New Gecko Friend!

Congrats on the new gecko. Some of these links might help:

I’ll write a quick version of their care to get you started.

Care
Enclosure

You can use enclosures of multiple types. Ideal enclosures are plastic, but glass can also work. I personally use plastic shoe boxes, which work great. The height of the enclosure isn’t that important, the floor space is the most important. For a younger gecko, a smaller enclosure can help them feel more comfortable, but if set up properly, a larger enclosure can usually work (it depends on the individual gecko). As an adult, try to get at least a floor space of 20" x 10".

Substrate

Avoid loose substrates. You have a lot of options, but loose substrates often cause problems, for the sake of you and your gecko, just avoid them. Also avoid repti-carpet, it’s not terrible and it can be used, but geckos’ claws can get stuck in them and it needs to be cleaned often. It’s also hard to clean, when I used repti-carpet, it was super difficult to get calcium powder out of it (and my gecko loved dumping his dish of calcium, lol). For substrate, I prefer paper towels, they’re easy to clean, and work great for me (I have quite a few geckos, so it’s easy and sanitary). You can also use slate tiles, or just use no substrate.

Hides/Decor

You need a bare minimum of 3 hides, a warm hide, a cool hide, and a humid hide. Put the warm hide on the warm end of the enclosure, the cool hide on the cool end of the enclosure, and the humid hide can go wherever you want. The warm and cool hide both need to be small, dark (or at least very close, you could always paint over a clear hide), and only have 1 opening (transparent hides, log hides, and large hides don’t make the gecko feel secure and safe). The humid hide should also be similar in terms of making the gecko feel secure. For the humid hide, put some kind of medium (moss or paper towels work best) inside and keep it damp. When the gecko sheds, it can use that to help.

Be sure the enclosure isn’t open, geckos like to feel secure and safe, the safer they feel, the more often you’ll see them (otherwise they will always be in a hide). You might want to cover 2-3 sides of the enclosure with something dark so the gecko doesn’t feel exposed (this isn’t always necessary, but it sometimes is, if you’re not sure you can always ask on here). Adding more hides and decorations is always okay (here, the rules of security; the dark, small, and 1 opening don’t apply, these are extra hides). Be sure to provide something rough/heavy to help your gecko shed, they will use it to start the shedding process and help get the skin off.

Heating/Lighting

As far as heating, the best option is to use something underneath the enclosure. Heat tape or a head pad (made for reptiles) work well, but be sure to use a thermostat(you have a lot of options, cheap ones, like an inkbird, or expensive ones, like a vivarium electronics), otherwise they can get very hot and kill your gecko or melt/crack the enclosure. Put the heating source so it doesn’t cover more than 1/3 of the floorspace (the tape/pad and thermostat probe go under the enclosure, not in it) A lamp will work find, but it’s not ideal. The cost of the bulbs gets way more expensive than heat tape/heat pad + thermostat. The very hottest part of the enclosure should be around 90*F, and the warm side can be in the high 80’s.
Lighting isn’t super important, as long as there is a bit of light and a clear day/night cycle, you don’t need extra lights. UV can be beneficial (if you want one, get a low level one), but it’s not necessary.

Diet

A variety of foods is ideal. I like a staple of dubia roaches. They have great nutrients, and they are super easy to keep alive and feed. You can also use hornworms, black soldier fly larvae (bsfl), or silkworms (all of which can be trickier as food items; hornworms grow very fast, silkworms are expensive, and bsfl morph into an adult quickly) No matter what you use, gut load it before feeding (you can use carrots for most things, but if you feed crickets, use a dedicated gut-loading for reptiles). Avoid feeding mealworms, superworms, or waxworms as a staple, since they are fatty and unhealthy. But, feeding those on occasion is great (you can buy a small container and feed it off, your gecko should love those).

Whatever you feed (except bsfl), dust it with a reptile multivitamin (I personally use a repashy multivitamin), most multivitamin instructions tell you to dust every food item. Black soldier fly larvae have enough calcium that it’s not necessary to dust them before feeding, but everything else needs that so they have a high enough calcium:phosphorus ratio. It helps to provide a dish of calcium powder (without d3), it’s not necessary, but it helps. It’s only absolutely necessary for adult females in breeding season (they still need the calcium to produce eggs, even if they aren’t bred).

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