Leopard geckos not only make a great pet for anyone that is new to herps (they are the easiest reptile to take care of), but are also amazing creatures for the most advanced reptile enthusiast. If you are new to reptiles or are looking to buy your first leopard gecko, then this is where you will find the answers to hopefully all of your questions. If you have any questions that are not answered in this care sheet, feel free to send us an e-mail and we will do our best to help you. Please note that in this care sheet, we use the terms "leopard gecko" and "leos" interchangeably. Most of this is based on our own personal experience and knowledge, but any references that were used are listed at the bottom of the page.

1.) Overview
2.) Basic Care
     a.) Handling
     b.) Food and diet
     c.) Waste
     d.) Shedding
3.) Sexing
4.) Housing
     a.) Caging
     b.) Substrate
     c.) Hides
     d.) Dishes
5.) Lighting
6.) Heating
7.) Breeding
8.) Eggs
     a.) Preparation
     b.) Finding Eggs
     c.) Fertile or infertile?
9.) Hatchlings



The leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularis) has quickly become a very popular pet in homes all around the world; but they originate from Pakistan, Western India, Afghanistan, and parts of Iran. Because of this, many people think that a natural substrate for their leopard gecko is sand; however, they are mostly going to be found dwelling in dry burrows or underneath rocks in the grassland regions of these areas.

Leos are generally nocturnal, but many reptile owners (including us) see their leos active during the day as well. Some of what you may want to experience (i.e. egg laying) may be hard to witness, as this will most likely always take place in the middle of the night.

Unlike most geckos, the leopard gecko does not have sticky pads on their toes; and therefore, cannot stick to walls or ceilings. Leos also have eyelids, which is what distinguishes them from other subfamilies of the gecko species. The eyelids help keep the gecko's eyes clean and particle-free in its natural dusty environment. Like most other geckos, leos clean and moisten their eyes by using their tongue (something you will see pretty often).

Through several years of captive breeding, leos have become quite diverse in their colors, morphs, and morph combinations. New and exciting morphs are continuing to emerge, which is what really makes leopard geckos so interesting and exciting. We will not be going into detail about all of the different morphs, but we will have more extensive information on the Mack Snow line (coming soon).

A leopard gecko's spots are not fully developed until it is an adult (one year of age). Hatchlings have bands on their bodies, which will break apart and develop into spots as they grow. This is very important to keep in mind when buying hatchling geckos. Mack Snows in particular will have NO yellow coloring as hatchlings, but will develop some as they mature. Moreover, Mack Snows can be difficult to distinguish from normal leopard geckos when they have too much yellow coloring to them. The Mack Snow is supposed to have a decreased amount of yellow, compared to the normals. We have specifically selected Mack Snows with the least amount of yellow that we could find, so we're hoping that our offspring are the same. =)

Leopard geckos can live up to 20 or more years if taken very well care of. Adult leos grow to be anywhere from 6 to 10 inches long. Females average about 7 inches and males usually average about 8 to 9 inches. A 10- or 11-inch male is considered to be on the large side. Likewise, an eight or nine inch female would be on the large side. By weight, adult females are usually 50-70 grams, and adult males are 70-90 grams. Any weight higher for either sex is on the large side as well. There is a morph of geckos called Giant and Super Giant that generally grow to be much larger and longer than average, the epitome of what we call "the large side." Giants are generally over 100 grams and Super Giants weigh over 110 grams at one year of age. However, even if your gecko is larger than most, that does not necessarily mean he or she is a Giant or Super Giant. Our male Osiris' highest weight recorded is 125.8 grams, and he is 10.5 inches long; although he does not carry the Giant gene. The longest and largest gecko ever recorded in history was named Moose, who was nearly 11 inches long and 156 grams. Unfortunately, Moose only lived for six years.

Like many other lizards, leos have the ability to drop their tail when they feel threatened. For this reason, you should never pick up your gecko by the tail. Additionally, you should not grab it from above, as they may mistake you for a predator. Generally, the best way to pick up your leo is by scooping from underneath slowly. We also like to let them smell our fingers first so that they can recognize us.

