Hubby and son have worn me down and I've finally given in and said they can have a gecko. A friend of Jake's has one he's trying to sell and they've been pestering me to let them have it for about 2 weeks now.

I've got a book but wandered if any of you had any first-hand experience and tips about them? It's only a baby (a christmas pressie :rolleyes: )

:D :D :D This place is getting to be like a zoo!

Are we talking Leopard geckos? Ive got 2 they are sooooooo sweet :) I call them my lilly lizards :D.  Absolutely no trouble at all to look after, they eat crickets, locusts, wax worms and meal worm.  They don't need cleaning out very often as they poo in the same place so all you need to do is scrape up the offending item along with a bit of surrounding sand, they're a bit like gunea pig pellets.  I feed they every couple of days or so, you just throw a few in and they stalk around the viv trying to hunt.  T-rex calci sand is the best to get.  All they need is obviously a vivarium, a normal coloured low watt light bulb (i use either blue or red 25w) its on a 12 hour timer, a heat pad and a few places to hide and away you go.  A good place to get the insects from is http://www.livefoodshop.co.uk/catalog/default.php?osCsid=bae8d5fb45f9a7f3d67adeaaf83c3a74 I always get them from there as you don't know how long the ones in the pet shops have been sitting around.  I do feel a bit sorry for the postie sometimes though :D :D :D.  Just ask if you need to know anything else :)
Clair

The last thing Jake did before he went to bed was ask what a 'pink' mouse was as there was a photo of one being eaten in the book. Not sure how he took the answer, lol!

Are they ok on their own or are you better keeping 2 for company? I'm sure it tells me most of what I need in this book but prising it out of the boys hands isn't easy, lol!

May I recommend black crickets (Gryllus) over brown one's (Achetta) - Their better quality :D (serious)..
Sarah

Lol - now, I tasted the dog food but I am not eating crickets!!!

I have a Leopard Gecko, his name is "Elvis"!!!!!  They are good reptiles to keep, providing the environment is correct.  Easy to handle, but be careful with that tail!!

I feed mine mainly on black crickets, they are quieter than the brown ones!  He also gets Locust hoppers, mealworms, and an occasional wax worm. 

Lucky devil, he lives in the carribean every day!

They are better on their own, females will live together but fights will mean injuries, tail loss, infection etc..  males will kill eachother.  Males and females live ok, but the females will get pregnant, and often get eggbound if the diet isn't 100% this can lead to death.
Dawn.

Aaaaaaw they are cute.
My son keeps bugging me for a reptile, he wants a snake and well I said NO, I like reptiles but we do have enough animals at the moment. We use to have an Iguana he was the best so sweet, but he passed on.

Black one's aren't quieter females are!!!! :D - If you look at your crickets in their adult form you may notice that some have a long 'ovipositor' on their back end which is what they stick into the ground to release their eggs...These are of course the females!  The males striate their wings together to warn other males of their presence, hence the chirping!  If you feed the males first you wont have as much noise :D
Sarah

Erm Rozzer, I am not about to inspect Crickets rear ends to find out who is male and who is female!  I used to feed brown crickets and they drove me nuts, the black ones are definately quieter, and they don't seem to be able to jump as high or try to as much.  My lasting impression of brown crickets, is my Border terrier, grabbing hold of a new box (approx 250) and flinging them all over the kitchen!!!!  Imagine the clean up!!!!  I suppose we feed what we feel happy with, do you have a reptile you feed Crickets to?
Dawn.

Nah!  Used to work at Bristol Zoo...Spent many years as an entomologist :) 
Sarah

Spoil sport!!! :D :D
Dawn.

:D ;)

LOL!

Well the bloke in the reptile shop told me not to buy black ones as they'd attack Charley (Jake picked the name :rolleyes:  ) He also said that it wasn't worth breeding them myself as they were only £3 for a weeks feeding but I quite fancied having a go anyway but I'll leave it for now.

We think he's about 4 months old and is very cute :)

euuwww the website has frozed gerbils, rabbit, guinea pigs and rats !!!!! oh how mean....
but i do love geckos though ! :)

A friend's son who is a chatty sole and will speak and make friends with almost anyone arrived home one day a few months ago with a 3'7" dinasoar wrapped in his jumper and coat which was trying to eat him.  An old man who he had befriended had had a house fire and this "thing" needed somewhere to stay.

