Leopard Gecko Care Sheet
Background
Leopard geckos are small, typically measuring around 7–10 inches in length. They can be active at any time of day but are most commonly seen at night, in the morning, or during the evening. In the wild, they inhabit a variety of environments, ranging from dry scrublands to humid forests.
These geckos are often found under rocks or within old stone walls, where they hunker down next to warm objects and snooze. They are known for their longevity; the oldest leopard gecko on record is 36 years old, though most live around 20 years.
Figure 1: My leopard gecko Meeko.
Shopping List
Enclosure USA:
Phailozoo 50 gallon Reptile Tank with Sliding Door Top Screen
15% off your Phailozoo enclosure with code: R&R
Enclosure UK:
Viperia PVC 3X2X2
Leopard Gecko Equipment List:
Curated Equipment List on Amazon
Housing Size
To house an adult leopard gecko, you will need a minimum of a 40-gallon tank. Babies can be started in 10- or 20-gallon tanks if you prefer.
That said, from my experience working in stores, I have kept baby leopard geckos in 80-gallon tanks without any issues. So, if you want to buy their permanent 40-gallon tank right away and be done with it, that's absolutely possible.
One drawback of standard 40-gallon tanks is their top-opening design. Approaching from above can startle your leopard gecko, making them think you're a predator. Because of this, front-opening enclosures are preferable.
You can find affordable front-opening tanks with screen tops online from Ecoflex for around $150.
Figure 2: Ecoflex 40 gallon front opening enclosure. Find here: https://amzn.to/43d3hU0
Alternatively, you can opt for a premium-quality Phailozoo 50-gallon tank, which is better suited to support the weight of heavy rocks and décor. It also features one of the best mesh tops currently available for lighting.
I keep my leopard gecko in a 120-gallon Phailozoo, and she absolutely loves all the space. If you want to provide your gecko with a true mansion, I couldn't recommend it more!
You can get 15% off your Phailozoo enclosure with code R&R when purchasing through their website.
Figure 3: Phailozoo screen top 50 gallon tank with substrate barrier and front opening access.
Heating and Lighting
Basking Spot
Next up is heating and lighting. There are two main ways to provide heat: belly heat or overhead heat.
You can use heat mats to provide belly heat, but they must be regulated with a thermostat. Alternatively, you can use heat bulbs over a basking spot. This allows your gecko to bask under the bulb as if it were the sun, while also creating belly heat as a byproduct by warming the décor.
Personally, I prefer heat lamps since they offer a two-in-one solution and mimic natural conditions more closely.
Your heat source should be placed at one end of the tank, leaving the other side cooler and shaded so your gecko can thermoregulate as needed.
To ensure the right temperatures, measure the basking surface temperature under the lamp or near the heat mat using a temperature gun. A basking temperature between 80–90°F is ideal.
I recommend starting with a 50W heat lamp, such as the Exo Terra Intense bulb. Measure the temperature it provides—if it's too low, try a 75W bulb; if it's too high, switch to a 40W. You can easily screw the heat bulb into a budget-friendly Fluker's dome and be good to go.
Figure 4: Basking surface temperature measured via temperature gun.
UVB
Now, let’s talk about UVB. While it’s not an absolute necessity—your leopard gecko won’t keel over without it—studies have shown that geckos are healthier with UVB exposure. It boosts their energy levels, reduces stress, improves their overall well-being, and helps them absorb calcium more efficiently.
I personally use UVB, and something low-strength like an Arcadia ShadeDweller or a Zoo Med 5.0 T5 tube is perfect!
Place the UVB light over the same end as your heat bulb to create a "sunny" patch, while keeping the other end shaded to allow for a natural gradient.
If you're going bioactive, you’ll also need an LED light to support plant growth. It not only brightens up the enclosure but also helps regulate your gecko’s internal clock, improving their mood and sleep cycle.
Remember, just as darkness makes us feel tired, light signals nocturnal animals that it’s time to rest. Keeping them in constant dim lighting is like expecting a human to sleep well in a bright room. A proper day-night cycle is essential.
At night, turn off all lights and stick to a 12-hour on, 12-hour off schedule. You can use plug timers to automate this easily.
Ambient Air Temperatures
The air temperature in the enclosure should be 73–79°F during the day. You can measure this by placing a thermometer in the shaded end, away from any lights, to get an accurate reading uninfluenced by direct heat sources.
At night, temperatures can drop into the low 60s without issue. However, if it falls below that, you may want to provide supplemental heating using non-light-emitting sources, such as heat mats or ceramic heat emitters. That said, the décor will often retain warmth from the basking light, helping to maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the night.
Humidity & Hydration
Many keepers assume that leopard geckos are a strict desert species and need an extremely dry environment. However, in the wild, they often rest in holes and crevices with higher humidity, even in arid regions. They can also be found in pine forests, where humidity levels are naturally higher.
As long as the enclosure has proper ventilation and can dry out, humidity won’t be an issue. Just be sure to provide a humid hide filled with moist moss, and you’re all set.
Always offer a water bowl, replacing the water every day or so to keep it fresh.
My leopard gecko even has a misting system that provides water droplets to drink from when it "rains." As long as the enclosure can dry out properly, higher humidity won’t be a problem. There’s a big difference between humidity and wetness—humidity is fine, but a consistently wet environment is not.