If your leopard gecko drops its tail, it will grow back with time. This is a normal reaction that can occur when the leo feels threatened, not a genetic defect. However, the tail will not grow back to the same size and beauty as the original. Sometimes the tail grows back rather well, without looking too much different...but there's also a chance that the tail will grow back to be much shorter and knob-looking. I have been told that the younger the gecko, the better he or she will regenerate their tail, but I am not sure if this is a fact. Moreover, because the tail is the gecko's water and fat storage unit, you will need to provide extra water and food for your leo to help gain all of its weight back. In some cases, the tail dropping alone can cause so much stress that the gecko does not recover at all. The best thing to do is to be as gentle with your gecko as possible so that it lives a happy life with its original tail.

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We just want to note that many topics in leopard gecko care are highly debatable, as you will see while reading over this Caresheet. We have done our best to explain the debatable topics and provide you with the safest option possible. We are very grounded in the ways we care for our geckos, so we take a side on each topic, and explain our reasoning. Obviously, it's up to your discretion to make the decisions for your leopard gecko.
Quick shopping list (as needed):
Cage
Substrate
Hides
Dishes
Lighting/heating supplies
Thermometers
Calcium powder
Crickets/Mealworms
Cricket Keeper


Handling is one of the many highly debatable topics. Do geckos like, want, or need human company? If not, do they at least tolerate handling? Many people will say that handling is not necessary, and more stressful to the animal than anything. Others like to handle their geckos, because what is the fun in a pet that you cannot handle? Leopard Geckos are tolerant of moderate handling, but they do not necessarily want or need human contact.

The more that a gecko was handled as a hatchling and juvenile will determine how tame the gecko is as an adult. We handle all of our babies from the first week they are born in an attempt to create docile and tame geckos. Once a gecko is used to handling, they can essentially be handled daily without causing them too much stress. When you first get your gecko, you'll want to begin handling slowly. Just simply place your hand near your gecko and let him smell you. Do this everyday until he is used to your hand and your presence. Once you are past that step, begin actually picking him up and holding him for five minutes or so. Younger geckos will screech at you more than adults, but if they get used to handling at a young age, they will turn out to be very mellow and tame when they are older. Many owners have leos that will sit in their hands or laps for hours, with no problem. Consider the whole matter as training to get your leo to be more comfortable around you.

Many people don't handle their leos at all because they feel that handling is unnecessary and too stressful. Handling them will stress them out...at first. But keep in mind that this is an animal that is going to live and be under your care for up to 20 years! They eventually get to know that you are NOT a predator, but just a caretaker. We really can't imagine what it must be like to have a gecko or gecko(s) that is never handled. When you have a gecko, your hands are going to be in and out of the cage (for cleaning, removing eggs, providing food, etc.), and the last thing you want is for them to FREAK OUT every time! If you have gotten your geckos used to you by occasional handling, you will not have this problem.

And just one last note on this topic, the only way to get your leo used to you is to give it GOOD handling experiences. Always be as careful and gentle as possible when handling your geckos. Try your best not to make them jump, snap, screech, or bite you. They will do this at first, but they cannot hurt you. Just be sure that you do not hurt them either! Give them nice handling experiences so that they do not have a reason to be afraid of you in the future.

A few of our adult geckos are deathly afraid of people because they weren't handled as hatchlings. This is very frustrating, because we don't want our leos to be afraid of us! We have begun the handling process with them, but it will take much, much longer to teach them that humans are not a threat. You can rest assure that all of our hatchlings are going be given good handling experiences while under our care.

Special thanks to David Falish for letting us use the two pictures of his beautiful Blazing Blizzards above! You can view his website by clicking here.

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Leopard geckos are insectivores and juveniles/adults can eat any of the following: crickets, meal worms, super worms, wax worms, silk worms, locusts, spiders, and pinkie mice. We generally feed our leos meal worms and super worms, with occasional crickets. Food items should never be larger than the size of your gecko's head, or wider than the width between its eyes. For hatchlings, you will need 1/4 inch crickets or mealworms. Younger geckos eat daily, and adults eat about every other day. The amount of food items per feeding depends how much the gecko will eat in ten minutes. Start out by giving your gecko 4 to 6 insects and add more as necessary. Be sure not to place too many into the cage at any one time, as uneaten bugs running around the cage will stress out the geckos greatly.

