I just got a Leopard Gecko!!

I have no idea how much they weigh... I don't have a scale, but I think Daphne is between 8 and 9 inches long and she's the biggest one... the other's aren't too far behind her... but she's just really, really fat, lol. I didn't have Daph and Greta as babies, but I handled Harley and Bindi a couple times a week, Harley has always been super mellow about handling, but Bindi doesn't like it so mcuh, she's squirmy. Harley will let me pat his head and back and he'll just chill out and steal my hand heat :)
I don't have any pics of their cages... I currently have them in Sterilite drawers because I was sick of having sand all over the place. I used to have the three girls in a 40 breeder and Harley had a 20L, until my bp needed to take over the 40. Having them in tanks was nice but I prefer having a simple setup, it's alot easier to keep clean and I can easily move them around. If my camera were behaving I'd show ya what I have now, I can try to get it workin' tomorrow! I can also try to get a pic of Daph next to a ruler or something to give you a better idea on size.

Best of luck with your little guy!! :D Oh! Almost forgot, in case you were wondering, I feed these guys mealies exclusively (dusted, of course) :) crickets give me the creeps...

cool i didnt know you can feed them only mealworms,that changes things a bit, i really dont feel like dealing with crickets but mealworms are okay.

I sometimes buy them as a special treat for the birds that come to my bird feeder outside my window, the go bananas, they love them

Yea, good thing you got them off that sand. (impaction)I like the simpler setups too. My favorite setup of any of my herps is Cupid's because he has repti-carpet, cool jungle hides, and stuff. My REdtail Boa has a backdrop, but it doesn't look half as good as it would if he had repti-carpet instead of newspaper. I am working on finding a peice that size.and then I have my leo on paper towels, but I have repticarpet that I am thinking of putting in there. How old were Harley and Bindi when you got them?So could I like hold mine twice a week or something? Cus I want to hold him more, (I have only held him once since I got him) but I don't want to stress him out.

I have 2, a patternless male that I just got about 3 weeks ago, and has shed twice already. He's really cool looking, kind of a purplish-grey. I also have an adult female super hypo tangerine with more than half of her tail orange. I am feeding mealies and waxworms dusted 3x a week with RepCal and 1x a week with Herptivite. They are growing and doing awesome that way. I have them in this huge 30-40 gal Rubbermaid with a human heating pad and a full-spectrum light on one side. I put the lid on and cut out half of the lid so the lamp could shine down on them. They have tons of room and love the outdoor carpet from Home Depot. I got a 6x4 piece for $6. Gotta love it. ReptiCarpet is so gosh darned expensive, it's unreal.

I hold mine pretty much every day. Let them crawl on the bed and whatnot, and try to handle every part of them(toes, tail, rub on their eyes), so they get used to me and aren't scared I'll hurt them. Mine have actually started eating out of my hands, it's so cute. You hold a waxie up to their face and they start licking their lips. Then they **** their head, and Wham! grab it and shake it, gotta make sure it dies ya know :) They are so hilarious. I think I enjoy them about as much as I enjoy my frog, who has also started eating out of my hand too. Ok, I've probably talked enough.

Oh, and Brandon, they are really easy to take care of, especially if you decide to keep them in a rubbermaid/sterilite setup. It's just the calcium and vitamins (RepCal and Herptivite are $6 and $12 respectively), but that's really the only expensive part. Hope you decide to take one on in the future, they really are funny little guys.

BPBabe- I have no idea how old Harley and Bindi were when I got them because they both came from petstores that didn't know anything about them... I got Harley from a clean store in Maine somewhere and Bindi I snagged from Petco the day she got there so she had less a chance of being sickly. I can't really remember how long they were as babies... that seems like so long ago!

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Oh, and Brandon, they are really easy to take care of, especially if you decide to keep them in a rubbermaid/sterilite setup. It's just the calcium and vitamins (RepCal and Herptivite are $6 and $12 respectively), but that's really the only expensive part. Hope you decide to take one on in the future, they really are funny little guys.

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yeah im really thinking about it, i have the light,heatpad,dishes a ten gal a screen lid and an endless supply of newspaper.So all i really need is the vitamins and the gecko itself !......unless there is anything i left out.Oh ya and i need some hides.

how do you house mealworms thogh ? over hear at the pet store they come in this little jar full of this oat stuff and he said you can put them in the fridge until feeding.....is that right. i think it would kill them if they were in there for too long wouldent it ?

and is feeding just mealworms unhealthy ??

if crickets were totally nessasary (typo) how many would i buy a week. i guess i would house them in a trash can in the garage and scopp em out as a need them.What exactly do you feed them and what type of gut load should i use ?should i use a combo of both gut load and dust ?or just one or the other ?

No, crickets aren't necessary. I kept mealies and waxworms in the fridge for a day and most of them died. They need to be kept at around 50 degrees to stay in hibernation so they don't grow. I take all of them out of the container they came in, bought a couple disposable gladware containers and keep them in my room. I feed them carrots, potatoes, whole wheat bread. The waxies are fairly delicate, so put them in a container as soon as you get home, so they don't die in the fridge. Mealworms and waxworms are so much easier to deal with. Adult crickets are so gosh darned noisy. As for gutloading, try to get them in the gladware container and eating(not in your fridge) about a day before you feed them also dust them.

Also, if you get one, try to find one that isn't a teeny-tiny baby. Those usually aren't very good for the first time keeper. That's why I got 2 almost adults. I got a little bowl that was for rodents and just put their calcium powder in it with the mealies and waxies, shake it around for a sec and you're done.

I give them about 6 mealies apiece and about 3 waxies every day. I dust them with calcium 3x/week and vitamins 1x/week. I keep RepCal in an empty bread bag and just reuse it as I need it. Or you can sprinkle some RepCal in the bowl you get for the gecko and just reuse it as needed. No need to waste something that costs an arm and a leg. :) If you have any other questions just ask. :-D

wow that sounds SOO much easier than all those messy crickets !! :D

well i went to las cruces yesterday to go shopping and i decided to go to petco to look around and pick up some new hermit crabs (which i didnt :( ) and they had a bunch of good lookin leo's so i asked to hold one so the girl took one out for me and i got to hold it,it was so cute and it licked my finger.I think it had a regenerated tail but it still looked good, they also had some little babie ones but i held the biggest adult, there was also this medium sized one who was really pissed off at the time and hissed and then tried to bite the lady.I fell in love and im goin to ask for one for christmas.

so with the mealies just go to the store get some and kep them in like a cricket keeper with some food ??They wont die ?

i dont know if they pet store over here carries wax worms but im sure they do, next time im over there i will ask.
and what would you gut load them with ??

if i were to feed crickets do you reccomend the "flukers" cricket feed and gut load, its called cricket quencher.

I just wanted to share a few quick links.
Honestly I am too busy to write a whole speil so I stole these two links.
http://www.drgecko.com/vitaminmineral.htm
http://www.drgecko.com/dietselection.htm
Please just read up on leopard gecko feeding. A variety in nutritional food items is a must. I would recommend finding the best base diet and adding in extras as you go.
Hope this helps
Rusty

i heard you can feed them pinky mice, do they have to be live or can you feed em frozen and how often can you feed them ??