Now many of you know, l am not predomin a reptile man. I am learning - albeit slowly from Nerys, but we all lead busy lives and sometimes the learning curve can take a novice considerable time.

I need to know information, for something l will be addressing in the next week or so in the Hobbies and Issues section. And in so doing to procure informations for this, l find myself writing a series of new threads aimed at subjects like this, so bare with me.

What is the ideal set up for some reptile species?

Now that is a broad question, l agree and there is not going to be a straight forwards answer. For so many keepers on this simple question will have a range of views l feel and that would be fair.

But is there a simple care guide that could answer that first question?

Possibly, for although broad it is not that specific, does not demand too much detail.

So lets make it more complex, slightly to begin with.

What is the ideal set up for a Leopard Gecko?

Your views and opinions please.

Rory Pro Keepers Lobby

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Leopard gecko............. (single adult female)

In my opinion.....

I would say a minimum requirement of a 2 foot vivarium.

This should have a heat mat which should always be thermostatically conrolled by a reliable electrical thermostat (not a hand, thermometer or anything else).

A heat blulb is not needed witht he heat mat IMO.

A thermostat and hygrometer (preferably digital as they prove to be more acurate) should be placed in the centre back panel of the viv to constantly allow you to view temperatures nad humidity within. these should NEVER replace the thermostat though!

The vivarium should have the heat mat at one end which is the hot end. This area should have an adequate hide area for the gecko to take cover as and when it feels it wants to.

The other end of the vivarium is the cool end which, again, should have an adequate hide area.

1 or both of the hide areas (or indeed a firther hide placed in the centre of the viv) should contain a medium for aiding shedding - either damp moss, kitchen roll - whatever you feel most comfortable with. This will help the gecko to have a safe place with a little moisture to help it remove it's skin.

Add to the viv various foliage for cover also.

The vivarium should also contain a small water bowl, the water in which should be changed daily. It should also contain a food bowl for feding mealworms/live foods and a 3rd bowl which should hold a constant supply of calcium powder for the gecko - theyw ill top their calcium levels up from this whenever they need to.

The floor of the viv should be covered with paper - kitchen roll works a treat (and I know osme keepers prefer sand for adult gecks - paper is my personal preference)

Obviously ad a gecko into the viv also

Again - the above is only my personal opinion of a basic set up for a leo andI appreciate that some people use diferent methods of housing such as tubs nad racks etc

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personally i keep my leo's as follows.

adult breeding group

4ft wooden viv, heated using a ceramic heater (caged) controlled using a magic eye thermostat, i personally don't like heat mats and think you can control the temperature more acutely with ceramics and thermos. spotlight for night time (there day time) and a "night light" for during the day so basically there days are reversed this meaning i get to see more natural behaviour with them been nocturnal,

substrate at the moment for ease i use kitchen roll, but have used things such as wood chip and sand in the past,

decoration i have one large wooden hide, fake plants placed over them so it look like the plant in growing along the back wall, i have a damp moss hide, and a egg laying box also in the viv, then i have some stones and slates, for them to bask on and some more small hides.

hatchings

for my hatchings there are housed individually in cadbury tubs on my rack on kitchen paper with a waxworm tub for a hide and another set up with damp moss for shedding once there are large enough there will put in my smaller 2ft viv's set up basically the same as the adults

feeding

i feed my leo's on a mixture of brown crickets and locusts there size depending on the leo's size, i also provide waxworms as a weekly treat and the adult leo's will get extra waxworms and a pinky after laying or during breeding

i feed them in the morning and then again at night but in the morning i put more in to last them the day while i am out.

i do feed meal worms occasionally.

Clare

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how do you know a digital thermometer is more accurate?

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Just from my own experience Jay and the experiences of various reptile keepers I have spoken to since I got involved with herps.

I am pretty sure there was actually a test done on the accuracy of digital and analogue thermometers - will try to find a link

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yeah if you can find the link that would be good cheers

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So,

Of all the readership here:

Do you agree with what is being written so far?

What do you think the best habitat/enclosure/viv would be for this species?

What is the best diet, the best substrate, enrichment and stimulation, what about hides, what would you class as the best form of heating etc for this species?

Rory

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Our leos are set up as following
All are on heat mats with stats fitted temps are 86-88F at the warm end and we allow them to drop to 82-85 in the evening
They all have pure calcium in their housing with them
The diet they are on consists of mealworms (in a bowl in the viv all the time)
Crickets dusted everyother feed with nutrobal.
And the occasional locust and wax worm.
We also only use digital thermometers as dials give to much of a range in the temps
As for substrates for the younger ones we use kitchen roll until they are about 8 months old no risks of impactation or mites etc.
As adults we use a soil play sand mix
its 3 parts top soil to 1 part sand we have found this gives a very dry mixture and also they seem to hunt better on this than they do on anything else.

The best habitat for the leo would be to try and re create what is the wild but with removing most of the risks.
For example low hides which are moist from the floor. We use all sorts of things for hides but we have found that the lower the hide the more leos seem to try and squeeze in no matter where in the viv the lower hide is they will 90% of the time all try and fit in there.

The Adults are kept in a racking system of course this is not perfect and im sure everyone would like their leopard geckos in vivs but leos just dont really need all that hight they cant climb the walls so will hardly use it.

2ft x 1 1/2 ft x 1ft would be ideal for a leo as there is enough space to fit all that it needs.
As well as the planting etc

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