You can keep worms in a dish, but do not leave the dish inside of the enclosure at all times. The reason for this is because if your geckos are able to see food constantly, their feeding response will decrease. The best thing to do is to leave the feeding dish in the enclosure for half of the day.

Do NOT catch insects from outside to feed to your gecko - they could be covered in pesticides and/or parasites, which could be fatal.

All feeder insects should be gut-loaded prior to being fed to your gecko. The purpose of this is to increase the nutritional value of the insects - the more nutrients they have, the better they will be for your gecko. Insects that have not been gut-loaded are more like empty shells and do not make the best meal. Pet stores provide all sorts of different stuff for this, ranging from dry grainy food to moist cubed food. We have found Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet to be a good choice, as it is easier to provide than the cubed food. For mealworms, we feed crushed up oatmeal mixed with bran, calcium powder, and multi-vitamin powder. To give them moisture, we use carrot slices and orange peels. You can also use crushed up dog or cat food to feed your crickets or mealworms, as it will fill them with a lot of protein.

You will need to buy dozens of crickets at a time, and so this is where the Cricket Keeper comes in. There are generally two sizes, small and large. You might as well go ahead and buy the large one, because you will need it at some point or another. Inside you need to place a moistened sponge (not dripping wet) and whatever food you are gut-loading your insects with. The food can be kept in a dish or simply sprinkled in an area of the Keeper. Be sure to give 24 hours for gut-loading before feeding the insects to your leos.

When you are ready to give the insects to your leos, you should cover them with calcium powder. We prefer the T-Rex Bone Aid Microstick Calcium Powder because it really sticks better to the insects that other powders we have tried. The easiest way to dust your insects is to toss them into a bag (perhaps even the bag you bought them in), sprinkle some calcium powder inside, then close and shake the bag until they are completely covered. Place worms in the feeder dishes and toss the crickets into the cage. Have fun watching your geckos hunt! Most leopard geckos will wiggle their tail when stalking prey, it is very cute and interesting.

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Leopard geckos pick one spot in their enclosure for all of their waste, making them very easy to clean after. However, when housing multiple geckos, some geckos may pick different spots from others. The little white/yellowish blobs that you see are the gecko's urine.

Adult leopard geckos shed once or twice a month, and younger geckos will shed much more often as they grow. You can tell when your gecko is about to shed because their colors will fade and the skin will look opaque. What really makes a leopard gecko cool is that it eats its own shed skin. In fact, it will bite and tear at its skin when shedding, eating the skin as more tears away from its body. The skin is very nutritious for them; but usually, if any skin falls to the ground during this process, the gecko will not eat it (they only like the freshly shed skin). If this happens, no big deal, just a little bit more to clean up later. This can be a very amazing thing to watch (even after seeing it happen several times, we still enjoy watching ours).

Your gecko should have no problem getting the skin off, especially from his or her toes (it should literally look like a glove coming right off of their feet, again with no problems). If this is the case, then you know that your moist hide box is doing its job (more details ahead). If your geckos have problems getting dead skin off of their toes, or cannot get it off at all, then your hide box is probably not staying moist enough. The reason this is important is because if your gecko(s) do not shed properly on their toes, the dead skin can cut off circulation, causing their toes to fall off.

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Leopard geckos are relatively easy to visually sex; however, this cannot be done until the gecko is about two to three months of age. Males tend to have wider heads, but they also have a noticeable bulge at the base of the tail. You will also see a V-shaped row of spots on his underside. Females basically do not have these characteristics. Special thanks to Steve Seiler for letting us use his picture on the right! This is one of his favorite males, Demon Jr., who likes to lay on his back, happily representing his gender. =) Click here to visit Steve's website.


