New leopard gecko keepers should generally wait until a gecko settles into its enclosure — commonly a week or more — before starting regular handling
Allowing a new arrival time to acclimate to its environment, find its hides, and start eating reliably reduces stress-related problems like appetite loss or tail dropping during the first days home.
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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.