Leopard geckos are poor swimmers and can drown in deep water
Water dishes should be shallow enough for a gecko to stand in without submerging. Unlike some reptiles, leos have no natural swimming adaptation, so deep bowls or flooded enclosures are a genuine drowning hazard.
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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.