Only one male can subside in any one cage, as two males caged together will fight to the death. Multiple females can be housed together just fine. Many people prefer to keep all of their geckos separately, but we like to watch them live and interact with each other (and we have yet to have any problems). If you do not plan to breed your geckos, never house a male with a female at any time. If you plan to breed, one male can be housed with two or more females. The "perfect" number is one male and and four or five females. When housing multiple geckos, make sure to provide plenty of food so that there is no competition. No matter any case, you will also need to keep an eye out for any bullying. Some geckos just do not get along with each other. If your geckos do not appear to be happy living with each other, separate them. And of course, do not house geckos of different ages together! Hatchlings and juveniles should never be housed with each other nor with adults.

Special thanks again to David Falish for also letting us use these two pictures (above and below).

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One or two leopard geckos can be housed comfortably in a 20 gallon tank. Be sure that you get a glass tank with a screen top. If you have other pets, such as dogs or cats, make sure the screen top is strong and secure! For each gecko added, an additional 10 gallons should be added to the tank size.

Some people like to use sand as a substrate, but most people are against it. Sand (along with any loose-particle substrate) can be very dangerous, even fatal, for your leo if ingested. Leopard geckos often test their surroundings using their tongue, and so they can ingest sand this way. Additionally, when hunting and catching crickets, large amounts of sand can also be ingested. At any rate, any amount could be harmful because they cannot digest the substrate, and it builds up until it blocks their system entirely. It's highly recommended not to use sand or any other kind of loose substrate. Safe choices of substrate include tile, astroturf, paper towels, and newspaper. Repti-carpet is another choice, but we have been told that the geckos get their nails stuck in it all of the time. Hatchlings and/or juveniles should always be housed on paper towels.

Leopard geckos love hiding places, and so providing them with such will make a very happy leo. You will basically want to have a moist hide and a dry hide. The moist hide will be kept on the heated side of your tank and will aid in your reptile's shedding. Several different natural looking hides are available at pet stores, but you can also make them with common household items.

First, you need a nice sized tupperware container with a lid (whatever size looks comfy for your leo or leos - our tupperware containers are large enough to hold three adult leos). Cut out a hole in the top of the lid or on top of the side of the container for your geckos to go in and out through. Fill up the container with vermiculite and add water (1 part vermiculite : 1 part water) to moisten. Once thoroughly mixed, the vermiculite will ball together when squeezed tightly in your hand, and no water should drip out. When you release the ball of vermiculite, it should break into pieces. If it is too dry or water is dripping, add more water or vermiculite until you achieve the desired result.

For your dry hide, simply do not add water (or as much water) to the vermiculite. The moist hide will need to be remoistened two to three times a week. To check the moisture, simply ball up the vermiculite in your hand as you did before, checking that it clumps together well without any water dripping.

***NOTE***If you notice golden poo, then your leos are eating the vermiculite and you will have to replace the substrate inside your hidebox. We actually have had this problem with several of our leos, so we can no longer use vermiculite. The best alternative we have found thus far is sphagnum moss. In this case, just be sure to keep the moss moist (but not wet), spraying with a spray bottle every other day or so.

Many people also like to add other cage accessories like fake plants/leaves, logs, rocks, etc. Whatever you find pleasing! Be sure to disinfect anything that you decide to put in your leo's cage.

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You need at least three dishes for your reptile setup: a water dish, a calcium dish, and a food dish. Provide more food dishes for multiple leos as necessary. You can also combine the water and calcium dishes into one! The end result is a water dish that has a calcium block molded to the bottom so that when drinking, the leos ingest the calcium that is released into the water. You can purchase this stuff, along with a natural-looking water dish, for $12.78 plus shipping...we recommend that you buy the Recharge Bottle ($3.99 plus shipping) and use it with ANY water dish that you already have. Even if you are buying a new water dish, you will be able to find a nice one that is cheaper than the one that comes with the calcium Recharge Bottle. You can find the Recharge Bottles at the Big Apple Pet Supply store - the link is provided on our Links page. One Recharge Bottle will be good for one water dish (which lasts 3 to 4 months).


