Lizard Owners, Please read and feedback

[Jason]

Hello Lizard owners,

Me and my wife have been standing on the line among few lizards then we got closer to chosing beardies and Geckos... until few days ago, we finally decided to get baby-young Leopard Gecko, it is our first time and it is for our teenager son. I know this is good for beginners and learning on how to gut-load the live insects like crickets and mealworms with fruits, leafs, carrots, and water fed water through raw potatoes to live.. be gut-loaded 24 hours before being fed to LGs... etc etc... been researching. We have 10-20 gal glass tank, desert like rocks, shelter, and bowl with rock in it to keep crickets from drowning themselves... etc.. sand won't be added until the LG grows over 5 inches. Have heating pad under the tank and 50 watts Incandescent lighting.. he is about 3-5 inches long. yellowish, black, had little orange but gone now... legs were almost see through but now getting bolder.. first few days, very secure until comfort with us... then it comes out of the hide more. It is not to be handled often or too long because of stress management. Anything else I need to know? I read somewhere that if we want to save money, we feed crickets tropical fish flakes, oats, oranges, banana peels, greenies, etc..

So any of you have had some experiences with these LGs, beardies, and more. We are thinking about maybe expanding by getting more lizards, other LGs maybe.. when we or the kids got time, beardies may be the next choice, bigger tank, etc.

I read and see friends who have beardies can roam freely with no problem, and carry all you like but have to wash hands before touching face, food, etc.. is that correct?

Any of ya own any different lizards that you are comfortable with, I am curious about your experiences with them. Thanks.

 

[mizerey]

Make sure they have high humidity when they shed. One of mine went partially blinded from a bad shed. Otherwise, it looks like you are doing good! They make great quiet pets!

 

[Jason]

Okay, at approximately age they shed? Or just when they grow beyond their current size, they start shedding? I heard/read someplace they shed like snakes does but more like paper-like flakes... that right?

 

[VamPyroX]

I've never had a lizard as a pet, but I have babysat (err... lizard-sat) my roommate's lizard a few times in the past.

He had a bearded dragon... a pogona. Its diet consisted of mealworms and crickets. I would feed him daily and he had a heated lamp on timer to keep the cage warm.

One night, he was drunk and took off the heat lamp so he could take off the lid to feed the lizard. He put the lid back on, but forgot to put the heat lamp back on top.

The timer turned on the heat lamp and it heated up his wooden dresser to a point where it started "cooking" the dresser and creating smoke enough to cause panic and sending in the fire department. After the other roommate finally got him to open the door, he opened it and didn't even know what was going on. Boy... that... was... drunk!

 

[caz12]

make sure the insects you feed it are well fed and healthy,i seen lizzards suffering because insects were also lacking good nutrients

 

[MCB]

If you do ever let him roam freely, make sure you keep the place clean. My son had an iguana who roamed from time to time. He died from eating a tiny brightly colored doll, which plugged his gut. My son was devastated.

 

[jfinner1]

I have a bearded dragon. One of the coolest pets ever. He's in a 50 gallon "breeder" tank. Let me see if I can upload a picture... (First time, so I'm sorry if it doesn't work, or ends up huge, or something...)

I don't know about geckos, but I'm assuming most of the information between the two would be the same so... A few things you should watch out for: You said you had a "desert themed" tank, but didn't mention what you're using for bedding. If you're using sand, it can be accidentally ingested and cause impaction. I use fleece blankets, because they are insanely easy to clean, and I never have to replace them. Saves money and time. For lighting, UVB is a key thing. A lot of tank screens can block the UVB rays, which is why mine is suspended inside my tank. Also, your tank should have a "hot" side and a "cool" side. The thermometer on the back of my tank is worthless (I just can't get it off, lol). It's better to have a small digital thermometer that you can move to different areas of the cage. The under the cage heater I've be careful with. Draco has one and it's fine so long at there's a fleece between him and the glass. But the bare glass can get hot, and beardies don't have temperature sensors on their stomachs or something. So if he sits on it too long, he could burn himself without realizing it.

As for food. I've never liked crickets, because they're little escape artists, and are great at hiding in the cage furniture, dying, and stinking the cage up. Not saying you shouldn't feed them. I know prenty of people who love crickets. I just won't have any advice on them, lol. I feed super worms as my primary protein, and lots of greens, fruits, and veggies. Mustard greens, collard greens, and turnip greens I feed daily as a base, and then throw in apple pieces, butternut squash, strawberries, a bit of banana, carrots, grapes, honey dew, watermelon, basically whatever fruits I have in the house.

Mealworms are low in calcium, and their shell is pretty tough, especially for a young lizard. If you feed them, make sure you dust them with calcium powder. Superworms are much easier to crunch, lol, but you should dust them too. Of course, this is all based on a beardie, so I'm not sure if geckos have different nutrition requirements.

BTW:
If you really want a good learning experience, and a way to cut costs, ask me about breeding your own supers. If yu get good at it, you can even sell the extras back to the pet store. And feel free to PM with if you have any questions. I love helping people with their pets! :P

 

[Jason]

I've never had a lizard as a pet, but I have babysat (err... lizard-sat) my roommate's lizard a few times in the past.

He had a bearded dragon... a pogona. Its diet consisted of mealworms and crickets. I would feed him daily and he had a heated lamp on timer to keep the cage warm.

