Leopard geckos have a well-earned reputation as a first reptile: docile, tolerant of gentle handling, and living 15 to 20 years on a diet of feeder insects. That reputation creates a false sense of security, because the problems vets see most, including impaction, shedding complications, and metabolic bone disease, cluster in the first six months and trace back to a few setup mistakes. Build the enclosure correctly and you avoid nearly all of them.
Enclosure Size and Substrate
Leopard geckos are terrestrial, so floor space matters far more than height. A single adult needs a minimum 20 gallon long, roughly 30 by 12 inches, and a 40 gallon breeder gives you room for a proper gradient and three hides. The enclosure should be escape-proof, well ventilated, easy to clean, and positioned away from radiators, direct sunlight, and draughty windows.
Substrate is where most beginner mistakes happen. Safe options are paper towels, ideal for a new arrival because you can monitor waste and appetite precisely, plus reptile carpet, slate tile, and non-adhesive shelf liner. Avoid loose sand, walnut shell, and wood chips, which get swallowed during feeding and cause impaction.
Heating: Building a Gradient, Not a Warm Box
Leopard geckos are ectotherms that absorb heat through their bellies, which means surface temperature matters more than air temperature. The goal is a gradient the gecko can move along.
| Zone | Target | How To Create It |
|---|---|---|
| Warm side surface | 88 to 92 F, about 31 to 33 C | Heat mat under one third of the tank, or an overhead ceramic heat emitter |
| Basking surface | Warm zone only | Natural slate or flat rock above the heat source to hold daytime warmth |
| Cool side ambient | 70 to 75 F, about 24 to 27 C | Keep the far end free of any heat source |
| Nighttime | Drop to about 65 to 70 F | Turn overhead heat off, add a ceramic heater only if the room drops below 65 F |
Every heat source must run through a thermostat, without exception. That is the single piece of equipment that prevents burns. Use a digital infrared thermometer to check the basking surface itself, not the air, because a bulb thermometer on the glass tells you nothing about belly temperature. Skip heat rocks entirely, as they are a well-documented cause of burns.
Hides, Humidity, and Lighting
Three hides are the standard, and the humid one is non-negotiable. Place a warm hide over the heating element so the gecko can digest, a cool hide at the opposite end so it can thermoregulate down, and a humid hide in the middle or near the warm zone with damp sphagnum moss, misted every few days. Without that humid microclimate, shedding goes wrong, and retained skin around the toes and eyes cuts off circulation and eventually costs toes. If you find stuck shed, soften it with a shallow warm soak and never peel dry skin off.
Ambient humidity should sit around 30 to 40 percent at the cool end, since a persistently damp enclosure invites skin and airway problems. For lighting, hold a consistent cycle with a timer. Modern practice has moved away from the old advice that leopard geckos need no UVB at all: they are crepuscular rather than strictly nocturnal, and a low-output UVB tube at roughly 2 to 5 percent for part of the enclosure on a 12 hour cycle supports calcium metabolism.
Feeding and Supplementation
Leopard geckos are pure insectivores that eat live insects only; fruit, vegetables, and pelleted reptile food are not part of the diet. Offer feeders no larger than the space between the gecko’s eyes, gut-load them for 24 to 48 hours beforehand, and dust them before each feeding.
- Staples: crickets, dubia roaches, and black soldier fly larvae. Dubia offer the best calcium to phosphorus ratio of common feeders.
- Occasional: mealworms, easy to store but higher in fat, and hornworms for hydration.
- Treats only: waxworms, which are very fatty.
- Calcium with D3: at every feeding for juveniles, two to three times per week for adults.
- Multivitamin: once a week, lightly dusted.
Hatchlings eat daily, juveniles every one to two days, and adults every two to three days with six to ten insects per feeding. Feed in the evening to match their activity window, and remove uneaten insects, since crickets will nibble on a sleeping gecko.
Common Beginner Mistakes
The recurring errors are consistent: loose sand substrate, too small an enclosure, no thermostat, no humid hide, and a heat rock instead of regulated heat. Overhandling is the other one. Give a new gecko one to two weeks to settle, then keep early sessions to five minutes, scoop from below while supporting all four feet, and never grab the tail. Register with a reptile-experienced vet before you have a problem, and watch for tremors, a soft jaw, or bent limbs, which point to calcium deficiency. Prevention here is almost entirely a thermostat, a humid hide, and dusted insects.