Since leopard geckos are nocturnal, they do not require UVA/UVB lighting. In fact, leopard geckos do not require any lighting at all as long as there is some light in the room they are in. However, you may choose to use lights as your main heat source. If so, you will need a light fixture, which can be found at all pet stores. You should get blue or red night lights; as they are not so bright for your light-sensitive leos. These lights will provide the necessary heat and can be kept on at all times. We use a 75 watt Exoterra Infrared Heat Lamp during the winter and a 60 watt bulb during the summer. If you decide to use lighting for your heat source, you will also need thermometers in your tank to verify the temperature. Thermometers that stick to the tank are not the best since they only get the temperature of the glass. Your best bet is to find a thermometer that sticks into the substrate so that you can get a reading of the temperatures at your geckos' level.


The temperature inside of the enclosure should be about 88 to 92 degrees on the heated side, and 78 to 82 degrees on the cooler side. To create a gradient temperature inside the cage, simply keep one side heated with the method of your choice. Apart from using heated lights, another way to heat your tank is to use an undertank heating pad. These can be bought at your local pet store, and they require a thermostat to regulate the temperature. Do NOT purchase heat rocks because they get too hot for your geckos - it will burn their skin!

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Breeding leopard geckos is fairly easy; and why shouldn't it be, they've been doing it successfully in the wild for ages! However, some help will ensure you healthy baby geckos. The breeding season is generally February through September, although depending on your location and seasons, you may have geckos breeding all year-round! When you have decided that you want to breed your geckos, all you really need to do is put the male and female together and they will most likely do their thing on their own. Some breeders have a cool-down time when they decrease food amounts and slowly lower temperatures for a few weeks. When the cool down is over and the temperatures slowly rise, the geckos will instantly think that it is time to breed. We do not use the cool-down process as we have not had a need to.

Before introducing your breeding pairs, you will need to make sure that the female(s) is/are ovulating, otherwise they won't breed. You can tell when a female is ovulating by looking at her stomach. If you see several white, round follicles through her belly, she's ready to go.

Some breeders will introduce the male to the female and leave them together for a couple of hours, then separate them again to encourage breeding. Another option is to house the male and female(s) together for the entire breeding season, if not year-around. If you decide to keep your male with the females all year long, you must monitor the geckos and make sure the male does not over sex or bully the females. This is why having multiple females is favored, as the risk of over sexing is lowered extremely.

In our experience, when the male advances and the female does not want anything to do with him, she will smack him with her tail. This is her "no signal," and usually the male will respect this and stop making his advances. If this is the case, you should not have to worry about oversexing, and the male can be housed with his females year around. However, if the male continues to make advances after the females say "no," then keeping him in a different cage when he's not breeding is going to be your best bet. Even when the male is respectful, you may still want to give your females a well-deserved rest period by housing your male separately for a few months.

Once your geckos have bred together, the female is essentially gravid and her body will start producing eggs. During this time, it is crucial to provide Calcium (if you don't already), as the female will need extra calcium to help produce the shells of each egg. In about a month and a half or less, the female will lay her first clutch. One clutch consists of two eggs, except for the very first time, when there may only be one egg. Time intervals between clutches can be anywhere from two to six weeks. Here is a table of the estimated number of eggs for the age of a female gecko.


As you can see, the prime age for a female gecko is supposedly four years old. When leos first start laying eggs (usually around the age of 1), their body doesn't know exactly how to produce eggs right away. For this reason, the very first breeding season for any female will not yield quite as many eggs. Moreover, the first couple of clutches are more likely to be infertile. This, however, does not necessarily mean that they will be. Our female Nefertari is in her first breeding season and is one year of age. She laid four clutches (eight eggs), and all but one of the eggs have been fertile. On the flip side, our female Isis only laid one clutch for her first season, and both eggs were infertile. This chart is just an estimation of what can be expected, not all female geckos will necessarily follow the pattern on this chart. The data in the chart was taken from Wikkipedia Free Encyclopedia: Leopard Gecko.

Before your females lay eggs, you need to prepare your incubator and incubation boxes. Incubators can be made from home-made materials, or you can buy a Hovabator. We have never made our own home-made incubator, and so we do not have instructions on how to do so. However, the best website to purchase a Hovabator is from the Randall Burkey Company - the link can be found on our Links page. Additionally, truly the best explanation on how to prepare your incubation boxes (and also the way in which we prepare ours) can be found on Albey's "Too Cool" Reptiles: How to Incubate Page. Be sure to prepare your incubation boxes and keep them heated in your incubator at least a week before you expect to see eggs (more info ahead).

