# Preschool teacher just given a Leopard Gecko - Help!



## MissLaura (Apr 2, 2014)

I'm a preschool teacher that was just given a Leopard Gecko as a "donation". She is 10 years old and about 8 inches long. She came with a 10 gallon tank - it is an old wooden one with a glass front and a light bulb at the top. It has a half log in it for the gecko to use to hide in, and a small water dish. There is some gravely sand in the bottom. It had a lot of dried waste and some dead crickets, but I cleaned those out as best as I could. It STINKS really bad. They also gave us 3 types of worms and about 20 crickets in a cricket keeper. 

The kids are fascinated and so am I. This should be fun!

Questions...
1. Is 10 gallons really big enough for her? Does she need more room and/or more things in her tank to simply keep her (and us) happy? There's not a lot of extra room...

2. If 10 gallons is fine, could I easily convert a 10 gallon aquarium that I have? Since it is open on all sides, it would be better for the kids to see her and I think the smell is probably embedded in the wood one she's in now and I'd love to get rid of that. 

3. Speaking of smell... any suggestions?

4. The boys that donated her said to feed her about once a week... Does that sound right? 

Thanks for all your help!


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## MissLaura (Apr 2, 2014)

As we just got her on Monday, I told the kids that she needs to get used to me first (I also need to be sure that I am comfortable) and so for at least the first week, I'm the only one handling her. I plan to talk to her any time that she seems to not be sleeping and then make sure to actually pick her up at least once a day. We are only there from 9 am to 1 pm every day so she has the rest of the time to herself. I turn her light down a bit when I go home. However, I should probably get her a timer to keep her days/nights ok. thoughts?


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

:welcome: to the Forum.

This should help:

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizard-care-sheets/968842-leopard-gecko-care-sheet.html

Might also be worth posting in the main Lizard section where more people look, and ask any questions in there as well.


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## MissLaura (Apr 2, 2014)

Thank you! That helped a lot!


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## awh (Aug 20, 2008)

welcome to the forum the care sheet posted in the above post is brilliant gives you all the details you need you only need a light if its dark in the viv, turn off the light for 12 hrs a day at night , as they are active mainly at night you may not really see it during the day however as long as you are careful you can wake it up during the day 

i feed mine 3 days a week monday, wednesday & friday. try not to leave crickets in the viv as these can bite ( if hungry) and hurt the animal . try it with mealworms as most leopard geckos love them 
dust the food with calcium . place food into a plastic bag put in some calcium and shake the bag, feed the food to the leo. 
hope you and the children enjoy him and have a great time learning about them


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## clumsyoaf (Oct 23, 2012)

Another thing is that although she is probably used to being handled leave her alone (except for basic care) for a week, then another week with just you handelling, perhaps after the easter break let the kids handle. if you change her vivarium she will need more time again because she will have to settle in all over again, same is true every time you change the stuff inside her vivarium, my girl sulked for 3 weeks when I gave her a shelf to climb on! She may also go off food during the settling in period. 

I don't know how big 10 gallons is, but the best advice is that bigger is better! Give her lots of hides and stuff to climb on and you should have a happy, healthy leo for around another 10 years or so


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## MissLaura (Apr 2, 2014)

*Thank you!*

Thank you for all your help! A much larger Viv was just donated along with more things to climb and additional hides. It also has a floor heater. We haven't put her in it yet as we still need a ground cover, but I did put one of the climbing limbs in her current home so that she can start to get used to it. So far she seems really good with me holding her. 

I plan on getting a timer for her light and hope to try to adjust her night/day schedule so that she is awake mid morning. She's been waking up a bit at that time for a while anyway. 

Thanks again for everyone's advice!.