Over £100 later (lights, large pen, plexiglass etc) my friend ended up with it for nearly six months.  They let it out occassionlly as it was really a bit small for its home but it chased them and their dogs so this did not happen often.  Its skin was very pretty and colourful but if this was a gecko (I can't remember) then be aware that they can get somewhat large :D

Leopards will (should) remain quite small lizards, may have been an iguana or chamelion??  Especially so if that much was spent on specialist lighting etc!!  Seriously though...Black crickets are no likely to attack any more than brown one's!  Personally I breed my own crickets (well when I had my animals that were fed them) - Many pet stores/suppliers don't know how to keep them properly - they are just seen as food items.  But your animal that they are being fed to will benefit from a good healthy cricket, its obvious - we dont feed our dogs rubbish food - a good diet is reflected in the animals health and appearance!  If not fed properly or not kept at the right temperatures crickets do not develop properly (physically and physiologically) and become unsuitable specimens to use as food items.  Think about it, these insects are put through the post more aften than not which is stressful to the animal (yes - invertebrates suffer from stress!) and can cause injury which can cause infection...Many suppliers feed an inappropriate diet - crickets should be fed a wide variety of fruits, veg and cereal (again, a suitable diet will reflect on the secondary animal - gecko!)  Also, crickets need to moult a number of times before they become adults and develop wings, more often than not they will be 'fed up' before they reach this stage - however, if you have adults, you will have mating - If you have a 'gravid' female she may well lay eggs into the substrate you use for your reptile/spider/snake etc - If this happens you will end up with young crickets emerging that can take advantage of reptiles when they slough.  As many reptile owners will know when they slough they can go off their food a bit and crickets left in the tank (brown or black) can have a nibble on the reptile!!  Crickets will have a nibble on anything - even each other!  Both colours are capable of biting, so feeding times should be supervised :D....But, you see, it is a lot to consider when you feed live food!  They are very easy to breed yourself and you have the knowledge that they are well fed individuals which will only benefit your prey animal!!
Sarah

It will only be small at the moment then a a few months old, the small crickets will be fine.  You should also "dust" the crickets a couple of times a week untill your Gecko is grown, to ensure he grows properly.  I used "Repton" insect dusting suppliment, you just put the crickets in a box with a bit and give it a shake, the dust sticks to them so the Gecko gets it too.  As a rule they grow to about 10 inches (males) the females are a bit smaller, mine stays with "Proteus Reptile trust" when I go away and they say he is the biggest one they have ever seen!  he is just over 12inches.  Geckos are great reptiles, enjoy!!
Dawn.

:D He's been with us now since last Friday and he's great! (I say 'he' but I've no idea really :rolleyes: )

I've not wanted to handle him too much in case he gets stressed so it's been 5 mins a day with another couple of minutes with my (or son's) hand in his viv. He's so quick I'm still a bit jumpy with him but I'm sure we'll both settle down soon enough.

As for the crickets... lol they were the scariest thing last week! I thought the same about keeping them in the tiny boxes they come in so I converted a huge tupperware box for them. They have water (on cotton wool), dry cricket food, fruit peelings and a small box of damp soil to keep them happy. Not to mention an adventure playground of egg boxes and toilet roll innards! Ade (my hubby) thinks I'm treating them more like pets than food ;)

In saying that there's one big female with wings (can they fly???) that I've called Bertha... she's to big to give to Charley so she might just live a long and happy life in the 'cricket farm' ROFL!

Thanks for all of your advise so far, if there's anything else don't hold back!!! :D :D :D

Hi Wish Fairy

Hope it's not a Tokay gecko, we had one and he was a vicious b****r, apparently they all are.

Personally, I always used to love the sound of the crickets, and used to release some into the house and garden in the summer, just to appreciate the noise (and to ease my guilt by giving some a permanent reprieve :D

Kat

No, it's a leopard tailed gecko and is very friendly... so far.

I quite like the sound of the crickets too but I don't fancy them roaming around the house - maybe I'll release a few to the garden in the summer :)

My daughter (5) is enjoying the crickets as much as the gecko - at least she's not squeamish about them :)