How to Create a Simple Leopard Gecko Enclosure
There are a variety of ways to house your leopard gecko, and there are more than one that are correct. That’s the beauty of reptile keeping. Everyone has their own experiences and opinions which affect how they keep their reptiles. As long as your gecko is thriving, you’re doing it right.
Some keepers, such as myself, prefer naturalistic or bioactive environments for their leopard geckos, with natural materials, soil-based substrates, and live plants. While they are one of the most beautiful setups for your gecko, they’re also the most difficult.
Since many of you are new to leopard geckos, I’ll be demonstrating a way to set up an enclosure for your leopard gecko that is simple and easy and that your gecko will love.
This article is part of a complete set of leopard gecko care articles and videos. Want to read them all and watch the care video? Click here.
Today, I’ll be setting up an enclosure for my leopard gecko, Pippin. She is a juvenile leopard gecko, so I’ll be demonstrating using a 24x18x12” terrarium. When she’s an adult, she’ll have an enclosure that is at least 30 gallons. That is the recommended minimum for an adult leopard gecko. (My adult leopard gecko has a custom enclosure that totals over 40 gallons.)
I’d highly recommend using a front-opening enclosure, as this makes picking up your leopard gecko much easier. Your gecko will recognize you from the front, rather than assuming your hand is a predator from above.
For Exo Terra front-opening terrariums, I’d suggest the 24x18x12” size for juveniles. For adult leopard geckos, I recommend the 36x18x12” terrariums which are 34 gallons or even better, 36x18x18” terrariums which are slightly over 50 gallons. You really can’t have too large of a leopard gecko enclosure as long as you provide ample opportunities to hide and explore.
Leopard geckos need to climb. Many leopard gecko breeders use small plastic bins to house their leopard geckos inexpensively, but this doesn’t provide height to climb. Long-term, it’s important to invest in the health and wellbeing of your leopard gecko by providing an enclosure with room to climb.
Let’s start building!
Heating
A heat mat with a thermostat will be used to heat this enclosure. I strongly recommend that you do not use a heat bulb since this enclosure isn’t very tall. First, use aluminum foil tape to tape your heat mat to the outside bottom of your enclosure. Your heat mat should be plugged into your thermostat, and set to 90ºF. (To learn how to do this, watch the care guide video.) The probe for your thermostat will be placed inside the warm hide, taped down so that your gecko cannot move it. (If your gecko moves it, it may cause a false reading and be burned.)
Substrate
The substrate is what covers the floor of your leopard gecko’s enclosure. It should be easy to clean. I recommend paper towels or non-adhesive flooring material. (Emphasis on non-adhesive flooring material! The adhesive variety can release fumes when heated, harming your pet.) Tile works, too, if you can get it in the proper size. Do not use reptile carpet or sand mats, as these trap bacteria. You should be cleaning this each time your gecko has a bowel movement.
Hides
In your leopard gecko enclosure, there should be at least three hides. Offer a hide on the cool end away from the heat mat, a hide on the warm end, and a humid hide. Your humid hide should have a folded damp paper towel to help your gecko properly shed.
Enrichment
Now, it’s time to add some enrichment. Your enrichment should include a variety of reptile-safe fake plants. You can get a variety of them and swap them out, to keep your gecko entertained. Your gecko may also choose to climb the background of its enclosure. This is great enrichment!
Calcium Dish
You can choose to add a calcium dish containing Calcium without vitamin D3 for your gecko to lick from whenever it pleases. Regardless of UVB, which we will discuss later, put calcium without D3 in the enclosure, so they can’t get too much vitamin D3.
Lighting your Leopard Gecko
Leopard geckos are cathemeral, meaning they are active randomly throughout the day and night. They don’t need a specific light bulb as long as there is ambient light on a standard day-night cycle throughout the enclosure. That said, providing lighting for your leopard gecko can help them thrive.
UVB lighting allows your gecko to produce its own vitamin D3. In turn, your gecko’s liver uses D3 to produce a hormone called calcitriol, which in simple terms allows your gecko to absorb calcium. Leopard geckos can also absorb synthetic D3, so they do not need UVB to survive. It is still recommended to provide UVB as it is a more natural way for your gecko to get vitamin D3. (More on that can be found in my Leopard Gecko Diet article.)
Leopard geckos are a shade-dwelling species, so they should have a weak UVB bulb. I use Arcadia ShadeDweller UVB. This is the best 10–15” from your gecko’s basking spot. If the bulb will be over 15” from the basking spot, use an Arcadia D3 Forest bulb covering ⅔ of the enclosure. Arcadia brand lighting can be hard to find in the US, but you should buy it when you can find this brand. In my experience, Arcadia products are always very high quality. There are three companies in the US that consistently have Arcadia products in stock: Josh’s Frogs, Pangea Reptile, and Reptile Basics.
Conclusion
In conclusion, your leopard gecko enclosure can be enriching and environmentally stimulating, while still being simple to create for a first-time keeper. Leopard geckos need heating, substrate, several hides, enrichment, and lighting. Their enclosures can be made incredibly natural, or simply functional like the one featured today. Leopard geckos are awesome pets, and you’re sure to fall in love with them. I have a series of articles about leopard geckos linked here.
