Leopard Gecko Care

Leopard geckos make great pets. I listed them as one of the best beginner reptiles in a past post. They are easy to care for and can live 20yrs.

Housing: A ten gallon tank is fine for one adult. Use a safe reptile sand, turf, or newspaper as a substrate. I like sand because it is more naturalistic. Provide the gecko with a hiding spot of some kind, and a water bowl. Sticks, rocks, and fake plants may be used as decoration.

Heating and lighting: Leopard geckos come from warm regions in Afghanistan into Pakistan. They thus require added heat. An under tank heat pad will serve this purpose perfectly. The temperature can be in the 80s during the day and drop down to 68 degrees F at night. They are nocturnal and thus do not require special lighting like most other reptiles, but a UV light will make the tank easier to see into and it certainly won't hurt.

Feeding: Leopard geckos are insectivorous. Feed them crickets, mealworms, waxworms, and any other insect. A big adult can even eat a pinkie mouse (but these should not be fed often). Dust the food with a calcium powder once a week.

Handling: Leopard geckos are not very fast, and are very docile, so they can be handled. Don't handle then excessively, though, and be gentle with their tails.

Exitement in the Neighborhood

Sounds like a fun day in the condos, but seriously if you are going to keep a big lizard, keep it locked up when you are not around.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iR6Z4yt-fszJ2UtXEE1NOlw_QfJQ?docId=df1a849b5786482995c1a4e11db33736

Breeding and Raising Crickets

If you have a lot of insectivorous reptiles and amphibians then chances are you have to buy a lot of crickets. Or maybe you already breed them yourself. If you do, read no further. if you don't, why don't you? If a1l you need is 20 crickets a week breeding them won't be worth it (but it will still be fun). If on the other hand you need 100 or more crickets a week then you should definitely look into breeding your own. Be warned, though, crickets smell and they chirp. So find a place not near your sleeping area to store your colony.

Sexing Crickets
You will need adult crickets to begin your colony. Adult crickets are about an inch long and have fully developed wings covering the abdomen. Males have 2 appendages sticking out of the end of the abdomen. Females have three. The middle one on the females is long and black and is called the ovipositor. It is from here that they lay their eggs.

How Many Crickets Do I Need?
Not as many as you might think. A female cricket lays about 5-10 eggs a day, for a total of around 100 in her life (this does not mean the only live 10-20 days just that they will lay up until they reach 100 give or take). So 10 females should give you 1000 baby crickets if you let them lay for 10 days right? Well some females will inevitably die and some may be more or less prolific (not to mention some eggs might not hatch and some babies will die also) Basically the longer you let the females lay eggs the more baby crickets you will get. I recommend starting off small. Go to a pet shop and ask for 20-30 large crickets. You should get a good mix of males and females to start with. Make sure they are adults, though. Not all crickets sold as large may be adults (look for fully developed wings- if you can see the abdomen the wings are not fully developed).

The Setup
A glass tank or critter keeper is good for a small colony. Provide the crickets with food, water, heat, something to crawl on, and a place to lay eggs. Food can include store bought gutload, cricket gels, chicken mash, fruits and vegetables, and oatmeal. Water can come from the foods if they are well like fruits, wet paper towels, or a shallow dish of water with cotton swabs on them. Heat can come from a heat lamp, heating pad or placing the cage next to a radiator. Crickets like it between 85-88 degrees F. Toilet paper tubes and egg carton (paper) will give them climbing surfaces. The egg laying container can be any old plastic container filled with moist coco fiber or other clean soil. Keep it moist not wet. I use old margarine tubs. Clear containers are nice also because you can see the eggs around the edge.

The Babies
Remember that the females will lay 5- 10 eggs a day. The average of that is 7. If you have 15 females, in 3 days you will have around 315 eggs (I you do not heat the crickets you will have significantly less). I would remove the egg laying container at this point, since you don't want to many for you first time. Put the container in another heated cage. Keep it moist! The eggs will hatch in 10-14 days. The young are called pinheads because they are very small. If you have small animals you may use them now. If not you will have to raise them. The young eat what the adults eat, but I would chop it smaller for them. Crickets go through eight sizes. How fast they grow depends on temperature, but in a few weeks they should be standard pet shop "small" size.

Conclusion
Breeding Crickets can be a fun and rewarding experience. It is not all that difficult either. It is so easy. I did it by accident many yrs ago. I was feeding my toad Ben large crickets (the pet shop was out of small). As usual I poured the crickets directly into the cage. Ben ate greedily but missed a few. "He'll get those later" I said. Sure enough he got them. well two weeks went by. I look into his cage and what do i see?. An area of soil covered with little white dots. My first thought was "springtails! why are they swarming?" But upon closer examination I noticed they were baby crickets hatching and I wasn't even trying!

You can buy crickets from many places including Amazon using the link below.

