Leopard Gecko Breeding

Authored by Ron Tremper, of Leopardgecko.com

Caging & Rack Systems with Leopard Geckos

In this chapter we will introduce the reader to caging methods used by those with an interest in commercially breeding leopard geckos, from the tanks of small scale hobbyists to rack systems geared to handle thousands.

Breeder Setups for Leopard Geckos

Whether you have one female or a thousand, the basic breeder setup is the same.

Here are the needed components:

Enclosure
Egg laying box
Dishes for food, water and vitamin/mineral supplements
Heat

For small scale hobbyists of leopard geckos, a standard 10 or 20-gallon (40-80 liters) aquariums or all glass reptile tanks with screen tops can be used to house a male and one or two females. Be sure you have a screen top to keep lizards in and potential predators out. There’s nothing more attractive to a cat or a toddler than an open gecko cage. Several of the shelf systems sold in large hardware stores will prove an economical way to organize a number of tank units in a relatively small space.

Ron Tremper working with over 1000 boxes of leopard geckos. Photo Courtesy of the Author

Other commonly used enclosures are the various plastic storage boxes made by Sterilite® and Rubbermaid®, which can be found in every department store in America. The most popular size for beginners measures approximately 16” wide x 22” long x 10” high (40.5 cm x 51cm x 25.4 cm) and requires a custom screen top. Once smitten with the idea of producing various leopard gecko morphs, hobbyists quickly realize that breeding on any scale is most efficient when using time and space saving methods. For this reason, many keepers will choose shallower plastic blanket boxes measuring approximately 16” wide x 22” long x 6” high (40.5 cm x 51 cm x 15 cm), allowing stacking of additional units on a shelf system.

For those interested primarily in display, it is possible to use a nicely planted vivarium for breeding a small group of adults, but overall, when the primary goal is to produce high numbers of geckos, the most efficient method is to use simple caging, primarily plastic storage boxes. With that in mind, the question of having substrate or not in a breeding enclosure is a personal choice. We do not use any substrate in our commercial breeding boxes (see Photo), but we simply maintain our geckos on bare plastic. Particulate substrates add extra weight to the somewhat fragile plastic box and tend to get easily fouled unless regularly replaced. Because leopard geckos use only a small area of the cage as a defecatorium, a shop vacuum will be an ideal tool for quickly cleaning out breeder cages, whether you use a substrate or not.

The Leopard Gecko Egg-laying Box

Egg Laying Box for Leopard Gecko

For one or two females, an opaque plastic storage container will work as an egg-laying box as long as it measures at least 6-7 inches in diameter and 4 inches high (15-18cm D, 10cm H). For cages housing 3-5 females, a plastic shoebox is ideal. In both instances, because leopard geckos are surprisingly good climbers, a two-inch (5 cm) hole should be drilled in the box lid. Placing the hole on the side of the box will also work, but the lizards tend to kick out good amounts of the laying medium over time.

A good choice for an egg-laying medium is peat moss or coir (e.g., Bed-a-beast). We discourage the use vermiculite because many geckos will eat this material, which can be harmful. Whatever you decide to use, you must keep the egg-laying medium moist at all times. A pistol-grip hand sprayer is perfect for moistening the medium when needed. The moisture level of the medium should feel like fresh earth.

If the medium clumps when you squeeze a handful together then it is too wet.

The egg-laying box will also serve as a resting place/shelter, which is essential to offer geckos security and a moist substrate for proper shedding, especially of the toes.

If you are seeing skin sheds constricting or adhering to the toes and/or limbs, then your laying box is too dry.

Water Dish for Leopard Geckos

Clean water should be available at all times. Any shallow container (reptile water dishes sold in stores, jar lids, glass ashtrays, soy dishes for sushi, etc…) will work fine as long as it does not tip over easily. We find that white half-pint plastic deli cup are ideal for large collections because they are inexpensive, easily replaced and allow one to readily see when they are dirty. If you are using non-spill containers always fill such dishes only half way full so that no accidental drowning will occur. When filling water containers, be careful not to spill water in the cage, as this tends to drown any loose insect food items and, when mixed with gecko feces, produces ammonia gas, which can be harmful.

Food Dish

Many people do not use a food dish if they are feeding crickets exclusively, but if you wish to offer regular mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), the larger tropical mealworm larvae (Zophobas morio), or pink mice, then a proper food dish is strongly advised. Plastic plant saucers measuring 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep (15 cm x 5 cm) are very cheap and keep most crawling insects in the dish. This method also makes it possible to know how much food is being consumed over time. When any food item escapes the feeding dish and/or is offered a place to hide in the cage then good management of your geckos is diminished.

Vitamin/Mineral Dish

Proper nutrition is the key to good gecko health and to producing healthy babies. Throughout its life every gecko you keep should have access to a well-balanced vitamin/mineral powdered supplement replete with all the essential amino acids and trace minerals. A number of reptile vitamin/mineral supplements are now offered in the trade that will meet leopard gecko requirements. If your local pet store does not have any of these in stock you can easily find what you will need in the dog/cat section. All geckos will lick up the supplement from a dish as needed. This method is far better than dusting insects as the only source of supplement. Insects can die from dusting, will lose the dust if not eaten quickly and the dust can get into the eyes of your geckos and cause problems. With babies you can combine small mealworms with the vitamin/mineral supplement in one dish.

Heat

The last component for successfully keeping geckos is providing proper heat. For rack systems involving shelving the best method is to use 3” wide (7.5 cm) heat tape manufactured by Flex-Watt. For one or two individual setups it is fine to use subtank-heating pads. Either way you will need a rheostat or specially made temperature controller to regulate the heat output. These products can be easily found on the Internet or in reptile magazines from a variety of vendors.

Part 2. Photos and genetic information about the newest leopard gecko morphs will come to life in the next edition of Tremper’s Corner.