Housing and Heating:

I keep our geckos in 10 or 20 gallon tanks, housed alone. Bigger is better in regards to tank size.

Substrate of choice for our adult animals is Spargham Peat Moss. I have tried sand and reptile carpet, neither worked well for our critters. The spargham has worked wonderfully in either a spargham/sand mix or by itself (my current preference). Babies and young animals should continue a paper towel (non-particulate) substrate. Never use calci-sand, vitasand, or reptile sand.

We use under tank heat on one side for primary heat. Check this frequently (rehostats are reccomended) to verify operation and that its not overheating. We also use a very low wattage (25w) "heat" light over the tank on a timer during the day. This provides a solid day/night cycle for the animal and is beneficial to their health in my opionion. We provide no additional night lighting. If you want lighting for night viewing, a red bulb is a good choice.

We provide half log hides for the geckos. Babies get a moist hide since they are on paper towels. I also have a heavy crock in thier enclosures with clean water at all times. Often I leave a little jar lid of calcium powder in there as sometimes they do like to have that to lick. Included as well with the adults is a glass bowl in their enclosure. We'll get to that in the Feeding Section.

Tanks are misted once daily with clean room temp tap water. The cage should be able to dry out fully in less than a hour. Misting usually occurs in the morning unless I notice someone in shed, then they get two mistings.

Feeding:

Young animals are fed daily small crickets. These are dusted several times a week with calcium and twice a week with vitamins.

Adult animals are fed a variety of insects. Wax worms are used as an occasional treat as they are very high fat and not suitable for frequent feedings. Small superworms in a glass bowl are used as a staple with the Leopard Gecko, she gets a few of them every other day placed in her bowl for her to free fed on (she eats some and saves the others for later). Crickets are used for a staple as well, medium size is the largest we will ever feed them. Crickets are also placed in the glass bowl for ease of feeding.

It is of utmost importance that all feeders be well gutloaded. Please make sure to check the cricket FAQ at the beardie page for more info.