One night, he was drunk and took off the heat lamp so he could take off the lid to feed the lizard. He put the lid back on, but forgot to put the heat lamp back on top.

The timer turned on the heat lamp and it heated up his wooden dresser to a point where it started "cooking" the dresser and creating smoke enough to cause panic and sending in the fire department. After the other roommate finally got him to open the door, he opened it and didn't even know what was going on. Boy... that... was... drunk!

If you do ever let him roam freely, make sure you keep the place clean. My son had an iguana who roamed from time to time. He died from eating a tiny brightly colored doll, which plugged his gut. My son was devastated.

Yeah, geckos are excellent display types.. they like to be secured so they won't be out of the tank running free because I got four kids plus myself that moves fast around the house without realizing until it is too late so that is why I picked this kind and kids sometimes forget to wash their hands until reminded.. ya know.. bah bah.

That is a shame. I can relate. My brother former friends had some kind of desert lizards, he loves them.. one night my brother told me, when this friend was drunk or mad, he forgets his favorite pet.. the lizard, mistakenly hurt it or forgot to feed when he parties to hard.. so he realized he lost two lizards to that.. so he took up counseling to stop drinking and stuff.. and after that he started dating again and collecting lizards.. I have seen some odd ones that i can not remember what they are called.. and few iguanas... I can not remember how they were taken care of and stuff but I do recall the decorations, and stuff.

I have a bearded dragon. One of the coolest pets ever. He's in a 50 gallon "breeder" tank. Let me see if I can upload a picture... (First time, so I'm sorry if it doesn't work, or ends up huge, or something...)

I don't know about geckos, but I'm assuming most of the information between the two would be the same so... A few things you should watch out for: You said you had a "desert themed" tank, but didn't mention what you're using for bedding. If you're using sand, it can be accidentally ingested and cause impaction. I use fleece blankets, because they are insanely easy to clean, and I never have to replace them. Saves money and time. For lighting, UVB is a key thing. A lot of tank screens can block the UVB rays, which is why mine is suspended inside my tank. Also, your tank should have a "hot" side and a "cool" side. The thermometer on the back of my tank is worthless (I just can't get it off, lol). It's better to have a small digital thermometer that you can move to different areas of the cage. The under the cage heater I've be careful with. Draco has one and it's fine so long at there's a fleece between him and the glass. But the bare glass can get hot, and beardies don't have temperature sensors on their stomachs or something. So if he sits on it too long, he could burn himself without realizing it.

As for food. I've never liked crickets, because they're little escape artists, and are great at hiding in the cage furniture, dying, and stinking the cage up. Not saying you shouldn't feed them. I know prenty of people who love crickets. I just won't have any advice on them, lol. I feed super worms as my primary protein, and lots of greens, fruits, and veggies. Mustard greens, collard greens, and turnip greens I feed daily as a base, and then throw in apple pieces, butternut squash, strawberries, a bit of banana, carrots, grapes, honey dew, watermelon, basically whatever fruits I have in the house.

Mealworms are low in calcium, and their shell is pretty tough, especially for a young lizard. If you feed them, make sure you dust them with calcium powder. Superworms are much easier to crunch, lol, but you should dust them too. Of course, this is all based on a beardie, so I'm not sure if geckos have different nutrition requirements.

BTW:
If you really want a good learning experience, and a way to cut costs, ask me about breeding your own supers. If yu get good at it, you can even sell the extras back to the pet store. And feel free to PM with if you have any questions. I love helping people with their pets! :P

Jennifer if that is the name... I see the picture. it is easy care and all that. I see what you are saying by saving money not having to replace/buy things to keep the tank clean, etc.

I gut-load my crickets in a shaker where I manually add water to keep them moist (very little) for 24 crickets at a time. And with the shaker, I add calium powdered loaded with Vitamins D3 which is very important... I use 50w bulb and heating pad.. this kind uses the pad the most. light, the LG seem not liking it so I had to push it to far end.. and keep the water cold.. this lizard loves to be under a shelter where half of it is heated by the pad and other part is a cooling spot. I am still adjusting things to find the lizard's comfortable zone. I also like to feed cricket some water through raw potatoes but this food doesn't last which I wish it does. I fed it some greenies, orange peels, carrot peels.. will be feeding them some oranges, crackers with protein, of course with light powder to it... I can see any fruit and green vegs are excellent source. I will put up a picture of this baby LG shortly. Not much of decoration at the moment but will add few more such as plant, and other things to make it more like home with some better rocks and more cooling spots away from the bulb. Crickets are good for these LGs but they have preferences as well. I am going to get some mealies soon to see if this one likes it better. I am not sure which sex it is yet.. I dont want to be a bother until this lizard is comfortable with us first so the LG will know we treat him/her equal...

 

[Jason]

Here is the LG, had to lift the shelter so I can take a photo, used to having him/her be so quiet.. suddenly tries to get out of the tank at such speed had me off guard.. lol.. its all good.. so here is the photo. Approximately five to six inches now.. must have grew some.. that is good sign of proper feeding, and comfort zone.

 

[jfinner1]

Awww! He/She is so cute!!

 

[Jason]

Awww! He/She is so cute!!

Yeah we think so too.. can't wait to see my son's expressions and excitment. To be honest, I think I have done good job and learned pretty a lot just within five days.. found other ways to take care of live crickets in simple way and I managed to keep more crickets alive.. etc.. it is a boy...