Feeder Insect Nutrition Facts

Nearly all amphibians and many reptiles kept as pets are insectivorous. While larger species can eat mice for health reasons the bulk of your non-herbivorous herps diet should be insects. Their are well over a million species of insects in the world so their is no end to your options for feeding your pets. Indeed if you live in a relatively rural area you can get away with turning on the porch light at night to attract all the insects you need. Alas most of us have to buy our feeders. Nearly all pet shops sell four main feeder insects: crickets, mealworms, waxworms, and superworms (all of which you can breed on your own but that's another post). I call these the "Big Four". If you can't find them you're looking in the wrong place. Their are many other feeder that you usually have to order. These include fruit flies, springtails, phoenix worms, cockroaches, butterworms, and flies. I will be dealing with the "Big Four" here.

There are many charts online outlining the basic nutrition facts for various feeder insects. You may find that their numbers differ. This is due to the fact that no to feeder population sill be the same. One company may have more fat in in their gutload. Another may have more calcium. These charts are simply guides and they are usually not far off. Below I will compare the fat, protein, fiber, phosphorous, and calcium for the "Big Four". No exact numbers will be given since they are not useful here.

Fat
Crickets are the lowest in fat. Wax worms are the highest.

Protein
Crickets and mealworms have nearly the same amount of protein with waxworms and superworms not too far behind.

Fiber
Waxworms and superworms have the most fiber with crickets a far second.

Phosphorous
Crickets have the most phosphorous with mealworms close behind. Waxworms and superworms are almost the same with the least.

Calcium
Crickets have the most Calcium, followed by waxworms, superworms and mealworms have the least.

What Should I feed my Pets?
Short answer: crickets. Of the "Big Four" they can't be beat. Long answer: use your better judgment. You obviously wouldn't want to feed them waxworms regularly because of their high fat content. Also keep in mind that in the wild these creatures have a wide selection of insects to satisfy their nutritional needs. so it is good to give them a selection. Gut loaded crickets fed a healthy diet (like Flukers high calcium cricket food) and dusted with a vitamin/calcium powder can make up the majority of the diet but supplement it with other insects too. Even venture into more exotic feeders (cockroaches are great).

You can buy Flukers cricket food by clicking on the link below.

Book Review: The New Encyclopedia of Snakes

Snakes often get a bad rap from the mainstream public, but we herpers know the truth. They are fascinating and fun creatures. So what if Voldemort has one as a pet. It doesn't make them evil! If you want to learn more about snakes then i recommend you buy "The New Encyclopedia of Snakes" by Chris Mattison. It has plenty of good information but it is not overwhelming- an easy read for anyone. It has beautiful photographs, and every few pages there are colored boxes filled with interesting facts. You Will be an expert on snakes after reading this must have reference book for the novice herpetologist.

Price Comparison: Pet Shop vs. Reptile Expo

If you need a reason to by your animals at a reptile expo, or exotic pets expo look at these numbers.

Green treefrog: petshop- $12.99
reptile expo- 2 for $7

Ball Python: petshop- $89.99
reptile expo- $25

Bearded Dragon: petshop- $89.99
reptile expo- $75

Green Anole: petshop- $12.99
reptile expo- 2 for $7

Leopard Gecko: petshop- $45.99
reptile expo- $25

Firebelly Toad: petshop- $9.99
reptile expo- $5

Sulcatta Tortoise: petshop- $199.99
reptile fair- $125

Red Eared Slider: petshop- $14.99
reptile expo- up for adoption with a $5 donation

These are actual numbers from a local petshop and the New York Metro Reptile Expo. I believe they speak for themselves.

Species Profile: American Alligator

The American Alligator (Alligator Mississippiensis)is a spectacular reptile. They are very well adapted to their environment and belong to group of reptiles (crocodilians) that have lived nearly unchanged for 150 million yrs, surviving the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. Males can reach lengths anywhere from 10-15ft while females are a still impressive 9ft. They can weigh upwards of 1000lbs and live 35 to 50 yrs. This mighty animal was once near extinction but thanks to human help it is thriving in its native habitat (the wetlands of the American Southeast, mainly Florida and Louisiana) with a wild population of over 1 million. Alligator farms help protect the wild population from hunting by growing "gators" their skins and meat (which is quite tasty if I do say so myself- just like chicken!). They are opportunistic feeders eating anything they can catch, and can stay submerged for quite a while looking like a log so I wouldn't advise swimming in just any deep south waterway you come across. As adults they may be top predators but as hatchlings they can be food for birds, raccoons and other animals. They have a very interesting method of sex determination. Mothers lay eggs in mounds of basically compost. If the temperature is 86 degrees F or less you get females, and if it is 93 degrees f or more you get males. This leads to a sex ratio of 5 females to 1 male (not to bad!). You might believe American Alligators will abandon their young, but this is not true. The mother guards the nest ferociously, and when they hatch she carries the young to the water where she usually protects them for about 1 yr. The pictures above are some I took in florida. One shows an alligator in the water. Ther other shows a mother gaurding her nest.