baby or adult gecko ??

if i were to get a gecko, would you guys reccomend a baby one or an adult??

i was thinking a baby becuase i would have most of its whole life to tame it and get it used to me and then.......most of the adults are so fiesty and mean (or at least the ones at the pet store are)so i think a babie would be best

as far as handling i think i would be to scared to hanlde something that little unless it was a bigger babie and not those microscopic ones i saw yesterday

how bout a juvi?babys are super fragile and adults might need lots of help taming.Juvies are kinda in the middle.

LOL DUH. why didnt I think of that !!

i saw a juvi yesterday when i went to petco, it was hissing and trying to bite like crazy !

k and im still confused about keeping crix and mealies.

How many should i buy at a time (crickets) and i saw this cricket food that flukers made, can i feed them that for a stable diet and then gutload before feeding ??

it was probably doing that if they didnt take care of it right,if they did,he might just be agressive.

Well, I used to keep 2 Leo's when I was growing up. I'd buy 150-200 or so at a time and keep them in a plastic garbage can (the kind with a lid) in my garrage. Put some big sheets of egg carton material in there and then I just put a little plastic tupperware lid in the bottom that had food and vitamins for the crickets. I'd scoop up however many I was going to feed and dust them in a plastic baggy and then toss them in with Spot (my male) and Dot (my female).

and you feed them everyday right ?? so how long will 200 last you if your only feeding one gecko ?

Brandon, you don't need crickets. Mine might get a couple for something to chase. I just buy 50-100 mealies and about 50 waxies at a time. It's proven that it's healthier for them to eat the worms, I read this somewhere... Don't ask me where :) It's too early... Crickets are such a pain, especially the big ones, since they can chirp... all night long... I just bought 1000 of the .5" ones for my frog. He eats anything like crazy.

Also, I bought one of mine as an adult, and she is so calm. I can let her walk on my bed and she's fine. Eats out of my hands and everything. She was kind of skittish the first week or so, but calmed down so quick. Now my little juvi male is really skittish. I hold him as much as possible, but he's still pretty goofy. Is getting better though. I would really recommend that you get an adult if this your first time keeping them. Since they are established eaters and should be healthy if they are adults. Anywho, I hope you find oen you like, and believe me, the crickets are not a necessity. I was so happy when I found that out and have been buying mealworms and waxworms ever since. You wouldn't believe how fat my geckos are LoL.

I never fed mine anything but crickets and they did just fine, but if the worms are supposed to be healthier, I'd throw them in as well. I really enjoyed watching my Leos chase after the crickets. If you are just keeping one, I'd probably only buy 100 or so at a time. My 150 would usually last about 2 weeks or so I think. I worked for PetsMart at the time, so I don't really remember exactly how long they would last since I didn't need to make any special trip to the store to get them.

I'd usually toss in about 5 or so each night (for 1 Leo) and I would remove any that he did not eat. If he ate them all, then I'd put in a couple more the next night until I find an average of about how many he likes to eat at a time. I didn't have a problem with the noise of the crickets since they were in my garage.

Great, thanks !

so ill just buy a bunch and keep them in a critter keeper until feeding.

what do you gut load those guys with

yeah i think ill just get an adult.There is an endless supply of them at the pet store over here.And i want somthing i can handle,babies are so fragile i would be scared i would hurt it.

now all i gotta do is ask my parents............that should be fun.

ohh and i have the old light i used to use for roxy, could i use that to heat the cage ?? i also have an extra heat pad.

and also,

is there any way to breed or "grow" your own mealworms ??

their are gut load bottles at petstores.you just feed them to your crix

im not goin to be feeding crix, i was talking about gut loading mealies not crickets.

I feed my mealies whole wheat bread and oatmeal. They shed tons eating that stuff and they are nice and fat when I feed them off. The waxies eat the same stuff, but I give them a piece of carrot every so often too.

I'm not sure about the mealworms, but I did have a little food in there for the crickets. I don't remember what I used though, it was about 10 years ago so I'm sure that the stuff out there has changed. I didn't use a heat pad for mine either. I had a full spectrum UV bulb on during the day with a spot light shining over a flat rock for a basking area and then had a red heatlight on at night for them.

ok, whole wheat bread and oatmeal, thats easy enough :)

now about the red light.Is it absolutely needed ?? If it is ill definitly get it but ittl be a pain since it will be kept in my room.

I think ill just buy the bulb itself becuase i already have the lamp, ill just switch out the differnt bulbs when the time comes.

No, it's not needed. I just used it so that I could have 24/7 heating. If you have a heat pad, it would be fine to use. Just like a BP setup I would put a hide both on the warm and on the cool side. If you don't have a heat pad, you can also buy a ceramic heating bulp that would screw into your lamp. They don't emit any light, however they're kind of pricey (about $20-30 I think).

ok, yeah i have an extra heating pad that i use for warming up mice and rats so maybe ill buy one more so i can keep that one for that purpose.

i think instead of housing it in one of my extra ten gallons ill just buy a nice big rubbermaid.

Yeah, I always like giving more room too. I kept my two (make and female) in a 30 gal long terrarium and they did great in it.

Oh, and if you feed them crickets, pull up a chair and bust out some Mission Impossible music. :D They're really fun to watch hunting and pouncing on the crickets.

haha, yeah i think it will actually be fun to watch unlike when i was feeding live mice to my snake, i hated hearing the little mousie scream and then have to deal with the danger of it biting, but crickets are differnt, it should be fun.

there is a rubbermaid at wal mart that is basicly the same size as a 30 gal but its not as high, but its wider, so i think ill just get one of those and make my little guy a palace :D

Sounds good....I hope you find one that you like!

well i just taked to my mom about it...........and i told her about how easy it is to keep mealies (and possibly crickets, i do kinda wanna feed them for a varied diet) and she said that it wouldent be to bad and then when i told her i had everything expt for hides and a screen lid she seemed even more for it, right now its looking good but i gotta talk to my dad about it, thats a whole differnt story.He is dead set on no more pets for me.

Heh, I know what you mean. My parents were kind of like that when I still lived with them too. Good luck convincing your dad! Seriously though, Leopard Geckos are pretty dang easy to care for and are very enjoyable pets. It's a piece of cake keeping crickets in a small plastic garbage can (like $5 from Walmart) in your garrage and I'm sure you could even keep the mealworms out there with something similar.

Make sure to take some pics and show the little man off if you end up getting one :D

Ohh believe me, ill be taking TONS of pictures if i end up with one.

one more feeding question tho (more like a confirmation)

ok so dust the food item (whatever it might be) at every feeding or at every other feeding and then vitimins once a week right ????

I dusted the crickets every feeding. It was a mix of calcium and vitamins, so I didn't do anything extra besides that. If you will be keeping the crickets in a trash can like I did, I would just take like a little ziplock bag and open the lid to the container. I'd then shake the egg carton out a little onto the bag (the crickets liked to hang out inside the area where the egg would be).

Have a little bit of the powder already in the bag and then once you have the crickets (or worms) in the bag, shake it up as you're walking back to the Leo's tank.

BTW,I wouldnt suggest buying from a Pet store,unless they are very good at taking care of animals.
www.alexhuereptiles.com should have some.

well of course i would buy from a good store, the petco over here is actually ok, its not the best but its far better then the other ones ive seen.

i know of a breeder but since im looking for an adult i dont think he would have any for sale.

and plus i dont think hes very reputable becuase he happens to sell his babies to the worse pet store i have ever been too.