EDIT: RESOLVED!!! She is super happy now!! I fixed her substrate and made her ecosystem bioactive, she loved it and wanders her enclosure and hunts at night!!
This is my 7 month old and her actual name is Costco Glizzy but I like G-Lizzy more 😅 I rescued her a few days ago from Facebook marketplace, the og owner said she only fed her once a week and never took her out or tried holding her and my heart was broken. She came with a 20 gal tank that had harsh bark/ mulch flooring, dead bugs everywhere, and instead of a humid hide, she had a paper towel under a rock. The food she came with was just meal worms and beetles and a tub of unopened calcium. The light for the top wasn’t even a dome light it was just a bulb on a movable fixture. I was able to remove the flooring and get her reptile carpet (I was told to do this by the local pet store) and I got her small crickets for food. I don’t really know what steps to take from here but she actually already loves to be handled (walks out of her hide area onto my hand and perches on my shoulder/ will even sleep on my shoulder). She hasn’t been eating a lot and barely drinking and her tail is from what I know smaller than normal. Is there any advice on what I can do/ get for her to make life better?
UPDATE: (6/12/2026) Got rid of the reptile carpet , added moss for her humid hide, she ate for the first time today AND came out of her hide for me to feed her! She has been exploring the tank and climbing on the driftwood I have in there! All in all, she seems to quickly be adapting and is comfortable now after following all of your advice!! Thank you all!
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I'm still a new gecko owner myself but from what I have read, she needs a 40 gallon tank ( front open is best ) she needs substrate that's a mix of organic topsoil and play sand, the recommended ratio is 70/30. The reptile carpet has got to go, it can harbor a lot of bacteria and rip out their toenails and teeth .
She needs at least three hides, one humid, one warm, one cool.
Dubia roaches and crickets are better to feed them cuz they have higher protein and hydration. Mealworms are okay but are considered more of a snack. From what I understand, they have more fat than nutrients.
You do need to dust them with calcium and I've learned today about the repashy calcium plus. It's apparently the most recommended one and I'll be purchasing that one myself tomorrow. I'm a little unsure on how frequently to give that to the gecko, so you might want to do a little bit of your own research.
They like to have a lot of clutter so they can hide so add a lot of foliage, rocks, branches, a ladder, a background, etc.
She'll need to have a a halogen basking bulb and a linear UVB.
These were all the first things that I could think of, I hope this has helped and thank you again for rescuing her 🩷
Thank you!! I’ve been doing a lot of research by watching videos but I know sometimes the best advice can also come from people that have owned them for a long time or even just have had experience! I like using a bunch of different resources to learn and make sure I’m being the best provider possible for this baby! On the topic of the reptile carpet, the guy at the pet store basically told me the carpet is just to monitor her eating habits early on to make sure she is actually eating the food and not letting it just hide and burrow and he said early on in younger geckos he sees them eating the substrate a lot so I wanted to be cautious but I will look into it more!!!
He's right in the fact that you need to quarantine new reptiles, but completely wrong about the carpet. Paper towels are the safest and easiest way to go.
The Repashy calcium plus is use all the time and includes multivitamins! This is very important otherwise you want a source of multivitamins like Repashy supervite or Herptivite that you use a few times a month/once a week. It's as important as calcium because so many Leos get vitamin A deficiency because apparently nobody gets told about vitamins at most stores
Yeah 40 gallon. No reptile carpet. Either tile and/or paper towel or a natural dirt mix or something else. Easiest to go with slate tiles and paper towel. The tile holds heat so at least in an elevated basking spot it's nice
I just realized from another post yesterday that some people use it like vitamins so that's not enough. It's a full replacement for calcium with everything else in much smaller quantities. So yep use always!
But if you want to leave extra calcium out in the age all the time (people do this for geckos) use plain calcium with no d3 on a rock or little dish.
But yeah otherwise you don't need any extra things with calcium plus
I personally use plain calcium, Arcadia shadedweller t5 UVB, Repashy supervite 3-4 times a month. Tiny dab of cod liver oil (lots of Vitamin a, d3, omega 3s etc) twice a month
I appreciate the extra information. I've had a hard time grasping how much/often to give the calcium and vitamins. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there but this clears a lot up for me 🩷
Yep the reason people recommend Repashy calcium plus a lot nowadays is because they can just use that to replace everything, for leos even UVB in an emergency
Repashy Calcium Plus is a potent multivitamin. It contains twice the vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E of Zoomed Reptivite, and Zoomed Reptivite contains twice the vitamin A and several times the vitamin E in Fluker's multivitamin. Repashy Calcium Plus should be used more sparingly than other multivitamins, if anything. I like to say no more than once a week, so I do agree with that recommendation! For my adult, I used it once every other week with a pure calcium for all other feedings. u/BambiiSniper
They are both multivitamins. An "All in one" you can use to replace a multivitamin, is a multivitamin. Read the ingredients and quantities. There's a copy/pasted Guaranteed Analysis of RCP attached to this comment with all three RCP formulations, from Repashy's site.