Substrate
Impaction occurs when a leopard gecko is unable to pass ingested material, leading to a blockage in their gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This can happen if they swallow food, small pieces of décor, or loose substrate. If a gecko becomes impacted, they will need to see a veterinarian for treatment.
However, healthy leopard geckos are generally not at risk of impaction. The biggest factors that predispose them to it are metabolic bone disease (MBD) and dehydration. As long as your gecko is well-hydrated and in good health, impaction is unlikely.
Choosing the Right Substrate
Leopard gecko substrates can range from sand to soil or a mix of both. Many keepers prefer a sand/soil blend to create a natural, loamy substrate. I personally use Reptisoil because it has a loamy texture straight out of the bag.
If you prefer a clay-based sand substrate, you can use Jurassic Bearded Dragon Substrate. When moistened and baked dry, it hardens into a crust, preventing loose particles from becoming a risk.
Figure 5: Jurassic Bearded Dragon Substrate baked into a hard crust under the heat lamps.
The choice is yours, but I recommend avoiding reptile carpet, as it can rip out claws. My leopard gecko lost most of her claws due to poor husbandry before I adopted her.
Cleaning the Substrate
Leopard geckos naturally choose a designated toilet area in their enclosure. Cleaning is simple—just scoop out their waste and a small portion of the surrounding substrate, then replace it with fresh substrate. A full substrate change is only necessary when it becomes particularly dirty or foul-smelling.
Décor
Once you have your substrate set up, you can add natural décor such as rocks, branches, and cork, or use plastic hides—or a mix of both! I personally use a combination to provide variety. The key is to ensure your leopard gecko has secure hiding spots, can move through the enclosure with privacy, and has opportunities to climb and exercise.
Although they are primarily ground-dwelling, leopard geckos enjoy climbing. In the wild, they have been observed climbing trees, rock walls, and rock piles. I replicate this in my setup by adding stacked cork pieces to create climbing opportunities.
Cleaning
For cleaning I’d recommend Leucillin, it is the most effective disinfectant that is completely reptile safe, it kills many of our reptile diseases, can be used to clean wounds and help with healing, can be used to clean eggs, equipment and hands. It’s the only thing I use nowadays for everything.
Feeding
Figure 6: Meeko taking on a mealworm for dinner.
Leopard gecko eat mainly insects in the wild, but they will also eat smaller lizards, snakes and rodents. We should give them a leaner diet of mainly insects to keep them lean and healthy. They move far less in captivity than in the wild.
They can eat a wide variety of live feeder insects, try to keep it varied for a healthy balanced diet.
Babies can eat everyday but adults should eat a couple times a week. And then its just a handful of insects at a time, nothing too crazy.
At the beginning you can use rigid advice like this to find you footing, but as you go forward you need to find a feel for your leopard geckos metabolism.
Figure 7: Body condition score chart (Reptifiles, 2025).
Look at their weight by using body condition charts, if you feel like your Leo is getting fat, reduce the number of insects, if it getting thin, add more. The same gecko in a 20 gallon tank might need more food if it were in a 120 gallon tank because of the potential to burn more calories. Before long you’ll be fine tuned to your gecko and feeding will be intuitive.
Make sure to gut load your feeder insects on good healthy foods such as carrot, pumpkin, butternut squash, red bell peppers etc. These act as a source of moisture as well as food for feeder insects. Then after 48 hours you can feed them to your leopard gecko.
Figure 8: crickets being gutloaded on carrot and red bell pepper.
In terms of other food such as pinky mice, I am not against it but I think people feed them too much, it’s a calorie bomb to the leopard gecko and can be useful at times like maintaining breeding condition on females. But people can make leopard gecko’s really fat really quick and increase the risk of fatty liver disease through constant feeding of it. Use it sparingly.
Supplements
To keep our leopard geckos healthy, we need to dust our bugs with calcium powder. The reason we do this is because reptiles need twice as much calcium in the blood as phosphorus, but insects have no bones and don’t store calcium well and their exo skeleton is high in phosphorus. In the wild the insects are eating plants that are really high in calcium, so that’s how the leos get enough. In our homes we just add some calcium powder.
Now because you have UVB it makes life easier, you just need the calcium powder without D3. Dust every bug you feed.
Then every 1-2 weeks dust one feeding of bugs with a multivitamin powder and that’s supplements in a nut shell.
It really can be made that simple.
Brumation
In the winter, if air temperatures drop enough, leopard geckos can decide to brumate. This means they will sleep for long periods of time. But otherwise function as normal.
What I’d do is reduce daylight hours to 6 hours in the winter, feed a little less based upon body condition and then bring the hours up in the spring and summer.
Or you can leave it all the same and carry on as normal, the leopard gecko will do whatever theyre going to do.
Handling
Now with handling leopard geckos remember to be gently and support them from beneath and NEVER grab them from the tail. Their tails can drop off if you do that. The tail does re-grow but it doesn’t look as nice as the original tail.
Weight
You can weigh your leopard gecko routinely so that you can track weight, any rapid change in weight can let you identify issues before they get too far along. For example a quick loss of weight more than 10% of the geckos total body weight could be a sign of parasites and then vets should be called.
Conclusion
Leopard geckos are fantastic pets for both beginners and seasoned keepers. They are cute, straightfoward and affordable in terms of money and space. What is not to love?!
