Housing a young leopard gecko is one of the toughest tasks in leopard gecko care. You might need a lot of attentions for your pet since they are very vulnerable at this young stage.When we refer to young leopard gecko, LeopardGeckoCare.net means leopard gecko below twelve months old or less than 9 inches (including tail). During these six months, several precautions needed to be taken to make sure they are growing healthily. However adopting a young leopard gecko may enable you to build good friendship with your pet at very young age, and normally they will more friendly and approachable with you.
As mentioned, taking care of this young animal is a tedious task. First of all, you need to make sure that their tank is rather clean. You need to observe and pay attention on its environment from day to day basis. If you are housing several young leopard geckos together, be sure that bullying is not happened.
The leopard gecko is very weak at young stage. One of the major causes of young leopard gecko death is the dehydration. Many of the pet owner assume that dessert animal like leopard gecko do not need water, this is very wrong. You need to make sure that you prepare an eye dropper which is full of fluids and nutrients for them. Not only the intake of fluids, you need to be aware of the enclosure temperatures and humidity levels carefully to avoid dehydration problems.
If it is a hatchling or still very young, it can be kept in 5 gallon tank. Try to avoid extra large tank for this little leopard gecko. If you are setting up a large vivarium, you could make this little fellow run out of energy in catching its food. It is very important to set up a tank with an appropriate substrate. Improper substrate may cause death to your pet. Normally I could suggest providing newspaper or papering towel as substrate to the tank. Please be informed that newspaper should be the kind you get from an art stores, and not the commercial printed newspaper. Many people use the commercial newspaper as it is cheap but it can weaken your little pet as it lick the paper. Most of the beginners would probably house the young leopard gecko with sand as substrate to create more natural look but this is the most dangerous thing which is ever done, it might cause impaction to your leopard gecko.
As for hiding spots, you may need a moist and a dry hide boxes. Place the dry box at the cool area. The dry box could be a dry décor or furniture in the form of rock or piece driftwood. One the warm side, a moist hide is needed. This is to prevent dehydration and help the shedding process. See the shedding picture below. Remember to provide the young gecko a shallow water basin too.
Other their housing environment, you need to pay attention on the food you are feeding them especially when you feed them with crickets. In some cases, crickets will disturb and bite your pet while they are sleeping. Make sure that the amount of food provided is not over loaded and they are not harmful; end up becoming a treat to your little pet.
As you can see, housing such a small little pet may need extra attention but it is fun too. If you are new to leopard gecko, try to get an adult gecko first and familiar with this animal before you adopting a young one.
