Who does not love leopard geckos! They are one of the most popular choices among geckos to be a pet at home, not only because of their colorful skin but also because they look friendly and cute! To know them better, let’s gather up some snazzy fun facts about them. You will understand how lovable leopard geckos are, then!
11 Snazzy Facts Of Leopard Geckos: Gather Up!
1. Leopard Geckos are beginner friendly
Relatively, leopard geckos are easy to take care of so they are one of the good choices for the beginner. Also, if you are looking for a long commitment, you would want to have leopard geckos as a pet because they have a long life span, approximately 5-20 years in captivity or even some have lived up to 30 years of age!
Leopard geckos are also like to be held, just like any other geckos or reptiles in general, but you have to be careful when you hold them because they can self-amputate their tails. It will regenerate, of course, but it will not look the same anymore. So you better be gentle if you want to keep them look nice.
2. Leopard geckos’ skin and features
Usually, leopard geckos come with various colors, from white, brown, pale yellow, and even leucistic phases. Their spots, one of their best features and the reason behind the ‘leopard’ name, are usually colored in dark brown with a white or yellow background. When they are young, juvenile leopard geckos have alternating color bands which then gradually break up into spots or splotches. The unusual thing about their skin is the textures. If you look at leopard geckos, their skin looks rough because of all those knoblike bumps, but if you touch it, it is actually quite soft in your hand!
3. Leopard geckos’ origin and habitat
Most of the leopard geckos are spread throughout Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Some of them are also widely spread in some parts of India. As you can notice from all those regions, the natural habitat of leopard geckos is a dry area like dry grassland and desert.
4. Leopard geckos are nocturnal
Like many other species, leopard geckos are a nocturnal animal, so they do not expose to the ultraviolet light B a lot, which is okay because they do not really need that UVB. If you keeping them as a pet in the terrarium, their supply light usually comes from a reptile bulb or red bulb. Like an animal who use to be active during the night, leopard gecko likes to spend their daytime sheltered under rocks and in burrows. This behavior makes choosing an ideal substrate for your leopard geckos to become important. You may want some materials that let them burrow themselves easily, but still safe for their health. Usually, the ideal substrate for leopard geckos’ house is turf and paper towel. You can also use sand but feed the gecko in a different place to prevent them from eating the sand accidentally.
5. Male leopard geckos like to fight each other!
They might look docile, but the male leopard geckos can be a little bit aggressive if you put two of them in the same terrarium or aquarium because they feel threatened. So make sure you don’t house two males in the same place!
6. Leopard geckos like to eat their skin
Leopard geckos are carnivores. They usually eat insects like crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes. Leopard geckos also like to eat their shed skin! Turns out, scientists believe that their skin is a good source of protein and vitamins that are needed for their growth.
7. Leopard geckos hibernation
Leopard geckos may have to face winter in their natural habitat where the temperature is as low as 10 degrees Celcius. How do they survive with such a condition? Well, just like any other animal, they hibernate. Leopard geckos survive by going underground into a semi-hibernation phase, which is called brumation. They do this to keep their body’s fat during the winter and when the food source is scarce.
8. Leopard geckos have eyelids
Unlike crested geckos who do not have eyelids (they even have to lick their eyeballs to keep their eyes clean!), leopard geckos do have eyelid features so they can blink and close their eyes while they are sleeping. Having eyelids surely can be a reason why they look friendly, just like pokemon creatures! Talking about eyes, leopard geckos also have better vision compares to other geckos and their vision is as well as a cat.
9. Leopard geckos cannot climb vertically
You have probably known about gecko’s stickiness to climb on a smooth surface vertically without any handholds. However, leopard geckos cannot do that because they don’t have sticky suction pads. Instead, they have claws to help them climb up on plants. Leopard geckos are rarely found off of the ground, anyway.
10. Leopard geckos can bark
Most of the gecko types have a voice. They can ‘bark’ or even chirp in high pitch. Leopard gecko is not as vocal as the other species, but they still can ‘bark’ a little if they feel threatened or agitated.
11. Their gender can be determined
If you are a breeder, you can actually determine the gender of your leopard geckos when they are still in the incubation. The key is on the incubation temperatures, for example, the incubation temperatures of 85 degrees Fahrenheit can let you have both males and females. If you raise it up into 90 degrees, you probably get males and if you turn it down into 80 degrees most of the egg would be females. Interseting, huh?
That’s all some snazzy fun facts about leopard geckos. It is fascinating to know how many cool features and unusual habits on a small animal like leopard geckos. Hope this will help you to know them better, especially if you are starting to consider them to be your option as a pet.