Complete Leopard Gecko Care Guide!

All right guys, in this box is our new leopard gecko and we're gonna show you how to set them up. First things first, let's get this leopard gecko out of this box, and remember guys, when you get your animal for the first time, you wanna make sure that you acclimate it at room temperature. So there's two setups that we could do for the leopard geckos. We could do a basic rack setup that most breeders are gonna have. If you have a lot of leopard geckos, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Or we could set it up in the 10 gallon tank, which I'm gonna show you now. So leopard geckos are actually insectivores, which means that they only eat insects. So whenever you get these guys set up, you wanna make sure that they're on a diet of crickets, mealworms, hornworms, phoenix worms, roaches, or basically any insect feeder that you could find at the store. All right, so the important thing to remember when you're setting up your leopard gecko is that they're gonna need a hot spot. Now, the best thing to use is gonna be one of these heat mats, and you're gonna put this on one side of the enclosure. In this case, we're gonna put it on this side. Now, typically, these heat pads will stick to the bottom of the enclosure. It's really important that you don't stick it on the inside, you wanna stick it on the outside, and the heat's gonna go through the glass into the hot spot. So leopard geckos are naturally from the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, Iran, but these guys are majorly produced here in the United States, so all the leopard geckos you see are pretty much captive bred, so you don't have to worry about them being wild caught. And check out all these cool colors that they come in. Guys, something very important when you get your leopard gecko is once you set it up and put it into the enclosure, leave it alone. Let it settle in, give it a week, give it some days before you start messing with it, before you start handling it. I know they're super cute, but you guys gotta let it settle in. One of the biggest reasons why these guys might not do well is too much interaction right away. Also, don't feed it a lot of crickets or a lot of worms. Sometimes all the bugs can stress the animal out. Now, for a sub-adult leopard gecko just like this one, a 10-gallon enclosure is just fine, but if you're gonna have bigger leopard geckos, especially if you get one of the giants, you're gonna want a 15 or even a 20-gallon enclosure. All right, now that we have our leopard geckos set up with food and water, we wanna make sure that these guys have a hot spot. Their hot spot's gonna be around 90 degrees, and it's super important that you guys temp gun the hot spot so you make sure it is at 90 degrees, because sometimes the heat pad can malfunction and you don't want it to overheat or not heat your leopard gecko at all. It's not funny anymore. You can put that gun down. Now, when we have an open-top enclosure just like this one, if you have a sub-adult, a juvenile, or a baby leopard gecko, we like to mist the enclosure at least once or maybe even twice a day, just because it's gonna keep the humidity up. These open-top enclosures lose the humidity very quickly, and you don't want a baby or a juvenile to start having shedding problems because they don't have the adequate humidity. Another option so your... Another option so your leopard gecko doesn't run out of humidity is having one of these humid hides. We cut a hole in the bottom or on the top. Ha! All right, another option for low... Ha! Another option we like to include in our habitats are... Ha! All right, all right, one more time. This is the last time. If not, I'm not doing this ******* humid hide thing. Another option for your enclosure is adding a humid hide. You're basically gonna use one of these food containers, cut a hole on top, and then put sphagnum moss inside. Fun fact about these guys is, you see why these guys' tails are so fat? They actually use that in times of famine. In the desert, there's gonna be a lot of times when it's not much water, not much food, so what these guys do is they store a bunch of extra fat in their tail so when these times come, they're prepared and they can survive it. Now, something that is kinda important is to have calcium in the enclosure, especially if you have a female or a younger animal. Now, we typically recommend adding a little calcium dish for them, and they will actually go and lick it on their own. Another option for setting up your new leopard gecko is in racks. This technique is used mostly by breeders, people who do run a breed or have multiple leopard geckos. It's the most space-effective and cost-effective. Since these guys are terrestrial animals, they need more floor space instead of vertical, so a rack system is perfect for them. So you're gonna set these guys up basically the exact same way as you did the tank. Do keep in mind, though, that these racks do hold humidity a bit better, so a lot of times, a water bowl is just enough, but if you are breeding and you do have a humid hide, a lot of times, the females are gonna lay inside of that humid hide. Also, these guys are nocturnal, so they don't need any of that UVB, and the heating is provided by either heat tape, heat cable, or another form of under-tank heating. So now you guys know how to take care of these cute leopard geckos. Make sure you check out our website for more information on leopard geckos, and if you like this video, make sure you check out some of our other videos and subscribe to the channel. Thank you, and see you on the next one.