The Little Lizard that Can
I was in a pet shop the other day, and saw a neat looking lizard. It wasn’t one I’d seen before, although I’d heard of them, and I found it interesting. It was a leopard gecko.
Leopard gecko’s are native to the deser regions of northwestern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. That region’s been in the news lately, but that’s not why these lizards are popular among herpetology fans. They are popular because they have near-perfect pet lizard attributes.
To start with, they are small. Adults get to be about 5 inches long. This makes them manageable, especially when compard with constrictor snakes or monitor lizards. In addition to their small size, they are also very tough little critters, able to tolerate cool temperatures or changes in humidity better than many other small reptiles. Both of these factors make them excellent choices for beginner reptile keepers.
Even more important, though, from the keepers’ perspective, is that these little geckos are not the kind of gecko that can walk up walls. Their toes end in small claws, rather than the clingy pads of house-geckos. Leopard geckos are terrestrial, which means that they will stay in a glass terrarium.
Their environmental requirements are modest: a grainy sustrate, a wide, shallow water dish, and a place to hide will cover the basics, and a heat lamp and heat pad will help keep a constant temperature near 80 F. For food, these lizards will require live insects. They are insect predators in their natural environment, and enjoy the hunt. Crickets, meal worms, and wax worms will suffice for a diet. They’ll even go after, and sometimes catch, the moths that wax worms mature into.
I got most of this info from the proprietor at the pet shop. Honestly, I wouldn’t take a reptile pet, myself. Even the easy lizards, like leopard geckos, require some specialized care and handling, I don’t recommend that anyone take on a pet that they aren’t prepared to provide the absolute best possible situation.
