Housing

Leopard geckos are generally easy to care for. They do not require a lot of cage maintenance, and they are hardy and forgiving if their environment is not perfect. A 15- to 20-gallon tank is considered minimum, but there should only be one gecko per habitat as they will fight. A larger enclosure up to 40 gallons is preferred as it provides more opportunity and room for enrichment Old fish tanks that don't hold water anymore also work perfectly well for leopard geckos.

Provide half logs as hiding and climbing space. Commercial reptile caves and simple cardboard boxes are also good options. A damp hide box can help with shedding.

Spot clean the cage once a day to remove feces. About once a month, take everything out, throw out the substrate, and scrub and disinfect the cage and all the items in it to reduce the buildup of bacteria.

Undertank heaters can work well with Leopard Geckos but make sure you size appropriately and always use a thermostat for temperature control so the mat doesnt get too hot and set it at around 98 degrees.

Being nocturnal, leopard geckos are most active at night and do not require a lot of UV lighting. In the wild, these creatures are also active at dawn and sunset and get UV exposure at those hours of scant sunlight. A small amount of UVA and UVB light (2% to 7%) can go a long way to keeping leopard geckos healthy and may reduce the risk of metabolic bone disease.

Your lizard will need incandescent lighting and heat from that source to mimic the sunlight. In the summer, give them about 14 hours of "sun" per day. And, in winter, the lizard will need about 12 hours of that light. For ease of care, you can automate the cage lighting by putting the lights on a timer.

These lizards are a desert lizard, so they do not need a highly humid environment. If the humidity is too low (below 20%), the gecko might have trouble shedding. Keep the humidity level about 30% to 40%, which is similar to the humidity level in your home. You can use a regular screen top, coupled with the heat source, to keep the environment dry. To check on the humidity level, get a hygrometer or humidity gauge for the cage.

Context is everything when it comes to reptiles and this couldn’t be truer than when it comes to substrates. While leopard geckos live in the desert, it’s not the desert you may be thinking of.  Instead of vast expanses of sand dunes and empty land, they are most often found in grassy areas where there may be seasonal water or green brush.  While it is a noble idea to try and replicate a leopard gecko’s natural substrate of rock, grasses, clay, gravel and sand, it comes at the cost of habitat cleanliness especially where fecal matter and urate is concerned as their waste can easily saturate and contaminate these substrates. The context that is missing is habitat size.

In the wild, leopard geckos have a range of many miles so their fecal and urate is spread out over a large distance, they rarely come back into contact with it and so it does not pose a threat to their health. In captivity, a 40-50 gallon enclosure may provide less than 4 square feet of habitat which results in your leopard gecko coming in constant contact with their waste which can be detrimental to their long term health. This would mean replacing all their natural substrate every week which is not cost effective, but rather completely unrealistic.

As responsible keepers we need to compromise their natural substrate with a habitat that we can clean and sanitize regularly.

The best choice for this, but also the most difficult and costly, is to go bioactive. This semi moist soil/sand substrate provides arthropods and springtails and place to flourish where they will naturally digest and clean up your leopard geckos waste. Bioactive setups still need to be replace but only about once a year. It’s a difficult balancing act though as you need to keep the soil just moist enough to support bug life but not so moist as to present health complications to your leopard gecko as they are a semi-arid reptile. Let it get too dry and you kill the bio active.

The next best substrate is large ceramic tiles. This provides a natural and eye pleasing rock like surface that is easy to clean regularly and does not absorb waste.  You will need to provide a humid hide with something like sphagnum moss and mist it regularly. You will find you leopard gecko will like to dig in it as well.

While not as pleasing to the eye, paper lined floors are the third easiest yet least eye pleasing to implement. It absorbs urate and is easy to remove and replace regularly.

Feeding

Leopard geckos are insectivores. Feed a variety of crickets, waxworms, and, in moderation, mealworms. On occasion, you can try to feed a pinky mouse to an adult gecko. To make sure that your gecko does not ingest any substrate, you can feed your gecko in an empty tank.

Juveniles need to be fed several crickets every day. Adults can skip several days between feedings. Before you feed the insects to your pet, they must be gut-loaded or fed a nutritious meal 24 hours before feeding. You will also need to coat the insects with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement before you feed them to your lizard. To do so, put the crickets or worms in a ziplock bag with some of the powder supplement. Shake the bag quickly and drop the insect into the tank with your lizard. Hatchlings and juveniles need the calcium/vitamin supplement at every feeding; adults only need it at every other feeding.

Provide a shallow dish of fresh water for your leopard gecko at all times. The water bowl will help add some humidity to the enclosure, and your gecko will drink from the bowl. You may even find a gecko voluntarily soaking in its water bowl.

Handling

Leopard geckos are nocturnal, ground-dwelling geckos that are generally docile and easy to tame. They do not have the sticky toe pads like other geckos, so they do not climb walls, but unlike other geckos, they do have eyelids.

Leopard geckos are not prone to biting and are usually slow-moving. They are known to be very vocal, especially when they are hungry, and they make chirps and squeaks.

When you first bring home your leopard gecko, you can socialize it by gently handling it. They will tolerate a certain amount of contact, but don't overdo it, or your leopard gecko may become stressed. 

And just like a lot of other lizards, when they feel threatened, leopard geckos can self amputate their tails as a defense mechanism.