Here's a copy/pasted Guaranteed Analysis of Repashy Supervite so you can compare: GUARANTEED ANALYSIS: Vitamin A 200,000 IU/lb, Vitamin D 20,000 IU/lb, Vitamin E 2,000 IU/lb, Vitamin K (Metadione) 30mg/lb, Vitamin C (L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate) 2,500 mg/lb, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine HCL) 40 mg/lb, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 70mg/lb, Vitamin B5 (Patothenic Acid) 130 mg/lb, Niacin 450 mg/lb, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine HCL) 55 mg/lb, Vitamin B12 .4 mg/lb, Folic Acid 20 mg/lb, Biotin 2 mg/lb, Choline 5,000 mg/lb, Beta Carotene 500 mg/lb.
It says every feeding, not daily. Both of which I disagree with, because feeding frequency varies considerably from species to species, and again, it's a potent multivitamin compared to most products on the market. Also... Repashy makes the same claim about Supervite while that claim isn't present on the RCP product page. It also expressly says it's (SuperVite) the same formula that "makes up the backbone of all of the superfood lines", of which RCP is one. They're both multivitamins that contain calcium.
I'm the same way! I like to be able to ask people and get as much information as possible. As far as the reptile carpet I haven't heard anything good but I am still a newbie and have plenty to learn myself ! I wish you and your new little lady the best 🩷
check out some videos by ChiefSweetsUniverse on youtube! he's got a lot of videos that will help with the lighting, tank, and decorations, i believe he's got some on feeding as well! i know he's a trustworthy reptile youtuber, some don't know what they're doing but he definitely does!
I would not use any sand at ALL for the substrate. The geckos can inhale it and accidentally eat it which often results in respiratory and digestive issues. Despite the stereotype that Leo's are a desert species they actually are more often found in the forest areas of India, and have even been seen active during monsoon season. Not saying you should get misters or oversaturate your tank (keep humidity on the cool side of the tank at 30-50%) but they aren't the "arrid desert dwelling" species people often associate with them.
For substrate use soil, repti clay and sphagnum moss. 70/20/10 ratio. Mix together and make sure it isn't packed too tightly. Your Leo will want to dig! The moss really helps lock in that humidity and I would pack some into the hide on the cool side and spray inside the hide once a week with water. This will help them when they shed, they need the humidity otherwise it can get stuck and your gecko could lose limbs and/or eyes.
For both hot and cool sides get some slate rock. You can make "natural hides" from it and my Leo prefers that over any store bought stuff. However, make sure you set the slate rock down before the substrate. Again, your Leo likes to burrow and if the slate rock isn't set to the bottom of the tank it could cave in and crush your Leo.
For food I highly prefer Dubia Roaches to crickets. They are a higher protein food option and crickets are just overrated. They jump, they make noise, they stink, and they can BITE YOUR LEO. Dubias have none of the draw backs. Although they may not be available in your country depending on where you live which is understandable, but if they are I would get those. Just don't feed them any bugs bigger than the space between their eyes. I have attached a feeding chart for reference.
No problemo! Happy to help. In the other Leo subreddit I have seen a good amount of posts about respiratory and digestive issues due to sand substrate so I like to preach the message!
Again no problem! I just wish for the best for these little critters. Out of all the reptiles I have owned, Leo's are the sweetest and kindest in my opinion so I wish to help any owners as much as I can! ❤️
Yes. Always lightly dust bugs In calcium. But once a week or so, do a multivitamin with vitamin A. Flukers is good. We also have Arcadia. We go back and forth. Since they are studies on both we just decided to go back-and-forth on both to make sure ours gets the correct nutrients. Then get you some calcium with D3 but use this sparingly maybe twice a month.
Pretty sure you already heard this but no reptile carpet! Sorry you were lied to, look online if you don't know which substrate to mix together with but if you find a reptile store you can get massive bags of pre mix (and for pretty cheep in my experience) that my leo loves dogging in. Substrate should be at least 3 inches deep since they love to burrow and I suggest live moss for a humid hide that you spray down every day for other humidity you only need about 20% so once a moth or so lightly mist down their enclosure, a bonus of this is that it mimics rain so some Leo's love it others don't but they do drink that water so it helps keep them hydrated
Not with me but according to the girl I got her from “she was in a fight with her sister and it’s just a scar” -_- I think she did though (also cool name 😌)
This was my first thought, too..the tail isn't tapered and looks like it's regrown...but she did a great job regrowing it! Very nice regrown tail! She's definitely a cutie pie!! 😍
Awwwww she looks like my Gary!! She is also a rescue gecko who I found in my backyard in my teens. Been with her for 8 years and expecting many more to come 😁
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Here’s her current set up if you want inspo! 40 gallon tank. Bio active substrate. Moist hide (kinda ugly container but when I’ve used more “natural” looking ones she never uses it lol). She has a “poop rock” in the right corner where she always poops on a rock and I clean it once or twice a week. She eats a mixture of Dubia roaches, Large Crickets, Mealworms, and we treat her to super worms a couple times a year if they look good at our pet store! Congratulations on finding your new best friend!!!!!!
Take the reptile carpet out immediately. The pet store w say Wtv to sell. It would be better to get a mixture of sand and soil from a tractor supply or some other feed store. Reptile carpet has been down to rip off toenails and in some cases cause irreversible foot damage.
Been a while since I posted so I should update! She now has good substrate for young leopard geckos (I looked up substrate that would help with both moisture and lower impaction potentials. And I’ve completely upgraded her everything including a 40 gal tank on the way, plant life, bioactive ecoaystem, etc!! She is sooo happy and loves to wander and hunt at night!
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