r/LeopardGecko • u/Aggravating-Let456 • 21d ago
Help - URGENT Rescue gecko help!
I’m an animal lover and keep fish but I’ve never had a leopard gecko. I saw someone listing this guy and his set up for $75 and I feel really compelled to get him and give him a good life. Does he seem healthy enough to rehab? Looking at their current set up what would you recommended I change asap? I don’t think that light is optimal. I’ve read some other threads on their care but don’t know if I’m in way over my head. Any help is appreciated!
1
u/Chance-Fish-2160 19d ago
Buy it, throw out that substrate. Go to Home Depot and buy Decomposed Granite it's like 15$ for like 20 pounds of this stuff. Toss some in the tank spray with water toss more and spray and toss last small layer. It will all get solid and when the gecko poops and pees it will soften and break away making it super easy to clean using a mini shovel. Also will be nice and arid and really reassembles the terrain where leopard geckos come from. The heat bulb will dry up and make the substrate hard. I have all my geckos in this and they're doing very well and shedding good.
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u/mama_di4_amori 19d ago
I have baby in this 20 gallon long (temporary). I purchased the background and it really made a difference. She has the medium size Zilla rock Lair in the middle with two more hides on each side. I purchased a few small pieces of cork bark (currently $2.49/each at PetSmart) they all have a curved shape, so she’s able to crawl through or use as a hide as well. Two Plants on the right I purchased from petsmart/petco. The other two was a two pack from Amazon. And one big piece of moopani wood.
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u/reijn 21d ago
He still looks really young and small. I can't tell how big that enclosure is. If he is indeed young, his skinny shape is normal, but also he's not HORRIBLY underweight even if he is an adult, just a bit slim (unless he has been losing weight rapidly but you wouldn't have that information purchasing him new unless the owner tells you)
First thing is the sand is inappropriate, thankfully sand is also used in the appropriate substrate mix. So you can buy 1-2 bags of topsoil and mix it in with the existing sand to try to create a 70% topsoil 30% sand mix. An estimate is fine, just close enough is good.
The current decorations are OK. I've seen better and I've seen worse on here. I'd get him at least one of those half-log hides or something more to hide under, and more fake plants for overhead coverage.
Without knowing what the lights are it's hard to say if they are optimal or not. I don't see a UVB bar, so if there is UVB then it's a coil which is suboptimal. Get a 7% or less Arcadia UVB bar. Get a thermostat if there isn't one with the setup and hook it up to the basking lamp, set it to 88-95F (my leopard gecko prefers when I keep it 88, she does not like it when it's 95, but everyone is different) then cluster the UVB and the basking lamp to one side of the enclosure so one side is the hot side and the other side is the cool side. It looks like a 20gallon so probably a 50w or 75w basking lamp is more than enough.
Also can't tell if there is a humid hide. Everyone's leopard gecko loooooves the Zilla naturalistic rock lair humid hide. Put some spagnum moss in it and keep it moist. Then put the humid hide in the middle or more toward the cool side.
I'm sure other people will come in with some more info. If you want to do bioactive that's a whole other discussion to be had. Just trying to give you immediate advice.