#leo tips

Hi friend! Those are two questions that don’t really have solid answers, but generally leopard geckos are considered adults when they get to be around 60-70grams, which usually happens at around 1.5 years of age. Obviously there are other factors, like sex (males tend to be heftier than females,) and special circumstances, but that’s the rule of thumb! It’s around this point that you can start feeding them less often (I personally do 3 times a week but some people do smaller portions every other day or larger portions twice a week… just find something that seems to work for you and your gecko, to be honest! If they start dropping weight, reexamine your feeding plan. Ideally they should maintain a healthy adult weight!)

That’s just a pretty generic guide and there’s more I could say on the topic but I didn’t want to get too long-winded! There are lots of good videos on YouTube about how to pick up/handle leopard geckos too, if you want to search it up. As for sexing them, you can’t really be sure until they’re a little older, but here’s a good guide for when the time comes.

Yeah, if they’re the length of your finger then they’re probably still really young! At this point their tails will be pretty thin, like maybe a little more than the width of a pen. They should thicken up just by having a consistent diet, though (so feeding them 10-14 mealworms/a couple crickets or roaches every day.) If you don’t see them getting any thicker, just make sure they’re getting enough food (watch them to make sure they’re eating, get a no-escape worm dish, etc.) As long as they’re eating and pooping alright, there really should be no cause for worry. Each gecko develops at its own rate, so it might just be that they haven’t hit their juvenile growth spurt yet. Hope that helped!!

I have never had experience with it myself, but personally I would give it a no-go. It’s still a loose substrate so it runs the risk of impaction, plus coco fiber specifically tends to hold a lot of water which isn’t great for leos, who prefer a lower humidity in their tanks. If you’re going for a more natural look, try a nice sand or earth colored tile! Places like Lowe’s and Home Depot can cut it to your tank size, and it’s way safer and still looks great. (-:

So in the end, I think it’s mostly up to you to pick your battles!

It’s not necessarily that they don’t like moss, it’s just that some geckos love making a mess! It depends on the individual gecko, honestly. Two of mine are huge diggers, so I put in extra paper towels for them to dig through, but the rest don’t feel that urge. However, her kicking out all the moss constantly might be kind of a pain for you, so it might be in your best interest to switch to something easier to clean, like paper towels (which is what I use for my diggers.) This way, they usually just crumple it up or if they do kick it out, it’s in one piece that you can pick up easily. That’s pretty much up to you, though, and these are just my two cents!

As long as your gecko is responsive, climbing around and shedding without mobility issues, they should be okay. Obviously, if you’re concerned that your gecko might be overweight, taking them in to get a vet’s opinion is never a bad thing!

Good luck with your boys, and definitely submit some pictures if you end up breeding them! ;)