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## amber83 (Jul 29, 2013)

I would definitely use a wooden viv, they feel more secure in those. Minimum is 2ft long, but as someone else said the bigger the better.
You could use a ceramic heat bulb with pulse thermostat since these don't give off disturbing light. 
Keep a dish of calcium in the enclosure too. If you stick with sand, use play sand and not calci sand, but be aware that sand will absorb the smell of waste no matter how much you spot clean. Many people use Lino instead since this poses no threat of impaction. Don't use woodchip. That's more of a risk than sand IMO.
I'd try not to disturb it too much during the day since they're nocturnal/crepuscular. Having said that, mine didn't mind being gently woken and handled every now and then during the day. But it is best to keep handling to a minimum during the day, IMO.
Although leopard geckos are absolutely lovely, and usually wonderful for children to handle and learn from, it's a shame it wasn't a beardie donated since these are diurnal so not an issue with disturbing them through the day since that's when they're awake. Just thinking from the school hours point of view, something awake during the day and generally good tempered too (leopard geckos are lovely natured) like a beardie would've been more convenient on both the animal and the class.


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## Kimora (Mar 7, 2012)

Make sure you get a thermostat for your floor heater/heat mat (basic mat stat will do) to control the temps, uncontrolled heat can be dangerous for the leo. A digital thermometer will help in knowing what temp's you have and to ensure its all setup correctly and if you get an over head light...get an energy saver (give off low heat) or look at LED stripes or spotlight....a normal bulb will also need to be stat'ed otherwise as these too get hot.

Make sure all the livefood if gutloaded at least 24hours prior feeding...this could be another job for the kids to make sure that the livefood is getting fed 
I would suggested looking at Dubia roaches and locust too as other types of livefood.

Lastly make sure you have a moist hide to help the leo at shedding times...Spag moss in a butter tub with an entrance cut into it would do the job nicely...it'll need re-wetting when it starts to get dry...but not sopping wet, moist to the touch is perfect  Artisans caresheet is fab for new and old keepers as well as SleepyDee's (can be googled, old member of here) : victory:

Another kid related activity for them to get involved in...salt dough hides! they will need sealing but could be a fun afternoon activity and something the kids can take in turns offering to put in the viv


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## amber83 (Jul 29, 2013)

Kimora that's a wonderful idea with the salt dough!
I wonder if you couldn't get the kids interested in maybe breeding the live food too? I don't know what the school would have to say about that, but it's all educational and they'd get to see all the different stages of the insects and learn much more in depth about them too.


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## MissLaura (Apr 2, 2014)

*Update on Classroom Gecko*

We've had our Gecko for a bit over a year now and thought I would update for anyone interested. 

We moved it out of the small wooden Viv for about 8 months or so into a very large glass aquarium and used a floor heater and over head heater. We used tiles for the floor to keep cleaning easy. It wouldn't catch the crickets and I was having problems keeping them and so switched to superworms, but wasn't being as diligent as I should about calcium. Eventually it wasn't eating at all and was having trouble shedding and so I took it to an expert. 

I found out that my little girls was a very large boy! :gasp: Also got the original small wooden vivarium cleaned really well and put him back in that. He had a calcium deficiency and so I learned to force feed that a bit. They really wanted him back on crickets, but he still refused them for a while. After moving back to the smaller enclosure, it still took about a month for him to eat more than one worm at a time. He's now eating about 10 every other day or so and is shedding normally. I want to try a couple crickets in another week or so as the expert really felt that was important. 

The kids are learning so much! They had to re-name him after we found out he was a boy. He is now called "Leonardo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Gecko" or "Leo" for short. Since the kids are only 4 years old, there was actually some great reading skills involved in comparing the word Leopard with Leonardo. The kids keep a journal to record how many worms he eats and they help me keep an eye on his temperature and humidity gauge. We keep a book about geckos by his viv and they use it to figure out what they think he many need (they are learning how to use books to learn what they want to know) They regularly draw small pictures for him and we put them on the walls inside his vivarium. When he got sick, they were very concerned and it started a whole Veterinarian learning unit in our classroom. They also love to play with the worms whenever we get a new batch. I don't allow that very often, but they do love it! I do let them put their leftover apple cores and other goodies in the worm container which has lead to some great conversations about recycling.


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## LadyDay (Dec 8, 2012)

It sounds like you're an absolutely amazing teacher! The kids are fortunate to have such a creative, dedicated teacher!
And it is absolutely wonderful for our hobby that a bunch of kids learn that reptiles aren't dangerous or malicious, but beautiful and interesting. And they'll turn into little animal and nature lovers!


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