# The costs involved in keeping leopard geckos?



## noirist (Jan 19, 2014)

I am new to reptiles and just curious about this subject. It's not even viable for me to have any other pets because there is no space in the flat and money is tight right now BUT I am very interested to know this...

(Please correct me if I am wrong but I have read on a few sites that Leopard Geckos are good "starter" lizards because they are docile.)

I am just curious to know:

+ What was your average cost of buying the lizards and all of their equiptment.
+ What is the monthly (or av. yearly) cost of food for them, and electricity for their heating.

Thanks kindly.


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## AubreyGecko (Nov 11, 2013)

I have 
A Cham 2agamas frogs cresties a gargoyle and a Leo and my monthly cost for heating the 60 watt bulbs and all the food is £50 
If you breed the bugs then it works out tonnes cheaper  

It depends if you shop about really 
My Leo only cost me £10 because the guy was disparate to get rid of her
you can get viv's quite cheap but depends what you're looking for really :2thumb:

Hope this helps


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## noirist (Jan 19, 2014)

AubreyGecko said:


> I have
> A Cham 2agamas frogs cresties a gargoyle and a Leo and my monthly cost for heating the 60 watt bulbs and all the food is £50
> If you breed the bugs then it works out tonnes cheaper
> 
> ...


Thanks for your reply. Gives me somewhat of an idea.


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## GreenSmoke (Jan 22, 2014)

About £150. Then weekly about £3. for food, and an occasional replacement bulb and substrate. Once You have the initial kit & animal, its very cheep.:2thumb:


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## Jeffers3 (May 18, 2010)

Vivarium: £40

VivExotic Repti-Stax Compact Vivarium Med Mussel 34" | Swell Reptiles

Heat mat: £13

Thermostat (matstat): £22

UV light and controller: £40

Electrical timer: £3

With bits and pieces of decor, food and water bowls etc - about £150 or so.

Food is cheap - no more than £2 per week. To be honest, I don't really notice, as my leo just gets food from the beardie / tokay stash. You'll also need to budget for vitamin/calcium supplements and replacement UV bulbs, but this isn't expensive.


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## awh (Aug 20, 2008)

Jeffers3 said:


> Vivarium: £40
> 
> VivExotic Repti-Stax Compact Vivarium Med Mussel 34" | Swell Reptiles
> 
> ...


i dont use a uv light in my leopard gecko's vivs
other than that the costs is about right (however if you shop around you can get cheaper depends on how much looking around you are willing to do


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## jools (Apr 4, 2009)

I agree with all that has been said above. The only other things you need to factor in are the possibility of vets bills (some ppl put a couple of pounds a week into a special pot for this). You might be lucky and never need this - Leos that are healthy when bought and kept correctly are very hardy animals. But a sudden, unexpected vet bill of £100 plus can come as a nasty shock. Also you need to allow for if you need reptile boarding if you go on holiday.


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## Marc2013 (Aug 5, 2013)

Dont worry bout electric bill i have many reps now and hardly noticed much of an increase in my bills.

Geckos cost pennys like above said you can spend £2 for gecko food for a month supply if you REALLY wanted. Dont advise this.

1 Tub of mealworms, aslong as they stay in a cool room they will last months providing you supply right food and mositure.

But i like to vary my diet so they get mealworms, waxworms, crickets, locusts and sometimes roaches when i can get them.

Non go to waste as my beardies will eat non stop.

Me personally as a beginner reptile bearded dragons are much better to watch as they active during day, Better for handling as they more well robust non flighty like some geckos can be, and in all these years never even had any attempts of a dragon biting me where i have been bit a few times by my geckos totally out the blue and they handled regular.

If you still decide to go for a gecko you will find you will get a beardie soon after anyway and you will make space in your flat like throwing the telly out lol

Hope this helps.


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## Jeffers3 (May 18, 2010)

awh said:


> i dont use a uv light in my leopard gecko's vivs
> other than that the costs is about right (however if you shop around you can get cheaper depends on how much looking around you are willing to do


I thought it was pretty well accepted now that Leopard Geckos, being crepuscular, benefit from UV? If you don't want to, that's fine - and I'm not going to argue with you, but I think a new keeper should be advised to do so.

Also, I agree with comments about power consumption. With fluorescent tubes and heat mats, it hardly makes a difference. Lots of ceramics for big vivs, on the other hand....


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