Another cool thing about leopard geckos is that you can determine the sex of the gecko by manipulating the incubation temperature. Here is a table of the temperatures:



However, it seems that these incubation temperatures do not apply to the Mack Snow morph. Many breeders have noticed that their Mack Snow offspring are predominately male, even when the eggs are incubated at lower temperatures. More testing needs to be done before anything can be confirmed, but this has never been seen or documented in any other leopard gecko morph.

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Your gravid females will need a moist egg-laying hide box. You should already have a one in your enclosure, and so it now doubles as your egg-laying chamber as well.

You can tell when your female is about to lay because she will become very restless, and you should be able to tell that your female has gained quite a bit of weight. If your female tries to climb up the glass of the tank (as many will do during this time), you can take opportunity to check out her belly. You WILL be able to see the eggs right through her stomach when she is close to laying, there is no mistaking them! Moreover, a day or so before she lays, your female will start digging...A LOT! Some females will lay after digging for a couple of hours, and other females will dig for days. Even after they lay their eggs, they may continue to dig!

You may or may not see your female lay eggs. We assumed that females would mostly lay at night (mostly), but we sure were wrong! We've actually witnessed our females lay eggs quite a few times because they laid in the morning or early evening. But of course, there's a high chance that they will lay while you are asleep, and so the eggs will sit in the enclosure for a few hours before you find them. REMEMBER that when you are expecting eggs to be extra careful when re-moistening your egg-laying chambers. You never know when there might be a day that you find eggs at the very bottom of the container!

All geckos may lay their eggs differently. One female of ours buries her eggs at the bottom of the container, underneath four-inch piles of vermiculite. However, another female dug up the entire egg-laying chamber, then laid her eggs on the side that had no vermiculite, and proceeded to lay on top them. Either way, you will need a keen eye to notice heavily buried eggs, so watch your gecko's behavior often. Another good tip is to lift up the entire moist hidebox to see if any eggs are sitting on the bottom by viewing from underneath.

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When the day comes and you finally find eggs, the tupperware container really comes in handy, as removing them from the cage is very simple. Of course, remove any geckos from the egg-laying chamber before removing the tupperware.

First, you should mark the top of the eggs (with a Sharpie or similar felt-tip pen) so that you know the exact position in which they were laid. If the eggs get turned in any way, the embryo may drown, so you will have to make sure that the egg does not move. Once you mark the egg, all you have to do is keep the marked side facing up. With the up most of care, remove the eggs from the moist hide box with your fingers (you can use a spoon if needed) and place the eggs in the incubation box that you should already have prepared. Incubate your eggs at the desired temperature for males or females.

Keep in mind that the eggs should never receive direct light or sunlight. Many breeders keep their incubators in dimly lit rooms. We like to keep the windows of the incubator covered, perhaps with a small book, so that we do not have to worry about too much light in the room.

Note that if you are incubating for mostly males, only keep the incubation temperature (88 to 91 degrees) for the first three weeks. After that time, the sex has already been determined and lowering the temperature (to about 84 degrees) is preferable. This way, any females that hatch will not necessarily become "hot females" (which tend to be more aggressive). Depending on the temperature you chose (higher temps will make your eggs hatch quicker), you will hopefully have healthy leopard gecko hatchlings anywhere from 35 to 105 days.

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We will have pictures with more information on fertile vs. infertile eggs soon. For now, we will simply just have to give you a detailed explanation. Fertile eggs are delicate but also have strong, firm shells. There is no discoloration, and the egg tends to be more rounded in the middle. Infertile eggs have a much softer shell (which you will know when you feel it - it definitely doesn't feel right). They are very discolored, and appear longer and thinner than fertile eggs. You can usually tell by the shell and egg shape whether or not the egg is fertile - right when you find the eggs. The three eggs pictured here are all fertile eggs. The one with the blue mark on the left is two days old in this picture. The other two with the black marks are 24 days old.

