A leopard gecko bite feels like a pinch and rarely breaks skin
They have small, blunt teeth suited to gripping insects, not defence against large animals. Bites usually happen when a gecko mistakes a finger for food and let go almost immediately once it realises.
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Most active at dawn and dusk when temperatures in their native Pakistan and Afghanistan are ideal.
A widespread misconception is that the tail acts like a camel's hump storing water.
Autotomy — voluntary tail shedding — is a defence mechanism.
Unlike most gecko species which use van der Waals forces to climb smooth surfaces, leopard geckos have conventional claws.
The moveable eyelid is unusual among geckos.
Hold your gecko up to a light source and look through one ear opening — you can see light through the other side.