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Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) are among the best beginner reptiles — ground-dwelling, hardy, and tolerant of handling, often living 15–20 years with good care. Get the enclosure, heat and diet right and the rest is mostly observation.
Open HerpLog — log your gecko free →A single adult needs a minimum of about 75–115 litres (a 20–30 gallon long footprint); bigger is always better and floor space matters more than height. Provide at least three hides: a warm hide, a cool hide, and a humid hide (a covered box with damp sphagnum moss) to help with shedding. Add low décor to climb and explore. Avoid housing multiple geckos together unless you know the risks — males will fight.
Leopard geckos thermoregulate from their belly, so a warm ground zone is key. Create a gradient:
Use an overhead heat source or under-tank heater on a thermostat, verified with a probe. Modern keeping increasingly includes a low-level UVB bulb to support vitamin D and bone health, alongside dietary supplements. Provide a clear day/night cycle and avoid bright white light at night.
Safety first: for young geckos, paper towel, slate tile or reptile carpet avoids any impaction risk. Loose particulate substrates like fine sand are debated and best avoided for juveniles and any sick animal; experienced keepers sometimes use a firm bioactive soil mix for healthy adults. Whatever you choose, keep it clean and spot-cleaned.
Leopard geckos are insectivores. Build the diet on staples like crickets and dubia roaches, with mealworms and superworms in rotation and waxworms only as occasional treats. Gut-load feeders before offering. Crucially, dust feeders with calcium at most feedings and a calcium-with-D3 plus multivitamin once or twice weekly to prevent metabolic bone disease — follow your product's directions and don't over-supplement. A small dish of plain calcium can be left in the enclosure.
Always provide a shallow dish of fresh water. Judge condition by the tail: a healthy gecko stores fat in a tail roughly as wide as its neck. A thin tail, sunken eyes, lethargy, or a refusal to eat warrants a check.
Consult an exotics vet for signs of metabolic bone disease (tremors, weak or bent limbs), prolonged anorexia, weight loss, impaction, or repeated stuck sheds.
Track feeding, weight & sheds in HerpLog →HerpLog records feedings, weight trends, sheds and temps for every gecko. See also: how often to feed a leopard gecko · reptile shedding problems.