Leopard Gecko

Eublpharis macularis

Eublepharis means real or true eyelids;  macularis means spotted.

Leopard geckos are found in Iran, Afghanistan, western India and Pakistan.  Most of today's captive bred leopard geckos are descendants of geckos imported from Pakistan.  They reside in deserts and arid grasslands.  Leopard geckos are nocturnal animals sheltering themselves during the day beneath rocks and in burrows.  Unlike other geckos, the leopard gecko and his relatives have moveable eyelids and lack the toe pads which allow other geckos to climb vertical surfaces.  They reach a size of 8-10 inches and most adults are yellow with dark brown spots. 

The sex of the leopard gecko seems to be determined by the temperature at incubation.  Eggs incubated between 79-83 are generally female, 84-86 are about half of each sex and above 87 are usually male.

The tale of the gecko breaks off rather easily as a defense mechanism, however, they will grow back but never as nice looking as the original tale.  They like daytime temperatures of 85-90 with night being as low as the 70's.    Gecko's are carnivorous and feed on crickets, kingworms, mealworms, wasworms, earthworms, grasshoppers, locusts and pinkies.