NEWS105
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hemipenissacs thatcanbeseenasdistinct
protrusions on either side of the base of
thetail.Inadditiontheyhave largepre-anal
pores andaregenerallymoreheavily-built
than females. The comparatively broad
skull of the male is very distinctive.
Depending on the size of the terrarium,
LeopardGeckos canbe kept as apair or a
malewithup to four females.The ladiesare
well behaved among themselves. Leopard
Geckosare totallycarnivorousandwill take
the usual food insects (crickets,
grasshoppers, mealworms, zophobas),
which should always be dusted with a
calcium and vitamin mixture. Because
Leopard Geckos become very tame they
will often take food from forceps.
The female lays her soft-shelled eggs
around six weeks after mating, which can
be stimulatedby a rest phase of around 3
months at 15-18°C and a photoperiod of
only 8 hours (though it will happen
without this treatment). So that the eggs
aren’t buried in the normal sand of the
terrarium, where they can become
dehydrated, the terrarium should be
providedwith aplastic box for egg-laying.
This shouldcontainaround10cmofmoist
potting compost or similar and topped
withapieceofbark.Youcanalsouseabox
with a lid and cut anentrancehole for the
geckos in the lid. The box should be
somewhat longer than the largest gecko,
with a suitable sizebeing25 x 15 x 15 cm,
for example, though these dimensions
don’thave tobeexact andare just a rough
guideline. If the container is readily
accessible the female will lay her eggs
there, and they can then be dug up (take
care, the eggs mustn’t be turned in the
process) and transferred to a suitable
incubation substrate (Vermiculite, Seramis,
or similar) in an incubator, where they
should be kept at 24-32 °C. In Leopard
Geckos sex is determined by the
Designer LeopardGecko.“MackSnowTremper Eclipse”
Designer LeopardGecko.“Radar”
Designer LeopardGecko.“MackSnowTremper”
