(posted by Mom of Geckofamily) We're a family of seven and we have an adorable little gecko. He's our first pet. I'm concerned because I haven't seen any excrement from our little gecko. But then, I don't know what I'm looking for. I found a little white glob in the moss in his cool hide. Could that be it? Here's a picture of our gecko. We got him March 1st from Petsmart. Here's a picture of the tank. It's a 10-gallon. We're using a green reptile carpet for flooring.
bummer. he's using his bed as a toilet. Guess it's good I put new moss in this morning, since it's all brown. i'll have to think about how to get him not to sleep in his poop. we don't ever touch him. we've none of us ever had a pet. today after school i'm having a kid who owns an african gecko to come over and see if she can't show us and coach us into picking up ours.
You could move his Hide so that he uses the bathroom in that corner.You have a humid hide in there aswell? You should have researched more about handling before buying him..Its easy just make sure you dont grab his tale.
I've been having the cool side hide double as the humid hide. Can I put damp moss directly on the carpet under the warm hide? Right now we're also working without a thermostat. I knew we wanted to handle him every day, but we were going to leave him be the first four days we got him home. That easily stretched to nearly a week before we even tried. When we see him, we feed him, then he goes back into his cool hide. He startles, we startle. Mostly I've just been worrying if he's getting enough to eat, if I fed his crickets properly. Yesterday was a triumph of getting him to eat several mealworms. I think the research thing looks easier after you are knowledgeable. We've been reading books and websites since mid December, and we joined our local Reptile and Amphibian society. It's still awkward. And things happen, I burned a hole in one of his carpets when I was cleaning his tank Sunday.
I'd urge you to get a thermostat right away. Being able to regulate temps is always good. You may also want to pick up a digital thermometer w/ a probe. These can be obtained from walmart for about $8 i believe. The leo needs three hides, although you can add more if you wish. 1. Normal hide on cool side 2. Normal hide on warm side 3. Humid hide on warm side Putting damp moss directly onto the carpet may be a bit messy, but it should do it's job. Alternatively, here's how you can easily make the humid hide: http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index...d-1-page-1.html You need to make sure that one of your warm hides is a humid one, not the cool side. Also, just a bit of a heads up, when your Leo gets bigger, you'll probably want to upgrade his tank to a 20 GAL long. Getting him used to you, takes time. You need to build up a bond with him. I remember when i first got my leo, it took me about 3 months to build up that bond.
Great--I put damp moss under his ceramic house on the warm side. I'm not afraid of a little mess, and we can upgrade in the future. I guess I'm surprised you can have a hide that you can view the gecko through. Would you just take of the lid of that homemade humid hide to change the moss? Would you just mist it through the entrance in between? I assume you'd do both those things when the gecko wasn't in the hide. While I was turning the warm hide into a humid one, I moved everything around--as much as things can be moved around in a 10 gallon. He came out and walked around carefully, stood on the paper towels, perhaps he could see his reflection in the glass. I put five little crickets in since he was out, but he ignored them, so once he went back to the hide (to sleep?) I caught and killed the crickets. Yes, I know the 10-gallon tank has to be temporary. I lost the argument to buy the larger one right away.
I personally painted my tupperware container, to give my leo a bit of privacy. Yes, you can take off the lid to replace the moss. As for misting, you can take of the lid, or just spray through the entrance. Either way, i wouldn't do it while your leo is in there, he won't take kindly to it, i can assure you that! Good luck with everything, Luke