After two or three days, you can confirm that your eggs are fertile by "candling" them. There is no need to remove the eggs when doing this! You can simply take the top off of your incubator, open your egg-container, and candle the eggs right there. You'll need a small flashlight (perhaps a pen light or a keychain light), or you can manipulate a regular sized flashlight for your needs. To do this, simply put foil around the top of the light, and poke a small hole in the middle so that just a small beam of light shines through.

When you are ready, make sure the lights are off and shine your light directly onto the egg. You will need to touch the egg with your light to get close enough, so be gentle. Fertile eggs will glow pink, and after 3 or 4 days, you will be able to see veins. After a couple weeks, the entire egg will look like an explosion of veins, with a prominent pink glow. Eggs may even have a pink tint to them during the day! Infertile eggs will glow yellow throughout the entire egg, no matter what day you shine the light. Also just note that FERTILE eggs will glow yellow on the first day they are laid, so do not worry if you see this.

Many breeders incubate their infertile eggs, as there is always a chance that one will become fertile. We suggest that if the egg looks hopeful, keep it; but many times they do not look so good. Infertile eggs can also attract mold, and you do not want the mold spreading to your fertile eggs! So do not feel bad if you need to discard one; infertile eggs are empty shells, the embryo hasn't even began to develop.

The size of the egg will also change as they get closer to hatching. The egg will grow larger gradually at first, then doubling its size when it is in its last week before hatching. Going back to the first egg picture, as you can see, there is not much of a size difference between 2 and 24 days old. Eggs that are about a week away from hatching will be noticeably larger. The large egg in the picture to the left is the same egg from the picture that was noted above. When the eggs are hours before hatching, the shell will begin to sweat. You may see the entire egg shell collapse as the little hatchling pushes his way into the world. The entire process can take anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. This egg hatched within one hour of this picture being taken, but it's hard to tell that is is sweating.

We hope to have some good hatching pics for you soon! Good luck to those of you who plan to breed this season!

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Hatchling care is not much different from caring for an adult leopard gecko. A part from eating much smaller crickets, as mentioned before, their housing is much smaller too. Hatchlings are best kept separately to keep them from fighting, biting, or just plain scaring each other (one hatchling can make another drop its tail)! The best way to house all these new little babies separately is by using a reptile rack/bin system. You can make your own, or buy one specifically designed for reptiles. We have a pretty tight budget, so we bought a set of plastic drawers (4) from Target. Of course, as we get more hatchlings, we are going to buy more and more drawer sets.

Once you have obtained your bins or drawers, you are ready to turn them into tiny homes! Line each bin with paper towels; provide a moist and dry hide, and water/calcium dishes. For the moist and dry hides, we make use of our used mealworm containers made in the same fashion as the adult hide boxes - with one exception. Instead of vermiculite, simply just use a damp paper towel. For the water and calcium dishes, we recommend using old Gatorade or milk jug caps, or both. Simple enough, right? To heat your hatchling boxes, you can use Flexwatt Heat Tape on a shelving system, or heating pads underneath the boxes. Either way, you will also need a thermostat. The temperature gradient should be the same for hatchlings as for adults, although some people (including Ron Tremper) give hatchlings temperatures that are a bit warmer. This is up to you, but hatchlings do appear to like warmer temps. We keep the hot side at 94 degrees and the babies tend to stay on the hot side almost all of the time!

Hatchling geckos will not eat anything until their very first shed (usually after 3 days of hatching). Once again, they should eat 1/4" crickets. You can also leave another milk cap with small mealworms inside of the enclosure if you’d like. After about 4 weeks, you can house your geckos together until they can be visually sexed (about two months later) if this is more convenient for you. If so, be sure to use at least a 20-gallon-sized tank with appropriate hide boxes and food/water/calcium dishes. Monitor the little ones and make sure there is no fighting or biting. You may need to separate some. Of course, the best thing to do is to continue to keep the older ones (now juveniles, or juvies) in their separated containers that they started out with.

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We think we have covered about everything, but your comments, suggestions, and questions can help us make this care sheet better!



References
Wikkipedia Free Encyclopedia: Leopard Gecko. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_gecko >.