can be introduced to the male, or the male to the female, and if the female is receptive they will often mate several times in one evening.

The male will rapidly drum his tail loudly on the ground and push himself against the cage furniture. Eventually he will wandering up to the female in jerky walking movements and bite her on the body, often around the tail. If she is receptive she will stand still or move slowly enough to allow him to make his advance. If she is not receptive she might bite back, squeak in alarm, or grow agitated and scamper off. In this case, the male should be returned to his encloser (or vice-versa) and the rondevous may be repeated every couple nights until breeding occurs.

Breeding is only necessary once or twice to ensure conception, and leopard females can retain the male's sperm (which is not capable of being replaced by any other male that breeds with the female after his seed has taken) for several clutches of eggs. The males should be removed after breeding and not allowed to linger as they can immensely stress the females. (Well wouldnt you be stressed out if some big hunka gecko-flesh was trying to mate with you every few minutes???)

The males will lick their hemipenes after mating to clean them and encourage them back into place. If a male's hemipene is still projected after a few minutes, monitor the male. If it still does not withdraw within a few hours, then vetrinary action will likely be needed. Don't delay as delays can cause serious suffering for the animal.

Egg Laying

A few weeks before laying, oval shaped outlines can be seen through a gravid (pregnant) female's underbelly skin, above the hips on each side of her belly. These are the developing eggs. A female leopard may retain her eggs (or egg in the case of small or old females) for over a month, but usually will lay every 18-25 days during their laying season. (After autumn, but before summer) She will most likely lay in a dark, warm, moist area, so a laying box needs to be provided. A container big enough for 1 gecko to occupy will be fine. (Preferably a ziploc or butter container with a hole on the side.) A good laying substrate is vermiculite, but be careful as some geckos have a taste for the mica and may impact themselves!

The female will begin digging a few hours before depositing her eggs, and should not be disturbed when she sets her mind to making an egg laying site. She will first clear the area to her satisfaction, and then perch over the hole she's dug to lay her eggs. She rests a while after laying, then begins the tedious task of covering her eggs. Sometimes this is completed in a few minutes, or it can take hours. (I've had females pack more than a cup of vermiculite around their eggs and proceed to move the tank furniture over to the eggs as well.)

Occasionally you'll find that a new female becomes confused and disturbed if you take her eggs before she's finished covering them. She will often go around the tank looking for her eggs and usually will not accept food until she locates and covers them.

This can be avoided by making "egg dummies" if you plan to remove the eggs before they are buried. (I create realistic sized "eggs" out of white non-toxic play dough that I've baked hard and roll them in the female waste a bit to get scent, and the females adopt these as their eggs.) Egg production takes alot out of the females, so careful precautions need to be taken that the females aren't exhausted of nutrition and calcium. A pink mouse can be offered after laying and most often will be readily accepted.

Behavior

Leopard geckos will emit a variety of noises on occasion if feeling threatened, uncomfortable, or if they’re in pain. Adult leopards make little grunting noises if held incorrectly (I call it barking), and will bite if they are very scared or hurt. I have been nipped several times when trying to help a female with scars shed her skin. Avoid putting your fingers too close to their mouth when they’re in biting mode as they will turn their heads and give a brief but stunning snap of their ridged jaws. The adult males tend to have the hardest bite, but not usually enough to draw blood. (There are many cases where feelings of rejection and bitterness are associated with leopard gecko bites, so I highly recommend taking the necessary precautions and avoiding this somewhat embarrassing and emotionally rending situation.) Hatchling and juvenile leopards are much more likely to squeak and bite at an offender. It’s a sign of good health in active hatchlings if they have the audacity to snap at your fingers and yell their little war cry when you’re intimidating them. (Which may only include dancing your fingers in front of their heads.) Their screams are often quite loud, resembling a loud door creak or weeny whistle. Don’t be alarmed if this happens; they are just vocalizing their annoyance at your presence. Gentle handling and calm, deliberate movements will obliterate their nervousness gradually.

Two of the most active times for adult leopards are shedding and breeding. During shedding the gecko will often “dance” around the cage, rubbing its skin against furniture and other geckos trying to get its skin off. It will bite at its own feet to remove skin, and pull the shed off its tail. Once it has the shed in its mouth, its typical for the gecko to eat it. This replenishes a few of the nutrients it expends. Shedding is a good sign of growth and health. When a male gecko is in breeding mode he will do another kind of “dance” that includes a vigorous tail drumming that can actually be quite loud. The vibrations seem to calm receptive females, and tense all the muscles in the male. He will drum his tail, rub his whole body up against furniture like a cat and scrape the side of his head on the ground. After drumming his tail, he will bite the female on the head, back, belly, tail, leg…any part he can reach to hold her still while he mounts her.

Sometimes males get a little overexcited and will latch onto a female and bite the living daylights out of her even though she isn’t receptive. He may hold on for several minutes while the female struggles, and it’s best to dispatch his grip with a spray bottle mist in the face before he cuts her with his jaw ridges.